ZAG Apartments – Omaha, NE
The Zag apartments tuck comfortably into the quiet Elmwood Park neighborhood. This modern building is surrounded by tree-lined streets and small single-family homes, and features 191 apartment units. The three-acre complex features surface parking and two podiums for temperature-controlled garage parking.
Highlights of the apartment complex include:
- Rammed Aggregate Piers which support the heavy structural load on the moist to wet, firm, loess soils
- Precast concrete beams and columns with hollow-core floor members for the podium slab that support the wood-framed levels above
- Underground garage access available in ZAG buildings 1 & 2
Podium Definition
Typically, a podium building consists of three or more stories of a particular type of construction bearing on top of a one or two-story base, referred to as the “podium.” The upper levels are usually apartments and are constructed with wood or light-gauge steel. The base may be built with cast-in-place concrete, precast concrete, structural steel or a combination of those materials.
The local market for multi-family and mixed-use is booming. This structure type fits right into constrained urban infill sites. Making room for parking within the podium base makes an attractive tenant amenity when surface lot or street parking is not available.
The Fall 2020 TD2 Newsletter spotlights ZAG and other podium structures in the area. You can read more about them here.
Photo credit: exterior front and courtyard photos by Dana Damewood.