More on Pacific Life

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:02 pm

I know this is probably a continuation of another thread so feel free to put this wherever.

I was talking to my uncle today and he said that a few "chamber" guys that he is friends with were telling him that Pacific Life is indeed looking to move jobs here. About 3,000.

My uncle described it to me as a first and goal situation and they are just waiting to punch it in. They are that close.

I would assume that the other proposed building might have been for them. He did mention that Pacific Life would indeed be building if they came to Omaha.

Hope this works out because this would TOTALLY and ABSOLUTELY turn the Omaha market upside down and in a good way.

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:47 pm

Note to Pacific Life, please move 3000 jobs to Omaha. You can be the anchor tenant in a new 750ft mixed use tower on the World Herald site. Thanks.

Thanks for the info psl, your dumping gas on the fire.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:00 pm

the1wags wrote:You can be the anchor tenant in a new 750ft mixed use tower on the World Herald site. Thanks.

Please keep the facade. ;)

-Big E

Post by **nebugeater** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:15 pm

Pac Life recently announced a new building project in California. I believe that there may have been a chance but from what I have heard I think it is out of the picture right now.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:32 pm

nebugeater wrote:Pac Life recently announced a new building project in California. I believe that there may have been a chance but from what I have heard I think it is out of the picture right now.

Well that certainly seems to negate what the chamber people feel. That's too bad

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:09 pm

That last post was by me. I forgot to log in.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:31 pm

I REALLY, hope it happens, and that when it does, they build downtown (like I'm sure most of us do!).

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:48 pm

Did I miss this story? How interesting is this?? You think there's a little Omaha influence with Pac Life? I thought it funny too that Josh mentioned the World Herald block.

John Gottschalk Elected to the Boards of Pacific Mutual Holding Company and Pacific LifeCorp

Newport Beach, CA (July 7, 2006) – It was announced today that John Gottschalk has been elected to serve on the boards of Pacific Mutual Holding Company, the ultimate parent company of Pacific Life Insurance Company, and Pacific LifeCorp, the parent stock holding company of Pacific Life.

Mr. Gottschalk has served as chairman and chief executive officer of the Omaha World-Herald Company since 1989. The Omaha World-Herald Company is comprised of some twenty operating companies (including over 50 newspapers and shoppers), plus internet, direct marketing, and high tech enterprises. The company operates in 26 states with approximately 3,000 employees. He is also the publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, a newspaper with a daily circulation of approximately 250,000 and the only employee-owned metropolitan newspaper in the United States.

Mr. Gottschalk is very active in Nebraska and has been a key figure in Omaha’s $3 billion downtown redevelopment and growth initiative. He currently serves on the boards of directors of Cabela, Inc., a NYSE public company in the sporting equipment and outfitting business, Election Systems and Software, Inc., and the McCarthy Group, Inc., a privately held investment firm managing approximately $500 million.

“Mr. Gottschalk is articulate, thoughtful, and has a broad view of both business and civic activities,” said Thomas C. Sutton, chairman and chief executive officer of Pacific Life. “We welcome him and his experience as he joins our boards.”

Founded in 1868, Pacific Life provides life insurance products, annuities, and mutual funds, and offers a variety of investment products and services to individuals, businesses, and pension plans.1 Pacific Life counts more than half of the 100 largest U.S. companies as clients2 and is a member of the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA), whose membership promotes high ethical standards for the sale of individual life insurance and annuities.

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:54 pm

Jeff backs up the tanker truck to pour on the 5 alarm rumor blaze.

Very cool, I hadn't seen that. Things that make you go hmmmm....

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:57 pm

Wow, until the Gottschalk tidbit I was about ready to say that I won't believe these PacLife rumors until I see it happen. Now, though I really have to wonder. I don't care if they build downtown or a sprawling campus in the burbs. I just want to see the job growth that we really could use. We have really gotten our butts kicked in terms of jobs when compared to what has gone on in Des Moines for example.

adam186 · Post by **adam186** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:01 pm

If they smack up a 750 ft tower on the site I really don't care about facade.

If they build anything downtown, it's going to be a biggy. I hope something happens soon.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:06 pm

Hmmmmmmm.....C'est très intéressant.

I've never quite known how to feel about these PacLife rumors. I mean sure, it was always nice to fantasize about them building a nice, tall structure downtown on the OWH site....

And then THIS comes out! That's crazy!

With John G's commitment to downtown development, and the current state of the OWH site, and NOW John G. gets elected to the PacLife PARENT COMPANY BOARD!!!

I'd say that's as close to a "YES" as you're going to get short of a press release.

Let's watch this play out.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:16 pm

Wow. At first I thought Jeff was pulling one of those April Fools on us but it was all right here:
John Gottschalk Elected to the Boards of Pacific Mutual Holding Company and Pacific LifeCorp
There has to be something good for Omaha behind all of this - PacLife being a fortune 500 company and all

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:49 pm

My uncle seemed pretty pretty resolute in what he said to me.

He wouldn't normally say something like this if he didn't trust/or believe the person who told him.

The Gottschalk thing is a big deal. I did some searching for the planned new building in CA that was mentioned, but couldn't find anything. If anyone can find something on that, then maybe that would shed some more light on the situation.

EDIT --------

http://www.pacificlife.com/Channel/News ... +in+AV.htm

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:51 pm

Does a new building in California mean no new building here?

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:54 pm

That article most certainly tempers any enthusiasm I once had.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:58 pm

Is this the building in question?

Pacific Life Insurance Company Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase Up To 5.5 Acres at Summit Office Campus in Aliso Viejo.
Parker Properties to develop up to 242,000 square feet.

Agreement will be finalized over the next two months
Parker Properties will develop a single, multi-story office building
Pacific Life will consolidate approximately 1,000 employees to this new location by the first quarter of 2008
Pacific Life will retain its corporate headquarters location at Newport Center in Newport Beach

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:59 pm

I hope so! Because that building sounds sad and insignificant; not a threat to a magnificent building in downtown O.

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:00 am

Coyote wrote:Is this the building in question?

Pacific Life Insurance Company Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase Up To 5.5 Acres at Summit Office Campus in Aliso Viejo.
Parker Properties to develop up to 242,000 square feet.

Agreement will be finalized over the next two months

Parker Properties will develop a single, multi-story office building

Pacific Life will consolidate approximately 1,000 employees to this new location by the first quarter of 2008

Pacific Life will retain its corporate headquarters location at Newport Center in Newport Beach

That looks to be the obstacle. I don't know if something fell through or what, but that certainly puts to rest any rumor that PacLife is moving to Omaha, as of right now.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:03 am

That article was posted on April 11, 2006. The John Gottschalk news broke out on July 7.
The building deal was supposed to take 2 months to finalize. So - did something happen in between?

psl25201 · Post by **psl25201** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:11 am

I think that is the big question. There has been no more recent news concerning that building, so perhaps something did fall through.

I would think this might be a somewhat controversial move if they decided to move to Omaha. California, specifically Orange Country, and Omaha are two extremely different places. Making the decision to move from "sunny California," to plain ole Omaha might upset some people.

I am in no way putting Omaha down as a place to live, but this will certainly be the mindset of many when and if this does happen. It certainly is something that I am sure the CEO has to take into account.

Lots of interesting angles to look at here.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:22 am

This is more than "sunny California." This is Newport Beach. You have to experience Newport Beach to appreciate what it is. I was there for a conference 20 some years ago and was agast at seeing BMW's in front of what seemed like small beach houses - but then was told how much those small beach houses went for...

But - if 3000 jobs come to Omaha - how many would relocate and how many would pass? Sort of like the UP relocation from St. Louis. What percentage moved here for that relocation?

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:31 am

Coyote wrote:But - if 3000 jobs come to Omaha - how many would relocate and how many would pass? Sort of like the UP relocation from St. Louis. What percentage moved here for that relocation?

Well, if it's anything like the Nissan relocation from LA to Nashville....about 5.

If we can't get them to move, does that mean they stay with the company in Newport, or do they get fired?

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:37 am

psl25201 wrote:
Coyote wrote:Is this the building in question?

Pacific Life Insurance Company Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase Up To 5.5 Acres at Summit Office Campus in Aliso Viejo.
Parker Properties to develop up to 242,000 square feet.

Agreement will be finalized over the next two months

Parker Properties will develop a single, multi-story office building

Pacific Life will consolidate approximately 1,000 employees to this new location by the first quarter of 2008

Pacific Life will retain its corporate headquarters location at Newport Center in Newport Beach

That looks to be the obstacle. I don't know if something fell through or what, but that certainly puts to rest any rumor that PacLife is moving to Omaha, as of right now.

No it doesn't.

And, is there some confusion? Some people are talking like PacLife will be moving their headquarters here or something. I don't believe that's the case. It would be more of a regional headquarters, right? In which case, how could a squatty building in California cast any doubt on their expansion to Omaha???

Can anyone clarify?

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:31 am

StreetsOfOmaha wrote: Can anyone clarify?

I think the water in this Omaha rumor is about as muddy as muddy can get..

Good catch on the Gottschalk/Pac Life news Jeff..I toally missed that as well..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Minneapolis Boy · Post by **Minneapolis Boy** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:45 am

The building in CA could consolidate their California district offices while the corporate offices relocate to Omaha. In Omaha's history there was a company that built a new office building and then relocated to Houston. Speaking of CA, I know I'm seeing more CA license plates around the city than a few years back. Any of you notice the same?

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:55 am

I have.

From my own obeservation, the ranking of States by # of Liscense Plates in Omaha goes like this:

(Nebraska, obviously)

1) Iowa
2) Missouri
3) California
4) Minnesota
5) Colorado
6) Illinois
7) Kansas

Recently, I see California plates almost twice as often as I see Colorado ones.

Minneapolis Boy · Post by **Minneapolis Boy** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:08 am

Swift, I concur with your ranking.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:50 am

Let's see, I'm 1-0 for big rumors (Qwest Center expansion and timeline) now this.

I've been saying this is going to happen for quite a while. Since last year. Here is the PM I got from a forumer concerning PacLife building a TOWER. And with what I was speculating about a TOWER already being planned for the OWH site, John Gottschalk being a head guy on board at PacLife reaffirms what I've been thinking.

Also even though the OWH sucks, Gottschalk is about as good as it gets for DT building. He's responsible for the Holland Center, the Freedom Center, and partially First National.

? wrote:

I mentioned to an architect friend of mine that our forum had been hearing rumors about PacLife expanding downtown. (or was the rumor a highrise??)

We he sort of shut me off mid-sentence and said we could stop speculating about it. He said PacLife was already ahead of schedule on hiring and was already cramped in its leased downtown space.

His firm had been asked to design a new building for PacLife downtown. I don't remember if they were asked to design a single option or multiple options. But he said he had seen the initial draft of a PacLife high-rise.

He pointed out that they were pretty serious given that they had spent a pretty good amount of money already up to that point in design.

He said that they want to either break ground or have the project done in five years. Again, I can't remember what he specifically said.

So unless something has changed, I am assuming PacLife will have an announcement somewhere in the next 4 to 4.5 years. I can't remember but I have this nagging, but very vague recollection that one site under consideration was the site Finn mentioned, a parking lot around 12 and Harney or so I believe.

My source is pretty high up in his firm. Hope that helps. Sorry my memory is shot.

Another point that I remember from my talk with the architect is that he said PacLife had planned to increase their presence in Omaha all along over time.

But due to the more rapid growth of the companies needs, they were wanting to accelerate the timeline.

Now my conjecture from here on out.

Insurance companies are notorious real estate investors. So it would make great sense that PacLife is witnessing all of this momentum in Omaha and wants to make a strategic and significant addition to its real estate portfolio. An insurance company would be a strong candidate to not only build a site for its own commercial needs but also for a mixed use facility where they bring in other tenants, vendors and perhaps residential. Getting way ahead of myself, but mixed use could very likely be what they're thinking.

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:54 am

From my own obeservation, the ranking of States by # of Liscense Plates in Omaha goes like this:

Not to change the subject, but how could you have missed all of the South Dakota plates here? Surely they must rank 2nd behind Iowa. I think I've seen more NORTH Dakota plates than most of these other states as well.

Anyway, back to topic.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:18 am

Nice scoop DTO! I think this building would be great at the 'old' OWH building.
FYI - the parking lot that Finn has been referring to is on the NW corner of 10th and Harney.
We haven't heard about any development on this land for a while.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:01 am

Finn's Tower isn't going to happen.

That email is from last year. The location could have changed. Also it's interesting that when the OWH vacated it's administrative offices for the Qwest Building they were even hinting that the leftover land could be used for a new building. And now we find out out the head of the OWH is sitting on a prime block of land DT and has some say in where a new office could be built. Hmmm.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:46 pm

psl25201 wrote:I know this is probably a continuation of another thread so feel free to put this wherever.

I was talking to my uncle today and he said that a few "chamber" guys that he is friends with were telling him that Pacific Life is indeed looking to move jobs here. About 3,000.

My uncle described it to me as a first and goal situation and they are just waiting to punch it in. They are that close.

I would assume that the other proposed building might have been for them. He did mention that Pacific Life would indeed be building if they came to Omaha.

Hope this works out because this would TOTALLY and ABSOLUTELY turn the Omaha market upside down and in a good way.

Another thing to point out that David Brown, head of the Chamber of Commerce, said that the freeing up of the OWH block would allow Omaha to have another opportunity to "reach toward the skies". I wonder what that means.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:56 pm

This rumor is:

ON FIRE!!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:03 pm

Theoretically, if this is going to happen, when do you think we could expect an announcement DTO?

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:49 pm

From what I've been hearing lately I would guess in the next year or two. If they want to be done with a new building by 2010 they should get moving. The OWH block just opened up this year. If they have already been looking at designs for a tower I would give them a little bit more time to finalize designs. Assuming a tower takes 2.5 years to build (like FNC, UPC) 2007 seems a good time to start.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see other insurance companies increasing their presence in Omaha. The State passed a law (I can't remember what it was called, or did) that made it very beneficial to insurance companies to HQ here or have Nebraska be a tax domicile. That's what got PacLife here in the first place. Also a few other big insurance companies popped up, like Humana (Louisville, KY) and others without nearly as much fanfare as PacLife.

This also ties in to the Chamber of Commerces G.O. Campaign. Grow Omaha. It started in 2003 with the intent of getting Omaha's metro population to 1,000,000 by 2010. The way they said they were going to do that is through luring companies with large numbers of employees. 3,000 jobs from California would be huge. I doubt all 3,000 would come but even if 1,500 move that's still a signifigant increase in employees. Not to mention the workers families. 1,500 x 4.5= 6750. That's about as much as Omaha (city) grows in a year. Without a massive employer bringing in people.

With the laws passed to ease operations and regulation on insurance companies coupled with the Chambers ambitious idea, PacLife in Omaha seems to pan out. Also I've heard that the block next to UP's parking garage is going to be the site of something big as well.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:12 pm

DTO Luv wrote:Also I've heard that the block next to UP's parking garage is going to be the site of something big as well.

Good grief, get some JP-5 for this thread. I don't know if I can take much more carrot dangling!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:18 pm

Also I've heard that the block next to UP's parking garage is going to be the site of something big as well.

Care to give elaboration or source for this juicy tidbit? Also help me with what block you are talking about.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:01 pm

DTO thanks, that ROCKS! Hopefully if this in the works, we hear and more importanly, SEE some plans soon.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:07 pm

My guess is that DTO is talking about the lot just to the east of the UP Garage