Douglas Building - former OWH (1314 Douglas Street)

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:22 pm

I was DT for lunch yesterday and noticed that the Qwest Buidling was half dirty and half cleaned. I know a few years ago at the second forum meet we notcied how dirty the building was from UP's parking garage.

Maybe they are cleaning it up to look nice for a new neighbor across the street. ;)

adam186 · Post by **adam186** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:19 pm

I wonder if this rain is helping any.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:04 pm

It wasn't raining yesterday. It was also split down the side of the building clean/dirty. When I drove by there were ropes down the side of the building for the cleaners.

omaproud · Post by **omaproud** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:33 pm

When does the World Herald move into their newly washed scraper?

djc311 · Post by **djc311** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:02 pm

They're probably cleaning it since they're "cleaning" out jobs. My mother has worked for Northwestern Bell, I mean, US West, I mean, Qwest for years & years. She's had to find a different job within that dumb company now about 5 times. At nearly 60 years old and 30 years of employment under her belt there, what a pain in the keister it is to have to find another job (again!).

OmahaChef · Post by **OmahaChef** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:01 am

There is a lot more than power washing going on. The new owners of the building have undertaken a renovation of the attached parking garage, with lots of noise and activity in the evenings and weekends, and for several weeks there were large dumpsters all around the building.

adam186 · Post by **adam186** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:20 am

Good to see OWH cleaning up the building. Are they remodeling?

OmahaChef · Post by **OmahaChef** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 11:05 pm

It looked like the OWH may have been cleaing out spaces. But the big news is the new dual signage on the East side of the building! "Omaha World-Herald" in black on the left and the same "Qwest" in blue on the right.

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:53 pm

djc311 wrote:They're probably cleaning it since they're "cleaning" out jobs. My mother has worked for Northwestern Bell, I mean, US West, I mean, Qwest for years & years. She's had to find a different job within that dumb company now about 5 times. At nearly 60 years old and 30 years of employment under her belt there, what a pain in the keister it is to have to find another job (again!).

I know the frustrations you speak of. I once worked for qwest, but it was just a temporary job for 6 months or so. Since they have opened up operations in Salt Lake City, they have been working on getting that started, and have been downsizing its Omaha operations. I have been trying to apply for another job, but it has been next to impossible. My aunt also works for qwest, and she always has something to complain about.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:57 am

Yeah, they're sign looks great. I saw it on my birthday as I was walking from Matsu Sushi to the Old Market.

Crowded as heck down there all weekend, btw.

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:40 pm

They also have the new sign up on the west face of the building. I don't belive it is lit at all but covers up the whole old AT&T sign.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:44 pm

Is it the same OWH sign?

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:12 pm

No its round to cover up the AT&T. Black lettering on a white background. It says Omaha World Herald along the top and then Free Press, Free People along the bottom. In the middle is a hand holding a liberty torch type thing. I'll bring my camera down tomarrow.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:23 am

Anyone know if it's lit up at night?

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Tue Nov 11, 2014 2:16 am

National Indemnity moved a bunch of their workers into this building today.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:56 pm

I mentioned it in another thread, but I suppose it might fit better here.

http://www.omaha.com/money/national-ind ... cd416.html

National Indemnity Co., Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Omaha-based property insurance operation, is moving out of its home office at 3024 Harney St., its location since the building opened in 1950. The company also is leaving other space it occupies nearby.

Over the past year, affiliates of National Indemnity have moved to the Omaha World-Herald Building at 1314 Douglas St., occupying four floors with a total of 108,000 square feet of office space.

By the end of 2016, National Indemnity may move the rest of its operations to the 16-story World-Herald Building, occupying as many as nine floors in all. Those arrangements aren’t final, but the result would be an inter-company lease: The World-Herald Building also is owned by Berkshire.

If they do end up taking 9 floors that would be almost 250K SF of office space taken up by them. That is really substantial.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:07 pm

Great to see they're staying downtown with such a substantial-sized office. We all like to see new buildings of course, but it's good to keep the old ones filled up too. We don't want to see downtown all become converted to predominantly residential after all.

I kind of like Nat'l Indemnity's old mid-century modern building though...hate to see it go.

Post by **BRoss** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:11 pm

GetUrban wrote:I kind of like Nat'l Indemnity's old mid-century modern building though...hate to see it go.

I kind of like it too. But from certain angles, it looks a little run down.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:16 pm

Tear it down. Let something neat go in there. If HDR doesn't take Civic, I bet they'll take this plot next.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:22 am

National Indemnity is spending $1.4M renovating the 4th and 9th floors. They must like the building.

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:18 pm

HR Paperstacks wrote:
GetUrban wrote:I kind of like Nat'l Indemnity's old mid-century modern building though...hate to see it go.
I kind of like it too. But from certain angles, it looks a little run down.

My sister worked for National Indemnity for a number of years back in the 80s and 90s. I can still remember dropping her off for work every so often at that building.

Wow. Stories like this make me realize how much change is taking place and how fast time is really going by.

ItsAllAboutMe · Post by **ItsAllAboutMe** » Thu Sep 25, 2025 8:54 pm

The OWH building appears to be getting a refresh. New widows in some areas a ground level remodel.

GenX · Post by **GenX** » Fri Oct 17, 2025 2:08 pm

In the areas of the OWH building where they are currently replacing glass, was that originally solar panels?

Cermak · Post by **Cermak** » Sun Oct 19, 2025 9:45 pm

I know a lot of people don’t like this building, but it’s not bad inside. It has large floor plates and it’s been remodeled within the past 10-15 years . It’s one of downtowns larger buildings in terms of square footage.

ItsAllAboutMe · Post by **ItsAllAboutMe** » Tue Apr 28, 2026 5:46 pm

I've not seen any details on the lower floor and outdoor space renovations but it seems to be substantial. Hopefully it's big improvement from what it was before.

nebport5 · Post by **nebport5** » Tue Apr 28, 2026 6:07 pm

ItsAllAboutMe wrote: Tue Apr 28, 2026 5:46 pm I've not seen any details on the lower floor and outdoor space renovations but it seems to be substantial. Hopefully it's big improvement from what it was before.

It also seems like work has stalled on the south side of the building. I haven't seen any workers on site recently.

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