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With massive downtown Omaha projects coming, long-vacant lot may finally see development

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Mutual of Omaha proposed a new skyscraper to be built in downtown Omaha. It is projected to be the tallest building in the city. Take a look at the current five tallest buildings in Omaha.

A vacant lot in the heart of downtown Omaha has for nearly two decades sat earmarked for projects that never broke ground — a missing piece in the increasingly ambitious growth of the city’s urban core.

That may soon change. There’s recent local and national interest in the site of the former Union Pacific Railroad headquarters as a prime spot for development, said Kevin Andersen, a deputy chief of staff with the Mayor’s Office.

The square block at 14th and Dodge Streets has remained vacant since Union Pacific moved its headquarters across the street in 2004 and the site was fully cleared in 2008.

Through a deal with Lanoha Real Estate Co., the city will be granted ownership of the Lanoha-owned site, and in exchange will give the local real estate developer the city-owned site where the W. Dale Clark Library currently sits.

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An aerial view of the square block northwest of 14th and Dodge Streets that has remained vacant since Union Pacific moved its headquarters across the street in 2004. The site was fully cleared in 2008.

CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD

The land swap will pave the way for a new Mutual of Omaha headquarters to rise on the W. Dale Clark property at 15th and Douglas Streets, just to the west of downtown’s Gene Leahy Mall.

Mutual for years has studied its facilities needs. The company was approached about a year ago by developer Jason Lanoha, who, at the time, proposed Mutual build its new headquarters downtown on the former Union Pacific lot.

Mutual’s decision to move downtown was cemented in the city’s plan to build a 3-mile streetcar line connecting the University of Nebraska Medical Center to Omaha’s riverfront.

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In fact, Mutual’s desire to be on the streetcar route led to the land-swap proposal between Lanoha and the city. After Mutual approached the city in September to see if it would consider altering the route to include the Union Pacific lot, the city suggested the land swap as a way to accommodate Mutual’s goal without redrawing the streetcar route, Mayor Jean Stothert said in January.

The Mutual project, estimated to cost about $443 million, would drastically change Omaha’s skyline and bring thousands of workers downtown.

It’s a project the scale of which meets the expectations Lanoha and the city previously had for the former Union Pacific lot that sits two blocks away.

When Lanoha bought the vacant property in 2014, he floated a plan that featured a glass structure 10 to 25 stories high that would be heavy on offices but include retail space and condos.

That plan later evolved into a $200 million high-rise with two towers up to 30 stories high.

The project would have fulfilled an unofficial commitment to city officials to erect a tall structure on the site that enhanced the city’s skyline and brought more jobs to Omaha’s downtown.

Lanoha told The World-Herald in 2019 that over the years his company declined multiple offers that didn’t quite fulfill that commitment.

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Before it was purchased by Lanoha, the property reverted to city ownership in 2002 as part of an incentive package for Union Pacific to build its new and consolidated 20-story corporate structure across Dodge Street.

The Union Pacific headquarters, 1400 Douglas St., stands directly south of the lot that used to house the company’s headquarters.

CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD

In 2005, Mayor Mike Fahey’s administration sold the property to Kansas-based Townsend Inc. for $1. The developer then paid several million dollars to tear down the old 12-story Union Pacific building.

Townsend proposed a 32-story project filled with residential condos, offices and a hotel. The project, called WallStreet Tower, never got off the ground. It was stalled by a lack of financing during an economic downturn and then by tighter lending requirements.

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After taking his own project proposal to the city, Lanoha finalized the purchase of the land from Townsend in 2014 for $2.75 million.

Soon, the lot will be back in the city’s hands.

Lanoha declined to share details on the land swap.

An appraisal of both locations is still underway, Andersen said.

Mutual, in a document submitted to the city, estimated the expense for the W. Dale Clark land and acquisition at $4.15 million.

Renewed interest in the former Union Pacific property is on trend with a growing interest in all of downtown as an area of redevelopment, Andersen said.

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“There’s a broad interest in downtown development right now, which is certainly encouraging and a result of the activity investment that we’ve seen in the area,” Andersen said.

Andersen declined to name companies or developers that have shown an interest in the site, and noted that any discussions are still in early stages.

More than half a dozen developers showed an interest in the W. Dale Clark site — long considered a prime spot for redevelopment — before the city landed on Mutual for the location.

The former Union Pacific lot won’t officially be given to the city until the demolition of the 45-year-old W. Dale Clark Library is complete, the cost of which the city will cover.

A call for proposals on the demolition will be made by the city in coming weeks, which will clarify the costs of the demo, Andersen said.

Demolition of the existing library is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.

Officials also hope to see redevelopment on a city-owned property just to the east of the W. Dale Clark site. That location is currently used as a staging area for the Gene Leahy Mall construction.

Any future projects on that site would likely be scaled in consideration of the Mutual skyscraper and the park.

“You don’t want a huge, looming presence over the park, so we anticipate scaling up to what will be the good-sized Mutual building,” Andersen said.

Two people on Capitol Avenue walk east toward 14th Street on the north side of what was once Union Pacific’s headquarters Saturday.

CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD

Mutual of Omaha CEO James Blackledge in January said the company’s new headquarters will be on the scale of the 45-story First National Bank Tower — potentially even taller.

Parking will also have to be taken into consideration for any future projects on the vacant city-owned lot, but the proposed streetcar system would help with that, Andersen said.

Both the Mutual skyscraper and the streetcar system will require a number of rounds of city approvals over the next year.

Parts of the projects will come before the Omaha City Council on March 29, including Mutual’s application for $68 million in tax-increment financing, and an ordinance that would create an Omaha Streetcar Authority.

Plans call for construction to begin on both projects by next year, with both open and functioning in 2026.

100-plus years of history: Photos of Omaha's Union Station

The Union Pacific Railway Station looking north and northwest from South Ninth Street on Forrest Hill circa 1896. 

BOSTWICK-FROHARDT COLLECTION/DURHAM MUSEUM

President William Taft arrives at Union Station on April 6, 1908.

BOSTWICK-FROHARDT COLLECTION/DURHAM MUSEUM

Union Station as seen in 1909.

BOSTWICK-FROHARDT COLLECTION/DURHAM MUSEUM

Union Station in 1909 showing a Burlington train in the foreground and Union Pacific and Chicago and Northwestern Trains in the background.

UNION PACIFIC MUSEUM

President William H. Taft in the back seat of a car at Omaha's Union Station on Sept. 9, 1909. Nebraska Governor George Sheldon is on the left.

BOSTWICK-FROHARDT COLLECTION/DURHAM MUSEUM

Union Station on March 22, 1927. Officials announced the construction of a new Union Station on March 31, 1929, which replaced the building seen here.

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Construction of a new Union Station Union Station was announced on March 31, 1929. The progress is seen here on Aug. 1, 1930. 

DURHAM MUSEUM

Union Station, shown under construction in September 1930.

DURHAM MUSEUM

Two unidentified men carry the giant padlock and golden key  on Jan. 8, 1931, that Mayor Metcalfe used to open the door at the new Union Station the following week. The lock was designed and constructed by C.K.P. Ronberg, cabinet shop foreman at Union Pacific headquarters, in collaboration with Jack A. Bristol. It was said to be the largest padlock ever used in Omaha for any purpose.

THE WORLD-HERALD

Mayor Metcalfe holding the golden key that he unlocked the padlock at the main entrance of the new Union Station on Jan. 15, 1931.

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Union Station on January 16, 1931.

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

President Herbert Hoover at Union Station, shaking hands with WE McDonnell, a Fairmont Creamery truck driver, on Nov. 6, 1932.

BOSTWICK-FROHARDT COLLECTION/DURHAM MUSEUM

Passenger train service at Union Station in 1943.

THE WORLD-HERALD

Union Station on July 2, 1943.

THE WORLD-HERALD

A group of soldiers at Union Station Service Men's Center on July 29, 1942.

THE WORLD-HERALD

Sixth and seventh grade students from Columbian School made 372 hard-boiled eggs and 1,112 homemade cookies and delivered them to the Union Station's Service Men Center on Jan. 17, 1943, after reading a World-Herald story about drop in food donations to the center. Other Colombian rooms expect to make similar donations as part of the "Schools At War" program.

THE WORLD-HERALD

Eleanor Anne Wahl, of Kimball, NE is awed by the 42 1/2 foot Oregon fir she saw at Union Station on Dec. 17, 1957. The tree bears 450 lights and 75 lbs. of tinsel.

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Looking eastward from the parking plaza of Union Station on Dec. 18, 1953.

THE WORLD-HERALD

Looking eastward from the parking plaza of Union Station on Dec. 18, 1953.

THE WORLD-HERALD

Christmas at Union Station on Dec. 25, 1953.

EARLE BUNKER/THE WORLD-HERALD

Families sing Christmas carols around the tree at the lighting ceremony on Dec. 22, 1977. Among those attending the event were the Jim Mitchell family, including Karen, 4, on her father's shoulders, and daughters Marlo, 9, and Joanne, 7, joined by Mrs. Mitchell's brother Danny Coughron, 8.

TOM PLAMBECK/THE WORLD-HERALD

The Union Station soda fountain in 1985.

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Mike Longsdorf of Neon Products Co. attaches banners proclaiming the Christmas at Union Station event to a pole near 18th and Mason Streets on Dec. 4, 1986.

RICH JANDA/THE WORLD-HERALD

It's a tight squeeze as Union Pacific worker John Mumm watches the Christmas tree being pulled through the door on Nov. 20, 1995.

PHIL JACKSON/THE WORLD-HERALD

In 2016, the U.S. Department of the Interior recognized the Union Station building as a National Historic Landmark.

DURHAM MUSEUM

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The Union Pacific headquarters, 1400 Douglas St., stands directly south of the lot that used to house the company’s headquarters.

Two people on Capitol Avenue walk east toward 14th Street on the north side of what was once Union Pacific’s headquarters Saturday.

An aerial view of the square block northwest of 14th and Dodge Streets that has remained vacant since Union Pacific moved its headquarters across the street in 2004. The site was fully cleared in 2008.