Company expects to hire ‘hundreds’ to run Omaha operation
By CINDY GONZALEZ
Nebraska Examiner
A San Francisco-based company on Wednesday will open new offices overlooking Omaha’s Gene Leahy Mall — bringing a pioneering fintech product and an anticipated hundreds of jobs to a transforming downtown.
Unison, which specializes in home equity agreements, has leased about half of the ninth floor in the newly renovated, 15-story Landmark Center at 13th and Farnam Streets.
The handful of people launching the financial technology company’s second U.S. site want to hire “hundreds” of workers, said Holly Danko, chief people officer. She declined to be more specific on the total target but said the company’s growth pace has accelerated.
“We expect by the end of this year to outgrow that office space,” Danko told the Nebraska Examiner. The initial space fits about 100 people in the company’s hybrid work style. “This is a starting place.”
A range of jobs
Unison is seeking local workers ranging from sales to technology and customer service jobs, and at skill levels varying from entry to managerial.
With its office ribbon-cutting set for Wednesday, Unison’s Omaha opening comes on the heels of other downtown developments. Mutual of Omaha has announced it will build a new $443 million skyscraper kitty-corner to the Landmark building, filling the former public library site with about 4,000 workers.
A newly proposed $306 million downtown-to-midtown streetcar system was pivotal to the Mutual decision to build the facility just west of the ongoing $400 million riverfront parks and science museum project.
What stands out about the Unison venture, business leaders say, is that it may be the largest new-to-Omaha company opening an office site in downtown since Boston-based Toast, which launched its downtown operation in 2018 with a plan to hire “hundreds” of employees to grow its techie system of taking customer payments and managing restaurant inventory.
‘Hotspot’ for techies
Mark Norman of the Greater Omaha Chamber said Unison adds to the deep ranks of the local finance and insurance industry, which in 2019 contributed $10.6 billion to the Omaha region’s gross domestic product.
He cited as other industry examples Fiserv, First National Bank, PayPal and D3 Banking.
“Omaha is a No. 1 ranked up-and-coming tech hotspot for a reason,” said chamber president and CEO David Brown.
Unison is expected to access public incentives under the ImagiNE Nebraska Act, Norman said, though details were not disclosed.
Helping to launch and lead the Omaha office as Unison president is Nebraska native Ryan Downs, who also helped scale locally grown companies such as PayPal and Proxibid.
Lynette Ryan, an Omaha area native and former PayPal manager, will oversee growth as vice president of operations.
While that hometown management presence is a plus, Omaha’s attributes — including a fintech-friendly workforce, quality of life and affordability — clinched the Omaha selection, both Danko and Downs said.
Omaha kept rising to the top
Unison’s search began last year, with the team weighing various factors in more than 100 metro areas.
“The data always pointed to Omaha,” Danko said. “Regardless of how we cut the data, Omaha was in the Top 10.”
She pointed to Nebraska’s universities and Fortune 500 companies that produce and nurture a workforce Unison wants.
With a business model tied to the housing industry, Danko said, Unison sought to open its new offices in an area where employees would be able to buy a home. The company, founded in 2016 and reaching customers in about 30 states, describes itself as a company “pioneering a smarter, better way to own your home.”
Through its residential equity agreements, Unison helps homeowners access their equity for improvements or other projects with no monthly payments or interest.
“Unison helps unlock a home’s equity in exchange for a portion of your home’s appreciation when you sell,” its website says. “No extra debt, no interest, no monthly payments. Plus we share in the upside and the down.”
Uptick in office clients
The company gets involved in the homebuying process, as well, by paying part of a down payment in exchange for some of the appreciation on the home at the time the client sells or refinances.
Jason Fisher, co-owner of the Landmark Center, said Unison’s arrival signals an uptick in occupancy of the tower as well as an overall office market momentum he hasn’t seen downtown in a while.
“The last 10 years it’s been like pulling teeth to get tenants downtown,” he said.
Indeed, it was the sluggish market that nudged Fisher’s team to repurpose vacant or underused floors of the Landmark office tower into an upscale boutique hotel and restaurants that opened last year.
Recent downtown improvements and worker infusion give Fisher, who also is president of the Lund real estate company, reason for optimism.
“We feel good about the momentum,” he said. “It feels like 12 months from now we might look back and say this was a tipping point.”