Downtown OKC Inc eyes commercial real estate

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Okay ksearls, keep us up to date on this!!


Downtown OKC Inc. eyes commercial real estate
The Journal Record
November 29, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY – Based on the success of a project to bring available downtown Oklahoma City residential projects together in one searchable database, Downtown OKC Inc. has similar plans for the downtown office market.

The project, dubbed Downtown OKC Works, will kick off in 2008 with a budget of $21,500 for Web site development and advertising. Kim Searls, with DOKC, said the project is patterned after other downtown commercial development initiatives in cities around the country.“We’ve always wanted to highlight the office space that’s available downtown a little bit more,” Searls said. “With this campaign we’re really going to be doing that.”

The project will be a co-operative campaign between DOKC, developers and commercial real estate professionals with a stake in downtown Oklahoma City. When complete, the package will be available in several formats, including an online version available for download.

Searls said the initiative will really kick off in January to feature all available commercial property downtown. The organization currently has a Web link and information about housing available downtown and residential development in the works. “We’re really going to be pursuing those people that are thinking about moving and really going after them trying to get them to relocate in downtown Oklahoma City,” she said.

Brett Hamm, president of DOKC, said there have already been several positive events in the downtown office market in the past year, citing in particular the purchase of the former Kerr-McGee buildings by SandRidge Energy. SandRidge’s purchase of the approximately 450,000 square feet of space was significant in that it kept the space from being purchased by an entity that could have dumped it on the market, severely driving up the vacancy rate numbers downtown.

A report by Price Edwards & Co. showed that for the first half of 2007 the vacancy rate for office space in the central business district remained mostly unchanged at 27.7 percent. The report showed in turn that vacancy rates overall for office space in Oklahoma City dropped from between 15.7 percent and 15 percent for the first half of 2007.


Brett Hamm, president of Downtown OKC Inc., gives a presentation to board members Wednesday during an end-of-year meeting at Leadership Square. (Photo by Jennifer Pitts)

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Is downtown office marketing focus right?

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer
A marketing plan in the works targets downtown Oklahoma City's stubborn 25 percent vacancy rate, but at least one property owner questions whether it's the right strategy.

Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. President Brett Hamm is launching the $21,000 campaign this year as a follow-up to its "MOVE UP” promotion of housing projects.

"Before we were working with developers,” Hamm said. "Now we'll be working with building owners and managers.”

Hamm points to the "Downtown Works” campaign waged in Memphis, Tenn., as a potential role model. The campaign markets all of downtown office space, compares rates with those in suburban areas and tries to allay fears about crime, parking and travel times.

The downtown Oklahoma City campaign will begin with a series of advertisements promoting multiple office properties — similar to the collective promotion of competing housing projects featured in MOVE UP.

"We'll highlight not just what's available but also the benefits of an urban lifestyle,” Hamm said.

Hamm also is pegging a lot of hope on creation of a Web site that will serve as a central database of all available office space.

Rick Dowell, who owns the 20-story Dowell Center at 134 Robert S. Kerr, has been calling for such a campaign for the past two years. But he's not certain the campaign proposed by Hamm is the best strategy for filling up the Class C space that forms the bulk of downtown's vacancy rate.

"The focus has been that people want to bring some great big company downtown but don't want to give money to do it,” Dowell said. "And the brokers we have downtown want to bring a big company because that's the only way they are going to make any money.”

But Dowell thinks the biggest opportunity awaiting downtown is in the immediate metropolitan region — small businesses that he estimates account for 70 percent of office space leased throughout the city.

Big brokers, Dowell argues, aren't interested in showing a potential tenant six different spaces only to land a $36,000 lease.

"If you are marketing for the big companies, it's a total waste of effort,” Dowell said. "Where is the problem? It's with Class C office space. And that space will never be rented to IBM. They want big floor plates with 20,000 square feet.”

Dowell points to his own success renovating and leasing a handful of old properties along the 500 block of Walker Avenue. The stretch, which Dowell promotes as "MidTown Plaza,” has gone from no tenants to 63,000 square feet leased in 37 months.

All of the tenants, he adds, are smaller firms or start-ups that either will perish or grow within the next few years. The startups, Dowell said, are a good risk for filling up unused Class C space.

"Look at how much space Devon and Chesapeake leased 20 years ago,” Dowell said. "It was virtually zip — yet look at them now. The trick is, don't even fiddle with the big business — go for the little businesses.”

Hamm insists he and Dowell are really on the same page. He agrees with one suggestion by Dowell that the new campaign include direct mailers — though funding for the mailings initially will be limited.

"The goal of getting a major headquarters is always a goal, but the first track is to look locally,” Hamm said. "We want to spread the word regionally that downtown Oklahoma City is the place to go.”

Hamm said the decision by Dell to build a campus along the Oklahoma River southeast of downtown a few years ago is evidence the central city can still compete for employers looking to expand into a new city. During those 2004 negotiations, Hamm was aide to Mayor Mick Cornett and listened to company officials explain how their new Oklahoma operation needed to be a magnet for employees.

"‘It's 5'o'clock,' they'd say. ‘Where do our employees want to go?' And that's on the top of the list for employers for recruiting employees,” Hamm said.

Hamm said Oklahoma City has no problem recruiting workers with families to Oklahoma City. The challenge is attracting young single workers, he said, adding downtown may be the key. Hamm said the upcoming marketing campaign will seek to exploit downtown's potential edge with younger employees.

"Employers are learning that employees want to be in an environment where they are not surrounded by a sea of parking,” Hamm said. "They want to be where they can walk to a restaurant or shop, or see employees of other companies from across the street.”


Rick Dowell owns Dowell Center, one of at least four empty midrise towers in downtown Oklahoma City. Dowell questions whether an upcoming office marketing campaign is targeting the right audience. BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN