I thought they will only have control over the western part of the new city center garage. Of course, it's not like they would have an issue buying the rest of the properties if they decide they want them.

Devon will only control the west center city garage - you are correct. It's this garage that was constructed to allow for additional parking decks. The east garage will remain with COTPA and continue on as a public garage.

What is Devon paying for the garage?

From comments Nichols made about buying the Colcord, it sounds like the tower will be on the east end of that block, close to the hotel.

That means the atrium would likely extend west with the meeting facility at the far west end of the block.

What is Devon paying for the garage?

Don't know. Nothing about the purchase price has been openly reported.

Devon will only control the west center city garage - you are correct. It's this garage that was constructed to allow for additional parking decks. The east garage will remain with COTPA and continue on as a public garage.

Where are you getting this? That would certainly be an odd arrangement, and I don't see why only the west section is expandable. They are exactly the same.


From comments Nichols made about buying the Colcord, it sounds like the tower will be on the east end of that block, close to the hotel.

That means the atrium would likely extend west with the meeting facility at the far west end of the block.

I didn't get that impression. It seems to me like it would make sense to have the meeting facilities close to the hotel. Plus from an aesthetic standpoint, the tower would look better on the corner, IMO.

if i were the architect, i'd put it on the west corner... in order to stretch the skyline out. i wouldn't block oklahoma tower.

Where are you getting this? That would certainly be an odd arrangement, and I don't see why only the west section is expandable. They are exactly the same....

I get it from two places. First, it's been reported as such in the newpaper stories that have detailed the project. And secondly, that's what I've been told by people with OCURA.

The west garage was structurally built to allow for additional stories to be added to it, whereas the east garage was not. While they may look the same aesthectically, they are not the same strength-wise.

Okay, that makes sense.

But I don't remember seeing anything published in an article about it being only the west section.

I agree with the tower being on the west corner...if they build it next to The Colcord, that will definitely cover up Oklahoma Tower. The whole idea here is to EXPAND our skyline to show off how big it is becoming...not cover up one of the tallest buildings downtown with an even taller building! That's one thing I hate about First National and City Place...while they are both great, they are SO CLOSE that from some vantage points they hide each other, thus not allowing the skyline to be seen as big as it actually is (or could be)!! Anyone else agree with me?

From afar, yes. But actually in downtown you see how dense the core really is (even if it is only a few square blocks).

Ummm, how would the Devon tower block the Oklahoma Tower? This isn't being built directly south of it. The Colcord is where it would have to be built to block it. It doesn't matter if they built it next to the hotel or on the west side of the property, it isn't going to block the Oklahoma from the south, west, north, or east views. It is, however, going to block it from the southwest angle regardless.

as much as i like you as a person... i still have to beg to differ. building on the east side by the colcord will block the oklahoma tower if viewed from directly south of it.

Lol. Thanks edcrunk.

Yes, you're right. I'm always thinking that the Oklahoma Tower is straight on the corner of Robinson, but its not. But driving down there today, I realized, oops its not. Haha.

no worries... i did have to consult a pic tho.

You fools need to look at the downtown skyline from the NW. Obviously the pic doesn't stretch out enough to the west to show where Devon Tower will be, but this will be an amazing vantage point when it's built:

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9465/city3om7.jpg

Very true JWil...it'g going to be spectacular. I was just thinking more along the lines of the vantage point of a lot of people traveling through...either E/W or W/E on I-40, and of course on I-35. But, I'm sure it will look good from ALL angles...I HOPE!! :-)

yeah, and i was thinking about the view coming from edmond on broadway ext.
i am just anxious for our skyline to have a "bookends" look, with the two tallest buildings on either end.

Working on some graphics, coming soon...........

Thats impressive work Architect. But hopefully we get something a tad smaller in scale. I also am glad it won't be so horizontally long. It just dwarfs the other scrapers. But nonetheless, great work.

I wish we had models on GoogleEarth of our downtown.

Disclaimer: These images are not a depiction of Devon Tower, just some fun with Google Sketchup.

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-7.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-2.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-3.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-4.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-5.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-6.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-8.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-9.jpg

The tower is approx, 800' 50 stories plus with mechanical penthouse and some design feature at top.

Note how the point of view seems to distort the scale of buildings..............

Great work, architect5311!

This one's for Ed............

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-10.jpg

This building may seem ominous, but if we are talking about 50 stories that is 20 stories taller than Oklahoma Tower, then some.

Thats impressive work Architect. But hopefully we get something a tad smaller in scale. I also am glad it won't be so horizontally long. It just dwarfs the other scrapers. But nonetheless, great work.

I wish we had models on GoogleEarth of our downtown.


Fact is we have a small skyline............just for comparison i threw in BOK Tower at 667' next to the hypothetical 800' tower.

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-11.jpg

Perspective and point of view play a big part in our perception .

It will be very similar to Charlotte in the 90's after the 900+ ft. tall Bank of America Corporate Center was built. It absolutely dwarfed everything else in a skyline that was worse than OKC's. Then a few other towers were built and now it's one of the most attractive skylines in the country, IMO. Usually one skyscraper is all it takes for other buildings to start sprouting up whether it be office, residential, or hotel.

Sweet, architect! Really helps to visualize.

And I agree about the Charlotte comparison. OKC is where they were about 10-15 years ago in many ways, including landing their first pro franchise.

If you go there now, it's a real boom town with tons of interesting urban infill projects.

Why is everyone upset that the new building is going to be so big? Are you kidding me!

Why is everyone upset that the new building is going to be so big? Are you kidding me!

who is upset? i think everybody is stoked!

This one's for Ed............

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-10.jpg

thank you so much. i dig seeing how it may look from the various angles.

I wouldn't worry about it covering anything up from one specific angle. The point here is to create even more density in the small, but still dense core we have. If you spread it out for visual aesthetics, then you risk losing the advantages on the ground. And if you nudge it west to keep the Oklahoma Tower visible from a directly southern vantage point, then wouldn't it just cover it up from the southwest. In fact, then you may cover up Oklahoma Tower, plus Leadership, City Place and everything else that will be "behind it" from that angle. And the farther out you take it, the more cover up from that direct angle.

Sure, half a block may not seem like much, but tell that to all of the people who complain about parking downtown. They don't seem to like to walk much more than a block.

Really, the whole point of building vertical downtown is to create density and a synergy of operations. In the end, I think they can put it anywhere on that site and it will accomplish that, but no matter where they put they will be covering stuff up from certain angles, while significantly expanding the skyline from others.


You fools need to look at the downtown skyline from the NW.

Which is also why every place in MidTown needs to be thinking "rooftop bar". ;)

But up until recently, it's always been presumed it would be on the corner at Hudson & Sheridan. I see no signs that that assumption was wrong.

jbrown, I've heard from reliable sources it won't be on that corner but further east -- closer to the Colcord.

They may want the main structure closer to the central CBD, especially since they want to tie it into the Underground.

I love the artistic renderings, looks like it definitely represents a 750' to 800' tower. I hope the building ends up like this, and ends up at 800' with the architectural roof appendage such as what was shown here.

This is going to do wonders for Oklahoma City (ala Charlotte) - especially on game nights and/or when OKC makes the national news (hopefully for more positives than negatives) and they do a pan-scan of the skyline. ....

druling..... I can't wait!

How about something like this for Devon, both iconic and LEED certified:

http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/greenscrapers.jpg

http://www.ecogeek.org/images/stories/greenscrapers/pearlriver.jpg

"Another greenscraper designed to harness winds at lofty heights, the Pearl River Tower will use internal wind turbines to keep the lights on. Fashioned like a giant wing, the tower pushes air through wind tunnels on two of the building's 71 stories. This eco-marvel of a building will also employ geothermal heat sinks, ventilated facades, waterless urinals, integrated photovoltaics and daylight responsive controls when it opens in late 2009. "


Uber-Eco-Towers: The Top Ten Green Skyscrapers | EcoGeek (http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/695/)

I like those.

Nothing says more about a city than having construction cranes on it's skyline.

If you think about it, there have been very few tall buildings built since the 80's.

All those in Dallas & Houston were built in that era... Same with Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle. There are 3 taller buildings under construction in San Francisco and Vegas has had a real building boom but this tower should be taller than all those.


Put another way: Devon Tower could be the tallest building built west of Chicago in about 20 years.

it's interesting how buildings go up in spurts. i remember playing a show in dallas in 1999 and i was chatting with this dj from cleveland. we were commenting on the dallas skyline and the discussion flowed into each of our own city's skylines. i was complaining that nothing new had been built in okc's downtown for a while and he said that most cities hadn't added any skyscrapers in the 90's. i have no idea why i hadn't noticed that until he mentioned it.

Going back a bit further to 1931, I'm sure most are aware of the great skyscraper race. The First National building vs. The Ramsey Tower (City Place)..........if not read about it.

First National after completion was the tallest building west of the Mississippi
until 1970.

Wow...I didn't know that. It's crazy to think that OKC had a taller building than L.A. or Houston!!! At least for a while... :)

4th largest...

Profile of First National Bank Building in Oklahoma City | Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City) | Find Articles at BNET (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20080111/ai_n21199699)

Thanks...I thought that seemed a bit of a stretch...but I didn't find it totally out of the realm of possibility.

4th largest...

Profile of First National Bank Building in Oklahoma City | Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City) | Find Articles at BNET (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20080111/ai_n21199699)

The above linked article states fourth largest building.......

This link does state both the FNB and Ramsey were the tallest for several years which is what i had heard..............

[url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20030902/ai_n10159187/pg_2]

Regardless, Oklahoma City had quite a skyline in the early 30's with FNB, Ramsey Tower, Biltmore, etc.

I agree...it's too bad some of the buildings got torn down when they did during the urban renewal days...a couple of our THEN high-rises were torn down. If they had stayed, I would imagine that downtown would look a little bigger than it does now.

I agree...it's too bad some of the buildings got torn down when they did during the urban renewal days...a couple of our THEN high-rises were torn down.

i can only think of one. i remember watching it implode on TV as a kid.

Yes, the Biltmore Hotel demolished in 1977. What a mistake a 33 story building.

Use to stand on the NW corner of the Myriad Gardens I think.

follow doug's link.............

Biltmore Hotel (http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtown/vintage/1.biltmore.htm)

Thing was a monster!

More eye candy..................what OKC could be in ten years?

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-13.jpg

A new corporate tower to the left, multi-use in blue, and a new hotel on century center site, would be really great.

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-12.jpg

Architect, I really hope your drawing is the design of the Devon Tower.

I really like it! It gives us 800 feet of height without having SUCH a massive tower (due to the ornate appendage at the top).

I like it. :)

That does look good. I imagine one day Myriad Gardens surrounded by buildings once Devon goes up and then if a new hotel is built on the Century Center site to north, new buildings go up where the Cox sits to the east (assuming a new convention center is built on the blvd.), and new buildings along Reno and the blvd. to the south. That leaves the Stage Center and the vacant lot to the west which would be a good spot for a condo tower to take advantage of those views.

Here is my suggestion for Devon's building... It's a building to be built in Dubai (of course) that has floors that rotate independently, like the top of Founder's tower, but way cooler because it's every floor. See it here: Futuristic Rotating Tower Skyscraper in Dubai » My Digital Life (http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/25/futuristic-rotating-tower-skyscraper-in-dubai/)

Yes, the Biltmore Hotel demolished in 1977. What a mistake a 33 story building.

Use to stand on the NW corner of the Myriad Gardens I think.

follow doug's link.............

Biltmore Hotel (http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtown/vintage/1.biltmore.htm)

Wow... that think would look great in the skyline today.

I must agree with JWil, the Biltmore would look great in the skyline today. Just think, Coury or somebody could have done another Colcord type renovation and we would have had yet another great boutique hotel in OKC.

That does look good. I imagine one day Myriad Gardens surrounded by buildings once Devon goes up and then if a new hotel is built on the Century Center site to north, new buildings go up where the Cox sits to the east (assuming a new convention center is built on the blvd.), and new buildings along Reno and the blvd. to the south. That leaves the Stage Center and the vacant lot to the west which would be a good spot for a condo tower to take advantage of those views.

The Myriad Gardens surrounded by buildings isn't a good thing in my opinion, especially to the south. The collection of plants there, and in the Crystal Bridge, would not get nearly enough sunlight. At least not with towers in the way. Shorter buildings might be allright. I certainly don't want to see a car dealership there.

I've always been puzzled as the WHY there is a car dealership in that location. I guess it's been there forever...?? It needs to be moved.

OKLAHOMA CITY 2020

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/view-14.jpg

Showing the OKC CoC building at 20 stories as it should be, more urban than suburban (far right).

I've always been puzzled as the WHY there is a car dealership in that location. I guess it's been there forever...?? It needs to be moved.
REALLY?! i don't get why it needs to be moved? just because a few posters don't want it there?

I don't know...I just think the space could be utilized in a different way...maybe another new high-rise...LOL. Also...what is the OKC CoC that architect is referring to??

well... we're not in the same situation as say, manhattan. there are plenty of spaces to put highrises in! once C2S gets goin... i expect our downtown to start moving south.
i kinda like having downtown ford in it's spot.

here's an early C2S rendering that you might like, okc74
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/edcrunk/okc/4_16_04_07_4_46_50.jpg
note the buildings where downtown ford currently is.

News flash - the Biltmore was ugly. Thank goodness they tore it down when they did. Imagine how complicated and expensive it would be to renovate or tear down that building today. Just look what the Skirvin cost. The Biltmore would have been 3 to 4X that amount. We can't even get a decent remodel of FNC and it has been in continuous use. Imagine a 30 plus story building rotting before our eyes forever. We would look like downtown Detroit.

I love the Biltmore's classic skyscraper design. Many cities have managed to renovate and keep up similar properties and it gives them some sense of history and class. It's valid that we have had trouble doing it, but saying it isn't easy isn't a good reason not to do it, imo. Bricktown was considered "ugly" not too long ago. IMO, the indicator of a healthy city is a good mix of classic and new design. It shows continued prosperity and a community sense of self and respect for its history and future. The strategy of reckless destruction labeled as renewal that brought much of our city under the wrecking ball in the early 80s showed a disregard and contempt for downtown that took nearly 20 years to overcome and still presents challenges today.

IMO, much of what replaced downtown in the early 80s and especially what replaced the Biltmore is extremely ugly and unimaginative with little character whatsoever. The opportunity cost of tearing those structures down has proven to be much more significant than any of the efforts that could have been made to update and renovate them. The short term disposable city mentality that prevailed during those times and even today has hamstrung Oklahoma City many times over the years. It's more the emergence of reinvestment and improvement of current assets combined with more focused development that has helped give Oklahoma City new life and a renewed energy. Hopefully, this will lead to a more diverse and resilient city that isn't taken down by cyclical downturns in its core economies. Maybe a comunity will emerge that remembers the bad times and how to preserve its assets in times of success and in times of struggle.