ONEOK purchases ONEOK Plaza
ONEOK's old home becomes own home | NewsOK.com
By Jack Money
Business Writer
TULSA — Home sweet home.
ONEOK Plaza literally is that for its biggest tenant, ONEOK Inc., now that the company bought the building.
Company officials announced the $48 million buy for the 17-story, 517,200-square-foot building at 100 W Fifth on Thursday.
ONEOK Chief Executive Officer John W. Gibson told The Oklahoman his company had a lease on the building until the end of September 2009.
Gibson said ONEOK didn't want to join the ranks of others that chose to leave Tulsa for other communities and said the deal, which closed Thursday, proved to be a good one for the company.
Why Tulsa was chosen
The purchase agreement included $17 million in remaining rental payments ONEOK would have owed if it continued to lease space there. An adjacent parking garage connected to the building by tunnel already is owned by the company.
Gibson said ONEOK considered moving to another state and considered having a headquarters built.
"But we came to the conclusion that this is one of the nicest buildings downtown,” he said. "And we like downtown. This is where we have been throughout our existence here.”
Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor applauded news of the sale.
"ONEOK is a great corporate citizen and I could not be more pleased,” she said Tuesday. "Corporations seek high qualities of life in a community. This decision is indicative of Tulsa's ability to engage large corporate businesses in the community and predictive of the exciting things yet to come.”
Gibson said ONEOK supports ongoing efforts to improve downtown, such as building the BOK Center and a new downtown arena.
"There also is talk about potentially building a new ballpark down here, and a lot of effort is being put into the Brady District. Our decision to stay here should help in the efforts to revitalize downtown Tulsa,” he said.
Employees reassured
The agreement also removes uncertainty for the company's 600 employees who work downtown and the building's other tenants, he said.
Cities Service Oil Co. announced the building's construction in 1980. Originally, it was designed to be 52 stories tall and the state's tallest building.
A year later, it was trimmed to 37 stories, and after it sold while it was still being built, designs were modified again, cutting it to its current size.
ONEOK leased the building for its new headquarters in October 1984, and has been there ever since.
Before that, ONEOK and its predecessor company were in an Art Deco building completed at Seventh and Boston in 1928.
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