OMAHA | Wall Street Tower | 373' | 32 fl | U/C

[omahajayscu]

The Wall Street Tower is a 32 story mixed use high rise that will be built on the site of the former Union Pacific Headquarters bordering 14th Street, Capitol Ave, 15th Street, and Dodge Street. The project includes 35,000 square feet of retail space on the lower levels and 282 condominium units.

http://home.comcast.net/~arathbun/wallstreet.jpg

Current demolition of the former Union Pacific Headquarters is scheduled to be completed by May.

Demolition as of 1/6/08:
http://i18.tinypic.com/6q9izy1.jpg
http://i5.tinypic.com/716yqs0.jpg
http://i14.tinypic.com/6z85wrq.jpg

[SpiderMonkey]

It's a shame that such a building has to be destroyed before a a new one is erected. it looks like the old buidling had some character and would have been a great building for redevlopment. I don't the history of the project, but wasn't there anywhere else they could have built this building so to spare some of the history of Omaha?

[omahajayscu]

There are many reasons why this wasn't built somewhere else. When UP moved to their new headquarters a few years ago, they sold their old building to the City of Omaha for $1. The city held onto it until all employees had moved out of the building, then sent out a Request for Proposals for redevelopment of the site. The Wall Street Tower was one of two proposals, and obviously, won.

It is sad to see this one go, but I for one am happy they went all out on a replacement. There were several reasons that have been mentioned as to why they couldn't renovate it. The building was covered in asbestos, the brick facade was literally crumbling onto the sidewalk and street below, and there were a few 70s era hideous additions, like the one to the right, that were not worth keeping around at all.

[SpiderMonkey]

Understandable.

It looks like a great project and addition to Omaha. I'll definetly be following the project here on the site. Thanks for the updates.

[Babbage08]

I was about to ask the same question regarding the old UP Headquarters. Sad to lose old buildings like that, but not much else you can do if its so expensive to renovate. I like the new tower. It seems as if this has been a good decade for Omaha in regards to skyline construction.

[omahajayscu]

I was about to ask the same question regarding the old UP Headquarters. Sad to lose old buildings like that, but not much else you can do if its so expensive to renovate. I like the new tower. It seems as if this has been a good decade for Omaha in regards to skyline construction.

It's been a great decade indeed! Two of those buildings in that rendering (not including Wallstreet) were nonexistent before 2000.

And although the UP Headquarters could not be saved, there are numerous other historic beauties that have been saved recently. In fact, the same developer of Wall Street, Townsend Development, just purchased the former Brandies department store.
http://www.omaha.com/neo-images/photos/large/1408sqbrandeis.jpg

[omahajayscu]

Demolition update:

The ugly copper addition is coming down
http://i4.tinypic.com/80u9pqo.jpg

[Unionstation13]

did they strip the structure of any salvagable fittings?

[omahajayscu]

Not quite sure, I am guessing they did.

Here is a month by month breakdown of the demolition process:

This demolition has been a very long process. After the asbestos was removed and the inside was gutted, noticeable demolition began in April of last year with the weird addition on the backside of the building.

April
http://i11.tinypic.com/48lw1eg.jpg
May
http://i6.tinypic.com/5xr8mfs.jpg
June
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8180/img2752wg9.jpg
July
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/741/img4661cz3.jpg
August
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2787/img5864je5.jpg
September
http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/336/img6539cd3.jpg
October
http://i21.tinypic.com/2iru1rd.jpg
November
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3280/img7605yx4.jpg
December
http://i9.tinypic.com/87mg56u.jpg
January
http://i4.tinypic.com/80u9pqo.jpg

[QuadCityImages]

Seems like this would have been a candidate for implosion, especially with that inner courtyard space to collapse it into. But I'm no engineer.

[omahajayscu]

Seems like this would have been a candidate for implosion, especially with that inner courtyard space to collapse it into. But I'm no engineer.

I agree, the problem was the building was covered in asbestos, which from what I understand, means you can't implode it. I love a good implosion, I saw the Medical Arts Building implosion, but it is cool to watch this as well.

[IndyYeah]

The new building will be great. I really like it alot, professional and well designed.

[Unionstation13]

we shall miss that old gem.. too bad it couldn't be saved. Oh well. :/
I can't wait for this to be finished. It seems they will reflect the sky(I love towers like that).

[omahajayscu]

Some good news in the Omaha World Herald yesterday:

Troy Strawhecker, lead developer of the project for Townsend Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., said that Anderson was "doing a great job" and that he expected the building to be down around the end of February, depending on the weather.

Heavy rains in August and September and snow and arctic cold in December and January have already delayed demolition work a bit, Strawhecker said.

He said he expected the demolition work to be finished well ahead of Townsend's May deadline, set in its agreement with the city.

And of course, the demolition photos
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1599/img8612zw0.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7610/img8613ua2.jpg

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3749/img8614kv3.jpg

[mobyhead]

Crap I haven't been back to Omaha since 2001. Great changes indeed.

[omahajayscu]

Sorry I haven't had much time for updates on this. Demolition continues to move at a snails pace, but the building continues to look smaller every day. It should be down by the end of April or early May.

The new offsite model is now open.

An interesting development with this tower is that the developers, Townsend Inc, is now looking into adding a full service hotel to the plans.

From the Omaha World Herald:
As the model and sales office for the planned WallStreet Tower Omaha opens this week, the project's developers also are working to locate a limited-service, luxury hotel on several floors of the 32-story tower, a company executive said.

Because a hotel was not part of the developer's original plans, it would reduce the number of the planned 265 residential condominiums, said Jason Townsend, president and principal of Townsend Inc., the Overland Park, Kan., developer of the planned tower at 14th and Dodge Streets.

He said that the company had accepted reservations on "a number of floors" for a possible limited-service hotel but that he would not know how many condos the hotel would replace until contracts were finalized.

Each floor has 10 units, except for the penthouse floors, he said.

the full story:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10269806

Photo Update from Friday 3/28:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/guitarguy12309/image1-1.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/2eghao0.jpg

[omahajayscu]

And then there were four...

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3513/img7994sg4.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8751/img8009ow5.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9049/img8010er5.jpg

[omahajayscu]

So close...
From Wednesday 4/23:
http://i28.tinypic.com/10ifjv4.jpg
http://i32.tinypic.com/24w8oyb.jpg

From Thursday 4/24:
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd24/joeshawphotos/image1.jpg

[MilwaukeeMark]

It's cool to go through this thread and see such great documentation of the demolition. It'll be even more sweet when the new tower is topped off and completed. Nice work omahajay.

[omahajayscu]

It's cool to go through this thread and see such great documentation of the demolition. It'll be even more sweet when the new tower is topped off and completed. Nice work omahajay.

Thanks, I tried to get as many pics up here as I could, because this is a fascinating demolition in my opinion. Too bad it is so SLOW!

Portions are now on the ground! :banana:

Here is an update from today, 2/27:
http://www.p-tn.net/ProgressCAM/OMAHA/2webwin/image1.jpg

[omahajayscu]

Two more photos from this weekend:

http://steveadamsomaha.tripod.com/eOmaha/WallStreetTowers/IMG_3138.jpg
http://i26.tinypic.com/10prt45.jpg

[cwilson758]

IMO, the square building shouldn't have been demolished. There could have been a reuse - possibly apartments - for that structure.

As for the new tower, I am guessing sales have been slow since they are seeking to add a hotel which would lower the number of residences???

[omahajayscu]

IMO, the square building shouldn't have been demolished. There could have been a reuse - possibly apartments - for that structure.

As for the new tower, I am guessing sales have been slow since they are seeking to add a hotel which would lower the number of residences???

Here is a little background on the situation. I posted this on a different forum when someone brought up the same point. I wish it could have been saved too, but this background makes it more understandable.

When UP announced plans for their new headquarters, they originally intended to lease their current (now former) head quarters to another company. Years passed, and when it came time to move into their new office, they still had generated no interest. This was mostly because of the terrible condition that the building was in and UP had no interest in fixing it up when they just spent a fortune on their new building. So they struck a deal with the city of Omaha in which they would purchase the building from UP for $1. The city sat on the property for quite a while, and still had no interest in the building. They then decided that it would be best to tear it down and replace it with a temporary park. This was in hopes that someone would buy it from them later. This never happened. For some reason, the city decided to release a Request for Proposals for the property, and came up with 2 proposals, Wall Street Tower, and an office building with an unsigned, unnamed tenant. Obviously, Wall Street won.

So basically, the main reason this site was chosen by Townsend was because it was the only property they could afford such a project on.

Hope that clears things up.

As far as sales goes, they have reserved 111 reservations, including 6 floors of a select service hotel. In all the project has 282 units. So its not going great, but not terrible either. They just recently opened up their model/showroom which should significantly help sales as well.

[cwilson758]

Thanks for the info!

[omahajayscu]

Here is an update from 5/1:
http://i32.tinypic.com/2drt0cp.jpg

[ragerunner1]

"As far as sales goes, they have reserved 111 reservations, including 6 floors of a select service hotel. In all the project has 282 units. So its not going great, but not terrible either. They just recently opened up their model/showroom which should significantly help sales as well."

First, glad to see Omaha getting a new project. It really is turning into a great city.
Second, developers and banks are now learning that reservations don't equate to sales. Many projects are seeing 40% or more cancellations when its time to sign for the unit.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Getting really close.

[djcody]

very attractive building! good job Omaha!

[SpiderMonkey]

Any updated pics available on the progress? I would assume that demo is finished now.

[Omaha]

Yeah the Demolition is finished and they just need 50% reservations to start building.

[Dale]

Anyone know how close to 50% they are ?

[SpiderMonkey]

Yeah the Demolition is finished and they just need 50% reservations to start building.


That doesn't sound very promising given the economy.

Indy had a condo project planned (Market Towers) that required a deposit of 10% I think on 40% of the units IIRC. Needless to say the project died several times. You just aren't going to get many people willing to lay $30,000down on a project that may or may not happen in the next 5 years. Especially in this economy.

Hopefully this project doesn't require a deposit on 50% of the units or I don't see it really getting built.

[Omaha]

Here's the link to the Webcam, last time they updated us about it they said they need 14 more reservations, and the economy of Omaha is very strong but I don't know they number left.
http://www.wallstreettoweromaha.com/
from there go to building amenities then webcam.

[omahajayscu]

Good news!

Despite the slowdown in the economy, the Wallstreet Tower has somehow managed to reserve 12 more units, bringing their grand total to 126 reservations, only 7 away from reaching the 50% threshold. Also floors 6-11 will be a Hyatt Place Hotel, with some of its amenities on floors 1 and 5.

more encouraging tidbits from the Omaha World-Herald:
http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10441094

The residential housing slump, while not as severe in Omaha as in other metropolitan areas, also played a role, he said. One impact on the condominium market specifically, he said, is people's inability to sell their single-family homes in order to move into condos.

There's also a natural ebb and flow of interest in new-construction condo projects, he said. WallStreet Tower is experiencing another burst of interest, he added.

"I'm sure the market has slowed some, but at the same time, I will tell you that in the last 30 days we've had more interest than what we've had in the last 90."

Also, new rendering as well:
http://omaha.com/neo-images/photos/large/092308kcwallstreettower.jpg

[ludedude]

Is this project on hold right now? What's new with it?

[Omaha]

Its going to move forward very soon according to the developers.

[Major Deegan]

The project was sized down due to demand, and number of condos reduced from 192 to 97 units. Here is what the new tower will look like.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd24/joeshawphotos/Picture10.png

[SpiderMonkey]

So they maintained the height, but just reduced the width of the building?

[Major Deegan]

So they maintained the height, but just reduced the width of the building?

correct.

[MilwaukeeMark]

The project was sized down due to demand, and number of condos reduced from 192 to 97 units. Here is what the new tower will look like.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd24/joeshawphotos/Picture10.png

I honestly like the new design better. Also, the fact that it's retaining the original height negates any really 'harmful skyline impact' the change could have brought on. Looking forward to future progression photographs.