Big employer taking hard look at OKC

[In_Tulsa]

I'm hearing google in the Tulsa market played a roll in this coming to the Tulsa market.

[OKVision4U]

I'm sad to report that this deal seems to be dead for OKC.

The consultant hired by this company told the City last week that we have been eliminated. Not sure why or that we'll ever know much more.

Also quite sure the company was/is Amazon.


I suspect Owasso may get this instead -- will probably be an official announcement soon.

Surely OKC can "out bid' Owasso?

[bchris02]

Surely OKC can "out bid' Owasso?

Tulsa really needs this so it wouldn't surprise me if they outbid OKC. Tulsa has been falling behind - significantly - in major economic growth (not counting retail openings). They haven't been doing bad per say but their population growth and job growth has been much slower than OKC and if things don't pick up, in 10-15 years they will be playing a distant second fiddle to OKC.

[onthestrip]

OKC needs to step-up our offering and make this happen. It needs to be big enough to get their attention. Evidently, the previous "package" did not maintain their attention.

Spend millions getting in a bidding war with another Oklahoma City...no thanks.

[Teo9969]

Spend millions getting in a bidding war with another Oklahoma City...no thanks.

you might want to un-capitalize that C…otherwise your statement is confusing

[Bellaboo]

Steve's chat today said his source denied this being Amazon....?

[OKVision4U]

Spend millions getting in a bidding war with another Oklahoma City...no thanks.

Do you really think Tulsa just shares the same position here? ...they are not taking a passive approach to this opportunity. OKC should not either.

Guys, OKC needs ALL levels / types of jobs in OKC. GE is great and it is a Gem for OKC (and the state of ok too), we need to keep this opportunity w/ Amazon (yes, Steve's sources at way off on this if he is saying it is NOT Amazon ) here in the central OKC metro. We must press hard on this one, these type of companies ( Amazon / Google / etc) travel in packs when it comes to locations & jobs.

[bradh]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's not Amazon, just because of what Pete said about Coffeyville having a DC just 60 miles away.

[Pete]

Nobody knows for 100% certain who it is/was because they are using a code name (Project Socrates) and a group of consultants as intermediaries.

However, I am sure it's the same group that is looking at Owasso (Project Socrates was used in a newspaper report) so when/if that is announced, we'll know for sure at least who it is but will likely never get the full story of why OKC lost out.

I heard it was due to negotiations over the land (old Corning location) but don't know more than that.

[bchris02]

Nobody knows for 100% certain who it is/was because they are using a code name (Project Socrates) and a group of consultants as intermediaries.

However, I am sure it's the same group that is looking at Owasso (Project Socrates was used in a newspaper report) so when/if that is announced, we'll know for sure at least who it is but will likely never get the full story of why OKC lost out.

I heard it was due to negotiations over the land (old Corning location) but don't know more than that.

That's sad if that's really the case. Unnecessary loss for OKC.

[soonerguru]

OKC needs to step-up our offering and make this happen. It needs to be big enough to get their attention. Evidently, the previous "package" did not maintain their attention.

I agree to an extent. But we're probably looking at other opportunities as well. Each opportunity probably has a ceiling as to the value. Who's to say this is the biggest deal we're working on right now? My guess is that it's not. Owasso, on the other hand, probably doesn't have many irons in the fire.

[bchris02]

I agree to an extent. But we're probably looking at other opportunities as well. Each opportunity probably has a ceiling as to the value. Who's to say this is the biggest deal we're working on right now? My guess is that it's not. Owasso, on the other hand, probably doesn't have many irons in the fire.

Steve mentioned in his chat that he is worried about the biggest deal he was tracking falling apart. That makes me wonder if this is in fact the biggest thing on the horizon right now or if its something else.

As far as the incentives, this specific deal may be more valuable to Tulsa than it is to OKC. This may be the only big thing Tulsa has on the horizon while OKC may have a few deals in the works.

[tomokc]

"Winning" a bidding war isn't always a good thing. You need to be careful not to overbid and pay too much for an employer. Remember what happened to United Airlines with their maintenance facility that went to Indianapolis. OKC was caught up in the fast, final negotiations, and revisited their bid after Indy won. It was determined that we offered way too much money. When United ultimately closed the facility, it turned into a real blessing in disguise.

[OKVision4U]

OKC needs to provide them an alternate location in OKC, or Team w/ others ( Norman / Yukon / Mustang , if they want to be close proximity of Airport) through a JV and make this package one they / Amazon says yes to. The old Corning Location may not be that nice of an area they are looking for ( most likely ) since Owasso is a "favorable spot".

[Pete]

Especially with Cathy O'Connor and the Economic Alliance, I trust that OKC does a great job of putting together an unified pitch and incentive program.

As Tom said, sometimes it's best to make your best possible deal then walk away if it isn't good enough.

There are a limited amount of funds and I'm sure we'll get other opportunities. I bet they are working on others we don't even know about.

[soonerguru]

Steve mentioned in his chat that he is worried about the biggest deal he was tracking falling apart. That makes me wonder if this is in fact the biggest thing on the horizon right now or if its something else.

As far as the incentives, this specific deal may be more valuable to Tulsa than it is to OKC. This may be the only big thing Tulsa has on the horizon while OKC may have a few deals in the works.

Really? Wow, that was quick. Just yesterday he was saying we had a much bigger gift to unwrap.

[modernism]

Steve mentioned in his chat that he is worried about the biggest deal he was tracking falling apart. That makes me wonder if this is in fact the biggest thing on the horizon right now or if its something else.

As far as the incentives, this specific deal may be more valuable to Tulsa than it is to OKC. This may be the only big thing Tulsa has on the horizon while OKC may have a few deals in the works.

That's incorrect, he said he is not so sure about the deal he was most excited about for downtown OKC, not coming to fruition. Not necessarily biggest deal...

[OKVision4U]

"Winning" a bidding war isn't always a good thing. You need to be careful not to overbid and pay too much for an employer. Remember what happened to United Airlines with their maintenance facility that went to Indianapolis. OKC was caught up in the fast, final negotiations, and revisited their bid after Indy won. It was determined that we offered way too much money. When United ultimately closed the facility, it turned into a real blessing in disguise.

Maybe I can explain it this way. We are not the type of economic balance (yet) that we can lose out on Any major employer today. OKC metro needs these 1,000 jobs, think of it as 1,000 Families / Households that are affected.

This opportunty w/ Amazon is completely removed from our local / regional economic base. Bidding war, it's ALL bidding wars. That is business 101.

[Teo9969]

That's incorrect, he said he is not so sure about the deal he was most excited about for downtown OKC, not coming to fruition. Not necessarily biggest deal...

I would have bolded the downtown OKC part, actually. That clearly indicates that Steve was not talking about the development pertinent to this thread.

[Teo9969]

Maybe I can explain it this way. We are not the type of economic balance (yet) that we can lose out on Any major employer today. OKC metro needs these 1,000 jobs, think of it as 1,000 Families / Households that are affected.

This opportunty w/ Amazon is completely removed from our local / regional economic base. Bidding war, it's ALL bidding wars. That is business 101.

This isn't monopoly…it's not a buy every property you land on kind of game. The incentives will be used on other businesses. Maybe not another single 1,000 employee business…but what if it lures ten 80 employee businesses that have greater growth opportunity and higher paying wages?

You can't win every battle, so it's important that your strategy remains consistent and sensible.

[bchris02]

Really? Wow, that was quick. Just yesterday he was saying we had a much bigger gift to unwrap.

Even if the BIGGEST development he was tracking may not happen, that doesn't mean there isn't other stuff out there bigger than what has already been announced but not as big of a deal as what he was most excited about.

[OKVision4U]

Especially with Cathy O'Connor and the Economic Alliance, I trust that OKC does a great job of putting together an unified pitch and incentive program.

As Tom said, sometimes it's best to make your best possible deal then walk away if it isn't good enough.

There are a limited amount of funds and I'm sure we'll get other opportunities. I bet they are working on others we don't even know about.

My HOPE is they are, but this is HOW you manage this topic. Focus on the customer in front of you. We need to let the others ( w/ all their potential) line up and be counted, but when it comes to a large Employer ( Amazon ) we need to do ALL we can to make this happen. We can't start giving Tulsa any momentum in the jobs bebate. The next employer that looks at OKC vs. Tulsa might be even more desirable and then Tulsa "will" be the trendy place to be. ....zero room for competition. We don't want to give them any momentum.

The City of Moore could use these 1,000 jobs / households affected. That would go along way....hmmm?

[soonerguru]

Maybe I can explain it this way. We are not the type of economic balance (yet) that we can lose out on Any major employer today. OKC metro needs these 1,000 jobs, think of it as 1,000 Families / Households that are affected.

This opportunty w/ Amazon is completely removed from our local / regional economic base. Bidding war, it's ALL bidding wars. That is business 101.

Wow, thanks for the lecture, professor. I think the people who are doing their best to land these jobs are doing their best. We've gotten Continental, GE, Dell, and Boeing in the last few years. These are all very high-paying job. I think they know the stakes.

We're not desperate, though, and we're not stupid. We're not going to get played for incentive money better used elsewhere. We'll come to the table with our best deal, and if they don't take it, we'll move on.

This isn't like the old days. We have a lot of very savvy people involved in these efforts, now, not just a bunch of good old boys. Have a little faith. We're sure as hell doing better than Owasso -- and most American large cities.

[Pete]

For what it's worth, I don't think this was a matter of incentives, especially since Owasso would be pulling from some of the same state programs.

There was some issue with the site.

[bchris02]

My HOPE is they are, but this is HOW you manage this topic. Focus on the customer in front of you. We need to let the others ( w/ all their potential) line up and be counted, but when it comes to a large Employer ( Amazon ) we need to do ALL we can to make this happen. We can't start giving Tulsa any momentum in the jobs bebate. The next employer that looks at OKC vs. Tulsa might be even more desirable and then Tulsa "will" be the trendy place to be. ....zero room for competition. We don't want to give them any momentum.

The City of Moore could use these 1,000 jobs / households affected. That would go along way....hmmm?

I do agree with this the more I think about it, especially this being against Tulsa. Jobs/economic growth is one area where OKC is really pulling ahead of Tulsa. If Tulsa is able to get a leg up there, combine that with the other advantages Tulsa has and the momentum could easily shift in their favor.