Oklahoma City - New Tallest - Taller than Dallas

[Dale]

Obviously, Mr. Nichols should have consulted the folks who are really in-the-know, the folks on SSC, before going off half-cocked.

*heavy sarcasm*

[TU 'cane]

Originally Posted by Nic

Umm, I think your sarcasm meter is broken...

What is your reasoning then lol? I mean ok, why are you opposed to this project? Is it because you know your stuff in this field and you know what it'll do to the OKC market? Trying to prove some of us Okies wrong? Why is it such a terrible thing if this tower gets built? Like I said earlier, since when did anyone on this forum give a damn about Oklahoma and especially OKC? I would have expected more comments like: "let the idiot okies build it and watch what it does to the market." or something along those lines. Why is it so bad that it makes you post a comment saying "If this building is built, i will climb to the top and hurl myself off in protest...." And don't take anything personal it really is just a question.

[snookums]

Originally Posted by TU 'cane

What is your reasoning then lol? I mean ok, why are you opposed to this project? Is it because you know your stuff in this field and you know what it'll do to the OKC market? Trying to prove some of us Okies wrong? Why is it such a terrible thing if this tower gets built? Like I said earlier, since when did anyone on this forum give a damn about Oklahoma and especially OKC? I would have expected more comments like: "let the idiot okies build it and watch what it does to the market." or something along those lines. Why is it so bad that it makes you post a comment saying "If this building is built, i will climb to the top and hurl myself off in protest...." And don't take anything personal it really is just a question.

Gawd.......don't you get it? He was obviously using sarcasm. Look back at his positive comments on page 3 and then look again at his post with the 'suicide smilie' and his "If this building is built, I will climb to the top to hurl myself off in protest" comment. That is why he said "Umm I think your sarcasm meter is broken..."

I personally think this is a great tower that any city would love to have. But the office vacancy rate *is* pretty high to have a behemoth like this built. Hopefully they will be able to fill it up in time....

[CLTNC]

I think starting a new tower in any city in the US is going to be a risk with the economy going like it is. I will not say it want be built, but the financing of this project is going to cost a bundle. It a nice looking tower and will look good in OKC.

[TStheThird]

This company can pay cash. Financing won't be a problem.

[Seattlelife]

Originally Posted by TStheThird

I love how some of you speak with such truth and conviction when in reality, you know nothing about Devon and their plans. They say that they will occupy the entire building and they will.

The tower is said to have floors ranging from 25,000 to 28,000 sq ft. That would land the 54 story tower portion of the headquarters somewhere between 1,350,000 and 1,512,000 sq ft. Additionally, the 400,000-square foot podium -- a six-story lower portion of the building -- will be dedicated to Devon work spaces and employee amenities. This part is said to have retail and restaurant components as well as workout and wellness facilities. It will also contain meeting spaces.

As for the office space in downtown. Another OKC company has long stated their desire to move downtown. They allegedly tried to buy Kerr McGee tower, but were beat out by Sandridge, another OKC energy company. Believe it or not, their are other energy companies downtown that are experiencing rapid growth. The big chunks of class A space will move fast. Many presuppose that American Fidelity will move their 1,000 employees into the tower that Devon will vacate. It will interesting to see what happens with the floors in Chase Tower, but it will be the first time that a large chunk of class A has come on the market in quite a while. We will have to wait and see what companies are interested in that space.

Also, downtown, the 975,000-square-foot First National Center is the largest contributor to the vacancy rate. The building is 60% vacant. It was purchased over a year ago and is undergoing renovations. There is a lot of other class C space downtown that will be converted to residential. It will be interesting to see where the vacancy rate stands when renovations are done on First National and some of the smaller class C buildings are converted.

If the momentum and investment in downtown OKC continues, the vacancy rate will be much lower even with the new Devon tower. If we experience another oil bust, downtown OKC will be empty again without any new office buildings on the horizon for multiple decades... kind of like the last two. You see folks, that is the story of a city with booming energy companies and not a lot of diversification. That is how it has been and that is how it will be until small local companies (in other industries) grow large or out of state companies move to OKC. Cheers.

This was an interesting post. Thank you!

[Seattlelife]

Originally Posted by Atlman1

A thread this long devoted to 1 building????

Imagine if Atlanta, Dallas, or Houston forumers did this for every tower built in their city.....

Are you serious??? If Atlanta, Dallas or Houston were getting a tower that nearly doubled the height of their downtown then the thread would be this long too. Plus, there are a lot of OKC haters out there that are belittling the city and the tower(whether right or not?), so it's not all OKC posters.

Let the OKC forumers have their excitement, and this is coming from an avid Seattle Supersonics fan and a Save Our Sonics member.

[Seattlelife]

Originally Posted by Sean in New Orleans

Geez, all I said was that I thought it was too tall and would not blend in well with what is there already and expressed concern over the fact the OKC has a 23% office vacancy rate without the tower there, already, and things go nuts. Amazing. Keep it going.

That's a valid thought, but what city hasn't had an abnormally tall tower for a while until the rest of the downtown started catching up? It happened in Minneapolis as shown above and it happened in Seattle with the Seattle First National Bank Tower in 1969-1971. I think it's cool to see a city doing this much right now. It has to be an exciting place to live right now.

[Natty Dred]

Devon has a market cap of 46 billion (1.5 times the size of Nike) and had a profit margin of over 30% last year. They won't finance the building.

[TU 'cane]

Originally Posted by snookums

Gawd.......don't you get it? He was obviously using sarcasm. Look back at his positive comments on page 3 and then look again at his post with the 'suicide smilie' and his "If this building is built, I will climb to the top to hurl myself off in protest" comment. That is why he said "Umm I think your sarcasm meter is broken..."

I personally think this is a great tower that any city would love to have. But the office vacancy rate *is* pretty high to have a behemoth like this built. Hopefully they will be able to fill it up in time....

Oh dang ok. Yes I feel really stupid right now. Ok thanks for that.

[ColorCrimson]

Originally Posted by CLTNC

I think starting a new tower in any city in the US is going to be a risk with the economy going like it is. I will not say it want be built, but the financing of this project is going to cost a bundle. It a nice looking tower and will look good in OKC.

Devon could pay this building off in three weeks.

[TU 'cane]

Although $750 million is quite a price tag. But then again, look at the tower lol.

[CessTenn]

That building looks very elegant and modern.

[Big Texan]

Originally Posted by TU 'cane

Although $750 million is quite a price tag. But then again, look at the tower lol.

seriously? This cost less then the Cowboys and Yankees new stadiums?

[Insighter]

Another thing I like about this building... it's very tall, but it does not have the "basket handle" cliche. Geez, how many buildings are there u/c or planned that have that horrid looking "twist & pinch" with the bar across it? This is a nice repudiation (I know, pretty strong) of that simply ugly (IMO) architectural flourish. I see the latest offender is the just-opened Shanghai Financial Center.

[TU 'cane]

Originally Posted by Big Texan

seriously? This cost less then the Cowboys and Yankees new stadiums?

It doesn't matter what it compares to, in my opinion $750 million is a lot of money. That's all I meant.

[Nic]

That is a lot of money for a skyscraper. Austin's U/C new tallest is 56 stories, 683', and will cost about 250 million.

[TU 'cane]

Originally Posted by Nic

That is a lot of money for a skyscraper. Austin's U/C new tallest is 56 stories, 683', and will cost about 250 million.

Exactly. I've been looking around and there are some 700 and 800 foot towers going up for only $300 million or so. And to see this 925 feet and only 54 floors, where is all the money going to? Is glass that much? Steel? What is it?

[shane453]

LEED certification, mostly, and probably some super posh interiors.

[SRG]

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