Mutual Campus Redevelopment (33rd & Farnam)

Downtown, Midtown, and all parts east of 72nd.

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mcarch
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by mcarch »

magis wrote:Just catching up on this wonderful blog! I am an owner at the Twin Towers Condos. I have heard that some folks have conversed with the real estate crew at MOO--they have no desire to buy the Twin Towers. In any case, as the original poster hinted, you won't be able to get the super majority required by the by-laws to agree to an offer to purchase all the condos from the current 100+ owners. Thats what I like about condos---I don't care how big the interested company is, they cannot simply walk up and buy the building. I believe there was a time that MOO may have had a better chance of doing so. But it was a catch 22--at the time before the redevelopment they would not have really had the interest in trying to acquire the whole building for the owners--and maybe the owners would not have sold. After all, many of the original purchasers of the condos in the 1980's bought them outright for as low as $25,000. That gives folks good security as they age. And now in the last 5 years the HOA (i.e. the owners of all the condos)for Twin Towers have upgraded the chiller, replaced the roof, remodeled the common areas extensively and purchased two new elevators. This was an expensive capital investment that the owners themselves paid for. They see good value in the building and have hope of good appreciation in the coming years.
Yes, but dangle 100k to 200k more than each unit is worth and I'm sure there would be a majority of owners ready to sell. Plus, if a company buys off the right people... eminent domain could also happen.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

mcarch wrote:
magis wrote:Just catching up on this wonderful blog! I am an owner at the Twin Towers Condos. I have heard that some folks have conversed with the real estate crew at MOO--they have no desire to buy the Twin Towers. In any case, as the original poster hinted, you won't be able to get the super majority required by the by-laws to agree to an offer to purchase all the condos from the current 100+ owners. Thats what I like about condos---I don't care how big the interested company is, they cannot simply walk up and buy the building. I believe there was a time that MOO may have had a better chance of doing so. But it was a catch 22--at the time before the redevelopment they would not have really had the interest in trying to acquire the whole building for the owners--and maybe the owners would not have sold. After all, many of the original purchasers of the condos in the 1980's bought them outright for as low as $25,000. That gives folks good security as they age. And now in the last 5 years the HOA (i.e. the owners of all the condos)for Twin Towers have upgraded the chiller, replaced the roof, remodeled the common areas extensively and purchased two new elevators. This was an expensive capital investment that the owners themselves paid for. They see good value in the building and have hope of good appreciation in the coming years.
Yes, but dangle 100k to 200k more than each unit is worth and I'm sure there would be a majority of owners ready to sell. Plus, if a company buys off the right people... eminent domain could also happen.
I wouldn't mind seeing that tower torn down :;):
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Dundeemaha »

It would be pretty unfortunate I think to lose that much density in midtown.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by MTO »

PotatoeEatsFish wrote:
mcarch wrote:
magis wrote:Just catching up on this wonderful blog! I am an owner at the Twin Towers Condos. I have heard that some folks have conversed with the real estate crew at MOO--they have no desire to buy the Twin Towers. In any case, as the original poster hinted, you won't be able to get the super majority required by the by-laws to agree to an offer to purchase all the condos from the current 100+ owners. Thats what I like about condos---I don't care how big the interested company is, they cannot simply walk up and buy the building. I believe there was a time that MOO may have had a better chance of doing so. But it was a catch 22--at the time before the redevelopment they would not have really had the interest in trying to acquire the whole building for the owners--and maybe the owners would not have sold. After all, many of the original purchasers of the condos in the 1980's bought them outright for as low as $25,000. That gives folks good security as they age. And now in the last 5 years the HOA (i.e. the owners of all the condos)for Twin Towers have upgraded the chiller, replaced the roof, remodeled the common areas extensively and purchased two new elevators. This was an expensive capital investment that the owners themselves paid for. They see good value in the building and have hope of good appreciation in the coming years.
Yes, but dangle 100k to 200k more than each unit is worth and I'm sure there would be a majority of owners ready to sell. Plus, if a company buys off the right people... eminent domain could also happen.
I wouldn't mind seeing that tower torn down :;):
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by OmahaCowgirl »

Anyone have a copy of the contract between the Twin Towers Condo Association Board and the construction company that was supposed to "fix" the North Tower so that there were no leaks into the parking garage? You know, the construction project where the condo owners and parking stall owners together pined up $700,000? A couple of weeks into the construction project, allegedly, the construction company was downright stupefied that they would be unable to complete the repair project and the whole building would have to come down. Anyone could see that the building was visibly leaning and was found to be so dangerous by the city that nobody was allowed to walk or park near to it, and there was a huge crane attached by wire to a top corner of the building to hold it upright so it would not fall.
Thing is, that $700,000 was spent, but the underground parking garage still leaks horribly for the past 5 years. I can't understand why the Twin Towers Association Board is unable to get Mutual of Omaha to fix the leaks..........but now we know that Mutual met with Board members years ago, and that is why Board members and their friends and family have been going on a buying spree of commercial and residential units the past few years.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by GRANDPASMUCKER »

OmahaCowgirl wrote:Anyone have a copy of the contract between the Twin Towers Condo Association Board and the construction company that was supposed to "fix" the North Tower so that there were no leaks into the parking garage? You know, the construction project where the condo owners and parking stall owners together pined up $700,000? A couple of weeks into the construction project, allegedly, the construction company was downright stupefied that they would be unable to complete the repair project and the whole building would have to come down. Anyone could see that the building was visibly leaning and was found to be so dangerous by the city that nobody was allowed to walk or park near to it, and there was a huge crane attached by wire to a top corner of the building to hold it upright so it would not fall.
Thing is, that $700,000 was spent, but the underground parking garage still leaks horribly for the past 5 years. I can't understand why the Twin Towers Association Board is unable to get Mutual of Omaha to fix the leaks..........but now we know that Mutual met with Board members years ago, and that is why Board members and their friends and family have been going on a buying spree of commercial and residential units the past few years.

There is no way a crane could hold that building up if it started to fall. 3 cranes could not hold it up if it started to fall. :lol: If anybody ripped ya off it was the construction company. 700,000 sounds like a lot of money but in a big building like that it wont get you too far at all. To stop the water from coming into the garage you got to find somewhere else to direct the water. That might be a tricky expensive thing to do on that small lot with that big building.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by buildomaha »

http://www.omaha.com/money/mutual-of-om ... ba69a.html
Mutual of Omaha may have a new home office in its future, not far from its current Midtown location.

“We’re thinking about it,” Mutual Chief Executive James Blackledge said Thursday. Although there is no definite plan, timetable or exact location, he said, a decision may come “in the not-too-distant future.”

The 109-year-old company has 5,300 employees, three-fourths of them in Omaha. Mutual has added 500 jobs and boosted its revenue by nearly one-third in the past three and a half years, said Blackledge, a 28-year Mutual employee who became CEO in 2015.

He said a new headquarters would be close to the current home office at 3301 Dodge St., an iconic structure that includes a black tower topped by the company’s Indian-head logo. Built in five phases and connected by hallways, the first part was completed in 1940 and the latest addition, a dome-topped underground building, in 1979.
Hmmmm.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Athomsfere »

I actually expected this to be a hotter topic on here today!

My thoughts: There is still an empty spot where UNP used to be, but with Mutual Of Omaha also trying to redevelop so much near MTC that would also make sense.

Any lots in that master plan without a planned building? Or perhaps a commercial building lot without proposed tenants?

Whatever happens, I do hope the existing building finds a new use. Such a good looking building!
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by NEDodger »

My guess is that it goes northwest of the current building.

Given the way the current...."mish-mash add-on" building is structured, I'm going to be super disappointed if the new building isn't at least 350 feet.

Edit: I know a building like that would look out of place given the surroundings, but this is under the assumption that the surrounding area is also developed by Mutual with other low-to-mid-rises.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by skinzfan23 »

I was thinking that maybe they would develop some of the land to the east along Farnam.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by MTO »

In a perfect world they’d develop those lots to the west and burry the parking inside of it.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by iamjacobm »

Have a hard time seeing them leaving the Midtown area after putting $300 million into it.

First thought is that it would be cool to build a 400 footer on the west side of 480 and use a portion of the TIF to finance a cap for 480 that can be a civic plaza for the tower.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Business News

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Will this be a new skyscraper or a sprawling campus, and how many millions of dollars in incentives will this cost the city?

http://www.omaha.com/money/mutual-of-om ... ba69a.html
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by OmahaOmaha »

I kind of wish they would take over Crossroads and build several buildings with good height, versus a really tall building that will look out of place in the midtown area.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Business News

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OmahaOmaha wrote:Will this be a new skyscraper or a sprawling campus, and how many millions of dollars in incentives will this cost the city?

http://www.omaha.com/money/mutual-of-om ... ba69a.html
Given they want to stay close to where their current campus is, I would put money on them building in Turner Park East.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Garrett »

Based on some rough calculations, Mutual of Omaha has about 800,000 sqft. of space between their two buildings in Midtown. For comparison, Woodmen tower is about 525,000 sqft, One First National is 730,000 sqft, and Union Pacific has 1.1 million sqft, of which 780,000 is dedicated to office usage. Basically, they could easily build the biggest building in Omaha if they wanted to move all of their employees over.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Business News

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The article said they are looking at an "unspecified acquisition" a "big merger." I have no clue what insurance company they are looking at but I will guess Physicians Mutual.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by MadMartin8 »

They'll build a campus of short to mid rise building, turn their main former HQ into a residential tower taking up any demand for a new high rise in downtown, keep their other former building in use, and everyone here will lose their |expletive|.


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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Athomsfere »

Garrett wrote:Based on some rough calculations, Mutual of Omaha has about 800,000 sqft. of space between their two buildings in Midtown. For comparison, Woodmen tower is about 525,000 sqft, One First National is 730,000 sqft, and Union Pacific has 1.1 million sqft, of which 780,000 is dedicated to office usage. Basically, they could easily build the biggest building in Omaha if they wanted to move all of their employees over.
For sheer geekiness what does this look like in number of floors? Let's say they planned far ahead for 1,000,000 square feet could that be (in a crazy scenario, not realistic for Omaha) a Devon Tower?
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Business News

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GrandpaaSmucker wrote:The article said they are looking at an "unspecified acquisition" a "big merger." I have no clue what insurance company they are looking at but I will guess Physicians Mutual.
That would be interesting in as much as PMut. moved into the old Northern Natural Gas HQ that was supposed to be 3 or 4 buildings, but Enron interrupted the plan leaving the other buildings unstarted.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Garrett »

Athomsfere wrote:
Garrett wrote:Based on some rough calculations, Mutual of Omaha has about 800,000 sqft. of space between their two buildings in Midtown. For comparison, Woodmen tower is about 525,000 sqft, One First National is 730,000 sqft, and Union Pacific has 1.1 million sqft, of which 780,000 is dedicated to office usage. Basically, they could easily build the biggest building in Omaha if they wanted to move all of their employees over.
For sheer geekiness what does this look like in number of floors? Let's say they planned far ahead for 1,000,000 square feet could that be (in a crazy scenario, not realistic for Omaha) a Devon Tower?
That can vary wildly. 432 Park Avenue is almost 1400 ft tall but only has 400,000ish sqft whereas the Sears Tower is basically the same height and has almost 4.5 million sqft.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Coyote »

It would be devastating to Midtown Crossing to take away a potential 4000 lunch/dinner guests.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Athomsfere »

Coyote wrote:It would be devastating to Midtown Crossing to take away a potential 4000 lunch/dinner guests.
It would be, but I personally don't see this as super likely. I'm sure someone will want that building even if MoO leaves the immediate area.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Business News

Post by Coyote »

Does MofO use MTC for its hotel now? I have a friend from Denver who will be an Agile Manager for the year and I think they are putting her up somewhere close by..
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Greg S »

I kind of figure they might look at Turner Park East as well. I can't see and would be incredibly disappointed if they left the mid town area.

I'd love to see NuStyle take on converting the existing HQ. Not sure with what they have going on at St Joseph's if they have the bandwith or not though.

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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by GrandpaaSmucker »

bigredmed1 wrote:
GrandpaaSmucker wrote:The article said they are looking at an "unspecified acquisition" a "big merger." I have no clue what insurance company they are looking at but I will guess Physicians Mutual.
That would be interesting in as much as PMut. moved into the old Northern Natural Gas HQ that was supposed to be 3 or 4 buildings, but Enron interrupted the plan leaving the other buildings unstarted.
The puzzle pieces fit nicely. Mutual Of Omaha buys out Physicians Mutual and builds their new headquarters on all that extra land they got there.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Garrett »

GrandpaaSmucker wrote:
bigredmed1 wrote:
GrandpaaSmucker wrote:The article said they are looking at an "unspecified acquisition" a "big merger." I have no clue what insurance company they are looking at but I will guess Physicians Mutual.
That would be interesting in as much as PMut. moved into the old Northern Natural Gas HQ that was supposed to be 3 or 4 buildings, but Enron interrupted the plan leaving the other buildings unstarted.
The puzzle pieces fit nicely. Mutual Of Omaha buys out Physicians Mutual and builds their new headquarters on all that extra land they got there.
Very interesting. If it is Physicians Mutual and they end up consolidating offices into 1 building, they currently take up about 1.1 million sqft. between their various offices around the city. That could also free up another huge parcel of land downtown for development.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by daveoma »

Garrett wrote:
GrandpaaSmucker wrote:
bigredmed1 wrote:
GrandpaaSmucker wrote:The article said they are looking at an "unspecified acquisition" a "big merger." I have no clue what insurance company they are looking at but I will guess Physicians Mutual.
That would be interesting in as much as PMut. moved into the old Northern Natural Gas HQ that was supposed to be 3 or 4 buildings, but Enron interrupted the plan leaving the other buildings unstarted.
The puzzle pieces fit nicely. Mutual Of Omaha buys out Physicians Mutual and builds their new headquarters on all that extra land they got there.
Very interesting. If it is Physicians Mutual and they end up consolidating offices into 1 building, they currently take up about 1.1 million sqft. between their various offices around the city. That could also free up another huge parcel of land downtown for development.
If Physicians Mutual moved, that would leave the Joslyn an opportunity to expand big time. :-) :-)
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by buildomaha »

It would be nice to see some more height extended west from downtown.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by buildomaha »

Also not sure how the logistics would work but their current main building could definitely be renovated (if even partially) into a classy hotel.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by anon »

It seems to be common knowledge these days that Mutual is definitely moving.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by raj »

anon wrote:It seems to be common knowledge these days that Mutual is definitely moving.
to where though?
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by anon »

The plan is for mutual to stay in midtown.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by BRoss »

It would surprise me if it wasn’t the area east of Turner Park.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Omaha Cowboy »

From what I’m hearing, they’ll definitely be building anew, but they’ll stay in the traditional midtown area where their current corporate “campus” is located...

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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Cardinal »

Lots of speculation out there about where mutual would build, but imo look to the south. The area between the garage and Turner Blvd is huge, has fewer owners to buy out and the city will readily transfer Dewey park to mutual for redevelopment.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by iamjacobm »

I am pretty sure it is against city code to sell off parkland for development.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Cardinal »

Ever heard of Turner Park?
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Coyote »

Cardinal wrote:Ever heard of Turner Park?
Turner Park was expanded during the construction of MTC, it never left the hands of the city.
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Re: Mutual of Omaha Plans for the Future?

Post by Cardinal »

If you can cite a city code that prohibits a park from being exchanged or developed I'd be glad to take a look at it.
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