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:

http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/sketches/picfile/2729/R010019368001vA.jpg

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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

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-services-company-moves-to-oklahoma-city/article/3625434#ixzz1eSNpl0Bj

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

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

From the FNC thread:

http://noodlestream.com/press/noodlestream-com-s-relocation-puts-safety-right-in-the-middle-of-downtown-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.com®has 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.

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.

the devon empty space is close to gone already

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..?

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!

"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

"...and keep your enemies closer."

"...and keep your enemies closer."

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

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.

"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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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..

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

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.

Looks like Covenant Investors (http://www.covenantinvestors.com/contact) is moving from Hefner Pointe to Oklahoma Tower, as there is a $245K building permit to remodel 6,777 square feet in that building.

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

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.

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

Who reps City Place? P.Edwards?

Levy Beffort - Grubb & Ellis

From the FNC thread:

http://noodlestream.com/press/noodlestream-com-s-relocation-puts-safety-right-in-the-middle-of-downtown-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...?

$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://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/sketches/picfile/2735/R020024975001rA.jpg

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.

That building has come a long way since this picture.

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

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.

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/northwest-oil-gas-exploration-buys-downtown-okc-office-real-estate/

And the good news just keeps rolling in.

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.

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.

$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://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/sketches/picfile/2735/R020024975001rA.jpg


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

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/cafe-7-coming-to-downtown-oklahoma-city-real-estate/

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

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.

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

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?

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

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.

I believe you are thinking of Cool Greens.

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

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 firm’s 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.

“We’re 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.

“It’s 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 Power’s 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/kansas-city-engineering-firm-burns-mcdonnell-opens-downtown-okc-office-real-estate/

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/city-rescue-mission-plots-downtown-okc-food-bank-real-estate/