Quote Originally Posted by Spartan View Post
They did that back when they were in legit Class C digs. Not a hard sell to their board of directors who must look out for their investors first and foremost. Now they are doing so from legit Class A digs, and proposing even more overhead at a time when their overhead costs are attracting more investor scrutiny. Don't underestimate the importance of that. Devon is doing this project on the cheap because they can not get away with building another first-class development right now. That's a good way to get Carl Icahn'd.
We'll have to agree to disagree on their financial position and its effect on their ability to build a new building. Remember, this was well into the planning phase when the price of oil was still $100/bbl. Devon is still betting on the price of oil rising to around $65 to $70 by year's end and increasing throughout next year. They are not making decisions on a long term investment, like an office tower, based on where oil is today....just as they didn't in 2009 regardless of their Class C office space at the time(the vast majority of their office space was still Class A or High Class B back then with the class C in first national making up a small part that was mostly storage). I will almost garuntee you that commodity pricing has not had any effect on 499's design. Now if Sandridge or CHK had proposed this, I would probably agree with you.

Additionally, Devon is not the only company involved here with a decent chunk of the building to be leased by someone else whether that be BOK or another unannounced company.