Oklahoma City's future skyline

[Steve]

Thunder,

You are telling people over on Skyscrapercity to contact Steve Lackmeyer about this new tower.....you should not do that.

This is getting out of hand...

[OKCisOK4me]

Thunder,

You are telling people over on Skyscrapercity to contact Steve Lackmeyer about this new tower.....you should not do that.

Geez, what a moron!

[SharkSandwich]

or midfirst bank

Midfirst also makes sense in that: (1) their current buildings are apparently full; and (2) their current buildings sit right in the middle of the CHK campus. I would imagine AKM has his eyes on painting them black very soon.

[catch22]

Thunder,

You are telling people over on Skyscrapercity to contact Steve Lackmeyer about this new tower.....you should not do that.

Wow way to go Thunder. We are lucky Steve is nice enough to share a little information with us, unfortunately I think this action is going to blow it for us.

Looking forward to an official announcement.

[MDot]

This is getting out of hand...

It's sad that you are kind enough to share with us that you might know of a new skyscraper and it gets blown out of proportions to the point that people out of state/country are being told to contact you to find out about this unofficial building. I really feel for you to be put in this situation just because you are an extremely nice reporter/man.

[Richard at Remax]

what's sad is people are getting so worked up about a building(s) that may or may not happen. there are bigger things to worry about in life. Devon Tower is cool. But it has zero impact on my every day life.

[OKCisOK4me]

Midfirst also makes sense in that: (1) their current buildings are apparently full; and (2) their current buildings sit right in the middle of the CHK campus. I would imagine AKM has his eyes on painting them black very soon.

***NOTE*** This is pure speculation. I am not drinking Thunder's Koolaid. ***NOTE***

If this supposed tower were to be announced, how come we're all guessing which one company is going to be the anchor tenant. Is there a reason why it can't be one-third American Fidelity (insert speculative company here), one-third Midfirst Bank (insert speculative company here), and one-third residential?

[Pete]

I would think that for any office building to get financing in today's climate they would have to have a sizable amount of space already pre-leased.

There seems to be a tremendous opportunity for a local company to build a large tower, occupy a decent portion and lease out the rest. Of have a developer do it for them.


Think about how many huge office developments there were in the 80's and 90's and now there are almost zero. We all know why: overbuilt markets and a bad economy. But there are still thousands of people that make their money as real estate developers and that are itching to get back into that business. OKC is one of the very few markets where that may be possible.

[MDot]

I have nothing to support this but I just have a gut feeling that it's going to be Midfirst.

[Pete]

Remember American Fidelity was reported to be taking a hard look at downtown a number of years ago and things have only improved for them and the CBD since. They certainly have not been investing in their current site as of late.

There have also been strong hints about a large new employer coming to town on the heels of the latest Boeing announcement.

[OKCisOK4me]

Gotta thank the positive economy of OKC! Now, time to sit on this like a Buddha and wait in silence.

[Bellaboo]

I thought about 4 - 7 years ago that American Fidelity sold their 3 building campus to a real estate holding firm back East ?

Anyone else remember this or was this just a dream I had......?

[G.Walker]

Remember American Fidelity was reported to be taking a hard look at downtown a number of years ago and things have only improved for them and the CBD since. They certainly have not been investing in their current site as of late.

There have also been strong hints about a large new employer coming to town on the heels of the latest Boeing announcement.

I am putting my money on Boeing, they are the only logical choice, they just moved 1,000 jobs here, and it has yet to be announced where they are going to house those jobs. Cathy O' Connor stated back in the Summer of 2011, that she would like to see Boeing have a downtown presence, and that we shouldn't rule that out. I think if AF wanted to move downtown they would have already. There is no way it could be Chesapeake, they are investing too much in their campus. Midfirst is too slow, I would think CHK would have bought them out already. My dark horse for my speculation is Continental Resources though....

[Pete]

In 1997 American Fidelity transferred all their real estate holdings to Eaton Enterprises but it wasn't a sale. The Eaton address is just a PO Box in OKC.

Probably just a shift for tax purposes.

[BoulderSooner]

I am putting my money on Boeing, they are the only logical choice, they just moved 1,000 jobs here, and it has yet to be announced where they are going to house those jobs. Cathy O' Connor stated back in the Summer of 2011, that she would like to see Boeing have a downtown presence, and that we shouldn't rule that out. I think if AF wanted to move downtown they would have already. There is no way it could be Chesapeake, they are investing too much in their campus. Midfirst is too slow, I would think CHK would have bought them out already. My dark horse for my speculation is Continental Resources though....

boeing won't be building any thing in okc ... they don't own by tinker they lease ...

they might be a tenent .. but they are not going to do the building

[Bellaboo]

My dark horse for my speculation is Continental Resources though....

I could see this happen too. If you look at their expansion plans, in 4 or 5 years they would be more than 'busting at the seams'. They could be in the same boat Devon was floating in and they do have the capitol to build new.

My guess is some corporation from the energy industry.

[dmoor82]

OKC had virtually NO vertical development since the mid 80's and as soon as we found out about Devon we went into skyscraper hysteria and now we want more.Devon came at us with 925ft' and I bet all of us would have been happy with 600'ft and now we are kinda spoiled by Devon and want more,Imagine what the OKC skyline will look like when we really start to boom.I can't wait!

[G.Walker]

Boeing is making a lot of moves right now, moving jobs all over the country, and they are about to construct a new regional headquarters in Crystal City, VA.
http://www.arlnow.com/2011/10/19/boa...new-boeing-hq/

"The Boeing complex, which the company will own instead of lease, won’t provide the kind of active streetscape befitting a property so close to a multi-million dollar county park and recreation center, opponents said. Instead, the property will be largely closed off to the public; buildings will be set back from the sidewalk with no ground floor retail and no public-use parking spaces (which could have been utilized during special events at the park). Transportation Commission Chair Bill Gearhart called the complex, which will have 555 underground parking spaces, “auto-oriented” as opposed to transit-oriented. The Planning Commission called the architecture of the proposed buildings “mediocre.”

[Pete]

I still draw the parallel to Charlotte, where after the 871 foot BofA Tower was built in 1992, they have built six towers over 420 feet, including three over 650.

Before that, their tallest building was 588 feet; very similar to our Chase Tower at 500 feet.

[BB37]

I am putting my money on Boeing, they are the only logical choice, they just moved 1,000 jobs here, and it has yet to be announced where they are going to house those jobs. Cathy O' Connor stated back in the Summer of 2011, that she would like to see Boeing have a downtown presence, and that we shouldn't rule that out. I think if AF wanted to move downtown they would have already. There is no way it could be Chesapeake, they are investing too much in their campus. Midfirst is too slow, I would think CHK would have bought them out already. My dark horse for my speculation is Continental Resources though....

Why would Boeing want or need a downtown presence, when most/all their work here will be at Tinker? Most of the jobs they're moving here are from production facilities in Long Beach and Wichita, not the kind of jobs that would fit in a downtown skyskraper.

[G.Walker]

We are already in a "boom" if we build CC Hotel, Mystery Skyscraper, and Sandridge Tower, that would be 4 significant high-rises/skyscrapers constructed in 5 years, if that's not a boom, then I don't know what is.

[G.Walker]

What would be really neat is if they all get started around the same time, and then we can foster the nickname Crane City!

[king183]

Okay, I am not the expert (by any stretch) so for some of you, the very idea may not seem logical but I want to toss it out there as I was giving it some thought last night.

Is there any reason that the new CC hotel could not be a part of the new "mystery tower"? Similar to the new Wilshire Grand I tower being built in LA. Perhaps even a P3 that is even more similar to the Wilshire Grand Development in that it has more than one tower on the property, one of them being the CC hotel.

This is a good point. It's possible the developer/company, whoever it is, would take advantage of the need for a CC hotel and build it themselves along with whatever space they need for their company.

It's an interesting thought, but every indication I'm getting says the CC hotel will be completely separate from the new tower, both structurally and ownership-wise. But, again, who knows; it's a logical and practical idea.

[Skyline]

I will go with MidFirst Bank, it is the most logical.

Any chance that CHK would want to purchase their existing headquarters?

[Pete]

It's been assumed that CHK would want the current MidFirst buildings because they own everything around them and sorely need office space -- so much so they've recently purchased four buildings miles from their campus.


MidFirst is very, very conservative though. But they are a logical candidate.