# OKCpedia > General Real Estate Topics >  Downtown Office Leases

## Pete

Thought I would start a new thread to track office leasing activity in the downtown area because I'm starting to see more and more in the business news but also through building permits.

Yesterday I posted about a sizable lease in the Packard Building and today there was  a permit to finish out 5,000 square feet at 615 N. Hudson.  The building was constructed in 2001 and recently sold to investors in Norman -- has about 30,000 square feet:



And just last week, there was a building permit for 21,000 square feet in the south tower of Leadership Square.  I don't know the tenant but the contractor doing the work is based in Cleveland.

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## Just the facts

> And just last week, there was a building permit for 21,000 square feet in the south tower of Leadership Square.  I don't know the tenant but the contractor doing the work is based in Cleveland.


Exogen?

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## metro

It's about time that building on Hudson leases out, I think it's always been empty

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## Pete

Building permit today for $6.8 million (!) to redo floors 3-7 and part of 9 of  the north tower of Leadership Square; 109,000 square feet.

Not sure where all these employees are now, but that's 5+ floors in that building.

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## Soho

That's for Enogex, they are taking the Tronox space and more. I'm on the tenth floor and am listening to what sounds like a very loud Dentist's drill below me.

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## Pete

The building permit specified OG&E (meant to mention that).

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## king183

Here's a story about Flogistix, an oil and gas business, moving from Texas to downtown OKC.  They'll be occupying office space in City Place.  The reasons given for moving are the workforce and the proximity to customers, which I assume will be other oil and gas companies like Devon, Sandridge, Chesapeake, and Continental.




> Flogistix LP, a leading oil and natural gas services provider, announced Monday it has opened its corporate headquarters at City Place, 204 N Robinson Ave.
> 
> That office will house up to 20 members of Flogistix's management team, with the remainder of company's 150-plus employees spread across its eight-state service area.
> 
> 
> 
> Read more: http://newsok.com/texas-oil-field-se...#ixzz1eSNpl0Bj


Any other businesses making their way downtown that we know of?

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## Just the facts

> Any other businesses making their way downtown that we know of?


From the FNC thread:

http://noodlestream.com/press/noodle...-oklahoma-city




> Oklahoma City, OK November 03, 2011  - noodleStream.com, the makers of SafetySkills™, is a premier online safety training solution providing EHS training to individuals and all sized companies. noodleStream.com is excited to announce their relocation to the historic First National Center in downtown Oklahoma City after four years in north Oklahoma City. This new location improves accessibility for employees, current customers and prospective clients while also providing needed growth space. The new office has capacity to house the continuing technology improvements for SafetySkills™ and additional space necessary for more efficient client and product development activities.
> 
> noodleStream.com is also looking to continue improving their sustainable business practices through this new location. The move results in a more central location to many employees, alternative forms of transportation, and is located in an area within walking distance of restaurants, doctors’ offices, dentists, convenience stores, barber shops and banks. Internally noodleStream.comhas done away with paper plates and plastic ware, and added multiple recycle bins around the new office. The benefits of this location brought together all of the requirements in looking for a new office – a central location to employees and clients, the space for growth and an improved support system for the company’s sustainability efforts.
> 
> J. Boyd Nolan, Chief Operating Officer of noodleStream.com commented on the new location, “Downtown Oklahoma City is a vibrant and growing business environment that provides every resource that noodleStream.com needs. The advantages in location and services to both our clients and our employees make it the ideal new home. We couldn’t be happier to be in this new location.”
> 
> About SafetySkills™ and noodleStream.com 
> noodleStream.com is a USA-based company focusing on providing world-class, technology-based solutions to global compliance training challenges. SafetySkills™, a product of noodleStream.com, is an innovative, interactive online safety training and Learning Management System that provides over 200 OSHA, EPA and DOT compliant courses. noodleStream.com develops and markets its own products, and provides custom programming, subject matter expertise, ISD and content development services for public and private-sector clients.

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## Bellaboo

If you can get 8 or so of these small business to relocate downtown per year from where ever, it wouldn't take long for the empty blocks of space that Devon will leave to be absorbed quickly. Along with companies like CR, we could see growth happen sooner rather than later.

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## BoulderSooner

the devon empty space is close to gone already

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## Bellaboo

> the devon empty space is close to gone already


I either read a story or heard an interview by Tom Ward about 6 months ago, speaking about oil and gas production from the Mississippi Sandstone formation accross Northern Oklahoma, that it would bring other O&G firms to OKC......maybe this is the beginning of that prediction..?

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## OKCMallen

> I either read a story or heard an interview by Tom Ward about 6 months ago, speaking about oil and gas production from the Mississippi Sandstone formation accross Northern Oklahoma, that it would bring other O&G firms to OKC......maybe this is the beginning of that prediction..?


For the most part, there's no need for a company to move completely in order to develop that play. But hey, let's hope!

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## Dustin

"Oklahoma City - The soon-to-be energy capital of the world"

I hope all of these energy companies play nice with each other being in such a close proximity!  lol

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## Thundercitizen

"...and keep your enemies closer."

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## Just the facts

> "...and keep your enemies closer."


You achieve more by working together and you get better through competition.  Bricktown owners should learn that lesson.

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## Urbanized

> You achieve more by working together and you get better through competition.  Bricktown owners should learn that lesson.


Why does this thread require a swipe at Bricktown? How is it relevant? I guess too many minutes had passed since someone had dogged Bricktown out? Seems like every thread on here does, eventually.

By "Bricktown owners" do you mean EVERY Bricktown owner? Because that's how it reads. I guess that includes the University of Central Oklahoma? The Chickasaw Nation? The Pitman group that developed a parking garage, the Hampton Inn, and which will be breaking ground soon on two more multi-story hotels? Jim Tolbert, who has wonderfully-renovated buildings in the heart of the district jam-packed with law offices, architectural firms and the like? Harding and Shelton, who have spent a ton of money doing a sensitive renovation of their building (with more phases to come)? The family of Jim Brewer, who seem to be charting a course very different than the one Jim followed, with an eye to development rather than speculation?

I understand that there are plentiful frustrating aspects to Bricktown. Believe me, I see things EVERY DAY, IN PERSON, that frustrate me and affect my businesses directly.

But despite some of those frustrations and setbacks, Bricktown has also returned hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment, which RARELY is acknowledged by the people here and elsewhere who instead choose to constantly carp. Just as there are good owners and bad owners here, there are good owners and bad owners in EVERY district in downtown. I could name them, but I won't, because I don't think it is productive nor will it help the development of those districts. As a downtown resident, business owner and worker, I want ALL of the districts to succeed.

When people cast these blanket aspersions toward Bricktown on this board, or in private conversations with colleagues, friends or family, it damages the district just as surely as some of the poor decisions that have been made in the district over the years.

The fact of the matter is that there was no Oklahoma City template for downtown revitalization when Bricktown started developing. The economics of it were so shaky that you could not attract traditional, successful developers, as the suburbs remained much more of a sure thing for many, many years. There was no other development going on, and this provided both a grand stage and a giant microscope for the district. Just like the successes, the mistakes that were made here were very public. They also provided a great example for other districts to learn from; both things to do and things NOT to do. Bricktown itself didn't have the advantage of learning from other revitalizing downtown OKC districts; they didn't exist.

Nearly every single downtown district since has (mistakenly, IMO) started very early on by trying to promote itself as some sort of "anti-Bricktown," until they figured out one by one that Bricktown's success is actually IMPORTANT to their own, just like their success helps Bricktown. They also discovered that they didn't have to "take away" business from Bricktown to be successful themselves; that instead of slicing up a pie into smaller pieces that we all are instead baking a bigger and more diverse pie.

Bricktown's success is important to all of Oklahoma City. We've invested too much in downtown to think otherwise. And yes, despite the fact that Bricktown was an obvious beneficiary of MAPS, we have invested and will invest far more public money outside of the district's boundaries than inside. Every time someone casually dogs all of Bricktown, they hurt it. It's fair to criticize individual developments, designs, even owners. But blanket statements about " Bricktown owners" are tired and inaccurate.

That's my two cents. Sorry for the rant.

And Pete, I know it is off-topic, but so was the post that precipitated it. Feel free to move it to "Bricktown change it attitude?" or wherever appropriate if you must. I just needed to get that off of my chest. I won't continue to post off-topic in this thread.

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## metro

> "Oklahoma City - The soon-to-be energy capital of the world"
> 
> I hope all of these energy companies play nice with each other being in such a close proximity!  lol


I wish, but not even close.

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## Spartan

> I guess too many minutes had passed since someone had dogged Bricktown out? Seems like every thread on here does, eventually.


Well, one thing we can all agree on it seems that is why this is. There are a lot of reasons why Bricktown draws people's ire lately.

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## adaniel

Does anyone know where QuiBids is located? What is the chance that they move downtown, if they are not there already?

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## lasomeday

> Does anyone know where QuiBids is located? What is the chance that they move downtown, if they are not there already?


I am pretty sure they are in the Valiance Tower up on NW Expressway.

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## Just the facts

> Why does this thread require a swipe at Bricktown? How is it relevant? I guess too many minutes had passed since someone had dogged Bricktown out? Seems like every thread on here does, eventually.


My apologies.  I retract the second sentence of my comment.

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## Pete

Staplegun (advertising/marketing/PR) has moved into the 20th floor of City Place and is spending $200K to remodel about 5,000 square feet.

They had previously been at 6525 N. Classen, a building owned by Chesapeake.

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## HOT ROD

very nice. Good to see older buildings get some occupancy.

I wonder if that might be an interesting trend -> former suburban businesses, building bought by Chesapeake, so the business moves downtown to older building (to start); thereby improving the older space (and occupying it at least until they can afford Class A).

I pray they can take on more floors as they grow.

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## Pete

Chesapeake has bought six large suburban buildings in the last year and they were all relatively full.  This is in addition to the dozens of smaller buildings they have been acquiring over the last several years.

They are gradually pushing the existing tenants out of those buildings so they can move their own employees in.  As I mentioned on the CHK thread, the Chamber now lists them as having 4,000 OKC employees.  Devon only has 2,500 by way of comparison.

With those six acquisitions in less than 12 months, CHK has taken 850,000 square feet off the market and all those existing tenants have to go somewhere.

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## Skyline

CHK could very well be the future developers of the "new Mystery Tower" in downtown Okc. Why not? it makes financial sense for them too.

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## Pete

CHK already has employees spread out all over the city and they OWN these buildings; not like these are just temporary lease situations.  And they are plowing tons of money into these buildings they are acquiring, completely renovating them floor by floor.

So, if they are already spread from 63rd and Portland to Lincoln and I-44 -- and several places in between -- why not have some employees downtown, too?


I wonder if they regret their entire campus proposition.  They are still nowhere close to having enough space for their staff and simply can't build 4-5 story buildings fast enough.  They've been under constant construction there for 10 years and are still a long way off.  Plus, even if they completely build things out to plan, some of their campus buildings will be a mile apart (literally) and they'll have people in 30 separate buildings.

Compare that to Devon who will soon have everyone all in the same complex and will have accomplished this goal in just a few years.  In fact, the new tower was brought about because they had employees in four buildings, all much closer together than the buildings on the current CHK campus.

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## wschnitt

> Does anyone know where QuiBids is located? What is the chance that they move downtown, if they are not there already?


Apparently they started downtown and did not like it, so they moved to the Valiance Bank Tower.

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## metro

Not to mention IF CHK builds a spec tower, with Devon wrapping up, it would put CHK in the spotlight for the next few years, which Aubrey loves competing with them for attention.

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## Pete

Another interesting comparison between CHK & Devon...

From groundbreaking to move-in, Devon Tower will be about a 2.5 year project.  And of course, the huge parking garage was done a long time ago as was their health center.

It takes CHK about 2 years to get people into one of their small buildings once they start construction.  If you follow the progress on Building 15 for example, they started in Feb of 2011 and a year later they are nowhere near finished -- still don't even have all the steel up, let alone all the finish work that is necessary.  Similarly, they started on Building 14 in August 2010 and are nowhere close to wrapping that up, either.

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## MDot

You would think the simple thing to do would be to just build a skyscraper or two downtown and get it over with.

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## HOT ROD

and turn the Chesapeake Campus buildings into a new University.  :Big Grin:

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## Spartan

It almost seems sluggish. CHK, who is ridiculously over-paying for everything, isn't as financially solvent as Devon, who paid for the entire tower in cash.

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## OklahomaNick

> It almost seems sluggish. CHK, who is ridiculously over-paying for everything, isn't as financially solvent as Devon, who paid for the entire tower in cash.


Just different philosophies of different CEO's. That's why Ward and McClendon split..

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## Just the facts

> and turn the Chesapeake Campus buildings into a new University.


That is one of the problems with a sprawling campus office.  If the company leaves then the community is left with basically a useless bunch of buildings that are not suited to small users.  I worked for a while next to Cisco's campus in Milpitas.  They have dozens of buildings, all of them looking exactly the same, sourrounded by acres of surface parking, and nearly all of them empty.  It looked like a scene from "Life After People".  At least with an office tower individual floors can be leased out if they aren't needed.

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## Pete

Looks like Covenant Investors is moving from Hefner Pointe to Oklahoma Tower, as there is a $245K building permit to remodel 6,777 square feet in that building.

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## OklahomaNick

Downtown is definitely a buzz!
Pete, do you know the vacancy level of Oklahoma Tower?

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## Pete

At the end of 2011 (before this new lease) Price Edwards showed Oklahoma Tower as 93% occupied.

Everything else downtown is also pretty full, with the exception of the First National Center at 50% vacancy.

The one surprising example is City Place which is show at 48% vacant.

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## OklahomaNick

> The one surprising example is City Place which is show at 48% vacant.


Who reps City Place? P.Edwards?

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## Pete

Levy Beffort - Grubb & Ellis

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## SoonerDave

> From the FNC thread:
> 
> http://noodlestream.com/press/noodle...-oklahoma-city


Anyone know what's become of this particular co? Such a strange-named company it stuck in my head, and I remembered  hearing there was some upper management shakeups/departures recently...?

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## Pete

$100K building permit to remodel one of the floors at 3 E. Main but I have no idea who is moving in...

Has this building had any tenants since it was renovated a couple of years ago?

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## Urbanized

No, the renovation was not completed. Honestly, I think they were just taking their time. Maybe stepped back from the project for a bit when the economy soured? Standley Systems is on office machine sales and service company based in Chickasha, but also with an Oklahoma City office. Nice folks; they were an advertising client of mine years ago. I don't know if they are going to be using the whole building, but it is their building and their renovation.

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## wschnitt

That building has come a long way since this picture.

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## metro

Yeah pretty sure Standley is taking their time on a pay as you go basis and occupying the whole thing.

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## Urbanized

> That building has come a long way since this picture.


Also true. And they have been working pretty steadily for past couple of months at least.

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## warreng88

Northwest Oil & Gas Exploration buys downtown OKC office
By Sarah Terry-Cobo 
The Journal Record	
Posted: 07:05 PM Thursday, March 8, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY – Downtown businesses will soon gain another neighbor from the energy industry. The city’s first office condominium recently sold its last space to Northwest Oil & Gas Exploration LLC in the 125 Park Avenue Building at 825 N. Broadway Ave. The company will be moving from its Nichols Hills office on May 1, said President Kevin A. Burshears
“We obviously want to stay active in the community and with other companies; it helps being close to the other companies,” Burshears said regarding their decision to relocate downtown.

According to the county assessor’s office, the 5,000-square-foot office space sold for $320,000 on Feb. 17. The company will occupy the lower level of the five-story building.

Rick Pritchett, a broker with Precor Ruffin Properties, managed the sale.

“This was the first office condominium project in Oklahoma City and this was the last piece of the puzzle, if you will, in this project,” he told The Journal Record in a telephone interview.

The building was initially purchased and renovated for oil and gas companies that wanted downtown office space, but did not want 100,000 square feet, Pritchett said. The space was divided into 5,000-square-foot plates to make it more attractive to these companies. Northwest Oil & Gas purchased the last available space, but is the only energy company in the building.

The company is planning on expanding to add about five more employees, Burshears said. It employs 12 people and about eight contractors, he said. The oil and gas exploration company’s new office will be within blocks of other major energy companies, including SandRidge, Devon and Continental Resources, which is scheduled to finish relocation from Enid by the end of the year.

http://journalrecord.com/2012/03/08/...e-real-estate/

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## Just the facts

And the good news just keeps rolling in.

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## HOT ROD

keep em coming!

this is exactly what we need, FILLIN companies. We need the big announcements, but we also MOSTLY need these small and smaller companies to fill in the little spaces.

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## GaryOKC6

The fact that they bought the space shows that they are here to stay as well.  The 125 Park Ave building is actually at 125 Park Avenue although eh article said it was at 825 N. Broadway.  I believe it is next door to the Chamber building.

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## MrsArnall

> $100K building permit to remodel one of the floors at 3 E. Main but I have no idea who is moving in...
> 
> Has this building had any tenants since it was renovated a couple of years ago?



http://newsok.com/article/3654184 

Public Strategies plans move Project management firm Public Strategies has leased a 109-year-old, 35,550-square-foot building at 3 E Main St. in Bricktown to relocate its corporate office. 

Read more: http://newsok.com/article/3654184#ixzz1p0sTRpYG

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## warreng88

Cafe 7 coming to downtown Oklahoma City
By Brianna Bailey
Journal Record
Oklahoma City reporter - Contact 405-278-2847	
Posted: 06:42 PM Tuesday, March 13, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY – After opening its doors about three years ago near W. Memorial Road and N. May Avenue, Cafe 7 is opening a second location in downtown’s First National Center.

The fast-casual restaurant has signed a lease for 3,800 square feet of space on the ground floor of First National Center at the corner of N. Robinson and Park avenues. The space was previously occupied by Woods Floral and Copelin’s Office Center.

“We’ve been wanting to branch out to a second store for a while and downtown Oklahoma City seemed like that magic spot,” 
Cafe 7 co-owner Jimmy Mays said. “There’s a lot going on there right now and we want to be a part of it.”

Mays opened Cafe 7 in November 2008 with fellow Oklahoma State University alumnus Chris Kana and their former college instructor Paul Sorrentino from OSU’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Management.

The eatery offers sandwiches, soups, pizzas, salads and pasta and makes its sauces each day from scratch.

The First National Center Cafe 7 will be open for lunch Monday through Friday and will also offer catering services. Mays and his partners hope to have the restaurant open by this summer.

Laci Jackson of Price Edwards & Co. negotiated the lease for First National Center.

“Cafe 7 has been really successful in Oklahoma City and we were seeking a good user for that space,” Jackson said. “We think a street-access restaurant will do really well there.”

http://journalrecord.com/2012/03/13/...y-real-estate/

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## catch22

I love cafe7! Can't wait until it opens!

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## Rover

This should be a big hit downtown. It has a great selection ofcasual food and full entrees, all at reasonable pricing.  This should appeal to all economic levels both at noon and evening, weekdays and weekends.

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## Pete

Unfortunately, it says they will only be open for weekday lunches.

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## catch22

Didn't the DOK run this a few weeks ago? And the owners stated that it was just for the first few weeks it would be open only for lunch? With it eventually expanding to more times?

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## OklahomaNick

Maybe Robinson south of Park Ave. will be done by the time they open! or maybe not..

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## Pete

> Didn't the DOK run this a few weeks ago? And the owners stated that it was just for the first few weeks it would be open only for lunch? With it eventually expanding to more times?


I believe you are thinking of Cool Greens.

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## BoulderSooner

> I believe you are thinking of Cool Greens.


and cool greens now stays open to 7 on thunder game days

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## warreng88

Kansas City engineering firm Burns & McDonnell opens downtown OKC office
By Sarah Terry-Cobo 
Journal Record
Posted: 08:14 PM Wednesday, March 21, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY  The real estate slogan location, location, location generally rings true, but sometimes it helps to be in the right place at the right time. For more than 100 years, the engineering and architectural firm Burns & McDonnell has been headquartered in Kansas City, Mo. For nearly three decades, the company has managed utility, engineering and environmental remediation projects in temporary sites throughout Oklahoma. Two months ago, the company set up a regional office in the Robinson Renaissance building in downtown Oklahoma City.

It makes it easy to do business and be responsive to our clients as we expand our base and build new relationships, said Joshua Evans, engineer and office manager for the firms Oklahoma City office. The company has 3,400 employees, he said, a third of them working in regional offices like this one.

The prime location at 119 N. Robinson Ave. puts the office within several blocks of energy companies Continental Resources, Devon, SandRidge and Enogex, and closer to Leadership Square, where the firm is developing new projects, Evans said.

Oklahoma City has a tremendous amount of opportunity and work going on here, he said, gesturing out his eighth-floor window at the construction on Main Street below.

Only four people are stationed in the office, but Evans said the company is planning to expand by about 30 employees over the next three years. They will need electrical, civil and structural engineers to help expand the facilities division of the company.

Were an employee-owned company, he said. That is our biggest differentiator from our competitors.

Evans said that drives the culture in the workplace, encouraging employees to help each other out and make their clients successful.

Its worked out very well for us over the last 110 years, he said.

In the energy sector, Burns & McDonnell covers a broad spectrum in the state, Evans said, from the power in your light switch to the gas in your tank. The company designed, built and constructed electrical transmission lines that connect wind turbines in Woodward to the grid serving customers in Oklahoma City.

It has also built American Electric Powers natural gas substation in Canadian County, and completed several upgrades to the ConocoPhillips refinery in Ponca City. The architectural division of the firm has also built facilities for military and defense contracts, including the Tulsa division of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Oklahoma City has done a fabulous job of improving the city and making it a place we want to come, Evans said.

http://journalrecord.com/2012/03/21/...e-real-estate/

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## warreng88

City Rescue Mission plots downtown OKC food bank
By Brianna Bailey
Journal Record
Oklahoma City reporter - Contact 405-278-2847	
Posted: 06:49 PM Tuesday, March 20, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY – City Rescue Mission plans to build a grocery store-style food bank downtown that will distribute food to 1,000 needy residents per month.

The nonprofit plans to transform an old warehouse it owns at 829 W. California Ave. into the Impact Hunger Food Resource Center. City Rescue Mission will ask the Oklahoma City Planning Commission on Thursday to approve a special permit to run the new operation.

The food resource center would have extended hours, to better serve working people who might not otherwise have access to food banks operated by churches and volunteers, said Tom Jones, president and CEO of City Rescue Mission. Many food banks have limited, irregular hours, but the food resource center would be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The center would function much like a grocery store, with aid recipients choosing their own produce and other items they need from shelves.

“This particular project is going to be focused on the near-homeless and working poor,” Jones said. “If the transmission goes out on their car and they don’t have enough money to pay their bills and get their car fixed, this will allow them to meet those challenges.”

City Rescue Mission received a $100,000 grant from the charitable organization Impact Oklahoma to help open the food resource center. It is also soliciting donations. The new food bank is expected to be open by late spring or summer.

The City Rescue Mission is partnering with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to open the downtown food resource center. It is one of several centers the food bank plans to open across the city to better serve needy families.

Another food distribution center is already under construction at NW 39th and N. Portland Avenue. It will be operated by The Urban Mission Inc. The Regional Food Bank also plans to partner with other nonprofits to open food resource centers in several cities across the 53 counties it serves in the state, including Enid, Lawton, Woodward and Durant, said Rodney Bivens, Regional Food Bank executive director.

“We’re trying to give people greater access to food and make a greater variety of food available to them,” Bivens said. “This will allow people a greater level of dignity to come in and shop and pick up the things they want instead of someone just handing them a box of food.”

http://journalrecord.com/2012/03/20/...k-real-estate/

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## TStheThird

It is very small news, but my company just signed a lease on 611 N. Broadway! The 4 of us are very excited.

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## Just the facts

> It is very small news, but my company just signed a lease on 611 N. Broadway! The 4 of us are very excited.


Where are you relocating from?

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## TStheThird

This is our first office. We are a young startup.

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## Just the facts

Good luck with your new endeavour.

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## Pete

> This is our first office. We are a young startup.


Awesome!  Wish you the best of luck.


And moreover, there is clearly a trend of companies of all sizes gravitating back to the city core, and that's a good thing.

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## Midtowner

never mind.

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## HOT ROD

yes, excellent news! best of luck and enjoy the big city.  :Smile:

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## Pete

$500K building permit today for the 14th floor of City Place -- about 11,000 square feet.

Not sure of the tenant.  There is also the possibility this could be condo conversion, especially at that amount per square foot.

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## knightrider

> $500K building permit today for the 14th floor of City Place -- about 11,000 square feet.
> 
> Not sure of the tenant.  There is also the possibility this could be condo conversion, especially at that amount per square foot.


Is this one of the floors Sandridge is leasing?

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## betts

> $500K building permit today for the 14th floor of City Place -- about 11,000 square feet.
> 
> Not sure of the tenant.  There is also the possibility this could be condo conversion, especially at that amount per square foot.


Do you think you could convert that much square footage to condo for only $500,000?  I would think it's more likely to be office space.

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## Pete

> Is this one of the floors Sandridge is leasing?


Could be but that's a lot of money for space they won't be using long.

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## HOT ROD

must not be SandRidge then. Great news if true.

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## Pete

Booz Allen Hamilton (national consulting firm) is opening a 7,343 square foot office location in Leadership Square.

The are one of the top management consulting firms in the world.

They have a presence in MWC due to Tinker and I'm not sure if this is a new office or an additional one.

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## HOT ROD

cool, great to see

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## metro

Yeah Booz Allen is a big name.

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## ljbab728

An interesting update on the current situation.

Oklahoma City office market seeing highs and lows | News OK

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## ljbab728

A new interesting update by Richard Mize on the current situation and outlook for the future.

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/5238792?embargo=1




> Class A office space downtown is tighter than ever, and lease rates are at an all-time high, according to Price Edwards & Co.
> 
> Vacancy shrunk from 9.3 percent to 1.4 percent over the first half of 2014, sending average rents to a record $21.41 per square foot per year, the commercial realty firm reported in its midyear office market summary.

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## hoya

It would seem that this is the perfect time to build a tower with lots of spec class A space in it.

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## bombermwc

Before we go crazy, what is OG&E's construction going to do to that. If the building is prime for redevelopment, it could easily be gutted for new Class A. It's not a huge structure, but it's also not a little 4 story sucker either.

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## Pete

Whatever happens with the existing OG&E building, it won't be available for at least two and probably three years.

Think about how much has changed downtown in the last 2-3 years and how much momentum has picked up since.


Office space in particular is a like a large train...  Very slow to stop (construction takes years to complete and often commences in very different market conditions) and very slow to get rolling again (previous gluts cause financing to dry up and then it takes years and years before anything new comes on-line).

The net result is that supply and demand are almost always mis-matched.  And what we have now is a extreme need with supply years away. 

It's really the financial institutions that are to blame, as they shut off when things get soft then take forever to loosen the purse strings again.  Then, tons of developers all flood in at once.  This is exactly what is happening in hotels and apartments, while condos and office projects have all been on hold.

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## Bellaboo

> Before we go crazy, what is OG&E's construction going to do to that. If the building is prime for redevelopment, it could easily be gutted for new Class A. It's not a huge structure, but it's also not a little 4 story sucker either.


Steve's article suggested turning the old OGE building into housing.

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## bombermwc

Bellaboo - Im sure it did...that seems to be what everyone thinks every old building should be. The problem is that residential take a WHOLE LOT MORE work to get moving and requires a lot more to keep people happy once they are in there. I'm sure someone will say it needs to be upscale and it'll take them 10 years to get enough leases to start construction while we wait on historic credits and some other bullcrap and in the end it wont be half the project it was envisioned. Do we see a pattern here??? Hm. It's a lot easier to take a floor at a time and gut the place down to the studs and build it back out as you get new tenants. It's done all over OKC (like the old lucent plant) can make the building class A over night. Right now, I don't think id classify OG&E as class A...bleh.

Pete - that's still a faster turnaround than starting from scratch on a new tower. I'm all in favor of some more new construction to do some "filling in". I'm just cautious to think what could happen. I would hate to see us up at the 20%+ vacancy rate like we have seen. I still can't access the article, so I'm curious if the numbers showed what class B and C rates were like as well. We've still got an overabundance of that and with Devon vacating FNC just made it worse.

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## JosephYost

Does anyone know if First National Center has any openings for office space available? I went in there a couple months ago, and I wasn't able to see the girl who manages the property as she was on the phone with her boyfriend. I left my card for her with the receptionist, and we never heard back from her. They gave us permission to look around and I noticed that there are many empty floors. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

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## Soonerinfiniti

While it appears that Jamie McCammon (405.235.5200) is the local leasing agent, Amy Dunn with CBRE (405.272.5305) is a contact for the possible sale of the property.

There is over 500,000 SF listed for lease from $12 - $14/SF (Full Service Lease) with tenant spaces available ranging from 100 SF to over 26,000 SF.

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## jbkrems

There are definitely open spaces in First National Center, but by chance when I went up to visit a certain office, the spaces I saw on the way were not fit or ready for use.  If I wanted to lease space downtown, I would look elsewhere.

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