Twin Towers (30th & Farnam St)

omahahawk · Post by **omahahawk** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:22 pm

I remember driving buy this building numerous times when I was kid. At the time I thought it was the coolest place and really cosmopolitan looking. Of course this was back in the seventies and when it was in much better repair. I looked at apartments there just for grins back in the mid nineties and I can tell you that illusion was definately shattered. Anyway, I echo the sentiments of others who say this is great news and hope that they do restore it along the lines of its originally intended style. Maybe someone with more knowledge of architecture could tell me but I'm guessing its late 50s or early 60s something or another. It reminds me of a lot jet age type stuff in Seattle. The place does have a lot of potential, a great location, and was just waiting for the right developer to make it happen.

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:03 pm

That real estate website says it was built in 1919, that doesn't seem right? Was this one of those older buildings with horrible 60's/70's remodeling?

And by the way, take a look at all the pictures from the penthouse...YIKES...that place needs a lot of work, that nasty fake wood paneling is hideous. The views and balcony are awesome though.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:46 pm

Yes, these used to be brick warehouse buildings (probably would have been better if they left them the way they were). I recall my father saying he worked there when it was occupied by Sears and Roebuck (would have been some time back in the 50's).

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:25 pm

Stargazer wrote:Yes, these used to be brick warehouse buildings (probably would have been better if they left them the way they were). I recall my father saying he worked there when it was occupied by Sears and Roebuck (would have been some time back in the 50's).

That would be cool to find some old pics of the original. Everybody start searching! :)

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:09 pm

I recall seeing them in a book I picked up at the library once... but I couldn't recall what the book was.

UNOstudent · Post by **UNOstudent** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:48 am

Here is a picture from the book O&CB Streetcars of Omaha and Council Bluffs by Richard Orr, page 285.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:54 am

There you go! Nice find!

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 4:56 am

Great find! What were they thinking in the 60's?

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:33 pm

GetUrban wrote:Great find! What were they thinking in the 60's?

And the 70s, and the 80s, and a good chunk of the 90s...

justnick · Post by **justnick** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:10 pm

Big E wrote:
GetUrban wrote:Great find! What were they thinking in the 60's?
And the 70s, and the 80s, and a good chunk of the 90s...

Amen! Can you imagine what are city would look like if the growth in the past ten years had been going on for thirty or forty?

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:23 pm

something like this?

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:40 pm

that penthouse in the south tower is now listed less than $300,000...i want it! That balcony is just amazing.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:13 pm

Yeah, I think the balcony alone is as big as some of the places downtown which are selling for the same price.

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:45 am

New plans for the North Tower:

Rooms with a view: Planners approve Twin Towers project

Redevelopment plans for the north tower of midtown Omaha's Twin Towers call for stripping the 11-story building to its concrete floors and columns, the developer told The World-Herald on Wednesday.
The building at 3001 Douglas St. would get all new exterior and interior walls, practically making it a new building, said developer Troy Strawhecker.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:48 am

Finn wrote:New plans for the North Tower:

Rooms with a view: Planners approve Twin Towers project

Redevelopment plans for the north tower of midtown Omaha's Twin Towers call for stripping the 11-story building to its concrete floors and columns, the developer told The World-Herald on Wednesday.
The building at 3001 Douglas St. would get all new exterior and interior walls, practically making it a new building, said developer Troy Strawhecker.

Nice! From the same Article:

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:00 am

I that pic for real?

Post by **Brad** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:02 am

Coyote wrote:I that pic for real?

Straight out of the OWH...

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:09 am

I really hope they can do exterior renovations to this complex - but I have to wonder can interior keep the real investment price down. Can this really happen?

OmahaJaysCU · Post by **OmahaJaysCU** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:15 am

I hoped he would have got rid of the parking lot on the west side and built retail bays there. But I'll take it. Back to back good news for midtown!

10thstgoober · Post by **10thstgoober** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:14 pm

Very nice! I hope we see more make overs like this. Does anyone have a current pic of the north tower?

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:03 pm

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:03 pm

That rendering is pretty craptacular but lets hope it turns out better.

justnick · Post by **justnick** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:27 pm

What about the south Tower? New Versus Old is going to look like |expletive|, especially since they're connected in the middle.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:30 pm

DTO Luv wrote:That rendering is pretty craptacular but lets hope it turns out better.

I gotta agree, that rendering doesn't really do much for me.

windsor · Post by **windsor** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:26 pm

I think its going to be great. People that are not impressed with the rendering need to look whats on the rendering not its colors or realism. The biggest improvement I see is the second floor. They are removing all the bad looking windows and replacing it with a modern design. The second biggest improvement is the replacement of the panels on the balconies. I think it is going a great addition to the area.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:26 pm

windsor wrote:I think its going to be great. People that are not impressed with the rendering need to look whats on the rendering not its colors or realism. The biggest improvement I see is the second floor. They are removing all the bad looking windows and replacing it with a modern design. The second biggest improvement is the replacement of the panels on the balconies. I think it is going a great addition to the area.

I don't know, I'm still not all that impressed with it.

RegisResident · Post by **RegisResident** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:31 am

The developer doesn't have any control over the south tower- it is condominiums. From what I have heard, I don't think the condo assoc. has a lot of extra money to make improvements to the exterior of the south tower. The folks that live there were not pleased when the developer asked to have the north tower condemned (including the parking garage) because that was where they parked. I'm not sure if you noticed all the cars parked in back of the building (since the north tower was condemned) but those are the cars from the South tower.

I hope the developer makes the north tower look nice but I don't know how he'll be able to get the two buildings to blend together.

Post by **Brad** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:18 am

RegisResident wrote:The folks that live there were not pleased when the developer asked to have the north tower condemned (including the parking garage) because that was where they parked. I'm not sure if you noticed all the cars parked in back of the building (since the north tower was condemned) but those are the cars from the South tower.

I thought the north tower was condemned a long time ago?

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:56 am

RegisResident wrote:I hope the developer makes the north tower look nice but I don't know how he'll be able to get the two buildings to blend together.

Do they need to blend together?

For all intents and purposes there are no "Twin Towers" anymore, just two separate buildings side by side that connect.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:59 am

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:
RegisResident wrote:I hope the developer makes the north tower look nice but I don't know how he'll be able to get the two buildings to blend together.
Do they need to blend together?

For all intents and purposes there are no "Twin Towers" anymore, just two separate buildings side by side that connect.

....and far from identical twins.

I think the rendering shows alot of potential. It definitely doesn't look like your typical developer stuff. Like the article said, the final materials have yet to be selected.

RegisResident · Post by **RegisResident** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:06 am

Brad wrote:
RegisResident wrote:The folks that live there were not pleased when the developer asked to have the north tower condemned (including the parking garage) because that was where they parked. I'm not sure if you noticed all the cars parked in back of the building (since the north tower was condemned) but those are the cars from the South tower.
I thought the north tower was condemned a long time ago?

I don't think it was condemned until about 8 months ago- that was when the folks in the south tower lost their parking.

Post by **Brad** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:36 pm

Here is what I was thinking of:

On Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:03 pm, DTO Luv wrote:While I was looking at getting a place of my own today, I found out some pretty cool info. The north tower of the Twin Towers has been condemned. Some bank owns it, BUT another group of investors is looking at buying the building and turning it into apartments.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Aug 25, 2010 10:22 pm

Ahh yes I found it, I am caught up now.

JPenny · Post by **JPenny** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:20 am

I was reading another thread where Seth mentioned that there are some apartment renovations going on around MTC and it got me thinking about this project. Is this project still going to happen or is the developer just waiting for things to improve before anything happens here? This is a great location!

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 1:15 am

JPenny wrote:I was reading another thread where Seth mentioned that there are some apartment renovations going on around MTC and it got me thinking about this project. Is this project still going to happen or is the developer just waiting for things to improve before anything happens here? This is a great location!

This (sadly) wasn't one of the projects I was referring to. Most of the projects recently completed or currently underway are smaller, old buildings. Our landlord is doing one on Harney between Park Ave. and 31st St. right now.

I do wonder why the twin towers building is sitting dormant. Midtown Crossing is pretty much booked solid. I helped a friend from work move out last weekend, and he said someone was moving in as soon as he could get is stuff out.

Of course, the up-front capital to do a major renovation on a big building like the north building of Twin Towers is an order of magnitude higher than for the small 2-20 unit buildings, but it seems like there would be some strong demand for them. Maybe it's financing, or maybe the owner/developer is just waiting to see if the area really takes off before making the investment. I doubt many developers are willing (or have the ability) to take on the risk that Mutual did. Who knows, maybe there are legal complications as well.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:39 pm

Anyone know what's going on with this building? A crane, a forklift, and a couple of large steel beams have shown up recently at this site. Are they starting work on some unannounced new project, or are they just installing some bracing, so this decrepit building doesn't fall over?

Post by **Brad** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:10 pm

Ben wrote:Anyone know what's going on with this building? A crane, a forklift, and a couple of large steel beams have shown up recently at this site. Are they starting work on some unannounced new project, or are they just installing some bracing, so this decrepit building doesn't fall over?

Someone said a while back that it was purchased, but nothing has been announced yet. I will do some digging and see what I can find out.

ND 24 TURNER PARK LOFTS LLC
C/O TROY STRAWHECKER
1045 76 ST
WEST DES MOINES IA 50266-0000

Sales Date:
2008-12-05

Price:
$437,000.00

Edagger · Post by **Edagger** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:25 pm

http://www.ketv.com/news/29342154/detail.html

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 1:47 am

Still think this place has loads of potential with a little care. All of the MTC perks at a lower cost.

Omaha_Gabe · Post by **Omaha_Gabe** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 1:55 pm

Tower's future looking up

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111004/M ... looking-up

Developers are taking steps to shore up a structural problem that contributed to a midtown eyesore being condemned and placed on a city demolition list.

Now City of Omaha officials hope the owner of the northern Twin Tower at 30th and Douglas Streets takes the next step to complete a planned $10 million makeover.

The building is one of two towers just east of Midtown Crossing, a $300 million development gem for the city.
"We're not in the business of having vacant buildings," Planning Director Rick Cunningham said.
West Des Moines-based developer Troy Strawhecker said the $600,000 repair to structural beams in an underground garage is his primary focus for now.

While Strawhecker said the developers remain committed to a larger project, the timing for that work is uncertain. The project calls for gutting the 1960s-era building and renovating it into 63 apartments called Turner Park Lofts.
"The team is more energized than ever," Strawhecker said.

For seven months, the property has been the subject of a dispute between the city and the building's owner and developer, ND 24 Turner Park Lofts LLC.
In March, the city issued that partnership notice of a building code violation and ordered the building to be demolished unless the garage was repaired.
As that order worked through the city's appeal process, the owner sued the city in Douglas County District Court to prevent demolition.
While a judge's order remains in effect preventing demolition, the owners have started work to replace corroded steel in the underground garage, said Omaha attorney Jim Sherrets, who represents the partnership.

The cost is being shared by the developer and condo owners in the southern Twin Tower, which is separately owned and not part of the redevelopment plans.
Mutual of Omaha, which built the neighboring Midtown Crossing development, also has entered the dispute.
In March, just days after the city issued its demolition order, Mutual subsidiary East Campus Realty sued in an attempt to force the north tower's owner to demolish the property or repair and maintain it.

In its lawsuit against the city, the Turner Park Lofts partnership alleges the city's moves against the property are driven in part by "political motivations and individuals at Mutual of Omaha in its real estate division who believe that the current condition of the North Tower interferes with their marketing efforts."
Ken Cook, president of East Campus Realty, declined to comment.
The city denies the developers' allegation.
Cunningham said Mayor Jim Suttle met with the property owners to encourage them to fix the property, and it appears that pressure is working.

The development partnership bought the property for $437,000 in December 2008. In June 2009, the developers won the City Council's support for their development plans and $1.35 million from a property tax incentive.

Strawhecker said the project has been hampered by tight financing among lenders and does not yet have financing to fund the renovation. But the developers have been working in the background, including getting the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places, he said.
It also has taken time to settle the funding for the garage renovation with condo owners, Strawhecker said.
Strawhecker said he's pleased that Midtown Crossing is succeeding, and that success validates the demand for apartments in the area.
"We hope to be a good complement to that project, as well as midtown and Omaha in general."