Devon Energy Center

[OKCisOK4me]

The view from Block 42 and Central Ave. Lofts I believe.

Same difference Jack, lol. I mean, albeit 200 feet or two city blocks, it's a view looking from the Northeast of town looking to the Southwest. I'm going down after work with a GPS locater to once and for all confirm the true spot of the view!!! I'll post tomorrow...lol...jk...

[AFCM]

Because of aesthetics, that will likely be the angle for OKC-related photos. I'll miss having the Crystal Bridge and Gardens on the forefront, though. That angle always showed the best of both worlds.

[BoulderSooner]

OKCisOK4me, good points. On a further note, the Burj Al meel in the picture above under construction in Dubai is a mile high (yes, 700+meters)skyscraper and have several that are 2000'ft plus under construction? For those who want the "our skyline will be out of balance now" argument, look at Dubai, they are building monsterous things that one half it's size wasn't possible just a few years ago, now the sky is literally the limit on how high. Crazier than that, in Kuwait, a 1001 meter one is proposed and will be completed in 2030, that's more than a mile and one third!!!!

Gulf States in Race to Build World’s Tallest Tower

that tower will not be a mile high .. it will be 2600 or so ... saudi is the one planing the mile high tower .. a mile is 1600 meters

[CrimsonOberon]

A mile freaking high is, what, 5 Devon towers tall?????!!!!

Let them fight for height; I'm with Larry Nichols all the way.

Someone will always build a taller building.

Devon Tower will not only add a gem to downtown OKC, it is arguably the most striking building that Pickard Chilton has built to this date. I have seen their other projects, and in terms of pure beauty, only the River Point building stood out to me. The others are visually appealing in their own way, but few of the others have that sleek, beautifully understated design that Devon Tower will have. Really, that building is going to be gorgeous. I can see why the OCURA members were speechless when the model and photos were unveiled.

[HOT ROD]

HOTROD, I think it was Doug who mentioned earlier in this thread that the triangles at the "crown" of the tower, will be lit up at night, but the lighting is still up for discussion with Devon. I too would like to see some proposed night-time renderings though.

ok, thanks Metro.

I had asked because the rendering that were released looked like they were evening (FN was lit up and Chase appears to be) but Devon didn't have any lighting visible.

I must have missed that sentence from Doug in all of the excitement .

but yeah, hopefully we can get some night-time renderings of this beauty, nevertheless. Im still speachless, and can't stop looking at it!

[Saberman]

First, the bust during the '80s was also about the economy tanking, which caused the oil prices to drop. Banks were making loans to any one that could leave a little fog on a mirror.

Second thing, this building may stick out some, because of its height, but its got to be better then building an oil tower on the river. In another 10-20 years it will fit in to the OKC skyline like a glove. Some people said the same thing about the Liberty Building(Chase) when it was built.

[John]

The Devon tower looks most like the Four Seasons Malaysia project that Pickard Chilton is working on. There are a few night renderings from their website that show how (I assume) the Devon tower will be lit.


Four Seasons Place - Malaysia

[HOT ROD]

I'm not suggesting that there will be a huge amount of spec office space built.

Just that it's likely more local companies will want to be down there and if so, we don't have the Class A space for them now, let alone in 3-5 years.


And BTW, downtown OKC has only 5.7 million square feet of rental office space, as opposed to 7.7 million for Tulsa, a city significantly smaller.

Pete, that doesn't include owner occupied though - which does Tulsa have any (it seems as though most of their companies lease and not own). I don't believe Denver has very many owner occupied towers either nor does Seattle, come to think of it - the only one I know of besides the govt bldgs in downtown Seattle [WAMU has 2 skyscrapers, one is owner occupied (brand new), the other {the taller, signature icon WAMU Tower} it leases out; Safeco used to be owner occupied in the U district, but they sold it to the UW and are now leasing in downtown]. I digress....

But I do agree with your point in principle; OKC does need more leasible buildings downtown. I think the 'KEY' more or less, for Tier II cities is 10M sq ft.

Hopefully with Devon, the NBA, and the other synergy going on - more companies will desire to be downtown (not necessarily in owner occupied tho) and we could see a round of leasible towers pop up.

[HOT ROD]

Pete, interesting facts. So with our 5.7 million existing and 1.9 Devon proposed, we're only at 7.6, still 100,000 sf smaller than downtown Tulsa.

Metro, Devon wont get added to the 5.7M since it will be owner occupied. Just like SandRidge/KMG tower is not part of the 5.7M. I believe BoK is owner occupied, definitely AT&T is owner occupied. The govt buildings are owner occupied.

If we could add up all of the owner occupied and leasibles, Im sure OKC would be well above 8M sq feet downtown. Im not sure if Tulsa has any owner occupieds in their downtown. Maybe only the new Williams Center (the tower that was recently built, that was supposed to be taller but ended up chopped at 750k sq ft).

Anyways, my point is - OKC is a little unusual in that it has a significant number of owner occupied buildinggs that 'throw off' the leasible sq ft numbers (making it look smaller than what is actually there).

Oh, by the way - Devon will be at least 2.2M square feet in total (1.9M for the tower, .4 for the podium - I had read).

I think the podium is leasible, so that portion would likely be added to the 5.7M OKC total, but not the 1.9M from the tower.

[HOT ROD]

I decided yesterday that I would wait a day before I give my comments on the new tower so that I could think the whole thing through. And after a day of looking at the tower and all that comes with it, I am thoroughly impressed. Yesterday was another fine day in our city's renaissance.

As a soon to be college graduate, I am proud to say that I am NOT going to Texas, LA, the usual places people my age threaten to go so they can leave "boring" Oklahoma. I want to stay and see all the good things that are happening and I am glad that I get to live through all this.

And Steve's latest blog posting is very encouraging indeed as he has talked to people in the know who think more towers downtown are becoming more likely...

Good job Devon!

Don, you post (and point) is PRICELESS!!!!

I think this is something that should be forwarded to city leaders (both govt and corporate.... Devon's on to something BIG).

Thanks Don for committing to OKC - hopefully you will have great success and can help make OKC even better. Congrats on your impending graduation too!

[OKCDrummer77]

Since it appears that there will not be an observation deck, I have another idea if the guys at NewSpin360 are watching: Fly your helicopter up to 925 feet above the existing parking deck and do a panorama from there. Show us what the city would look like from the top of the new tower.

[HOT ROD]

Another city comparison:



Granted, it's a much larger and richer economy and much more excessively taller but the amount of notoriety this city has seen has been overwhelming. Also, the buildings that surround it ARE much more modern being that Dubai used to be a strip of communal housing in 1997 along a dusty two lane stretch of highway along the Persian Gulf.

that got me thinking - so I went to wikipedia. United Arab Emirates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

UAE (Dubai's country)
GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate
- Total 190.2 billion (42nd)
- Per capita $55,200 (CIA) (5th)

I believe OKC Metro's GDP was $54B per annum. Im not sure what Dubai's proportion of UAE is (and surely UAE is larger economy than OKC), but OKC isn't that bad either. ....

and surely things will get even better.

[Tex]

this looks familiar...

AIM Corp HQ

[AFCM]

That tower in Dubai is huge, but hideous. I'll take quality over quantity any day. Fortunately for us, we get the best of both worlds.

[CrimsonOberon]

this looks familiar...

AIM Corp HQ

Except ours is bigger.

[OKCisOK4me]

that got me thinking - so I went to wikipedia. United Arab Emirates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

UAE (Dubai's country)
GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate
- Total 190.2 billion (42nd)
- Per capita $55,200 (CIA) (5th)

I believe OKC Metro's GDP was $54B per annum. Im not sure what Dubai's proportion of UAE is (and surely UAE is larger economy than OKC), but OKC isn't that bad either. ....

and surely things will get even better.

If that is our GDP then that is pretty sweet! I definitely wasn't saying that our GDP was bad, just that they're situated with the control of a lot of oil over there and they have princes that live in huge palaces. They have an indoor ski area there as well. I once saw a picture that showed the shoreline from one of the palm tree islands they are building off of their coastline. It was a panoramic shot and throughout the background you could see roughly 50 of those tall perpendicular cranes. Dubai is bustling and they have a cheap working labor force to take care of it all.

[Tex]

Except ours is bigger.

It's not bigger, just taller. The AIM building has 2.2 million gsf. It's def got more girth... And Texas does not suck.

[Steve]

Just fyi - BOK Plaza in OKC is not owner occupied. It did sell to a well respected local ownership group last year, however, and they are doing an extensive renovation of the property.

[bluedogok]

That would be great. What about Midfirst Bank's presence downtown? Would they need a new tower if they were to consolidate offices elsewhere around town? BancFirst? Banks seem to build new towers more than most companies. I don't know enough about how much space these banks currently lease downtown.

Most bank buildings of that size are developer buildings with the bank having naming rights to go along with a sizable chunk of the rentable space. The Frost Bank building here was developed by Cousins and they have since sold it to someone else, Frost bank only has something like 10 floors of the building, their HQ is still San Antonio. All of it is leased space along with the other tenants. I would think it might still be awhile before a developer skyscraper of similar magnitude will pop up on downtown. Now there may be some in the First National/Cityplace range but I doubt there will be anything else approaching "Supertall" status like Devon.

Austin has changed its skyline in the past 5 years with condo towers and hotels. That would be awesome to see some of that. I love the infill development downtown but I really would like to see a midrise or highrise condo/apt. tower. I know I would be more apt to live in one of those, have a view, etc.

Many of the proposed ones are stalled right now because of the national credit crisis, most of the ones already under construction seem to be progressing still. I would really like to see a mixed-use tower similar to the John Hancock Building in Chicago, not necessarily that height or style but that type of use.

[OUGrad05]

A mixed use building would be sweet, something in the 25 to 35 floor range

[lowtalker]

Does anybody think that the site plan doesn't interact well with the street? I understand the safety concerns, and wanting to have a good setback from the curb. But what about having streetside cafes line Sheridan? The trees that line the street now (and still do in the renderings) are nice, but they create a buffer that makes the place seem like any old office park. Impenetrable and impersonal.

[CrimsonOberon]

It's not bigger, just taller. The AIM building has 2.2 million gsf. It's def got more girth... And Texas does not suck.

I never said Texas sucked. That was the only emote I could find with shades that was on the side of the comment box. I rarely ever open up the other screen just to scroll through emotes. It takes too much time.

In any case, there will always be similar looking buildings. This one will be beautiful for OKC's skyline, and the height and sleekness of the design is incredible.

[Tex]

I never said Texas sucked. That was the only emote I could find with shades that was on the side of the comment box. I rarely ever open up the other screen just to scroll through emotes. It takes too much time.

In any case, there will always be similar looking buildings. This one will be beautiful for OKC's skyline, and the height and sleekness of the design is incredible.

fair enough...

[sroberts24]

TUCK FEXAS!!!! BOOMER SOONER!


on a serious note, this is truly amazing! i am so proud to live here and see this beuatiful building rise up into the sky!

[Thunder]

Devon didn't show the very top view of the building, right? Is it possible that they could still add in trees and a pool at the top? It could be use for company parties and stuff like that. I wonder how a pool feels that way up high.