Northern Natural Gas Building

The Northern Natural Gas Building, also known as the 2223 Dodge Street Building, is located at 2223 Dodge Street in the Park East neighborhood of downtown Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is a 260 ft (79 m), 19-story skyscraper that ranks 8th, among Omaha's top ten tallest buildings. As of October 2011, the building is being renovated into an apartment complex called the Highline. The building is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places located in Douglas County, Nebraska.

History

Northern Natural Gas Co. Built the six-story corporate headquarter tower in the early 1950s, adding a 16-story tower in the late 1950s. The building has over 259,000 square feet of gross space and is on a 3.77-acre (15,300 m²) site, with over 600 parking stalls in two attached heated parking garages and adjacent parking lots.

In 1985, Northern's parent company, InterNorth Inc., bought Houston Natural Gas, a Houston, Texas-based company to become Enron Corp. Enron Corp. Then became headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska for a short time. The next year, Enron moved the company's headquarters to Houston, Texas and as one of the major corporate employers in Omaha, placed 19 office buildings in the area for sale.

The building served for a number of years as the regional headquarters of Enron's Northern Natural Gas Division until 1988, when Enron sold the building for $11.52 million to an investment group controlled by investor Michael Cutler. Northwestern National Life Insurance Company was a major initial investment partner and lender in the transaction. Northwestern National Life Insurance changed ist name in 1996 to ReliaStar, and in May 2000 was acquired by Dutch financial services giant ING Group for US $5 billion.

Under Cutler's control and leadership, the building underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation and retrofit while occupied, turning it into one of Omaha's premier office, business, and technology centers. Cutler owned the building for 12 years and sold it in 2001. The building at the time was Omaha's third-highest office structure. With ist large windows, panoramic views of the region, and central location, it was 100 percent leased throughout his ownership period.

Other major financial institutions over the years involved in the transaction while under Cutler's ownership, were First National Bank of Omaha, Security Pacific National Bank of Los Angeles, California, Bank of America, Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds(Goldman Sachs), and Acceptance Insurance Cos.

Major tenants over the years were some offices of First National Bank of Nebraska, currently the largest privately owned bank in the United States, along with the credit card and processing divisions of subsidiary First National Bank of Omaha, occupied the building until the new First National Bank Tower opened in 2002. At the time the building was considered one of the leading office, business, and technology centers in the country with state-of-the-art fiber optic communication capacity.

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