I'm worried.

I'm more concerned with the failure of a "major international company" to announce an OKC presence than I am the lack of new towers downtown. There has been discussion of this for about three years. There was also a rumored competition between OKC and Houston for an HQ. Has this been lost?

Steve didn't hint about any new corporate announcements in his chat Friday. This has me more concerned than anything.

I am pretty sure the competition between OKC and Houston was for Enable which ended up going to OKC.

I'm worried.

I'm not. This notion that $50 million+ developments come every week like they were at one point last year is pretty ridiculous.

In fact, I am more pleased by the fact that lots of smaller projects, many by out of state clients, are happening rather than just a few big projects. Shows more people have "skin in the game" in DT. Also, it tends to be a rule that most be REITs don't like to make big investments in the 1st or 2nd quarter. The 2nd quarter ends in June.

As an aside, maybe because I work in that industry, but it kind of blows my mind a bit what a collective shrug the GE Research Center announcement reaction was. Few people fail to realize what a big deal this is.

We've got 100 projects on our Urban Development summary and the only reason there aren't more is because the site software limits the number of photos in any one post. And we're talking just about the downtown area.

Just goes to show how important tall buildings are to the psyche of a community, even the relatively well-informed members.

Steve's business chat:


11:15
Steve Lackmeyer: We will be hearing an update soon. But as for designs on the OGE Energy Corp. tower, the next thing we will hear is about the architect hired for the job, not the final designs.

11:14
Comment From Martin
Any new news on the pending towers? OGE, Main & Hudson, others? Do you think we will hear announcements or see final designs from OGE soon?

Steve's business chat:

He did say the tower on main and Hudson was more likely to happen, than not.

He also said "more diversity may be coming to downtown".

I still believe Bank of Oklahoma is involved in that project.

How are we defining diversity? You mean sector wise?

How are we defining diversity? You mean sector wise?

Yes, something other than energy.

He did say the tower on main and Hudson was more likely to happen, than not.Good! I thought I had read it as "was more likely not to happen", but I'm glad that is not the case.

It better be 50 stories or I will be pissed.

Is the Main & Hudson project the same mystery tower that's been rumored for the Preftakes block or are we looking at two projects?

Is the Main & Hudson project the same mystery tower that's been rumored for the Preftakes block or are we looking at two projects?

The same.

The same.

Muchas gracias.

It better be 50 stories or I will be pissed.

What if it's 40 stories?

I agree that it better be skyline-changing.

What if it's 40 stories?

I agree that it better be skyline-changing.I was joking because Shawnw has been going ham on me lately for wanting taller buildings haha...

The taller the better for me with this. If it's 40, I won't be disappointed. As long as it's taller than this low-midrise we know as the OG&E building. I don't like how short it is where it's at. This is kind of the same deal, but if I had to place a 50+ story tower, it would be on the OG&E site rather than this site.

Yes, we like to razz PluPlan for wanting all buildings to be 50 stories minimum with 10-lane highways going from each workers window directly to their garage at home in the burbs. :-)


I hope you appreciate my satirical hyperbole PluPlan...

Yes, we like to razz PluPlan for wanting all buildings to be 50 stories minimum with 10-lane highways going from each workers window directly to their garage at home in the burbs. :-)


I hope you appreciate my satirical hyperbole PluPlan...oh yes sir

Every highway should look like this

http://aviewfromtheright.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/huge-highway-full-of-cars.jpg

every interchange like this

http://pastmycurfew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Freeway-Interchange.jpg

from this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Depiction_of_a_futuristic_city.jpg

to this

http://www.appalachianaerialimages.com/data/photos/134_1nc_airl8804.jpg

;)

Good! I thought I had read it as "was more likely not to happen", but I'm glad that is not the case.

It better be 50 stories or I will be pissed.

His quote was, " at this point it's more likely, than not, to happen."

What are you hearing,Pete? The same? On pace to actually be a reality?

What are you hearing,Pete? The same? On pace to actually be a reality?

Yes, but it's all pretty preliminary at this point.

oh yes sir

to this

http://www.appalachianaerialimages.com/data/photos/134_1nc_airl8804.jpg

;)

The garages are too small!

The garages are too small!What you don't see, are the underground garages beneath them ;)

He also said "more diversity may be coming to downtown".

I still believe Bank of Oklahoma is involved in that project.

Any more details than that? I may be able to poke around BOK and see what's going on...

Any more details than that? I may be able to poke around BOK and see what's going on...

I've heard that BOK is looking to up their presence in OKC and move their existing employees along with the new ones into a new tower.

I've heard that BOK is looking to up their presence in OKC and move their existing employees along with the new ones into a new tower.

Thanks, I'll ask around when I get back to work on Thu...

I've heard that BOK is looking to up their presence in OKC and move their existing employees along with the new ones into a new tower.

Makes sense now why George Kaiser is making his presence known in OKC. Good for OKC.

Yep.

Remember he bought Tom Ward's share of the Thunder.

When you say "existing employees" are you talking about Tulsa employees or just their current OKC operations?

So is this basically a corporate relocation from Tulsa?

No.

I believe their substantial HQ will stay in Tulsa, they will just be adding more jobs and perhaps even related businesses in OKC.

Keep in mind BOK is much larger than BOK.

It would be nice to see BOK relocate to OKC

It would be nice to see BOK relocate to OKC

Tulsa would throw the house at George Kaiser to keep BOK up there. I think the chance is slim they would even consider moving a significant chunk of their ops.

With that in mind, it would be awesome if they moved their oil and gas division to OKC, considering that yours truly tried big time to get a job up there with them. He's a 918er through and through and is pretty much bankrolling A Gathering Place with little public help, so its very interesting that George would choose to invest in the Thunder.

It would be nice to see BOK relocate to OKC

This is fantasy land.

This is fantasy land.

Right, and to be clear absolutely no one is implying this is going to happen.

If anything, they will likely expand their presence in Tulsa as well.

Kaiser is more involved in Tulsa than any one person is involved in OKC; he darn sure isn't going to move his company out of there.

Tulsa would throw the house at George Kaiser to keep BOK up there. I think the chance is slim they would even consider moving a significant chunk of their ops.

With that in mind, it would be awesome if they moved their oil and gas division to OKC, considering that yours truly tried big time to get a job up there with them. He's a 918er through and through and is pretty much bankrolling A Gathering Place with little public help, so its very interesting that George would choose to invest in the Thunder.

I agree.

I think he will try to relocate the Thunder to Tulsa. I will be very surprised if he builds in OKC. I just do not see him having ANY interest in Oklahoma City.

I think he will try to relocate the Thunder to Tulsa. I will be very surprised if he builds in OKC. I just do not see him having ANY interest in Oklahoma City.

I didn't want to be the one to say it but that was the thought that came to mind. Chances he could actually be successful at it though are slim to none. He may at least try to get some real games played in Tulsa.

Given the attitude that most Tulsans have about OKC, it would surprise me if he had any interest in the betterment of this community at all.

I think he will try to relocate the Thunder to Tulsa...

Hahahaha good one...

And here come the bears!

I didn't want to be the one to say it but that was the thought that came to mind. Chances he could actually be successful at it though are slim to none. He may at least try to get some real games played in Tulsa.

Given the attitude that most Tulsans have about OKC, it would surprise me if he had any interest in the betterment of this community at all.

Not even 'slim' here. You don't understand the NBA and the success that the Thunder have had in OKC if this would even cross your mind. Clay Bennet is the majority owner, a minority owner (Kaiser) will not sway games to be played in the BOK. The 66'ers and 1 pre-season game is about all Tulsa will see of the Thunder, along with the rotational training camp scrimmage every 3 or 4 years. Do you know how many years running the Thunder have sold out the 'Peake ? Keep in mind that as cool as the BOK arena looks, it doesn't compare amenity wise to the CHK arena. I'll go ahead and say it...the Thunder will never relocate to Tulsa, not in the next 50 years or so.
Not to sound obnoxious, but hard facts speak loudly in the realm of the NBA. It's important to the Thunder to keep what presence they can in Tulsa though, with what they already do.

Speaking of the arena, they are will be completely rebuilding the club level during the offseason and are also installing a new LED ribbon signage system.

Not even 'slim' here. You don't understand the NBA and the success that the Thunder have had in OKC if this would even cross your mind. Clay Bennet is the majority owner, a minority owner (Kaiser) will not sway games to be played in the BOK. The 66'ers and 1 pre-season game is about all Tulsa will see of the Thunder, along with the rotational training camp scrimmage every 3 or 4 years. Do you know how many years running the Thunder have sold out the 'Peake ? Keep in mind that as cool as the BOK arena looks, it doesn't compare amenity wise to the CHK arena. I'll go ahead and say it...the Thunder will never relocate to Tulsa, not in the next 50 years or so.
Not to sound obnoxious, but hard facts speak loudly in the realm of the NBA. It's important to the Thunder to keep what presence they can in Tulsa though, with what they already do.

LOL at anyone that actually thinks the Thunder moving to Tulsa would ever be a remote possibility.

Right, and to be clear absolutely no one is implying this is going to happen.

If anything, they will likely expand their presence in Tulsa as well.

Kaiser is more involved in Tulsa than any one person is involved in OKC; he darn sure isn't going to move his company out of there.

There’s a rumor going around Tulsa that Kaiser is looking to build a new BOK tower on the south side of downtown Tulsa. Remember the current BOK Tower is part of The Williams Center which is owned by and is the headquarters for Williams, along with Williams spinoffs Magellan Midstream and WPX Energy. BOK today has lots of office space outside of downtown that could be moved. Kaiser’s energy Company, Kaiser Francis isn’t currently downtown either.

There is a lot more to BOK than Bank of Oklahoma, BOK Financial (BOKF) is the parent company of Bank of Oklahoma and owns a lot more banks than just Bank of Oklahoma.

I'm not sure I really buy this particular rumor, Kaiser's not really into building vanity projects, which a big office tower would be. But then I was shocked when he bought part of the Thunder.

I don't think he has designs on moving the The Thunder, but I am wondering if he is getting his feet wet in team ownership before bidding on some other professional team.

There’s a rumor going around Tulsa that Kaiser is looking to build a new BOK tower on the south side of downtown Tulsa.

FWIW, I have heard the same thing from the sources telling me BOK is involved in a future OKC tower.

I've heard Kaiser wants to build (or at least be apart of building) in both cities.

^^ That makes sense. I wouldn't be surprised if Tulsa eventually tried to get an NHL team or something and Kaiser's partial ownership in the Thunder may pave the way for that possibility. I am just guessing though as I am not very knowledgeable about how sports franchise ownership/relocations happen.

The issue as I understand it is that the BOK Tower in Tulsa has very low vacancy with Williams, Magellan and WPX also headquartered in it, as well as large operations of several other companies including Newfield Exploration and accounting giant Ernst & Young. All are growing operations in Tulsa and making acquisitions such as WPX buying Access Midstream. No new tower announcements have been made but it's similar to when before Devon announced their intentions for the same reasons, they ran out of space in and wanted to consolidate in one tower.

I think he will try to relocate the Thunder to Tulsa. I will be very surprised if he builds in OKC. I just do not see him having ANY interest in Oklahoma City.

This is a joke, right? Anyone who would actually think that does not understand how the NBA works, or the fact that Kaiser is only one of multiple owners, all the rest of whom live in OKC.

The issue as I understand it is that the BOK Tower in Tulsa has very low vacancy with Williams, Magellan and WPX also headquartered in it, as well as large operations of several other companies including Newfield Exploration and accounting giant Ernst & Young. All are growing operations in Tulsa and making acquisitions such as WPX buying Access Midstream. No new tower announcements have been made but it's similar to when before Devon announced their intentions for the same reasons, they ran out of space in and wanted to consolidate in one tower.

That's all correct, but one clarification. Williams through it's Williams Partners (WPZ) subsidiary is buying out Access, not WPX Energy, WPX is a wholly separate company that was spun off from Williams in 2012 and WPX now has market cap of almost $5 billion all on it's own.

FWIW, I have heard the same thing from the sources telling me BOK is involved in a future OKC tower.

I've heard Kaiser wants to build (or at least be apart of building) in both cities.

Hmm, could these be two different potential projects, or a question of where BOK will consolidate? We've been discussion Kaiser's dedication to Tulsa, and of course there will be lots of BOK offices in both cities either way, but it seems like if they want to build a new tower somewhere then it would become the central office of something. Would they move something out of Tulsa for the OKC tower, or just expand somehow? Just trying to wrap my head around this since it seems like a more complex organization than just some oil company.

I currently work in Tulsa in a midrise building of which 7 or so floors belong to BOK's mortgage division. It's definitely an older building, and you can tell their operations are spread out throughout Tulsa. I'm sure this isn't their only location for mortgage activity. I've been thinking they needed a new building for awhile now.

Hmm, could these be two different potential projects, or a question of where BOK will consolidate?

From my understanding, they would be two separate projects.

I think he will try to relocate the Thunder to Tulsa. I will be very surprised if he builds in OKC. I just do not see him having ANY interest in Oklahoma City.

Wrong. He has an interest in this state, and OKC happens to be more powerful in the overall scheme of things. He is a very sincere guy -- he's not a corporate raider type -- and the league wouldn't allow it in the first place.

Kaiser is about to step it up and seriously invest in our city and people are greeting this with trollish comments like yours? Come on.

LOL at anyone that actually thinks the Thunder moving to Tulsa would ever be a remote possibility.

Yes, and whoever is suggesting this is also suggesting that someone with Kaiser's brilliant business mind would be stupid enough to believe that. Give the guy some credit.

That's all correct, but one clarification. Williams through it's Williams Partners (WPZ) subsidiary is buying out Access, not WPX Energy, WPX is a wholly separate company that was spun off from Williams in 2012 and WPX now has market cap of almost $5 billion all on it's own.

You're right, meant WPZ. WPX is the E&P spinoff from Williams that is mostly focused on natural gas and NGL. Magellan is also a spinoff of Williams and has grown on its own into one of the larger midstream energy companies, along with Williams and fellow Tulsa companies ONEOK (which spun off its gas utility into ONE Gas and just moved into 150,000 SF in First Place Tower downtown), SemGroup, Rose Rock and Explorer Pipeline.

Regarding Kaiser and BOK, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see a larger OKC presence. They are the largest Oklahoma bank, and one of the largest in the region with subsidiary banks in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

I'm sure Kaiser loves Tulsa. I'll bet he loves his company more, though. Having a larger presence in OKC would be beneficial for them, given how the city has prospered and increased in national visibility the last few years. Imagine seeing a BOK tower on the aerial view at night during the NBA playoffs.

I've heard for a while Kaiser wants to build a bigger presence in OKC but his heart will always be in Tulsa, so perhaps this is why he may be pursuing a new building up there as well.

Pretty sure what is happening here is that Devon is helping to orchestrate this (they have always been behind Preftakes) and that Kaiser / BOK may take the lead, with Devon keeping a low profile to deflect any possible fallout from activist stockholders. Devon already is taking space in other buildings and a new tower will take 2-3 years to bring on-line.

I really think this is starting to firm up. Also pretty darn sure Pickard Chilton will be the architect, so you know it will be first class.

Don't want people to end up disappointed, so let's call it 25-30 stories and hope it's actually a bit taller.

I'm guessing 6 months out, before we hear any official announcements? I know these timelines are guesswork.

Message from someone who no longer resides in OKC: diversify, diversify, diversify... :yourock:

Message from someone who no longer resides in OKC: diversify, diversify, diversify... :yourock:

What does an old, old wooden ship from the Civil War have to do with the mystery tower?


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I think he will try to relocate the Thunder to Tulsa. I will be very surprised if he builds in OKC. I just do not see him having ANY interest in Oklahoma City.

You guys are ridiculous, one mention of Tulsa and every body goes berserk. READ MY POST! Did I say I think the Thunder will relocate to Tulsa??????...NO! I stand by every word in my comment. Now, for everybody who know e v e r y t h I n g about the NBA....have at it.

You guys are ridiculous, one mention of Tulsa and every body goes berserk. READ MY POST! Did I say I think the Thunder will relocate to Tulsa??????...NO! I stand by every word in my comment. Now, for everybody who know e v e r y t h I n g about the NBA....have at it.
More people were responding to your actual comment, "I think he will try to relocate the Thunder to Tulsa." If anything (or anyone) is ridiculous, it is that statement. He is a much smarter person than you give him credit for if that is what you think. And I stand by every word of this comment.