New 34 Story Downtown Condo Project Announced

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:20 am

Downtown condos rise to 34 stories

April Tsrif | The Omaha World Herald

The downtown Omaha skyline is about to change.

A 34-story residential tower is replacing a 3 story office building in the Old Market. Called 401 Farnam, the project emerged from original plans to convert the office structure into a park.

"It will be the third-tallest building in Omaha, and the tallest residential structure in the state" according to Jonathon Vento, co-principal of developer Grace Communities.

The new 401 Farnam will have 176 residences and include seven floors of parking. The parking structure, with one floor below and six above ground level, will be topped by a recreation area with a heated pool and spa, conference room, business center, fitness center, theater and media room, and other amenities. The units will be on the eighth to 34th floors.

Prices for the residences range from the $300,000s to $2 million. The units range from 780 to 2,200 square feet, and the prices are dependent on whether buyers put multiple units together. There will be four to eight penthouses, depending on demand, said Ryan Zeleznak, sales and marketing manager for Grace Communities.

On the property at the northwest corner of 11th and Farnam Street is the 3-story building that Don Zeleznak and Vento originally planned to demolish and convert into a park. The building will be stripped to its steel uprights and concrete floors in the weeks to come by Weitz Construction, which will bring its crews and equipment to the site by April 11th.

The building will be the tallest residential structure in Nebraska for Weitz, which has built similar buildings in the Denver and Florida markets, said Mike Bontrager, president of Weitz's Mid-West division.

Vento said Weitz will cut the building's concrete floors into pieces small enough to lower into waiting trucks for removal. That demolition work will take about two weeks.

"You start at the top, like Lego logs you played with as a kid," Vento said. "This will come down literally stick by stick."

"It's an old building, so we're going to do it a little more gingerly, and it takes a little longer to do that," Vento said. Construction of the post-tension concrete building will take another 27 to 30 months. The architect is Curtis Beattie & Associates in Seattle.

"These are guys who are bringing a different flavor and flair to Omaha," Vento said. "They have built several of this type of buildings in the Pacific Northwest."

Don Zeleznak said metro Omaha is overdue for high-rise residential, largely because of the major projects under construction or completed in downtown Omaha.

He said 401 Farnam, because of its height and downtown location, will offer a new type of residential living in Nebraska.

"The Omaha market has never been exposed to this kind of high-rise living," Bontrager said. "We see a huge continuing demand for this type of living. I would say the two largest classes of prospective buyers are the working public who are tired of the commute and are looking forward to experiencing what a lot of the urban areas around the country have had for years. In Nebraska, this condominium market has just taken off. The number of condominium projects in this town is just unbelievable."

Bontrager went on to point out that today is, in fact, the first of April (otherwise known as April Fools Day) and while this is a real development, it is actually planned to be constructed in Phoenix, Arizona, not Omaha. Have a nice day.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:36 am

How cruel (hopefully this isn't what finn had in mind all along!)

I did this a couple of years ago on skyscraperpage.com and caused quite a commotion. They have banned such posts since then.

(mine was a 700 foot tower built by Physicians Mutual...

maybe I have it around here somewhere... EDIT: all the links are no longer valid... including the rendering... but you get the idea... it looked like a pretty convincing World Herald page when I posted it.

http://www.eomaha.com/fools.htm )

OhioStreetKid · Post by **OhioStreetKid** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 6:22 am

Do we have a flippin' the bird emoticon? Or can we get one.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 6:26 am

ha ha april fools not funny.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:07 am

Yeah, that’s some sick |expletive| man.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:10 am

I'm just disappointed that I wasn't the one that got to do the April Fool's joke.

Raraavis · Post by **Raraavis** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:11 am

I was very excited at first but then I noticed that there was not enough spelling and grammatical errors to be a real Omaha World-Herald article.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:25 am

Clever: April Tsrif, not just an OWH Eastern European correspondant, but also "First", spelled backwards.

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:41 am

That's nice

omahahawk · Post by **omahahawk** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:35 am

lol

wait till DTO sees this, he'll freak.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:41 pm

omahahawk wrote: lol

wait till DTO sees this, he'll freak.

Hahahah, I know. His reply is the one I'm most looking forward to reading.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:45 pm

almighty_tuna wrote:Clever: April Tsrif, not just an OWH Eastern European correspondant, but also "First", spelled backwards.

Hehe, you'll also note the address of the building, 401, was taken from the date as well: 4/01(/05)

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:28 pm

If you look to the south right around Nebraska City and you see a giant mushroom cloud or hear a nuclear explosion you'll know DTO just read the post.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:02 pm

OhioStreetKid wrote:Do we have a flippin' the bird emoticon?

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:06 pm

You'll ALSO note the address of the building would be in the middle of the Missouri River.

-Big E

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:12 pm

Nice response (leave it to Coyote to find anything on the web!).

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 4:56 pm

This is DTO's Aunt. When he saw the picture he let out a shout of "PRAISE GOD" and then past out. He hadn't read the article yet. I did though. You really shouldn't have done that Mr. Titos. I've seen him chase people in cars and smash their cars with cro bars for less then this. I'm leaving the house before he wakes up and advising the neighbors to clear out too. I also alerted the Douglas County Sherrif's to set up a roadblock to Omaha. Have a nice life Mr. Titos.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:03 pm

WOW TITOS.....F*CK *SS SH*T B*TCH... I about had a heart attack i was so excited.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:04 pm

I think Mike might want to enter the witness protection program before DTO returns. Maybe he can stay at Jamie's house for a while.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:07 pm

After having missed a few heart beats, I passed out and awoke to find I shitted my pants. I'm still shaking and passing in and out of consciusness. You should stay in Iowa for awhile Titos. They'll put me on that terrorist list for real now.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:11 pm

Im in Iowa attending college so I did this knowing I was a good 2-3 hour drive away from the rest of you (depending on how fast your rage carries you down the interstate

).

Oh this makes my day...

Stop calling me titos. Its like referring to you as Omaha Development Men or DTO luvrs. I'm not a schizo. Its my burrito barn, thus its a posseessive Tio's.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:14 pm

When I was passed out I saw a light. Johnny Cochrane and the Pope were beconing me. I told them no, I had to see this get built, and the Pope was all like," Fine, |expletive|." So they let me come back.

I'll laugh one day, but next time have a disclaimer.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:15 pm

Jeff, do you have the picture of your 'tower' That site looked so convincing. I would have fallen for it.

And sorry for calling you titos...

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:17 pm

But then it would completely lack the fool aspect of it. The authors name has the date of this fine holiday in it. I thought enough of you would have deduced its falseness from that.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:22 pm

Coyote wrote:I think Mike might want to enter the witness protection program before DTO returns. Maybe he can stay at Jamie's house for a while.

You've been reading my xanga haven't you?

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:31 pm

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:You've been reading my xanga haven't you?

When I get bored sometimes I wander to e-omaha's member's websites - Mr. Microphone

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 11:40 am

I loved this! You could have added something like they were looking to sign up a few retail/food tenants but the only commitment so far was a Cheesecake Factory.

Greg

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 6:12 pm

I always forget how much I hate April fools day until I get on the forum.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:04 am

Dammit! I was looking at an arial picture of 11th and Farnam and my sense of direction became messed up from the angle. I meant to say Southeast corner. That spot complies with the rest of my story.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 2:49 pm

So did u want it to be where the much hated Kiewit Center is?

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:30 pm

...no, I wanted it to be where there is a surface lot and a three story building. 11th and Farnam. Kiewit Center is on the southeast corner of 14th and Farnam: