Could also be talking about the just announced plans to demo the Film Exchange building.

It would be a consistent sentiment, whether Film Exchange or another building.

I'm guessing Mr. Williams drives a Rolls? ;)

Rainey Williams leads the investment group that bought Bank of Oklahoma Plaza (OKC) in 2007.

They have generally renovated that building over the years, although frankly the plaza upgrades weren't much of an improvement.


Rainey's dad was G. Rainey Williams, MD, and the OU Physicians building at OUMC is named for him. Rainey's mom is Martha Vose Williams, sister of Chuck Vose, Jr., daughter of Chuck, Sr.

Graduated Casady class in 1978 with Bill Cameron (American Fidelity), Clay Bennett (Dorchester) and Louise Gaylord.


Very, very connected in OKC with lots of access to old money.

There is very little chance that Devon's MLP will share office space with a competitor. They would likely wait until they figure out how they want to grow the MLP and then decide, and build their own tower.

There are other options of companies needing office space. There are many small oil and gas companies downtown that are exploding in growth that will need space soon. RKI is one example. In the last year they have doubled in size and are hiring like crazy.

Thanks for the info!

Was just thinking about how this might tie in with the Preftakes block, because I know something big is brewing there too.

What about something like this?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2388/2453127407_333512c560_b.jpg

Here's a new post from the comments section on Steve's article.

"Hoping the Stage Center doesn't get torn down, only to hear that no anchor tenant could be found. The consolation prize is a brand new surface parking lot."

I think this is the sentiment we are going to have about this project with the general public until something definite is announced.

We still know little. I don't understand the disappointment I'm seeing from some. This is essentially what I would expect from initial reports.

What about something like this?

http://i.imgur.com/8SrqcSJ.png

MINE

Here's a new post from the comments section on Steve's article.

"Hoping the Stage Center doesn't get torn down, only to hear that no anchor tenant could be found. The consolation prize is a brand new surface parking lot."

I think this is the sentiment we are going to have about this project with the general public until something definite is announced.

Last line in Steve's article: "Williams promised he will not pursue a demolition permit without an anchor tenant tied to the development."


I'm increasingly confident this is about waiting for Enogex/Centerpoint to officially announce OKC as their new headquarters, which is why he also mentioned needing 90 days to get a lease signed. Then, bulldozing this landmark would likely gain easy approval given the excitement of this big "get".

All this is really starting to make sense.

Despite the architectural and historic significance of Stage Center, it has outlived its economic and functional life span. This property was going to be developed by someone, but it will take a brave developer - and anchor tenant - to take the heat when the demolition permit is filed. If you want to see a picture of commitment to a project, you will see it that day. Remember also that the OKC Community Foundation is the current owner, and their board members sold it knowing that it will be town down and redeveloped. They also have to live in this town.

I'm excited for the future of this site. We could quickly come up with a long list of potential developers, any one of which would have us scared silly if their name was the one announced in Steve's story tonight.

Big picture: Look around the country and see cities like Detroit and Cleveland, and then look at our own town. It just keeps getting better.

His dad was headmaster at Casady for years so he knows everyone. Hope that's correct. I'm still sad about the Stage Center so some theoretical spec tower would not be an acceptable replacement.

Yeah I can already see the resistance to this ramping up. Something big, ready to break ground needs to be announced soon if only for the purpose of calming those up in arms about the possible loss of the Stage Center.

Big picture: Look around the country and see cities like Detroit and Cleveland, and then look at our own town. It just keeps getting better.

Huh?

Yeah I can already see the resistance to this ramping up. Something big, ready to break ground needs to be announced soon if only for the purpose of calming those up in arms about the possible loss of the Stage Center.

They'll move at their own pace.

dazed and confused

In the video interview of Steve on camera attached to his updated article, he said that a parking garage would be included on this site and that it will likely be "a little bit" or possible "quite a bit" taller than 20 stories.

His article also now adds that the 2014 Arts Festival likely won't be impacted but the 2015 version would.

Another thought... Although this might be primarily built for Enogex/Centerpoint, they might also include additional space for true spec tenants since the demand is currently so high.

In fact, maybe part of the deal with E/C is future options for additional space so they will have room to grow.

So, we could get a tower for Enogex/Centerpoint with additional space for other tenants PLUS a separate tower for OG&E.

Can someone just wake me up when this all gets sorted out? It hurts my brain.

Huh?

Spartan, you have obviously missed all of the recent Cleveland bashing here by those lumping Cleveland in with Detroit.

I've been wondering why you haven't chimed in.

Going back and reading Steve's article again along with re-reading Pete's comments here have cleared things up for me quite a bit. And especially watching the video that accompanies the NewsOK article, which definitely makes thing clearer.

By the way, Dave Morris has provided a download link for the video here:
http://ht.ly/nkSfD

And yes, Steve does say "at least 20 stories" in the video. Which is also included in the bullets points displayed on screen.
Here's a screenshot:

http://dl.dropbox.com/s/9xdzj8u3j1nmgym/at_least_20_stories.jpg

He later comments that it could be more, noting the fact that when the Devon Tower was initially announced, it was stated as being "at least 34 stories". And, of course, it ended up being 50.

That calms my fears down quite a bit. A 20 story building would only be about as tall as (or perhaps a little taller than) the Regency Tower. That would be nice, as in better than nothing. But not the great skyline balancer we were all hoping for. So we can still hope that the final design presented to the public is much higher than this initial estimate.

Steve also makes the observation that this is the first new class A office space developed for downtown OKC to be available to the general market since Leadership Square was built 30 years ago.

That's an astonishing, and rather sad, statistic right there. But at least some new space is finally on the way.

Pete's theory about this being a stealth development for the new MLP makes a lot of sense....

Yes, some developers could decide to purchase the Stage Center site and build a spec tower there. Class A office space is really tight in downtown right now. But that's a risky proposition -- to build a nice shiny new tower and hope that sufficient tenants line up to lease. That doesn't seem to be a good scenario for the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to sell the property for something with Stage Center's unique history and the controversial demolition required. It would be too easy for things to fall through.

But if they're actually quite certain of an anchor tenant, one that they know about in private, but can't mention yet in public, then it makes sense. The Enogex/Centerpoint MLP fits this nicely because this new entity will be flush with capital, will need a headquarters with a lot of Class A space, but can't really initiate anything yet until they've cleared all their formation hurdles. The fact that Rainey Williams, developer of this tower, is on the board of Enogex makes this sound not only plausible, but highly likely. And the delay in announcing the anchor tenant corresponds with the timeline needed for the MLP to form.

It definitely fits.

Another thought... Although this might be primarily built for Enogex/Centerpoint, they might also include additional space for true spec tenants since the demand is currently so high.

In fact, maybe part of the deal with E/C is future options for additional space so they will have room to grow.

So, we could get a tower for Enogex/Centerpoint with additional space for other tenants PLUS a separate tower for OG&E.

I realize this is all speculation, but is there any chance this could be bigger than Devon when it's all said and done? I know initial rumors were 40 floors, but do you think it's possible we could see more?

I realize this is all speculation, but is there any chance this could be bigger than Devon when it's all said and done? I know initial rumors were 40 floors, but do you think it's possible we could see more?

I would say highly unlikely.

What we've got here is a new office tower being built with a presumably "substantial" anchor tenant that has yet to be named. Plus additional office space for the general business market. Steve's article mentions "at least 20 stories" as the initial size estimate. We can all hope that it is much more than that. But taller than Devon seems EXTREMELY unlikely to me. I just hope it's tall enough to be that skyline balancer that we all want.

Thunder woke me up and I had to check to see if there was news on the tower. I think Pete's summary is very good and probably as close to reality as anything someone involved would be willing to go on the record with.

I think we all underestimate the loss of Stage Center. I know my heart will be low in the stomach when I see the first pieces fall to the ground. Seeing that structure in a giant heap will make many of us wince at tearing down something that is very unique to our city and to the architectural world. One day there will be people looking at pictures of Stage Center and asking what we were possibly thinking. Sounds all too familiar. It's just a shame something couldn't have been worked out.

As for the tower, I still think it's the Enogex/Centerpoint MLP. As has been said, I think Pete is pretty darn close to the truth.

Onward and upward, but it's with mixed emotions. Bittersweet.

If it is a spec tower and not owner occupied, maybe it will be called Stage Center 'tower'? could pay homage to the theatre and perhaps some of the street level design elements that interact with folks (since it will have streetfront retail).

Kudos - can't wait to find out more. Stay tuned. lol

Pete's theory also allows for a second tower (as he stated earlier) since OG&E would not be moving to this site, yet they still need a new HQ.

I have to admit to being slighted deflated the other day at the thought that OG&E and the new MLP would be sharing a tower. Because I was (greedily) hoping for two towers.
Well, that hope has been resurrected.

Plus, we could still get a new tower somewhere on the Preftakes block. That makes three.

Then Continental could build a new tower several years down the road. That makes four.

And so on....

:)

If it is a spec tower and not owner occupied, maybe it will be called Stage Center 'tower'? could pay homage to the theatre and perhaps some of the street level design elements that interact with folks (since it will have streetfront retail).

Kudos - can't wait to find out more. Stay tuned. lol

Since they say there will be an anchor tenant, then it seems likely even if not during the development phase that it will eventually be named after that tenant.

Upon further thought, this kind of confirms Patrick's statements. Maybe OG&E really will be announcing before the end of the year.

One thing that I think this almost certainly guarantees: we're at least 2 weeks out from any sort of substantial information. How bad would it look if they came out next Thursday and changed the initial announcement from 20 stories to 40 stories with xyz tenant, etc. etc.

I guess the only interesting thing we "learned" from this announcement is that there may be a spec development aspect to this project to which we were heretofore ignorant. If it is indeed the E/C MLP then that would actually make sense. Build a 40ish story tower only need 25 to 30 floors to start, but over the next 10 years slowly take over the entirety of the building.

I think Pete's summary works, but I also think the reverse could also be true: It sounds like to me there's the possibility that things are still very up in the air with the MLP and that OKC may not end up getting very much at all. It would make more sense to me that the reason we only 20 stories "guaranteed" at the moment is that we don't know exactly what is on it's way to OKC.

Objectively, speaking, I think this is only another example of how little is still known about the future of the MLP operations

Huh?

Provided contrast with OKC. Not bashing, just stating facts.

Many lessons to be learned here, among them these two: 1) Assuming it's Enogex/Centerpoint, they'll build Class A spec space for their own expansion needs so they don't end up pinched like Devon. This building is perfect because the office center of gravity shifted west when Devon announced their building, existing Class A product is in demand by both small and large users and unavailable, the newest Class A is 30 years old, and no existing player was moving to make this happen. Williams' experience with BOK Tower has given him six years of experience owning, managing and leasing Class A/B space in the CBD, and he's got the equity partners to do this and negotiate favorable debt terms (this isn't Devon - debt will be required).

2) "We" must be careful when designing buildings for the arts. Non-profits in general and arts organizations in particular are typically not good owner-occupants of single-purpose, free-standing buildings. Their income streams are irregular, they don't understand capital investments, they gravitate more to the aesthetic rather than the pragmatic. Again - not bashing, just stating a fact. This lesson was taught to me by none other than Jim Tolbert years ago. Learn this lesson.

Many lessons ... 2) "We" must be careful when designing buildings for the arts. Non-profits in general and arts organizations in particular are typically not good owner-occupants of single-purpose, free-standing buildings. Their income streams are irregular, they don't understand capital investments, they gravitate more to the aesthetic rather than the pragmatic. Again - not bashing, just stating a fact. This lesson was taught to me by none other than Jim Tolbert years ago. Learn this lesson.

Blah ... I don't know exact figures by any means, but if you moved 10% of the money spent on sports in this city (public and private) to the arts you'd probably increase the arts budget by somewhere between 50% and 400%...if not more.

I'm traveling today and will be gone/busy all weekend so I apologize in advance for not being able to stay on top of this as much as I'd like.

Still trying to get more information about what may be going on behind the scenes but I'm increasingly confident that the anchor will be the HQ for Enogex/Centerpoint, although that obviously is not set in stone as of yet.

Wow, this is a disappointment, we still don't know more that what we did 6 months ago, we all knew a tower was going to be built, all this soft announcement did was confirm what we have been saying all along. We still don't know how tall its going to be, what company will occupy it, nor when it will get started, wow, back to waiting for a real announcement, another 90 days.

It's not a disappointment -- now we KNOW.

We do know that Stage Center has been sold to a developer who plans to demolish the existing structures, build a tower of at least 20 floors with a parking garage and that there will be restaurant/retail space on the ground floor. That's significant news.

It also sounds like we will see at least preliminary renderings within 90 days and the anchor tenant will also be revealed.


I believe this is just this is just the first step towards a long, fluid stream of information about several towers, developers, sites and companies.

If this has just been for OG+E plus some element of Enogex, we'd know more but it would have also meant that there wasn't necessarily more development that was imminent. I'm actually excited about this and look forward to quite possibly several large developments, rather than just one.

Isn't the Braniff Building and the former Sandrige Amenities Building soon to be open class A office space. I know the intent for these buildings was not for this, but I think the idea that no new buildings have been built and are for lease with no exact tenant since Leadership square are slightly disingenuous.

The biggest surprise in this whole story is that despite its prime location, large size, and multiple bidders - the site was sold for a mere $4.3 million. There has to be a digit missing between the '$' and the '4'. If this sale price is accurate, anyone hoping that the price for the Ford site would force the convention center onto another lot can forget that idea.

What about something like this?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2388/2453127407_333512c560_b.jpg

Oh, there you are, Perry.

Isn't the Braniff Building and the former Sandrige Amenities Building soon to be open class A office space. I know the intent for these buildings was not for this, but I think the idea that no new buildings have been built and are for lease with no exact tenant since Leadership square are slightly disingenuous.

Good point.

It also doesn't take into account the remodeling for SandRidge Tower to Class A status, although that hasn't been for lease; the other two buildings you mention are definitely being marketed with the Braniff Building being very close to move-in ready and the Parkside Building coming on-line sometime next year.

What about something like this?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2388/2453127407_333512c560_b.jpg

While more whimsical than a lot of towers, I do not even want to imagine it having any characteristics that have there roots more in 60s or 70s tower design (even though the tower in the picture was built later than that) than in the types of design we have been seeing downtown recently

The biggest surprise in this whole story is that despite its prime location, large size, and multiple bidders - the site was sold for a mere $4.3 million. There has to be a digit missing between the '$' and the '4'. If this sale price is accurate, anyone hoping that the price for the Ford site would force the convention center onto another lot can forget that idea.

This was my first "wow" with this soft announcement. $4.3M for the currently primest land available in DT OKC? Mind blowing.

Good point.

It also doesn't take into account the remodeling for SandRidge Tower to Class A status, although that hasn't been for lease; the other two buildings you mention are definitely being marketed with the Braniff Building being very close to move-in ready and the Parkside Building coming on-line sometime next year.

Who is marketing them, by the way?

The biggest surprise in this whole story is that despite its prime location, large size, and multiple bidders - the site was sold for a mere $4.3 million. There has to be a digit missing between the '$' and the '4'. If this sale price is accurate, anyone hoping that the price for the Ford site would force the convention center onto another lot can forget that idea.

4.3 mil ..for 3.168 plus demo costs ... which i would guess = at least 500-700 k .. putting it at 5 mil .. for develop-able space ...

CC site is 20 acres ..

using the same price puts it at 30 mil .. give or take .. which would be over acquisition budget ... but still within reach

The sales price (just over $1 an acre) also puts into perspective the fact that Chesapeake has been paying more for this on average for crappy mid-bock industrial properties, as opposed to this property, which is arguably the most valuable in all of OKC.

4.3 mil ..for 3.168 plus demo costs ... which i would guess = at least 500-700 k .. putting it at 5 mil .. for develop-able space ...

CC site is 20 acres ..

using the same price puts it at 30 mil .. give or take .. which would be over acquisition budget ... but still within reach

$5 million / 138,000 sf = $36.28/sf for developable dirt. That's not giving it away in my book.

While more whimsical than a lot of towers, I do not even want to imagine it having any characteristics that have there roots more in 60s or 70s tower design (even though the tower in the picture was built later than that) than in the types of design we have been seeing downtown recently

60s and 70s architecture makes fine filler. You know, the stuff in the background that you look past to see the cool buildings. If we get like 4 new towers downtown I wouldn't mind one of them being in that style.

Yeah I can already see the resistance to this ramping up. Something big, ready to break ground needs to be announced soon if only for the purpose of calming those up in arms about the possible loss of the Stage Center.

I don't think the resistance is as big as everyone is making it out to be. Most OKCitians refer to Downtown as Bricktown and don't even know a tower is being built. Most don't care or even aware of the architectural significance of SC. A very small, vocal group with no money will object and be seen as obstructionists and the local media as always will barely cover the protractors. Our city has proven time after time throughout the decades we don't care about demolishing historic structures (Sandridge ala India Temple and KerrMac come to mind as well as Film Exchange). 98-99% of OKCitians are probably intellectually lazy and just don't care but the 1-2% who are informed and active are on this message board. Just an observation, not necessarily my full opinion.

The biggest surprise in this whole story is that despite its prime location, large size, and multiple bidders - the site was sold for a mere $4.3 million. There has to be a digit missing between the '$' and the '4'. If this sale price is accurate, anyone hoping that the price for the Ford site would force the convention center onto another lot can forget that idea.
I believe the first national sold to last developer for $1 MILLION if that tells you anything

This really sounds like its not og&e. why would they use some other entity to buy the lot and build the tower and then lease office space when they own their own office space. It could be office space for the mlp but it doesn't sound like it is for Og&e.

There are many other small companies that are growing and could use office space in a new tower. The timing of this could suit Tom wards new company. In three years when it's built he could have a hundred or more employees that could use 3 or 4 floors. Devon could lease the space for the mlp until they get a feeling for how big it will be. Another 5 floors there..... Rki in three years could be at 300 employees downtown. That's 6-8 floors. Continental could lease space until they decide to build. That could be 10 floors probably 5. There are many other service companies looking for more space.... Halliburton, etc that could lease space.

Just throwing out ideas here. We still don't know.... And okc really needs a new tower just for future growth for companies that could eventually build their own towers. This is like incubator space for companies to grow and fall in love with okc and want to stay and grow.


Maybe this is a new company moving to okc? We just aren't 100% sure yet.

I think at this point it is obviously not OGE. The only reason OGE was the speculated company is because the assumption was that the announcement would reveal the main company and that only OGE could possibly fit the bill...well: we didn't get the tenant...

This really sounds like its not og&e. why would they use some other entity to buy the lot and build the tower and then lease office space when they own their own office space. It could be office space for the mlp but it doesn't sound like it is for Og&e.

There are many other small companies that are growing and could use office space in a new tower. The timing of this could suit Tom wards new company. In three years when it's built he could have a hundred or more employees that could use 3 or 4 floors. Devon could lease the space for the mlp until they get a feeling for how big it will be. Another 5 floors there..... Rki in three years could be at 300 employees downtown. That's 6-8 floors. Continental could lease space until they decide to build. That could be 10 floors probably 5. There are many other service companies looking for more space.... Halliburton, etc that could lease space.

Just throwing out ideas here. We still don't know.... And okc really needs a new tower just for future growth for companies that could eventually build their own towers. This is like incubator space for companies to grow and fall in love with okc and want to stay and grow.


Maybe this is a new company moving to okc? We just aren't 100% sure yet.

Like I said earlier, we still don't really know more that what we did 6 months ago. The only educated guess I can give, is that it being such a controversial site, OG&E or the Enogex/Centerpoint MLP did not want to look bad publicly as the company that demolished Stage Center, so they worked out some sort of deal with developer who will buy the site, demolish Stage Center, develop tower, then lease it back to OG&E or new Enogex/Centerpoint MLP who will in turn eventually buy it in the long run. Just so people can't say OG&E was the company that demolished Stage Center, the fingers would be pointed at the developer not the company, keeping OG&E's reputation somewhat clean.

Well, I hate to say I was right but......

4192


Just seems right for how this whole thing has unfolded.

Well, I hate to say I was right but......

4192


Just seems right for how this whole thing has unfolded.


We'll give you the gold star. lol

Maybe it turns out to be a good move to announce a spec tower just to see how much real interest come forth from companies that might want to get space in the tower.... then you can design and build based on that... depending on demand, that could make this tower get pretty tall.

Well, I hate to say I was right but......

4192


Just seems right for how this whole thing has unfolded.

Except that we haven't got the official announcement yet. Just Steve's breaking news story.

Except that we haven't got the official announcement yet. Just Steve's breaking news story.

You honestly don't think Steve's story was an announcement? Surely he was embargoed in terms of a date he could release the story making it pretty much as close to an official announcement as you can get. Now we're being told it could be another 90 days before we find out anything concrete. All of this falls right in line with how we keep teasing ourselves without knowing any specific details of the tower itself.

Steve's comment from the NewsOK Chat this morning:

Steve Lackmeyer: Thanks Gary. No, it's not safe to assume the tower anchor will be associated with OG&E, Enogex or Centerpoint. It's possible. But as I've said before, there are a lot of missing pieces. Consider what I've told you before; in March a completely different developer was on the verge of getting this contract for the Stage Center property. It was not a reflection on that developer that the deal fell through. He had other tenants lined up, and it is still quite possible he may build a tower elsewhere downtown. In the meantime, let my article sink in - this tower is being built by Rainey Williams, not OG&E, not Enogex, not Centerpoint. Could any mix of these three end up as tenants? Maybe. But don't make any assumptions. As for those who question whether Rainey Williams is just a front, and question his capacity for doing this development, well, you don't know Rainey Williams.