Applied Underwriters New HQ Celebrates with "Topping Out" Ceremony

The new Applied Underwriters mixed-use, 500-acre development on land formerly part of Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska reached a milestone in its construction on Tuesday, as the Company’s own Operational Headquarters on the site was topped out. Topping out is a long-standing tradition held by builders when the last beam is placed atop a structure during its construction.

Applied, one of Omaha’s largest employers, will move up to 2,000 employees into the 270,000-square-foot facility that sits among the public nature trails and lawns, corporate headquarters, residential developments and retail shops in Heartwood Preserve, currently over 70% sold. Located off the Applied Parkway exit from West Dodge Road, the development is among the largest undertaken in the nation over the past decade.

Before calling upon the construction crew to hoist the large I-beam into place to effect the topping out, Steve Menzies, Chairman and Founder of Applied and creator of Heartwood Preserve, characterized the project as “high minded,” the result of a “visionary approach” in its respect for the natural environment, for its many features welcoming citizens to the trails and lawns, and for its pleasant ambiance of retail and residential facilities:

“This is an inspiring moment for all of us at Applied and for all of those who have worked so hard to realize this grand success in the making, Heartwood Preserve, whose name itself denotes its character. For our Company which has grown dramatically here in Omaha and around the world since 1998, we will now have a permanent Omaha home, after a progress that found us growing out of three successive buildings and complexes as we now prepare to house our current 1,000-member staff, with an eye to housing up to 2,000 professionals in our new building in the future. It is a true point of pride for us all, including Mayor Stothert, who has supported us all along the way, our talented General Contractor, JE Dunn, our design teams, engineers, creative and marketing professionals and, above all, the stalwart men and women who actually built this, undaunted by COVID, by supply chain problems, by the weather or by the demands of our unique design and structural elements. We celebrate all of you today.”

Mr. Menzies noted that Applied has worked hard to keep its commitments to the various constituencies involved to date: “To us, Heartwood Preserve stands as a monument to our commitments to Omaha, Omaha’s people and its future, to the former land owners the DeMarco family and to Boys Town. As an ‘A’ rated international insurance business whose strength hinges upon the values of fidelity and good faith, we have held this project to that same level of ethical and practical standards. Heartwood is dedicated to being a true destination, a place of beauty, pride and preservation of all that we cherish in living here.”

The new Applied Underwriters Operations Headquarters is centered upon its campus of 50 acres of land and has 1,000 parking stalls, all underground and purposely not visible. Its systems are ahead of the state of the art in every way and are also placed out of sight as a further aesthetic consideration, leaving the vistas and natural settings clearly unobstructed.

The 270,000-square-foot, 5-floor building features 16-foot and higher ceilings throughout, enabling natural light to shine through the acres of floor-to-ceiling electrochromic glass encasing the structure. The building demanded what is believed to be the largest installation of electrochromic glass in the US.

A characteristic that is especially people friendly and efficient is the use of extraordinarily large interior spaces that span 105 feet in length without any interior supporting columns requiring specially designed 8-foot deep girder trusses to provide for what is believed to be the longest unsupported spans in any office building in the United States.

What has been termed “a tour de force of design and imagination,” the entire project has been realized with no public funding. Anticipated completion of the Applied Operations Headquarters and occupancy is slated for 2024.