Downtown HDR Corporate Headquarters

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S33
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by S33 »

Erik wrote:
S33 wrote:
cdub wrote:I'm sure they could put their own ugly spin on it.
:)

This isnt really a shot at HDR, just that when i read that they wanted to put their name in big letters across it, thats what I always picture. I've grown used to the Woodmen tower but before I moved here I always thought it was one ugly piece of the skyline.
I wouldn't call it ugly, necessarily. More like it just exists, characterless and drab, but a noticeable presence in an otherwise very unimpressive skyline.
Wow. I never did realize how bad it was. Thanks!
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by Erik »

S33 wrote:
Erik wrote:
S33 wrote:
cdub wrote:I'm sure they could put their own ugly spin on it.
:)

This isnt really a shot at HDR, just that when i read that they wanted to put their name in big letters across it, thats what I always picture. I've grown used to the Woodmen tower but before I moved here I always thought it was one ugly piece of the skyline.
I wouldn't call it ugly, necessarily. More like it just exists, characterless and drab, but a noticeable presence in an otherwise very unimpressive skyline.
Wow. I never did realize how bad it was. Thanks!
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That would be a very interesting read. :D

I was right in the middle of a massive ego-check with a code development effort at work. Sometimes logic stumps me :mrgreen:
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

I bet it will look kind of like Marina City in Chicago. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... linois.JPG
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Oh god no, I hate those buildings.
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Garrett
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by Garrett »

RNcyanide wrote:Oh god no, I hate those buildings.
But you know those buildings, don't you? I'm actually rather fond of them. They're a good expression of a very unique style of architecture, and are certainly ground breaking given they were built in 1964. They're attractive in that 60's kitschy way, I think.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Garrett wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:Oh god no, I hate those buildings.
But you know those buildings, don't you? I'm actually rather fond of them. They're a good expression of a very unique style of architecture, and are certainly ground breaking given they were built in 1964. They're attractive in that 60's kitschy way, I think.
The construction of those towers was so strange, they built the core to pinnacle height and then slowly added on the floors.

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PotatoeEatsFish
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

Whoa in that picture Chicago looks WAY diffrent
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by RNcyanide »

I can appreciate how different they were for the time, but I just do not care for them one bit.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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RNcyanide wrote:I can appreciate how different they were for the time, but I just do not care for them one bit.
That makes two of us.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Not sure why these were brought up, but I understand that these aren't for everyone. I look at them as a wildly unique landmark for Chicago. They would look out of place in a smaller city's skyline, but a massive one like that they don't dominate yet still add a ton of character. Also the design is incredibly creative in terms of unit layout. Very little wasted space on the interior while giving every unit great balcony access. Long live Marina City.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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That would be such a waste to put parking there. People are so ef-ing lazy. They already have valet parking, sheesh. It should stay green space, IMO.
He said "They are some big, ugly red brick buildings"
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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HDR lot:

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skinzfan23
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by skinzfan23 »

It will be great to see that gone. Lots like that shouldn't even be allowed in downtown Omaha. No landscaping and asphalt falling apart. I have been waiting to see something happen with this lot for years. Glad it is finally going to happen.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

Any idea how long it will be till the design is released? Ive been waiting for this almost as long as Ive been waiting for Fergie's album.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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PotatoeEatsFish wrote:Any idea how long it will be till the design is released? Ive been waiting for this almost as long as Ive been waiting for Fergie's album.

It was just announced June 23rd... Give it time...
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Heard from someone inside that HDR is keeping very tight control on releasing any images of the design as it develops, not surprisingly. We likely won't see anything until they are ready to go public. ...unless a former disgruntled employee leaks something by chance.
He said "They are some big, ugly red brick buildings"
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

I was in downtown Des Moines today and tonight. The skyline is cool, but it seems run down. There were lots of huge parking lots and shady alleys. We found the skywalk and walk around in it. We were the only people in the whole thing. The place was only like 20% full with shops and all of them were closed when we went on a Saturday afternoon. We found a cool giant atrium which was the coolest thing in all of downtown. Besides the atrium everything was run down and empty. Seeing this made me feel so lucky I live in Omaha with a thriving downtown. By the way I have no idea why I put this in this chat just wanted to share.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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PotatoeEatsFish wrote:I was in downtown Des Moines today and tonight. The skyline is cool, but it seems run down. There were lots of huge parking lots and shady alleys. We found the skywalk and walk around in it. We were the only people in the whole thing. The place was only like 20% full with shops and all of them were closed when we went on a Saturday afternoon. We found a cool giant atrium which was the coolest thing in all of downtown. Besides the atrium everything was run down and empty. Seeing this made me feel so lucky I live in Omaha with a thriving downtown. By the way I have no idea why I put this in this chat just wanted to share.
I found downtown Des Moines to be empty as well. It's like the only part of their downtown that stays open past 4 pm is their little bar district--court avenue I think it's called.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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daveoma wrote:
PotatoeEatsFish wrote:I was in downtown Des Moines today and tonight. The skyline is cool, but it seems run down. There were lots of huge parking lots and shady alleys. We found the skywalk and walk around in it. We were the only people in the whole thing. The place was only like 20% full with shops and all of them were closed when we went on a Saturday afternoon. We found a cool giant atrium which was the coolest thing in all of downtown. Besides the atrium everything was run down and empty. Seeing this made me feel so lucky I live in Omaha with a thriving downtown. By the way I have no idea why I put this in this chat just wanted to share.
I found downtown Des Moines to be empty as well. It's like the only part of their downtown that stays open past 4 pm is their little bar district--court avenue I think it's called.

I think this is pretty typical of City's of Des Moines or even Omaha's size unless it has a huge downtown population. I take out-of-town clients out in the Old Market for happy hour/dinner/drinks on week nights. The are a couple Ok happy hours and a bunch of empty bars, dinner is never crowded on week nights and then every bar from 7 o'clock on has 5 to 15 people in it.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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You know for the most part I agree but it's slowly picking up these days. I've also noticed the demographics have become more cosmopolitan at least for Omaha standards.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by daveoma »

Joe_Sovereign wrote:
daveoma wrote:
PotatoeEatsFish wrote:I was in downtown Des Moines today and tonight. The skyline is cool, but it seems run down. There were lots of huge parking lots and shady alleys. We found the skywalk and walk around in it. We were the only people in the whole thing. The place was only like 20% full with shops and all of them were closed when we went on a Saturday afternoon. We found a cool giant atrium which was the coolest thing in all of downtown. Besides the atrium everything was run down and empty. Seeing this made me feel so lucky I live in Omaha with a thriving downtown. By the way I have no idea why I put this in this chat just wanted to share.
I found downtown Des Moines to be empty as well. It's like the only part of their downtown that stays open past 4 pm is their little bar district--court avenue I think it's called.

I think this is pretty typical of City's of Des Moines or even Omaha's size unless it has a huge downtown population. I take out-of-town clients out in the Old Market for happy hour/dinner/drinks on week nights. The are a couple Ok happy hours and a bunch of empty bars, dinner is never crowded on week nights and then every bar from 7 o'clock on has 5 to 15 people in it.
I agree Joe, that the old market use not busy during weekday nights but at least the businesses are open. When I was in Des Moines, many of the restaurants in the east village were not open for dinner. Apparently it makes sense for them to close after lunch.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by Joe_Sovereign »

daveoma wrote:
Joe_Sovereign wrote:
daveoma wrote:
PotatoeEatsFish wrote:I was in downtown Des Moines today and tonight. The skyline is cool, but it seems run down. There were lots of huge parking lots and shady alleys. We found the skywalk and walk around in it. We were the only people in the whole thing. The place was only like 20% full with shops and all of them were closed when we went on a Saturday afternoon. We found a cool giant atrium which was the coolest thing in all of downtown. Besides the atrium everything was run down and empty. Seeing this made me feel so lucky I live in Omaha with a thriving downtown. By the way I have no idea why I put this in this chat just wanted to share.
I found downtown Des Moines to be empty as well. It's like the only part of their downtown that stays open past 4 pm is their little bar district--court avenue I think it's called.

I think this is pretty typical of City's of Des Moines or even Omaha's size unless it has a huge downtown population. I take out-of-town clients out in the Old Market for happy hour/dinner/drinks on week nights. The are a couple Ok happy hours and a bunch of empty bars, dinner is never crowded on week nights and then every bar from 7 o'clock on has 5 to 15 people in it.
I agree Joe, that the old market use not busy during weekday nights but at least the businesses are open. When I was in Des Moines, many of the restaurants in the east village were not open for dinner. Apparently it makes sense for them to close after lunch.
I am not bashing the Old Market in any way. There are so many nice places that the decent amount of people out on a weeknight get spread out among all the bars and restaurants. As the downtown population grows hopefully the critical mass of people will grow to the point that things get a little more exciting.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

Maybe Des Moines has had a problem with gangs downtown in the past so they just close it down after dark.
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S33
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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MTO wrote:You know for the most part I agree but it's slowly picking up these days. I've also noticed the demographics have become more cosmopolitan at least for Omaha standards.
I don't get this statement. What makes the changing demographics more "cosmopolitan"?
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S33
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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PotatoeEatsFish wrote:Maybe Des Moines has had a problem with gangs downtown in the past so they just close it down after dark.
No, Des Moines has a problem with sprawl and having an uninteresting downtown. Sure, they have big buildings, but after dark, all the action is directed away from the city center. Court Avenue sucks pretty hard, too.

Back on topic, des anyone know when they expect to release a rendering for this building?
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by Joe_Sovereign »

S33 wrote:
MTO wrote:You know for the most part I agree but it's slowly picking up these days. I've also noticed the demographics have become more cosmopolitan at least for Omaha standards.
I don't get this statement. What makes the changing demographics more "cosmopolitan"?
Isn't it clear "more cosmopolitan" is code for less White people.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by S33 »

Joe_Sovereign wrote:
S33 wrote:
MTO wrote:You know for the most part I agree but it's slowly picking up these days. I've also noticed the demographics have become more cosmopolitan at least for Omaha standards.
I don't get this statement. What makes the changing demographics more "cosmopolitan"?
Isn't it clear "more cosmopolitan" is code for less White people.
Oh, I know. I was just trying to get him to come out and say it.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Cosmo in the meta, more traveled and diverse folks.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Forgot to mention it a few days ago, but there were core samples being taken this week.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by NeGoofyfoot »

Coyote wrote:I just spoke with Jim Vokal and he hinted that there would be ground floor retail...
I heard from a friend that works at HDR they DO NOT want retail in the building...they don't want to mess around with being a landlord...they want to leave the retail business to the Capitol District across the street. From what he has heard they are looking at a base/parking garage that will take up the entire block (lot line to lot line)and then a tall slender tower 1 block by 1/2 block for the offices about 12 stories tall. He did also say design was still in the preliminary stages... He also said that the general consensus in the buildings is excitement about the move downtown
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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A 12-story building would be a gigantic letdown.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Midwestern wrote:A 12-story building would be a gigantic letdown.
12 floors of office on top of a 6-8 floor parking podium would get the 18-20 floors that was previously mentioned.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by Erik »

Oh well. At least this will make the skyline a hair fuller. We were kinda getting carried away with excitement.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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I still think 300 ft is still in play. Imagine a building the height of TD Ameritrade on top of a substantial parking garage.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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I wouldn't rule it out either. The full height doesn't necessarily all have to be occupied space. FNB extends well above the highest offices, for example.

Surprised to hear they may not have street level retail space, unless they're looking at more of a typical tower on a parking pedestal next to a plaza kind of design. Sorry grocery store people....I didn't think they'd seriously consider that.

In their current office, the do bring in different vendors to sell lunch to employees during the week, but there aren't many other choices within waking distance out there.
He said "They are some big, ugly red brick buildings"
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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GetUrban wrote:I wouldn't rule it out either. The full height doesn't necessarily all have to be occupied space. FNB extends well above the highest offices, for example.

Surprised to hear they may not have street level retail space, unless they're looking at more of a typical tower on a parking pedestal next to a plaza kind of design. Sorry grocery store people....I didn't think they'd seriously consider that.

In their current office, the do bring in different vendors to sell lunch to employees during the week, but there aren't many other choices within waking distance out there.
Uhhhh.... Not within walking distance, really?
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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iamjacobm wrote:
Midwestern wrote:A 12-story building would be a gigantic letdown.
12 floors of office on top of a 6-8 floor parking podium would get the 18-20 floors that was previously mentioned.
I love the idea of the height but what about the parking garage? There are office towers in downtown Vegas which have parking garages 5 floors tall and a building set upon that. From a distance it looks great but at street level it looks gritty and uninviting.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by Joe_Sovereign »

daveoma wrote:
iamjacobm wrote:
Midwestern wrote:A 12-story building would be a gigantic letdown.
12 floors of office on top of a 6-8 floor parking podium would get the 18-20 floors that was previously mentioned.
I love the idea of the height but what about the parking garage? There are office towers in downtown Vegas which have parking garages 5 floors tall and a building set upon that. From a distance it looks great but at street level it looks gritty and uninviting.
There will obviously be a street level entrance and I imagine from two sides it will look mostly like a office tower with the parking garage floors being mostly hidden or obscured in some way. My guess is the main entrance to the building will be on Capital near the Northeast corner orientating toward the Shamrock development the building will most likely be at this corner as well. The building should look quite nice from this direction. From the southwest corner I imagine this will look like any other parking garage unfortunately.

I think for the height and skyline obsessed our best hope might be for a spire or other significant roof top element that extends the building and gives the building a very distinctive presence.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

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Garrett wrote:
GetUrban wrote:I wouldn't rule it out either. The full height doesn't necessarily all have to be occupied space. FNB extends well above the highest offices, for example.

Surprised to hear they may not have street level retail space, unless they're looking at more of a typical tower on a parking pedestal next to a plaza kind of design. Sorry grocery store people....I didn't think they'd seriously consider that.

In their current office, the do bring in different vendors to sell lunch to employees during the week, but there aren't many other choices within waking distance out there.
Uhhhh.... Not within walking distance, really?
Should have said "easy" walking distance...walking to the food joints along 6-lane Dodge Street is obviously not quite as inviting as walking to a restaurant within downtown.
Last edited by GetUrban on Tue Aug 18, 2015 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New HDR Corporate Headquarters

Post by Garrett »

GetUrban wrote:
Garrett wrote:
GetUrban wrote:I wouldn't rule it out either. The full height doesn't necessarily all have to be occupied space. FNB extends well above the highest offices, for example.

Surprised to hear they may not have street level retail space, unless they're looking at more of a typical tower on a parking pedestal next to a plaza kind of design. Sorry grocery store people....I didn't think they'd seriously consider that.

In their current office, the do bring in different vendors to sell lunch to employees during the week, but there aren't many other choices within waking distance out there.
Uhhhh.... Not within walking distance, really?
Should have said "easy" walking distance...walking to the fast food joints along 6-lane Dodge Street is obviously not quite as inviting as walking to a restaurant within downtown.
Oh I misread your post. I thought you were saying there was nothing within walking distance of the new office haha.
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