OG&E Tower

[Rover]

Clayco's designs as shown on their website are pretty underwhelming.

[G.Walker]

This is the design department which is a subsidiary of Clayco, in which Spartan was referring:

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[gopokes88]

Is there an official name for the building yet?

Stage Center Tower, hopefully.

I was always thought it was cool how The Shard in London got its name.

Piano's design met criticism from English Heritage, who claimed the building would be "a shard of glass through the heart of historic London", giving the building its name, The Shard.
The Shard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Pete]

I'm sure it will be named after OG&E as they will almost certainly be the only office tenant.

[HangryHippo]

Hopefully we find out more about this project soon, but Steve's last chat said he's awaiting a requested update and wondering if people will "like it or hate it". That didn't sound promising.

[Pete]

Given the parameters -- no more than 16 stories, a huge parking structure as the base -- how excited or disappointed can we possibly be at this point?

There just aren't that many variables here, unless they go off the deep end and completely cheap out. With OG&E, no chance it will go to the other extreme.

[onthestrip]

Given the parameters -- no more than 16 stories, a huge parking structure as the base -- how excited or disappointed can we possibly be at this point?

There just aren't that many variables here, unless they go off the deep end and completely cheap out. With OG&E, no chance it will go to the other extreme.

I have no idea on the economics of developing a high rise but with one big deal lined up at the get go with OGE, you'd think it wouldnt be too risky to add a few more floors of spec office space. But this is just the selfish OKC attitude in me of wanting a higher reaching skyline

[Pete]

I have no idea on the economics of developing a high rise but with one big deal lined up at the get go with OGE, you'd think it wouldnt be too risky to add a few more floors of spec office space. But this is just the selfish OKC attitude in me of wanting a higher reaching skyline

Absolutely right about spec space but this will amount to OG&E's private HQ, much like Devon Tower.

If there is any extra space, I'm sure it will be for them to grow into, not to lease out.

[G.Walker]

Given the parameters -- no more than 16 stories, a huge parking structure as the base -- how excited or disappointed can we possibly be at this point?

There just aren't that many variables here, unless they go off the deep end and completely cheap out. With OG&E, no chance it will go to the other extreme.

If the design is exceptional, I think we will be okay. The building itself could only be 16 stories, but if they put that on top of a 7 story parking garage, we could get a little height with project, again it all depends on the design and layout.

[bchris02]

Hopefully we find out more about this project soon, but Steve's last chat said he's awaiting a requested update and wondering if people will "like it or hate it". That didn't sound promising.

Yeah this entire thing smells bad and the more we learn about it the more underwhelming it seems like this development will be. Hopefully the other tower that is supposedly in the works is announced around the same time as we see renderings for the Stage Center Tower to somewhat lessen the sting if it really is bad.

[Pete]

Yeah this entire thing smells bad and the more we learn about it the more underwhelming it seems like this development will be. Hopefully the other tower that is supposedly in the works is announced around the same time as we see renderings for the Stage Center Tower to somewhat lessen the sting if it really is bad.

What exactly have we learned since the preliminary concept that makes it more underwhelming?

[David]

I would have said the most recent news of who is doing the design made it less underwhelming.

[Spartan]

^

Clayco is doing design / build on this project.

So, they are serving as both architect and construction manager which will be different than what Devon did in using separate firms (Pickard Chilton & Hines) for those two tasks.

I'm very familiar with them. They are developing a large downtown student housing project in Cleveland right now. Very savvy investors.

[David]

Spartan, do you have any more specific details you can share with us about that Cleveland project? I looked through their online portfolio for a bit just now and couldn't find anything that seemed to match up.

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[kevin lee]

^^ try cleveland.com there's some nice pics of what he's talking about

[kevin lee]

OOPS now I lost the pic!! If you google 1750 Euclid Student Housing you can see the pics though

[David]

Thanks, I found a few images of it. Here is the article I found that seems to have the most recent design.

[Spartan]

I go to design review meetings and Landmarks Commission every week for my job, and these guys were surprisingly conciliatory and receptive to design review advice. Their project has kind of flown under the radar because it's fairly small, but it got a lot of media attention when they were seeking a demo permit for the Edward Durell Stone-designed Jewish Community Federation bldg.

I hate that building, but some Clevelanders were fond of it.

[dankrutka]

Yikes: Developer of Stage Center site prepares for demolition | News OK

[modernism]

eh, nothing new, just regurgitated information. Still waiting on official renderings, looks like nothing will change, simple mid-rise going up in the heart of downtown.

[shawnw]

Hmm... I thought even Steve was getting shaky on this one in chats? Regardless of how any of us feel about stage center itself, I think we can all agree demolition and then no further action, leaving us with a gaping hole or surface lot, is the worst possible outcome. I sure hope the tower (regardless of how bad it might be) has firmed up from the perceived (perhaps only by me) shakiness...

[lasomeday]

Destroying a historic architecturally significant buidling before we even see the final plans for OG&E. How backwards does that sound?

[ABryant]

For the record, my opinion is more or less me puking in my mouth. It has been a reality for many years so no surprise here.

[Pete]

Williams presented conceptual building site plans as part of the review. Williams hired Chicago-based Clayco to assist in planning. Clayco, founded in 1984, employs 1,000 people and reports it is currently working on, or has completed, major projects in 43 states and three countries.

“We are currently working to hire an architect, who will develop the site and building plans,” Williams said. “At this time, nothing has changed. We are working with Clayco as a consultant for predevelopment services and expect to announce the major contractors as they are hired.”

This makes it sound like Clayco might not be the final architect or contractor.

Or, it make just be a smokescreen.

[okclee]

I had family/relatives in from NYC and MSP. We were all downtown at the Myriad Gardens, I was showing them around. Each one of my family members asked about the Stage Center, . More questions and comments about the SC than were about Devon. Mostly said "what is that?", and "That is an interesting building" , they snapped a few pictures of the building too. I had to tell them that it will soon be demolished, and they all said that is "disappointing, because it is unique".
Anyway they all absolutely "LOVED" OKC, Midtown, Dowtown, Deep Deuce, Auto Alley, Okc Zoo. We didn't even make it to Bricktown. That is one of the only times that I have had friends or relatives in from out of state and I didn't go to Bricktown. By the end of the trip half of the group was having conversations about relocating to Okc!