Old UP headquarters razed for park space?

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:38 pm

Anyone have any idea what's to happen with the old UP building property?

An acquaintance of mine heard from a UP insider that the building will come down and left green space.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:55 pm

That would be really really sad.

With the new wagon train park (don't know what it's called), the last thing Capitol Avenue, or Dodge Street for that matter, needs is more green space. We need to keep and grow all the density we possibley can downtown.

Why would an insider at UP even know this? is my question. I thought the deal was they give it over to the city. Why would they have any input, or inside information on what's to become of it?

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:07 pm

Look... it's the rumor forum. Yippee!

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 1:10 am

that would be a terrible loss, the other UP headquaters i could do without though, that eyesore needs to be gone!

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 7:48 am

As much as I would hate to see a building go this one isn't really all that great. I know the city bought it for a dollar in some deal they made with UP. I thought I heard it was not a canidate for residential conversion so if it's going to be useless they might as well get rid of it and keep it open for something better.

omahahawk · Post by **omahahawk** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:44 pm

Sooner or later it will see dynamite, the only question is when. Or maybe they won't be able to dynamite it for fear of collateral damage to the new building. One way another though, you can rest assured that thing is coming down. I'm with Streets. Usually I would be all about putting a park in an urban setting but in this instance something else should be built there.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 7:13 pm

Green space is great, but how much do we need in this area of downtown. With the first national wagon park near by as well as the mall, there is no need for that.

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 8:27 pm

The city could prep the site for a future high rise developer. It's nothing but an asbestos box. Otherwise it will sit there for years and the pigeons will cover the building and sidwalks with crud. That would be attractive. The cost to demolish the building will increase every year the city waits, so I say lets blow it up now and hope there is a developer out there that wants to build a high rise condo project on the site. It would be perfect.

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 8:34 pm

That's too bad. I bet many will regret demolishing this building, if and when it does happen.

If the city gave the building away to a developer, I wonder if it would be feasible and profitable for it to be redeveloped into condos with the asbestos problems?

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 8:56 pm

I've heard it would be very expensive, cost prohibitive. The building has additions added to it on the northeast corner from the 50's or 60's and looks tacky in my opinion. They could maybe get 40 condos in that space at most. A new building would be such a better use of space. I still think it would be a perfect block for a new high rise condo or office building.

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 9:25 pm

Granted downtown Omaha is booming like it hasn't in the decades before, but what makes people so confident that some high rise or other development will even happen here? If we learned anything from urban renewal, it's not to unecessarily tear down buildings like this unless there's something better that comes along. Wait until the bird is in hand before there's another hole in fabric, otherwise you may be sitting on another parcel of "green space" for 15 years.

The city should build some kind of fund that would be used to demolish the building and throw it at a developer that would be willing to rehab the building. If no one steps forward, they should put out an RFP on redeveloping it, and then think about demolishing it.

Sincerely,

-Mayor Aaron's right-hand man

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 10:22 pm

DMRyan wrote:Granted downtown Omaha is booming like it hasn't in the decades before, but what makes people so confident that some high rise or other development will even happen here? If we learned anything from urban renewal, it's not to unecessarily tear down buildings like this unless there's something better that comes along. Wait until the bird is in hand before there's another hole in fabric, otherwise you may be sitting on another parcel of "green space" for 15 years.

The city should build some kind of fund that would be used to demolish the building and throw it at a developer that would be willing to rehab the building. If no one steps forward, they should put out an RFP on redeveloping it, and then think about demolishing it.

Sincerely,

-Mayor Aaron's right-hand man

I definitely have to agree. As far as I'm concerned, tearing it down, even for highrise condos would be a terrible waist. As long as there are still huge surface lots in downtown there is NO NEED at all to tear down a building of this scale. I agree it's not the best looking building, but it provides much needed density as well as historical significance to the city. It was obviously serving UP well enough as offices right up until the move. Why not just least the space out as offices until someone comes along who wants to do something.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:03 pm

Tear down the 'modern' additions... rip off the colored panels... and it's a beautiful condominium building.

jborg · Post by **jborg** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:07 pm

I think the addition to the old headquarters looks terrible. As for the original part of the building, I would be sad to see it go. If only there is a efficient way to get rid of the addition while preserving the rest.

Also,
Until I found this website, I had no idea that we had lost so many beatiful structures and parks in Omaha.
http://www.omaha.lib.ne.us/earlyomaha/postgallery1.html
Many of you probably already have seen this website, but I just wanted to share it with those who haven't

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:23 pm

I had always envisioned ripping off the 'modern' addition and replacing it with an angled, roof to ground atrim... ala the FNC winter garden.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:58 pm

Why should we tear down the modern part? It's very representative of the design period it came from....albeit a very ugly period. A staple of a great city is the "cross-section" of architecture you can see while you're there.

I think if the metal were just cleaned up and polished it would be very beautiful.

Of course the addition to the UP building was made back in a time where if you said "contextual design" to an architect, he would say "Huh?"

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:06 am

Wow... I wasn't expecting that Aaron. I think the addition was just wrong in the first place. I can't even recount any other examples in other cities of joining such horribly disparate architectures together (although has anyone seen what they're building on the grounds surrounding the otherwise incredibly beautiful Nelson Atkins Art Museum in KC??)

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:24 am

I do have to agree with Jeff on this one. There's a way to blend the old with the new and have it work, but this isn't one of those cases. I can understand what you're saying Aaron, in preserving architecture from all periods, it makes things more diverse. I can see this retro/1950-60's modernist trend becoming popular again too. I guess IMO, it is still hideousely bland architecture with little regard to creating a sense of place and I typically have no problems with it seeing the wrecking ball.

Let's just say that if the modern addition were a free standing building, I might agree with what you're saying. By all means, keep the old addition standing though!

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:21 am

If they tore down the modern part and built another L shaped building on the site they could have a pretty nice courtyard and put in public places like shops or restaurants. I wouldn't lose sleep if the whole building came down and nothing went up for a while but the building was the home to a very historic company that even played a role in how are nation developed. How many companies are as famous as UP? If the building wasn't usable because of asbestos than they should goi ahead and get rid of it.

omahahawk · Post by **omahahawk** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:54 pm

From what I understand its utilities are past the point of being cost effective to repair. It needs to be leveled.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:02 pm

Some food for thought in regards to green space possibilities....

The "covered wagon" park at Capitol and 15th is to tie into the "goose fountain" park at Dodge and 16th, with buffalo statues being used to transition from the Capitol park to the Dodge park.

Now, should the old Federal Building at 15th and Dodge happen to come into the City's possession in the next few years, that would give the City the perfect corridor between the two parks whereas to have ample space to place the planned buffalo, especially if the UP and Fed buildings came tumbling down.

It would still give the City the opportunity to sell most of the UP block to a developer to build upon. And the new tenant would have a nice side lawn to their building to boot. And First National would control the south side of Dodge between 15th and 16th (assuming the City would deed over the Fed building ground like they did the "goose fountain" park site).

Just my two cents of thoughts......

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:11 pm

By old Federal Building, are you talking about this beautiful example of what is one of Omaha's best examples of art deco?

You must be crazy if you are. All for a park with some cheesy buffalo sculptures in it? They can do that with the empty riverfront or a random surface lot and leave this beauty standing.

GoWest · Post by **GoWest** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:03 pm

I'm with Ryan on the old fed building. I love it. Can we stop talking about tearing buildings down. We have done enough damage to the old buildings in this city the way it is. Do we just want to make downtown one big park? Today we've discussed tearing down the old UP building, the old Fed building and park plaza. What’s next?

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:16 pm

I think First National Tower should be next to go. That bohemouth is on prime real estate for what could be a beautiful buffalo fountain with some grass, some benches, and maybe an Oak tree to complement the other parks around there. Everyone knows the buffalo is part of our heritage, so we need this space for a buffalo that spouts water in order to symbolize them.

...No more parks, there are plenty. Lets rebuild or revitalize these buildings instead.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:30 pm

Easy fellas! I was just throwing out a theory!

I agree it would be a shame to see the Fed bldg come down, but once the Zorinsky bldg renovation is done next year, I don't think there will be any tenants left in that building, and (I believe) the City would be able to acquire the building. What they would do with it is anybody's guess.....but I'm fairly certain there was a rumor that First National had a keen interest in that property a few years back when the Zorinsky renovation began and it looked like the old building would have no tenants when the renovation was done....

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:08 pm

I don't think anyone really wants to tear down builidngs (except I do want to see Central Park Plaza go

) but the old UP HQ is extremely old. Even if it was usable up until the day the workers moved out it's probably not going to be as attractive to new businesses because of it's age and the availabilty of other properties DT. And if we wants apartments/condos there and it's too much money to fix it up then it should be cleared for something that will make the whole area better.

FatGuy · Post by **FatGuy** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:10 pm

If U.P. does implode, I hope a strong westerly wind blows the thing right on top of the World-Herald's old two story building, unoccupied of course. What a waste of space that building is. I wonder how important that little building is to the total operations of our newspaper. Anybody know?

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:44 pm

I thought the old OWH building was still in use but not as much.

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:46 pm

I love the old Federal Building. That is definitely a piece of art and should not be touched. I'm sorry but I feel nothing for the old UP building. Keep some of the trimmings and incorporate into the new building. Acckkk! If someone has the money to tear down the addition, remove the asbestos and the turqois panels, upgrade the utilities then they should go for it. Otherwise I think it will sit for years to come, boards, pigeon |expletive|, homelessness and all.

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:09 pm

Look at the Paxton, the most highly visible and largest eyesore in downtown Omaha. The very site of this boarded up building can give out-of-towners a negative impression of downtown. And look what's about to happen to it. Can you imagine if this building were to have been torn down? No 15 story new condo complex would beat the Paxton IMO.

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:21 pm

I don't think the old UP building is even in the same league as the Paxton. Two completely different architectural styles with no trailer park add ons and no colorful panels.

We are very lucky to have the Paxton and it wasnt vacant that long. The exterior is much more impressive.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:57 pm

Yeah, IceJammer...are you crazy???? That beautiful Deco building???? No way.

And I'm not saying I would shed a tear if the old UP building were torn down....but it would have to be for a damn good replacement.

guy4omaha · Post by **guy4omaha** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:08 pm

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Why should we tear down the modern part?

I think if the metal were just cleaned up and polished it would be very beautiful.

What the heck is this. Streets and I agree on something.

omahahawk · Post by **omahahawk** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:27 pm

Anybody know whats up with the Farm Credit building at 19th and Douglas? Its empty too now isn't it? Is it getting ready for the wrecking ball? Is the Subway restaurant in the bottom still open?

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:45 pm

I'm moving into one of the Rows at SoMa (hopefully Jan 06) and I was just thinking...

That big eyesore of a tower to the northwest (FNB) will be blocking my view of a handful of constellations. Think we could tear that down?

As a matter of fact, I'm not happy with the way my kitchen flows into my dining area, so I propose imploding the Rows AND the Paxton and seeing if the city council would consider relocation credits to 418th and BFE Road.

Happy happy joy joy...

-Big E

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:22 pm

Haha!

But are you seriously moving into SoMa? And if so, awesome!

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 12:17 am

Anyone remember what the other (1 or 2) threads was in the rumors forum here? (besides the Qwest Center seating one DTO) ... this forum in particular seems to be dropping threads. Or am I just losing my mind.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:00 am

The amusement park thread is gone and the concert rumor one is gone and the baseball stadium one is gone. And that Carmax one is gone.....and the Qwest Center one

And I thought you were jsut being Fascist.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:13 am

I was just hoping all of the rumors had been confirmed as true!

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:58 am

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Yeah, IceJammer...are you crazy???? That beautiful Deco building???? No way.

Yes, sometimes I am crazy. It's just one step removed from genius, no?

Personally, I think the building would be a great candidate for a renovation, should the building leave the inventory of the Fed. govt, just based on looks alone.

But, since this is the Rumors board, I thought I would just throw out a possible outcome of some rumors (some more concrete than others) I have heard in connection with the original rumor (tearing down the old UP HQ) of this thread. I'm not advocating the destruction of any building.

No harm, no foul?