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I was talking to my friend whose dad works for HDR about the new hq. He said his dad had some sketches he was working on that he looked at after his dad went to bed. He claimed that one looked like the tallest building in Des Moines. The other one was about 300' to the roof and with an antenna. Not sure if this is a lie or not so I posted it in rumors.

Keep in mind you should be very careful to not get anyone in trouble try being more vague if you have a lagitimate resource.

whoops! Thanks for warning me lol

Don't listen to MTO, tell all! Just kiddin' :-)

Next time, tell him to get pictures!

I found the sketch

Will the one with an antenna basically be a taller version of this?

S33 wrote:I found the sketch

S33, I'm impressed! You're coloring within your own lines now!

jessep28 wrote:Will the one with an antenna basically be a taller version of this?

All four sides will look like this one though. 300ft, zero windows.

What if it resembled the 8500 Tower in Bloomington, MN? Not exact duplicate....but would this design at least break up the flat-topped monotony that currently dominates DTO?

It sorta resembles Principal Tower....kinda. What?! They're both pointy.

For the record, 8500 Normandale Tower is 24 stories and 381 feet.

I'm hoping for something more like this...


Dock lands tower by Morphosis (Thomas Mayne)

http://morphosis.com/architecture

Those remind me of the Koopa Towers from the Super Mario Bros. movie...



Don't blame me, I voted for the fungus.

GetUrban wrote:I'm hoping for something more like this...


Dock lands tower by Morphosis (Thomas Mayne)

http://morphosis.com/architecture

The left tower is terrifying, it looks like a silo with floors built outside of it.

I admit it is a bit strange. Probably a bit too outside of the box for Omaha or HDR. I would expect to see something nore like their other recent work that has been posted in the other HDR HQ thread. They seem to be putting their own twist on mid-century modern-like stuff lately rather than deconstructivist / experimental work like Morphosis.

You mean that steaming pile of schit is a real thing that's going to happen? I thought that was a joke.

Hawkeye wrote:What if it resembled the 8500 Tower in Bloomington, MN? Not exact duplicate....but would this design at least break up the flat-topped monotony that currently dominates DTO?

It sorta resembles Principal Tower....kinda. :? What?! They're both pointy. 8)

For the record, 8500 Normandale Tower is 24 stories and 381 feet.

This building looks almost identical to one I had in a fantasy rendering I made of Omaha about a decade ago:

There are too many what ifs in there Mr. omaha! Man, could you just imagine...
Thanks for that memory of a projection...

I was at Piccolo's for lunch today (so was Warren Buffett BTW...) and I sat right next to two guys (at least one was from HDR) who were discussing the HQ building. I clearly overheard them say the following things:

"20 to 25 stories" on top of "a couple levels of parking"

"The box on top of the parking levels"

"The leased portion of the parking"

"Leased retail bays"

Also, I clearly heard them say they have some renderings completed and "it looks really neat" and "it's a great design"

.....If you don't believe me ask B Money.

mr. omaha wrote:I was at Piccolo's for lunch today (so was Warren Buffett BTW...) and I sat right next to two guys (at least one was from HDR) who were discussing the HQ building. I clearly overheard them say the following things:

"20 to 25 stories" on top of "a couple levels of parking"

"The box on top of the parking levels"

"The leased portion of the parking"

"Leased retail bays"

Also, I clearly heard them say they have some renderings completed and "it looks really neat" and "it's a great design"

.....If you don't believe me ask B Money.

The last table side rumor didn't go so well! http://www.eomahaforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9962

I'm certain Warren will vouch for me.... Maybe.

Well we know it's going to happen....just a matter of how tall and if it will have retail space.... and a few other details. Interesting.

Did you overhear Warren saying anything about buying ConAgra?

GetUrban wrote:Well we know it's going to happen....just a matter of how tall and if it will have retail space.... and a few other details. :D Interesting.

Did you overhear Warren saying anything about buying ConAgra?

I wasn't close enough to hear anything WB was saying, just the HDR table (I mentioned him vouching for me in jest). Besides, it looked like he wasn't talking much... He was busy enjoying what appeared to be a delicious looking root beer float.

mr. omaha wrote:I was at Piccolo's for lunch today (so was Warren Buffett BTW...) and I sat right next to two guys (at least one was from HDR) who were discussing the HQ building. I clearly overheard them say the following things:

"20 to 25 stories" on top of "a couple levels of parking"

"The box on top of the parking levels"

"The leased portion of the parking"

"Leased retail bays"

Also, I clearly heard them say they have some renderings completed and "it looks really neat" and "it's a great design"

.....If you don't believe me ask B Money.

Maybe the box means a lobby area, as for it being 20+ stories lets look over some things...

-HDR is a globally renowned architecture group. It wouldn't surprise me if they built a very nice looking tower to impress clients as an HQ.

-They outgrew their already large office complex and most likely want to expand enough so they won't have to add on for awhile.

-If they made the garage on the bottom of the building it would be a fairly sizable garage.

-They may make a large room on top or antenna to claim the spot as Omaha's second tallest building. Architects have some of the biggest egos ever.

All in all wouldn't surprise me if it was even more than 25 stories.

This HDR rumor and HDR official thread duplicity is getting annoying.

Yeah...I love the organization of this forum, but sometimes it can become a bit too compartmentalized. The other HDR thread is mostly "rumors" too!

Maybe the threads should just be merged.

Rumor circulating that OPA withdrew their plans for Spechtsite because HDR is about to pull the plug on their HQ over insufficient parking. Heard from 2 sources I will not name. I am a regular poster but do not want to be associated with this, which is why I'm going this route.

How can there be insufficient parking? They're building a 7 story parking garage.

Well I am sure they will announce that soon if true. The clock is ticking on their lease and they will have to go out and find a new site, close on that, redesign, reengineer go through any city processes ect.

EDIT: Gotta wonder if the MTC site is still in play...

The reaction on here would be priceless if true.

Maybe they saw people's reactions to the design on here

Why not flip the building so it faces Capital St? They then could connect their garage to a joint garage with OPA across the street.

Trips wrote:Why not flip the building so it faces Capital St? They then could connect their garage to a joint garage with OPA across the street.

They want retail along Capitol, but don't want it in their own building.

That would take natural light out of the bottom half of the building too.

They'll move it to the spot where M's pub once was, tearing down the shell to replace it with a 9 story building.


Edit: Made of aqua green glass.

MadMartin8 wrote:They'll move it to the spot where M's pub once was, tearing down the shell to replace it with a 9 story building.


Edit: Made of aqua green glass.

Including or excluding the roof and basement?

I think when all is said and done, we'll have a 5 story low rise HQ building, but it will fit in perfectly with the architectural mosaic of the Old Market.............

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

I heard the same rumor about parking and I thought the person was crazy. How could a firm like HDR not understand parking needs and incorporate that into a design?

Maybe the HDR building was just a ruse to get the Historic Buildings next to the Holland Center. Now that that has fallen through there is no reason to continue the fake headquarters story.

Green wrote:I heard the same rumor about parking and I thought the person was crazy. How could a firm like HDR not understand parking needs and incorporate that into a design?

Maybe the HDR building was just a ruse to get the Historic Buildings next to the Holland Center. Now that that has fallen through there is no reason to continue the fake headquarters story.

Considering they have already submitted elevations along with their TIF request and their lease is running out in their current digs, this would be one heck of an elaborate ruse. I think they did what they did with their parking because it was cheap and they weren't made to integrate the parking into the base of the building. If a city starting forcing businesses and developers to do that, no one would build downtown because it would cost too much in construction.

jessep28 wrote:

MadMartin8 wrote:They'll move it to the spot where M's pub once was, tearing down the shell to replace it with a 9 story building.


Edit: Made of aqua green glass.

Including or excluding the roof and basement?

Both, using a portal to a parallel universe.

As a caveat, there will be a 2 foot Spire at the top.