WallStreet Tower Omaha

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:40 pm

Then again, if it does get built, it could be taller than advertised..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:09 pm

I wish I could have posted something about this sooner. It just escaped my mind and plus the article came out sooner than I thought. I was working the other day and had the chance to spend a good four hours with Mike Fahey. He has been a friend of my father's for quite a while so he was a little bit more open with me about some of the questions I asked him.

It was a great four hours and he was very open. I as well am a member of the height obsessed club and well one of the first questions I asked him was about Finn's post regarding a new high rise. I was kind of joking and I asked him, when are we gunna get another high rise. I'm itching for one. He laughed and said to be patient. He told me that he is not real involved with that stuff, but since he is pretty connected throughout the community anyways, he still has a bit of an inside when it comes to that kind of stuff. He confirmed, as we all know, that there are quite a few developers looking to expand downtown living. Then he mentioned something about another high rise being built. I too also almost |expletive| my pants. Don't know if that is what Finn is talking about or if it was the UP deal. He said there is a lot of promise for these projects as well and they aren't all dreams.

Now obviously funding is something that needs to be figured out, especially with a site like UP that needs to be demolished, but he reassured me that the city wants to improve its image even further and he said that all lies in new development.

He is extrememly excited about the new Gene Leahy Mall design. He said to expect plenty of new development over the next year to come to fruition. He loves the idea of North Downtown and thinks it has the ability to really be a top notch part of Omaha.

He is very positive about Omaha. He has a little bit of Daub in him when he talks because you can tell he wants Omaha to really thrive and move forward. It was a great conversation and was a great insight into Omaha and how the mayor envisions it.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:16 pm

Did you happen to ask him about the pedestrian bridge psl??

OmahaChef · Post by **OmahaChef** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:19 pm

I agree with this totally. This week was the first time I have met the Mayor of Omaha, but I came away quite impressed with his vision for a new and bigger downtown Omaha.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:26 pm

That is a very positive and promisiing post psl25201..

Lets hope this all comes to fruition..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:43 am

This is pretty awesome. Everything we've been asking for is now being granted. If our track record for wishes granted is anything to go by, I'm sure we'll hear about a major corporation moving jobs here and taking up space in downtown offices sometime soon.

jjjjhskr · Post by **jjjjhskr** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 8:15 am

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:This is pretty awesome. Everything we've been asking for is now being granted. If our track record for wishes granted is anything to go by, I'm sure we'll hear about a major corporation moving jobs here and taking up space in downtown offices sometime soon.

and we'll be hearing about a light rail/trolley start date, news on the pedestrian bridge, and a science museum.

adam186 · Post by **adam186** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 3:21 pm

^Me too, doesn't it have more sf than the First National Building? So disappointing

Anyway, if the building is 30 stories tall (Woodmen) with 9-12 foot ceilings (from the website) it should be well over 300 feet. heck the Woodmen is 478 feet and is 30 stories and that's an office building with less space between the floors. Hopefully this becomes a landmark building.

Maybe a grocery store will be some of the retail on the first level. Perfect location with people leaving work and picking up groceries before they go back home. Not to mention the residents above them and the other new 1,000 residents in the neighborhood. I'm still waiting for movie theatre though.

I'm predicting demolition in the fall of 2006 or early 2007 if everything goes okay.

Post by **Brad** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 8:27 pm

Here is my guess of what 25-30 stories looks like.

DTO can you post the picture you found of the KC building on the scrapers page?

Post by **Brad** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 9:06 pm

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 11:22 pm

Jhuston,

I totally forgot about that. Im such an idiot because I am a big proponent of that and I would have liked to have heard some more about it, but I just flat out forgot about it. If I get another chance to ask him, I will be sure to.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:13 am

No problem psl.

Brad... I doubt this proposed condo tower would occupy the entire block. I'd look for it to be about as big as the FNC around... at most (and I'm talking the 'old' glass FNC... not the tower).

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:26 pm

Even though I don't think the UP site is right for this project, I am nonetheless extatic at the prospects of a 25 to 30 story condo tower built in Omaha by a KC developer.

I do think that the old UP building would be a much more appropriate site for Omaha's next major corporate skyscraper, especially since it is much more in the heart of the business district, and since there are plenty of vacant lots downtown in prime locations that should be utilised for construction before any significant structures are torn down.

Anyway, great news, and I can't wait to hear more detailed info on this and to see a rendering!!! Hopefully soon!

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 5:32 pm

Here's the building in KC. It's 23 stories (not 20 like the OWH listed). I still can't find a height for the building though.
http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=222070

But I they do put in the max with 30 floors and 12 feet pre floor than it gives us 360' which would be the third tallest building in Omaha overtaking the Masonic Manor. I wich they'd push it over 400' and take the third tallest building title away from Lincoln.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 5:34 pm

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Even though I don't think the UP site is right for this project, I am nonetheless extatic at the prospects of a 25 to 30 story condo tower built in Omaha by a KC developer.

I do think that the old UP building would be a much more appropriate site for Omaha's next major corporate skyscraper, especially since it is much more in the heart of the business district, and since there are plenty of vacant lots downtown in prime locations that should be utilised for construction before any significant structures are torn down.

Anyway, great news, and I can't wait to hear more detailed info on this and to see a rendering!!! Hopefully soon!

I think the big empty lot east of the old UP building would be better for a new corporate tower. It would push the CBD out more.

Also I like how Jeff said the other day how the building won't look exactly like the one in KC but they are looking to duplicate the idea if that makes sense.

Post by **Coyote** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 5:41 pm

WallStreet Tower in KC:

FatGuy · Post by **FatGuy** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 6:06 pm

I am a little dissapointed in KC's building. It seems rather plain.

FatGuy · Post by **FatGuy** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 6:12 pm

I know this is nit picky and am aware the website states 23, but I am counting 16 stories with the colored glass. Which means 7 stories/floors would be between the earth and the colored glass. It seems like 4 at most. Just an observation.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 6:50 pm

Guys... Wallstreet Tower is simply a condo -conversion- of an office building built in the 70's. I wouldn't expect any -new- condo construction to resemble it. When they suggest an Omaha condo tower will be similar... I think their talking in very loose terms (ie a highrise condo tower).

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:44 pm

It doesn't have to be the tallest building but they can make it stand out.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Sun Jun 19, 2005 10:06 pm

jhuston wrote: Brad... I doubt this proposed condo tower would occupy the entire block. I'd look for it to be about as big as the FNC around... at most (and I'm talking the 'old' glass FNC... not the tower).

Good point, I wonder what they will fill the other part of the block with. I mean its not like this will be like Hancock center in Chicago and take up a full city block. Whatever it is I hope it is a mid or high rise because this area is too dense to have wasted space.

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 10:30 pm

Putting up conceptual pictures seemingly is the thing to do here so here is mine.

POTUS · Post by **POTUS** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:42 pm

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:45 pm

Nice design... the scale is a little off.

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:54 am

It seems like all of the buildigs are going for the same hight, we need to vary thm a little

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:47 pm

Nice Brad..

I agree..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:16 pm

I was just going by the reality of the building. 30 residential floors won't be equal to the 30 in the Woodmen. That's why I said even though it might not stick up it can still stick out.

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:49 pm

DTO, I wasn't talking about your drawing, I think developers should get away from building all the structures in DTO 25 to 30 floors

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:58 pm

Well, of course I agree, Brad...they should all go for TALLER structures. But I still welcome a 30 story condo tower.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 6:50 pm

It would be nice if there were more 25-30 story buildings in Omaha. The only two (maybe three but I'm not sure about the Masonic manor) are the Woodmen (30) and First National (44). The ONLY other one above 20 stories is the old FNC building with 22. Other than that we don't have anything with 20+ floors.

One thing they could do to make it taller is take the planned 250 units and spread them out amongst more floors. If you just did it 8 units per floor (250/30) you'd get around 360'. But if you could fit more on the lower floors (also catering to the people w/o as much to pay for a place) and move the other units to higher floors, than you could push the building higher and charge more for the bigger units on the top.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 6:58 pm

They could also do what 1st National or the Trump Building did and use the top ‘whatever’ floors for utilities, or atleast make a visually appealing cap.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:42 pm

Almost every major building has utility stuff on the top X amount of floors, and really tall buildings will have them on top and about 1/2 way up.

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:39 pm

I was out of town when this news broke. This is great as this group has been looking for a site.

http://www.eomaha.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... ght=#19353

That still leaves open the NNG building and my rumor site (11th & Harney Streets).

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:26 pm

NNG????

Imagine if all the rumors came true. We'd have condo towers at the old UP site, the old Swanson site, the Butternut site, and the 11th and Howard site.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:38 pm

2223 Dodge... aka former Northern Natural Gas

Make it a condo tower and then turn all that ugly parking behind it into greenspace.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:03 pm

Greenspace shmeenspace! It's all prime land for development. Why waste time and resources turning it into greenspace when it will just be dug up again soon???

The NNG would make an AMAZing condo conversion! If properly restored and remodeled it could be a fabulously sleek, cosmopolitan residential building. With those metal (aluminum?) panels it has great potential to be a beautifully restored modern building. Ad some balconies for all the units...oh god...gorgeous!

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:35 pm

I keep trying to convince my dad to buy that building and turn it into condos/apartments.

Then prep the parking space so it is construction ready and sell it to another devloper.

Asten · Post by **Asten** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:32 pm

Swift wrote:I keep trying to convince my dad to buy that building and turn it into condos/apartments.

Then prep the parking space so it is construction ready and sell it to another devloper.

My dad's company almost bought this years ago, before it was leased by FNB. Interestingly enough, our FNB Tower tour guide saturday told us it was in pretty bad shape inside.

Personally, I always thought it was pretty fugly.

--Asten