Fiserv

[OmahaJaysCU]

Don’t really have any specific information but thought I’d start this discussion.

Today’s legislative compromise over tax incentives and property tax relief appear to be setting the stage for job expansion by Fiserv in Omaha.

I would imagine the processing facilities are staying at 72nd and Pacific, but does this cause them to relocate their offices? Could they be the magic pill that gets the Lanoha Tower going?

First Data was rumored to have been in negotiations on the Civic site before the first developer backed out of the project. Maybe second time is a charm?

No specific information to share on my end, just thought it was worth discussing.

[iamjacobm]

I heard a couple random things like them being told they need to put some money into their property by their RE manager to be able to get anything decent if they were to sell. They said they have been apparoving decent sized bids the day they are recieved when the firm doing the work rarely gets responses that quick. Apparently First Data didn't spend much on their properties over the years and a lot was backed up.

Also heard UNO has right of first refusal on their property at Aksarben. No clue if that is true, but I am sure UNO would grab that last available land on campus if that is the case.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Juicy rumor stuff for sure..

I remember for about a year before I left First Data (Fiserv) completely in 2018, there was much scuttlebutt from mid level management folk about our specific department being part of a possible move downtown to the old Civic site..

But then, if I remember correctly, Tetrad bailed as developer and that was that..

We shall see...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Linkin5]

Don’t really have any specific information but thought I’d start this discussion.

Today’s legislative compromise over tax incentives and property tax relief appear to be setting the stage for job expansion by Fiserv in Omaha.

I would imagine the processing facilities are staying at 72nd and Pacific, but does this cause them to relocate their offices? Could they be the magic pill that gets the Lanoha Tower going?

First Data was rumored to have been in negotiations on the Civic site before the first developer backed out of the project. Maybe second time is a charm?

No specific information to share on my end, just thought it was worth discussing.

Oh baby. A downtown rumor from an extremely reputable poster? Yes please.

[ita]

What do you all think about Fiserv to Crossroads? Or if they locate, do they have their heart set on downtown? I would rather them locate downtown, particularly if it involves the Lanoha tower, but the familiar location and 'central' location could make Crossroads an attractive site.

[Omaha Cowboy]

What do you all think about Fiserv to Crossroads? Or if they locate, do they have their heart set on downtown? I would rather them locate downtown, particularly if it involves the Lanoha tower, but the familiar location and 'central' location could make Crossroads an attractive site.

Well, that’s interesting..Because Fiserv has a significant presence just down 72nd street in the Ak Village area.. They’ve been getting “muscled out” of their locations there by Omaha U in recent years..so the idea is probably more likely Fiserv would prefer to stay in the same general area..rather than moving significant office operations downtown..

Who knows?..

But that’s what’s so fun about rumors- the various speculation part(s)...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[bigredmed1]

Have they really been muscled out? Or do they rent 10,000 sq ft and then lose a contract and only need 2000 sq ft, so the landlord looks to find other tennants? Got to think that MMI moving in and taking the whole building indefinitely would be a lot more attractive than playing whack a mole with Fiserv.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Have they really been muscled out? Or do they rent 10,000 sq ft and then lose a contract and only need 2000 sq ft, so the landlord looks to find other tennants?

No, I don’t believe that was the case, at least while I was working at First Data. The U wanted to rent space occupied by FDR while I was in their employ though..

In any case, I’d be darn near shocked if Fiserv committed to a plan that would move a significant part of their Omaha operations downtown.. But stranger things have happened I guess...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[bigredmed1]

Have they really been muscled out? Or do they rent 10,000 sq ft and then lose a contract and only need 2000 sq ft, so the landlord looks to find other tennants?

No, I don’t believe that was the case, at least while I was working at First Data. The U wanted to rent space occupied by FDR while I was in their employ though..

In any case, I’d be darn near shocked if Fiserv committed to a plan that would move a significant part of their Omaha operations downtown.. But stranger things have happened I guess...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

I honestly think that short of a business that needed to be close to the river or one that needed to be close to FNBO or UP, I can't think of a good reason to set up downtown. Longer commutes for your employees and basic hassle of working there would make it much less desireable than AK village or the other options in the mid city (near Boystown).

[garyomaha]

A lot of their employees are working from home now. Is this part of a temporary event or a new normal? If a whole bunch of previous occupants of offices no longer need to be in offices, then...?

[GetUrban]

Fiserv might help explain why there is 500k SF of office space in the new Crossroads plan, which seems like a lot. But if this Pandemic keeps going for much longer, working from home (WFH) might take hold and have an effect on how much office space companies really need. In the smallish company I work for, there has been talk about trying to attract more people from almost anywhere in the world, since location matters much less with remote working. There will probably always be a local home base though.

[FirebirdEngineer]

Also heard UNO has right of first refusal on their property at Aksarben. No clue if that is true, but I am sure UNO would grab that last available land on campus if that is the case.

I seem to remember hearing that they'd already made a deal for the other First Data building during my last couple years at PKI, but those plans are 2-3 years old by now. At this point, I'm not sure if there was any truth to that or not; if they'd put out an update to their campus expansion plan from 2014, I'd be interested to see how much it's changed around.

[zippy]

The building at 6902 Pine St was purchased by the University of Nebraska system to be developed into a new Munroe-Meyer Institute (part of UNMC). It took a while for First Data (now Fiserv) to vacate the building. During that process, FD also remodeled their remaining building at 6855 Pacific St to accommodate some of the people who had been in the Pine St building, making it very open in the process. It wouldn't surprise me if the university had right of first refusal on that remodeled building. FYI, most employees are working from home.

[Greg S]

Yeah it seems like more and more companies are extending work from home. The longer this goes the more I could see the work from home being made permanent.

Greg

[bigredmed1]

Yeah it seems like more and more companies are extending work from home. The longer this goes the more I could see the work from home being made permanent.

Greg

Made permanent by virtue of lower cost of commercial realestate and by global hiring.

We are looking at our grand rounds series. We had 10 funded lecture slots and with the cash that we save without transporting people to give live talks, we could easily have 15 and have them talk from home or their offices. Childrens goes global due to ZOOM (to be fair, we have always been global as our talks are online at no cost and have been used for education since 1998.) But still, I see that as a small example of the silver lining of the COVID cloud. A bunch of companies are going to be able to get good workers who can plug in from home in a great deal more comfortable home office. With fiber and the incredible speeds that home internet is getting to, this could become a preferred way of working for a lot of people.

[Omahacritic]

FiServ and Scoular Grain will occupy office space of Crossroads development.

[ita]

FiServ and Scoular Grain will occupy office space of Crossroads development.

I forgot about scoular. Good call.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Yeah it seems like more and more companies are extending work from home. The longer this goes the more I could see the work from home being made permanent.

Greg

I’ve been working from home for about 5 months now.. I don’t see much of a chance that’ll change in the next 60-90 days, if at all in 2020..

I’m fortunate enough to work for a company that already had WFH infrastructure built in- well before we ever heard of Covid-19.. One positive that may come out of this pandemic, is it’s taught companies that their workers don’t necessarily need to report to the brick and mortar at 100% capacity..quality, efficient work can be as easily accomplished at home..

Ask me 6 months ago if I bought into that, I’d have given a certain “no” answer.. Today, no so much..

Will that effect Fiserv’s potential relocation to a downtown or crossroads location..especially considering a goodly number of their various department employees are currently working from home efficiently? I’d have to think it would...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Greg S]

Yeah it seems like more and more companies are extending work from home. The longer this goes the more I could see the work from home being made permanent.

Greg

I’ve been working from home for about 5 months now.. I don’t see much of a chance that’ll change in the next 60-90 days, if at all in 2020..

I’m fortunate enough to work for a company that already had WFH infrastructure built in- well before we ever heard of Covid-19.. One positive that may come out of this pandemic, is it’s taught companies that their workers don’t necessarily need to report to the brick and mortar at 100% capacity..quality, efficient work can be as easily accomplished at home..

Ask me 6 months ago if I bought into that, I’d have given a certain “no” answer.. Today, no so much..

Will that effect Fiserv’s potential relocation to a downtown or crossroads location..especially considering a goodly number of their various department employees are currently working from home efficiently? I’d have to think it would...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Yeah I agree. I work in the defense department industry. Our corporate office is near Twin Creek in Bellevue. I live in NW Omaha. After a couple years my company started letting me work from home twice a week due to commute. Now at corporate everyone has been. Sounds like most will have the options of continuing that. I know one employee has elected to do it permanently. I think it's opened a lot of eyes.

I'm in HR and Recruiting. Now that some have done it, people are asking about it before accepting jobs. Not everyone but it's definitely a factor for some.

Greg

[bigredmed1]

It would make recruiting to Omaha a lot easier. If you are already settled in X ville and your kids are half way through high school, its tough to move. But if the only thing you move is the URL on your office PC, then that job in Omaha looks a lot better.

[Garrett]

Have they really been muscled out? Or do they rent 10,000 sq ft and then lose a contract and only need 2000 sq ft, so the landlord looks to find other tennants?

No, I don’t believe that was the case, at least while I was working at First Data. The U wanted to rent space occupied by FDR while I was in their employ though..

In any case, I’d be darn near shocked if Fiserv committed to a plan that would move a significant part of their Omaha operations downtown.. But stranger things have happened I guess...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

I honestly think that short of a business that needed to be close to the river or one that needed to be close to FNBO or UP, I can't think of a good reason to set up downtown. Longer commutes for your employees and basic hassle of working there would make it much less desireable than AK village or the other options in the mid city (near Boystown).

You are correct. Unfortunately, DTO has much less of a competitive advantage compared to other cities because it's not centralized in the metro. If the Iowa side of the metro was stronger, or the city stretched out equally to the north and south as it did to the west, it would be a stronger sell.

[Bob from Omaha]

Fiserv's search for a new headquarters in Milwaukee is back on after a delay to work the FDR acquisition. According to the story I read they have 700 at the headquarters and another 300 around Milwaukee. Snag that for Omaha & that would be a coup. Not going to happen as the head of the company is quoted as saying they have no plans to leave. In Omaha that would have meant the trucks are pulling up to load for Chicago or Atlanta on Monday but in this case it's probably true.

[bigredmed1]

Have they really been muscled out? Or do they rent 10,000 sq ft and then lose a contract and only need 2000 sq ft, so the landlord looks to find other tennants?

No, I don’t believe that was the case, at least while I was working at First Data. The U wanted to rent space occupied by FDR while I was in their employ though..

In any case, I’d be darn near shocked if Fiserv committed to a plan that would move a significant part of their Omaha operations downtown.. But stranger things have happened I guess...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

I honestly think that short of a business that needed to be close to the river or one that needed to be close to FNBO or UP, I can't think of a good reason to set up downtown. Longer commutes for your employees and basic hassle of working there would make it much less desireable than AK village or the other options in the mid city (near Boystown).

You are correct. Unfortunately, DTO has much less of a competitive advantage compared to other cities because it's not centralized in the metro. If the Iowa side of the metro was stronger, or the city stretched out equally to the north and south as it did to the west, it would be a stronger sell.

The fundamental problem with Iowa is the flood zone that results in a big chunk of west CB that is not desirable in a setting where flood damage is on the owners and the bluffs part that could attract higher income people who don’t want to cross the river for a pair of socks.

OPS has let the East half of Omaha decline in school quality and huge chunks of the eastern half of the city are just not going to attract families with options. Would you send your kid to Kellom or King Science when you could send them to a school in Millard?

Seriously, I have people who work at UNMC, but their relocation people took them to the east edge of MPS and said from here go west. People working at 42nd and Dewey getting settled in at 160th and Maple.

Want downtown to boom again? Fix the social issues that drove green flight in the 1960’s. Schools that suck, trashy people replacing good people (of all races), stores and businesses moving out, etc. Do these, be successful, and downtown booms. Blow these off, and DTO is just empty space inbetween CWS events.

[mcarch]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

[ita]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

[Bob from Omaha]

I thought they were based in Milwaukee

[zippy]

I thought they were based in Milwaukee

First Data was based in Atlanta. Fiserv is based in Milwaukee.

[Anony mouse]

Two different co-workers heard some vague roumers this week about the University buying the remaining Aksarben building from Fiserv

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[STLouisian1]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

How many do they employee in Omaha still?

[Omaha Cowboy]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

How many do they employee in Omaha still?

They still employ about 5000 or so people in the Omaha metropolitan area...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Louie]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

How many do they employee in Omaha still?

They still employ about 5000 or so people in the Omaha metropolitan area...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Crikey that would be awful if they abandoned the city.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

How many do they employee in Omaha still?

They still employ about 5000 or so people in the Omaha metropolitan area...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Crikey that would be awful if they abandoned the city.

It would..

But I honestly doubt that will happen...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Greg S]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

How many do they employee in Omaha still?

They still employ about 5000 or so people in the Omaha metropolitan area...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Crikey that would be awful if they abandoned the city.

It would..

But I honestly doubt that will happen...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

I thought I posed this already. Got a call from a recruiter looking to hire a recruiter for Fiserv in Omaha (I am a senior recruiter in the defense department industry). I wasn't interested but from the talk we had Fiserv is going to be doing quite a bit of recruitment activities in Omaha.

Greg

[Louie]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

How many do they employee in Omaha still?

They still employ about 5000 or so people in the Omaha metropolitan area...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Crikey that would be awful if they abandoned the city.

It would..

But I honestly doubt that will happen...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

I thought I posed this already. Got a call from a recruiter looking to hire a recruiter for Fiserv in Omaha (I am a senior recruiter in the defense department industry). I wasn't interested but from the talk we had Fiserv is going to be doing quite a bit of recruitment activities in Omaha.

Greg

A sliver of hope.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Employees are working from home; currently until next year. I haven't heard anything about them moving offices. They did put money into reorganizing the interior of their Pine Street Office (North Building) since they sold the South Building.

First Data did not put money into their buildings (because of the past CEO being in New York (which will become the current CEO as the current CEO of Fiserv will retire), and the Headquarters being in Atlanta)). When higher-ups visit the Omaha offices - even though they are better maintained than the Headquarters in Atlanta they complain the facilities here are disgusting (including our Airport).

Does that mean they want to be in a better building in Omaha, or get out of Omaha altogether? It would be a big loss purely from the number of jobs (I don't know how they are as employers) if they left the City.

How many do they employee in Omaha still?

They still employ about 5000 or so people in the Omaha metropolitan area...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Crikey that would be awful if they abandoned the city.

It would..

But I honestly doubt that will happen...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

I thought I posed this already. Got a call from a recruiter looking to hire a recruiter for Fiserv in Omaha (I am a senior recruiter in the defense department industry). I wasn't interested but from the talk we had Fiserv is going to be doing quite a bit of recruitment activities in Omaha.

Greg

A sliver of hope.

That’s a good sign..

I have spent years in my business career, off and on, working for First Data (now Fiserv) going back to the early/mid 80’s and did a stint with them that ended as recently as 2018..

I really don’t see them leaving their employee commitment in Omaha. Historically, it’s just too important a place for them to do business and the Omaha workforce and work ethic supplies the right kind of people talent that gets the jobs done..

It would be remarkably silly for them to drastically downsize and or cut out of Omaha...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[OmahaJaysCU]

BIG RUMOR ALERT!

Heard an announcement is coming soon on a relocation and expansion downtown. 10 story building at the base of the mall (library site is how I interpreted that, although he could have meant ConAgra site too).

Enjoy your Sunday!

[ita]

BIG RUMOR ALERT!

Heard an announcement is coming soon on a relocation and expansion downtown. 10 story building at the base of the mall (library site is how I interpreted that, although he could have meant ConAgra site too).

Enjoy your Sunday!

10 story fits the plans for the office building at conagra, though 'base' of the the GLM sounds like the site they cleared for development east of the library. I'm any case, WOW!!

[Omaha Cowboy]

BIG RUMOR ALERT!

Heard an announcement is coming soon on a relocation and expansion downtown. 10 story building at the base of the mall (library site is how I interpreted that, although he could have meant ConAgra site too).

Enjoy your Sunday!

10 story fits the plans for the office building at conagra, though 'base' of the the GLM sounds like the site they cleared for development east of the library. I'm any case, WOW!!

This could also mean the Civic site as well sans “the mall”..There have been rumors, going back 3 plus years, that the old civic property could be a landing spot for Fiserv (formerly First Data)..

Plus, Stothert has been teasing us about an announcement “coming soon” for this development parcel for over 2 years now..

We’ll see...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Linkin5]

That is great news, and I hate to be picky. But if it is going to be in a prominent space like the library spot next to the mall, it would be great to see them do some mixed use with commercial and condos/apartments or a hotel to make it taller than 10 stories.

[Louie]

How soon? 60-90 days?