Devon Plans Downtown Skyscraper

[jbrown84]

Aww, wha'd I tell ya!

It's all in good fun. Don't mean to offend anyone. I was only going off info that someone was kind enough to pass on.

[Insider]

http://newsok.com/devon-chief-says-p...dline_business

Larry Nichols, chief executive officer at Devon Energy, learned quickly after announcing plans for a new world headquarters downtown that he faced one potential public relations challenge: a temporary loss of hundreds of parking spaces.

"I understand the importance of parking,” Nichols said. "It was made clear to me when my barber had scissors right next to my head and said ‘you’re not messing with my parking, are you?’”

Six-month delay
The answer is quite possibly "yes.” But Nichols, one of several speakers at Wednesday’s annual Mayor’s Development Roundtable conference, promised every effort is under way to minimize dislocations while Devon doubles the west City Center Garage and builds its adjoining 54-story tower.
"There will be no longer than a six-month period where we are messing with parking,” Nichols said. "From the time we take spaces that are there to where we reopen with twice the parking that is there now, it will be no more than six months.”

With construction set to begin this fall, Nichols estimated the garage mostly likely will be entirely closed for two months — December and January.

Assistant City Manager Cathy O’Connor said the city has been working closely with Devon on planning for the tower construction and garage expansion.

About their plans
Devon is buying the west City Center garage and will be moving all of its employees there from the Santa Fe garage, which is currently downtown’s busiest garage.
That shift, O’Connor said, will result in less spaces left for public parking in the City Center complex (the city will retain the east garage), but more spaces available in the Santa Fe garage.

Mark Beffort, managing partner of the investment group that owns Leadership Square, Oklahoma Tower, Corporate Tower and City Place, said he’s pleased with the way Devon has handled preparations to date.

"We’ve been working closely with Devon and they’re trying to make sure other businesses downtown aren’t impacted,” Beffort said.

"We know where our tenants park. And within 30 days we’ll be visiting with them, discussing where they can park and how they will go back in. We’re taking a proactive approach. Our investments aren’t any good without our tenants.”

[OKCisOK4me]

At first I was skimming and read 6 month delay and thought 'OH NO!!!' But thank god I read the whole thing. Glad it's just parking and not holding off on construction of the tower for another six months!

[HOT ROD]

ya, I also got scared. But the 6 month 'delay' is just for people having the same amount of parking spaces that they have today.

I wonder if the city could have a variance period during the parking period of Devon's construction - where they will allow people to park on the street in certain areas - for free or heavily reduced rates. ...

Could be a boon to bringing large numbers of people back into downtown - getting them used to what dOKC has to offer.

I dont know - just a suggestion.