Kinda wish this was a little boxy don't like the curved sides. O well it only makes since that somethinglike this would replace the stage center. Hopefully they don't run out of money and tear down the stage center for no reason.

Am I on ignore for you all?

I certainly saw your post but you didn't give a link to the complete blog post by Steve.

Kinda wish this was a little boxy don't like the curved sides. O well it only makes since that something like this would replace the stage center. Hopefully they don't run out of money and tear down the stage center for no reason.
I am impressed overall but surprised about height reductions, but definitely a net win for OKC. I too which it had hard lines facing the park versus the modern curvature.

I was JUST about to ask if that happened, since the news9 article states: "Kestrel says by 4 p.m. Tuesday, it will file for a demolition permit from the Downtown Design Review Committee."

So they're not going to break ground until 2015? What's the hurry with demo-ing the Stage Center? What if plans fall through? We trade an icon for surface parking?

I certainly saw your post but you didn't give a link to the complete blog post by Steve.

Gotcha. Thanks for providing that. Carry on...

So they're not going to break ground until 2015? What's the hurry with demo-ing the Stage Center? What if plans fall through? We trade an icon for surface parking?

Good point, but really don't think this property could possibly be surface parking for very long if the development falls through. This particular site is too valuable.

It is a bit strange why they want to scrape the site so soon.

It's not like there will need to be soil remediation or anything of the sort.

Demo would probably only take a couple of weeks.

On second thought...

Maybe they are anticipating a long battle with preservationists and want to get the process started ASAP.

Maybe they think the longer it sits there the higher the chances of somebody building up some support to try and save it. Just take it out now so it doesn't become an issue.

It took quite a while for SandRidge to get the approval they sought for the buildings they demolished and this structure has some international supporters.

I bet they just want to get going in case it's a long fight.

Site prep very well could take 3-5 months. And it won't start until march/April at the soonest. That puts us at the end of the summer. With a little delay it is late 14 early 15 and they start construction

Here are a couple of additional renderings that better show the plaza and Walker elevations:


http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/5480d1387323671-stage-center-tower-sc8.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/5471d1387323005-stage-center-tower-sc7.jpg

I really, really like the green rooftop and the way this interacts with the existing plaza. This area should become a focal point for further development.

So what is going to be the timetable between demolition and groundbreaking? Personally, I think demolition should be held off to as close to groundbreaking as possible, as to avoid the mistakes of the Pei Plan.

Will the green roof be open to the public?

Here are a couple of additional renderings that better show the plaza and Walker elevations:

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/5471d1387323005-stage-center-tower-sc7.jpg[/CENTER]

Looking at this image, it appears California will never be turned into a street because the ramp to the loading dock is in the middle of the street.

I like it quite a bit, and agree with the sentiment that we should avoid too much height on the east and west sides of the gardens, to allow for maximum sunlight. Overall, I think it's a great development.

Rough SketchUp renderings, portraying the new building at 300' tall (which is probably slightly too tall):
546554665467

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/5466d1387315161-stage-center-tower-stage-ctr-tower-2.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/5467d1387315163-stage-center-tower-stage-ctr-tower-3.jpg

A tower on the Bank of America site would really help fill the skyline from these two angles. Also, If the residential/hotel a little bit taller, I would be completely satisfied.

I love this more and more the longer I look at it!

I love it and bet that it will look tall enough from the park. I cannot wait to hear what retail it brings. I'm very excited about the housing. We could have gotten a taller office building without housing/hotel. I would rather have another 250 new residents downtown than another 1,000 employees that commute any day. We are getting more retail, more interaction, more people; this is exactly this exactly the kind of developments that I've been looking forward to!

Noticed this tidbit from the article:

"Start of building design and construction are dependent on approval of the demolition permit by the Downtown Design Review Committee."

Again, these are just conceptual plans, not a hard final design. I am sure these plans will be modified before its all said and done. It could end up taller/shorter, different layout, we will just have to wait and see.

Looking at this image, it appears California will never be turned into a street because the ramp to the loading dock is in the middle of the street.

Remember the easement issue that was holding up this deal for quite a while?

This must have been it.

We need some high-res detailed renderings like this:

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_585w/Boston/2011-2020/2013/08/06/BostonGlobe.com/Business/Images/PriceWaterhousecrop.jpg

http://www.usa.skanska.com/Common/Tools/ImageScaler.ashx?id=e23c2396-5eb0-413f-b56b-0818d15d1e42&h=308

Wanna give Pete a shout out for originally naming this thread "og&e tower"

I like the design more each time I look at it, but I have two questions:

1) Is the second tower (the 8-12 story building) a sure thing? It sounds like that portion is far from certain to be included as part of this overall development.

2) At $100 million, is anyone else worried this development may be done on the cheap? The Milhaus development proposed for Midtown is $42.5 million, so I'm worried that $100 million really isn't that much for this OG&E tower.

Wanna give Pete a shout out for originally naming this thread "og&e tower"

Agree. It turns out the original educated speculation was correct.

I like it. I think it will look great once built. I'm excited at the prospect of a shiny new west side of downtown in a few years.

On first impression, I really like the proposed street interaction. Digging further, however, I am a bit disappointed to see such a low development total for this prime property. I would have pegged this as at least a $250M+ piece of real estate. Oh well.

OG&E Announces Plans For $100M Facility In Downtown OKC - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | (http://www.news9.com/story/24245592/oge-announces-plans-for-100m-facility-in-downtown-okc) (video)

I echo what others have said; love the street interaction and the design but disappointed by lack of at least 500+ feet in height AND 'cheap' development cost given the location. There are many other locations this could have tone downtown, including near their current site IN the CBD.

One thing I'm noting however, is that this is conceptual and it could very well be a lowball pitch that gets revised or there may very well be plans for a proper development but given its OGE they don't want to start off rocking thaw boat of their customers. Typically conceptual aren't that great so I'm hoping their being humble with this initial pitch.

Very excited about the protects for more towers but I'd like to see okc get away from an either or scenario and adopt downtown strategy that promotes street interaction + height + architectural excellence. As Sid mentioned, I too am waiting for more parking below grade in okc (can you hear me main street garage?); perhaps this is a modest start.

Conceptual & lowball.

I like those terms.

Hope you're right!

So what is going to be the timetable between demolition and groundbreaking? Personally, I think demolition should be held off to as close to groundbreaking as possible, as to avoid the mistakes of the Pei Plan.

100% agree. I think it will make the loss of Stage Center more painful for those who want to save the building. Like the architecture, but overall I'm starting to be underwhelmed by how this project is being handled. This is one of OKC's only real architectural icons. Whether or not you like it or think it functional isn't relevant. For a lot of people, this is a very significant loss.

The design and site plan are very good, but it's disappointing that whoever leaked info about the project suggested this would be a significant skyscraper. I agree overall with the view that height is not an issue -- street interaction is more important -- but this is really just a very nice midrise office building.

It is starting to seem strange that this was the only site deemed workable for this project.

And hopefully the housing depicted in the rendering will be for sale housing.

OGE Energy seeks to anchor new tower development in downtown Oklahoma City | News OK (http://newsok.com/oge-energy-seeks-to-anchor-new-tower-development-in-downtown-oklahoma-city/article/3915568)

It looks like 100 million is for just the oge and ground floor development, but the 2nd tower will be developed "separately". This could mean the financing is separate and the total project will approach 200 million for the site. Not sure if I'm interpreting that right though.

I personally like the new design, I just wish it was more in the 25 floor range....maybe take the two developments and put them into one tower. I can appreciate that they are trying to keep the two types of uses separate, but why not make it mixed use and get the height? Oh well. It's great to see something happening. I've never been a fan of the Stage Center for a great many reasons beyond it's "modern" design, so I can't say that i'll be sad to see it go.

I am curious what they will do with the old historic OGE tower though.

Ah, hadn't seen the Walker elevation and I found something I hope planning picks up on...

The auto entrances on the west side should be reduced to one. There is some kind of entrance just to the south of the "down" opening. Is that not "up"?

My request would be to minimize curb cuts or eliminate them entirely and use the California easement.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the curb cut-to-building ratio on this site is still less than one if you look at multiple components as separate buildings

Wow, someone that includes parking as part of the plan for their building, what a novel idea!

I like it. Nice work ADG. ...but when it is through growing, it needs to be @ 20 stories. That would let it feel stronger against the Devon Tower. Not trying to compete w/ the DT, but equal the height of a few of the others in downtown. Great look!

I like it. Nice work ADG. ...but when it is through growing, it needs to be @ 20 stories. That would let it feel stronger against the Devon Tower. Not trying to compete w/ the DT, but equal the height of a few of the others in downtown. Great look!

Yes that sure does look nice. Just not nearly tall enough. Looks like it should have been built up around the Regency tower.

From the renderings, the tower looks like it will be LEED certified.

Also, no matter the configuration of the tower, OGE will need very secure space. That will be an important factor with how the design comes together.

From the renderings, the tower looks like it will be LEED certified.

Also, no matter the configuration of the tower, OGE will need very secure space. That will be an important factor with how the design comes together.

All the more reason to believe they will be the only tenant in the tower.

The building at 420 S Broadway is their data center, right? So do we know for sure their data center is moving to the new building?

Well, over 20 floors in two buildings instead of one. Let's face it, unless someone is needing to run around with a tape measure crowing mine's bigger, 20+ floors in new space built over the soon to be ground to dust bones of a now long defunct playhouse (which yeah, I will miss), it is a nice freaking structure that will bring lots of eyes and bodies where few once ventured, and in the process won't block too many of the office views from the pappy of okc towers.

It's far better than a mere it'll do folks. It's pretty dang sweet when ya get right down to it.

The building at 420 S Broadway is their data center, right? So do we know for sure their data center is moving to the new building?

I think I read where Cathy O'conner stated that the South Broadway building would be ripe for development......that tells me it'll be vacated.

Understood. That's in Steve's most recently article about the tower complex this morning. I was just wondering if that was confirmed or speculation on Cathy's part.

I wonder if ADG will be the lead architect? Actual design work has not started, ADG just prepared the conceptual site plan. Usually projects of this magnitude have more than one architect. Reports never actually stated they will be designing the structure...

From the renderings, the tower looks like it will be LEED certified.

Also, no matter the configuration of the tower, OGE will need very secure space. That will be an important factor with how the design comes together.

You can't really tell whether it's leed certified ambitious by the drawing, however you get guess that OGE would try to be.. Certainly the green space on the roof helps in that regard, but it is harder with all glass face. Plus, there are levels of LEED. LEED is very misunderstood by most.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned too much yet is the impact this will have on the rest of the core. OGE owns some prime space in the middle of the CBD in some really cool historic buildings with a lot of currently closed off street frontage. If those buildings are converted to housing or used as additional class A space to lure another corporate HQ or multiple companies downtown, this could be an even bigger win for the CBD than initially thought. If they convert some of the street frontage to retail/restaurants, that would be an awesome cherry on top. I think that intersection is one of the coolest downtown (Harvey and 2nd?), adding some life to it would make it even better.

It would be amazing to bring back more street frontage to Harvey.

Patrick and thelostogle.com weighed in the OG&E tower:

OG&E is getting a shiny new building downtown? | The Lost Ogle (http://www.thelostogle.com/2013/12/18/oge-is-getting-a-shiny-new-building-downtown/)

Do you think the tower will have to adhere to smart hours?

Patrick and thelostogle.com weighed in the OG&E tower:

OG&E is getting a shiny new building downtown? | The Lost Ogle (http://www.thelostogle.com/2013/12/18/oge-is-getting-a-shiny-new-building-downtown/)

Classic write-up!

Do you think the tower will have to adhere to smart hours?

Haha, well done.

Well, over 20 floors in two buildings instead of one. Let's face it, unless someone is needing to run around with a tape measure crowing mine's bigger, 20+ floors in new space built over the soon to be ground to dust bones of a now long defunct playhouse (which yeah, I will miss), it is a nice freaking structure that will bring lots of eyes and bodies where few once ventured, and in the process won't block too many of the office views from the pappy of okc towers.

It's far better than a mere it'll do folks. It's pretty dang sweet when ya get right down to it.

+1 (since the like button is missing)

Patrick and thelostogle.com weighed in the OG&E tower:

OG&E is getting a shiny new building downtown? | The Lost Ogle (http://www.thelostogle.com/2013/12/18/oge-is-getting-a-shiny-new-building-downtown/)

Well he won me as a fan with the LotR references.

After reading that I can only assume someone didn't make their electric bill payment - multiple times.

^
Just catty snarkiness from TLO, nothing unusual. Sometimes I wished they just stuck to writing about hot newsbabes.

After the news came out yesterday, Steve tweeted: "That was a long day. I think another $10 million in development is all I've got energy to report until I take off for vacation... Other fun stuff might have to wait until the new year." What are the best guesses for the $10 million in development? Housing on top of the Main Street Parking garage? I think a MidtownR apartment complex would be more than that. Maybe we will finally hear about what else will be coming to Century Center with the Oklahoman? Maybe an updated rendering of the parking garage Don Karchmer wants to build? Other ideas?

Guys, I'm gonna have to hold off until after the holidays. My bad.