First National Bank Tower

File:Medical Arts Building, 16th and Douglas, Omaha, Nebraska.jpg

In the 1970s, the First National Bank of Omaha outgrew its original headquarters and began drafting plans for a new headquarters.{{Cite book |last=Larsen |first=Lawrence H. |title=Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780803280021 |edition=1st}} In 1997, the engineering firm Leo A Daly was selected to design the tower. Kiewit Corporation was chosen as the general contractor, and the construction cost was $225 million.{{Cite news |last=Holt |first=Nancy D. |date=1999-09-01 |title=Growing Midwestern Skyline Gets Boost From New Tower at First National Center |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB936072233701540796 |access-date=2022-09-03 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=September 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904035908/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB936072233701540796 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=Jorgensen |first=Susan |date=February 2003 |title=Omaha's First National Bank Tower Using Structural Lightweight Concrete to Build a Landmark |url=https://www.escsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Omaha-Bank-02-2003-Buildex.pdf |publisher=ESCSI |access-date=September 4, 2022 |archive-date=September 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904035910/https://www.escsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Omaha-Bank-02-2003-Buildex.pdf |url-status=live}} The project was announced to the public in 1998.{{Cite web |first=Henry J. |last=Cordes |date=January 26, 2022 |title=Mutual, Stothert reveal plans for downtown skyscraper, streetcar system |url=https://omaha.com/news/local/mutual-stothert-reveal-plans-for-downtown-skyscraper-streetcar-system/article_cca02b1a-7e22-11ec-bd92-777df4b764b8.html |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=Omaha World-Herald |language=en |archive-date=September 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904175553/https://omaha.com/news/local/mutual-stothert-reveal-plans-for-downtown-skyscraper-streetcar-system/article_cca02b1a-7e22-11ec-bd92-777df4b764b8.html |url-status=live}} The First National Bank Tower was built on the site of the former Medical Arts Building, which was imploded on April 2, 1999, to make way for the current skyscraper.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109461173/blast-brings-building-down/ |date=April 3, 1999 |page=3B |agency=Associated Press |title=Blast brings building down |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913040737/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109461173/blast-brings-building-down/ |url-status=live}}

In April 1999, Kiewit formally began construction on the building. Between May and June 1999, "Big Stan", the world's largest drilling rig, was brought in to drill the caissons{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=First National Tower |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/101138/first-national-tower-omaha-ne-usa |website=Emporis |access-date=September 4, 2022 |archive-date=September 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904035857/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/101138/first-national-tower-omaha-ne-usa |url-status=usurped}} and foundation. On January 23, 2001, the structure's core passed {{cvt|467|ft}}, overtaking the Woodmen Tower's record of {{cvt|458|ft|m}} at the time and making the First National Bank Tower the tallest building in Nebraska.{{Cite web |last=Shaw |first=Gabbi |title=The tallest building in every state, ranked |url=https://www.insider.com/tallest-building-50-states-ranked-2019-3 |access-date=2021-04-01 |website=Insider |archive-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913183303/https://www.insider.com/tallest-building-50-states-ranked-2019-3 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=Suneson |first=Grant |title=Skyscrapers across the U.S.: Tallest building in every state |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/03/06/skyscrapers-across-u-s-tallest-building-every-state/382056002/ |access-date=2021-04-01 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US |archive-date=November 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130182735/https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/03/06/skyscrapers-across-u-s-tallest-building-every-state/382056002/ |url-status=live}} The building was officially completed in 2002, with a height of {{cvt|634|ft|m}} and 45 stories in total. The building was designed to be {{convert|3|ft|spell=in|sp=us|abbr=off|0}} higher than both the 801 Grand building in Des Moines and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, making the final project the tallest building in the Midwest between Denver and Chicago.

In 2022, Mutual of Omaha announced plans for the Mutual of Omaha Headquarters Tower. This building has been described by CEO James Blackledge as "on the scale of the First National Bank tower"{{Cite web |date=2022-01-26 |title=Mutual of Omaha plans skyscraper at downtown library site |url=https://apnews.com/article/business-omaha-07f85e2c9cfa95021edfb7c9f90b7f8a |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=AP News |publisher=Associated Press |language=en |archive-date=January 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130013313/https://apnews.com/article/business-omaha-07f85e2c9cfa95021edfb7c9f90b7f8a |url-status=live}} and estimated to either be the same height as or overtake First National Bank Tower as the tallest building in the state.{{r|Cordes (OWH)}}

The First National Bank Tower follows a postmodern design with a granite facade. Externally, the building has a central tapering structure and an upward-curving base along its eastern side. The bottom six stories are designated as the building's base and host a parking garage nearby. Underneath the building is a series of tunnels that connect the parking garage to the main building.

Lightweight concrete on metal decks was used to form the floor slabs of the building. This was done to minimize dead loads and support planned office and storage spaces. A two-hour fire-rated floor was constructed with {{cvt|5.25|in|cm|adj=on}} concrete. The perimeter girder slabs were reinforced with steel, while the rest were reinforced with synthetic fiber. Exterior steel columns were spaced at {{cvt|10|ft|m|0}} around the building's perimeter, and composite wide-flange beams extended {{cvt|47|ft|m}} between the building's core and the exterior columns. The original core plan had dimensions of {{cvt|27.86|x|12.04|m|ftin|order=flip}}. The core was a self-climbing style, housed an elevator shaft, and was constructed with 8000-psi (approximately 5.5 million pascal) concrete to provide lateral resistance to the structure. The core was supported by a {{cvt|120|x|76|x|12|ft|m|adj=on}} concrete pile cap and 950 tons (862 metric tons) of steel to combat shear and uplift forces. Construction of the pile cap took 11 hours of continuous concrete pouring and was the "largest single placement of concrete in the state of Nebraska". The foundations of the building were supported by 28 shafts, {{convert|90|in|cm|abbr=out}} in diameter, that were drilled in the limestone bedrock by the Big Stan drilling rig.

The steel support structure of the parking garage was encased in concrete to emulate a cast-in-place style of construction, while the rest of the parking garage was built with cast-in-place concrete. This was done because the design lacked expansion joints, separation joints, and post-tension concrete; thus, the concrete design was connected to form one single structure. The parking garage was supported by {{cvt|70|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}}, {{convert|30|-|60|in|cm|adj=mid|-diameter}}, drilled shafts with cast-in-place concrete.

Inside the building are two fountains, with a third one located in the tower's front plaza. The lobby was built to feature a {{cvt|60|ft|m|adj=on}} glass winter garden, constructed with bowed tube trusses and a curved cast-in-place concrete wall. The wintergarden also contains a mezzanine that leads to the building's second floor. This is supported by two tapered, cantilevered, cast-in-place concrete supports from a fountain. The lobby also includes the original terracotta facade from the former Medical Arts Building along the lobby's southern wall.

Following the completion of the building, its use of cast-in-place concrete and steel during the construction of the building's framework was the recipient of the Nebraska Chapter ACI Award of Excellence for Use of Concrete, the Engineering Excellence Honor Award from the Nebraska Chapter of ACEC, and National Finalist Recognition by the national ACEC organization. The building also won fifth place for the 2002 Emporis Skyscraper Award.

File:Omaha First National Tower 2010.jpg|alt=Image of the western facade of the First National Bank Tower|Western facade of the First National Bank Tower

File:First National Bank Tower.jpg|alt=Image of the front side of the First National Bank Tower|Eastern facade at night

File:First National Bank Park 1.jpg|alt=Image of the First National Bank Park; across from the tower's front plaza|First National Bank Park; across from the tower's front plaza

File:One First National Center, Dodge Street view.jpg|alt=Image of the First National Bank Tower's 60-foot (18 m) glass wall, with the winter garden inside|{{convert|60|ft|adj=on}} glass wall, with the winter garden inside

• Economy of Omaha, Nebraska
• List of tallest buildings in Omaha, Nebraska

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• [https://www.trekupthetower.org Trek up the Tower]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20220904035857/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/101138/first-national-tower-omaha-ne-usa Emporis Archive]}}
• [https://douglascone.wgxtreme.com/java/wgx_douglasne/static/accountinfo.jsp?accountno=R1039982715 Douglas County, Nebraska Property Record]

{{Tallest Buildings by U.S. state|state=autocollapse}}

Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Omaha, Nebraska

Category:Bank company headquarters in the United States

Category:2002 establishments in Nebraska

Category:Office buildings completed in 2002

Category:Postmodern architecture in the United States