OG&E Energy Center

[Pete]

Crowe has moved and Continental is already renovating. There's been a construction elevator attached the the SE corner of the building for several weeks.

Wow, Crowe finished out the Braniff space very quickly.

I'm surprised no one has commented or photoed the Braniff being full, with lights on, etc.

[OkieNate]

Crowe has moved and Continental is already renovating. There's been a construction elevator attached the the SE corner of the building for several weeks.

I was wondering what that red thing was!

[warreng88]

The amount of construction that is going to be taking place downtown in the next 5 years or so is staggering. A lot of the surface parking spaces in Bricktown are filling up (the new Canopy Hilton, etc). Then we've got at least 4 and potentially 5 towers on this site, then we've got the Preftakes tower (potentially a second to follow, but probably outside of the 5 years). There's the convention center and a likely hotel. There's a proposed 10+ story building on Robert S Kerr. There's the Milhaus 20 story tower possibly on 4th and EKG. It's incredible. We're talking about nearly doubling our skyline before 2020, with an absolute ton of infill. And that's just the stuff we know about.

Once the new Convention Center is done, we could see a redevelopment of the entire Cox Convention Center block which would be around 2020. Four more towers could easily fit on that piece of land.

[ChrisHayes]

I was having this same conversation with my wife last night. Hopefully the Boulevard will be completed by 2016 and that could make or break what happens surrounding the C2S park. I honestly feel we are not too far from someone purchasing the Cotton Mill and redeveloping that area because it will become too big, not to redevelop it. Wasn't there a long term proposal along with the Santa Fe station to build a parking garage in front of the U-Haul building and a new bus depot? Hopefully those parking lots on the east end of Reno start to get filled in as well with parking garages/retail/housing. More infill!

When is construction of the boulevard supposed to ramp up and get going?

[warreng88]

When is construction of the boulevard supposed to ramp up and get going?

The west end is done, the east end is under construction and now I think we are just waiting on what ODOT and the city want to do with the Western/Classen/Reno/BLVD intersection. Once the east end is the done, a design should be done and go out to bid.

[HOT ROD]

Cox is on 4 square blocks. So take the full Stage Center site (include the south block) times 2. ClayCo proposes up to 5 towers on the full stage center site, so a Cox redevelopment could more than double that depending upon if the 4 square blocks are opened individually (which is my hope).

Everyone, I agree this is very exciting times for Downtown OKC. I know we were upset with the timing, but isn't everyone stocked about the announcements that finally are coming? And if Steve is correct, this is just the 'beginning?'. WoW! OKC is charging ahead which is great for the city and the state! A healthy OKC changes peoples minds and perceptions/image of the state and that is what Oklahoma has needed since the 1960's. Carry that mantle, OKC!

[Laramie]

Ditto!

I was wondering what that red thing was!

Can somebody address OkieNate's statement?

[Pete]

Ditto!



Can somebody address OkieNate's statement?

There is a "buck hoist" attached to the outside of Continental's HQ.

Basically an external construction elevator to get materials in and out of the top four floors while they renovate.

[soonerguru]

Cox is on 4 square blocks. So take the full Stage Center site (include the south block) times 2. ClayCo proposes up to 5 towers on the full stage center site, so a Cox redevelopment could more than double that depending upon if the 4 square blocks are opened individually (which is my hope).

Everyone, I agree this is very exciting times for Downtown OKC. I know we were upset with the timing, but isn't everyone stocked about the announcements that finally are coming? And if Steve is correct, this is just the 'beginning?'. WoW! OKC is charging ahead which is great for the city and the state! A healthy OKC changes peoples minds and perceptions/image of the state and that is what Oklahoma has needed since the 1960's. Carry that mantle, OKC!

The pace of change and improvement seems to be accelerating. It's rather breathtaking.

That said, some of my energy friends are warning that the super-good days may be winding down a bit with the price of oil sinking so much. Love the cheap gas but it's a bit worrisome.

[HOT ROD]

gas isn't cheap, it's still well over $2.50 a gallon. I think the shift in the oil industry is for domestic/NA production outweighing overseas imports; which actually should be more of a boon for OKC than OPEC siphoning dollars away from OKC based companies. Even if you don't care for him politically, gotta hand it to Obama for the positives to the US Energy industry.

[Pete]

Thanks to Kaynemo we now have a 3-D model of the project which I've dropped into Google Earth:

[GoThunder]

Wow. Even one decent-sized tower on the Preftakes block would really tie in the Stage Center site with the rest of the skyline.

[Pete]

These are with with a 23-story building at Main & Hudson:

[Anonymous.]

This will be great. Really ties the Devon tower down, whereas currently it is sort of floating by itself at the SW edge of CBD.

[Pete]

The five buildings on the west side of downtown will effectively balance out the five tallest buildings that are to the east.

[Pete]

One more:

[HangryHippo]

I personally wish there was a little more height variation between the 5 new buildings. Ideally, Main and Hudson would be taller, and then just a little variety in the OG&E Center. That's just being picky though, as I'm really looking forward to these additions to our skyline! Going to make a huge difference no matter what heights they end up being.

[Plutonic Panda]

One more:

That awesome, but I wish the Main and Hudson were at least 40 stories. That would help balance the height thing out. Really cool though!

[PhiAlpha]

I personally wish there was a little more height variation between the 5 new buildings. Ideally, Main and Hudson would be taller, and then just a little variety in the OG&E Center. That's just being picky though, as I'm really looking forward to these additions to our skyline! Going to make a huge difference no matter what heights they end up being.

Though I can't really complain much either, I also wish there was a little more variation. Clayco can't control the main and Hudson tower and probably can't do much to the office towers since OGE is at least somewhat in control of what happens with their new building, but it would be cool if they would shorten one of the residential buildings and add those floors to the other residential tower. I think that would really help balance the skyline a bit more.

Just a minor nitpick, if built as designed this development will be awesome so again, it's difficult to complain.

[warreng88]

These are with with a 23-story building at Main & Hudson:


[/center]

This view, I think, will be the most important view five years from now. Imagine the Convention Center next to the Peake, the CCC torn down and four or more towers built in its place.

[Thundercitizen]

One more:

Outstanding! Thanks, again, KayneMo.

I know/hope that the exteriors will be distinctive enough so as not to appear to be "the projects" since they're somewhat cookie cutter looking as simple mass forms at similar heights, but as some have said, I'd also like the CLR building to bridge the horizontal AND vertical gaps. Again, it's really nitpicking...but there you have it.

[soondoc]

Believe me when I say this, I am happy to see these projects. I can't help but be a little disappointed that a little more height isn't included to really balance out a skyline that needs it and to be more of an impact as a high rise. With the 4 buildings, we will end up with approximately 100-106 floors. How great would it be if we had a 16 story and 19 story building and then 2 tall buildings of approximately 35 stories apiece. This would give us a 255, 305, and a couple of 600 foot buildings! Now that would make the skyline look great and add 2 more high rises rather than the tall mid rises we will be getting. You would be able to see those for many miles away and they would be almost as tall as the tallest building in Tulsa just for comparison. This would also give us the same amount of stories for what is planned.

[OKCRT]

Where's the convention center with hotel? They are also coming,right? Agree,need taller buildings. At least something 35-40 stories and maybe one 30-35 stories to go with a couple 20-25 story buildings. Now that would make downtown pop!

[bchris02]

Where's the convention center with hotel? They are also coming,right? Agree,need taller buildings. At least something 35-40 stories and maybe one 30-35 stories to go with a couple 20-25 story buildings. Now that would make downtown pop!

It's amazing how much these 20-25 story buildings do to balance out the skyline though. I love tall buildings just as much as anybody else, but OKC was seriously spoiled by the Devon Tower. Metro areas of only 1.3 million in population don't typically see such grand developments. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if the Devon Tower was by far the tallest tower in a city this size in the country. I hope the Main/Hudson tower ends up taller than expected but if it doesn't, this will still double the size of the skyline from certain angles. I think architectural style is just as important if not moreso than height and from what we've seen thus far, this project will deliver.

[dankrutka]

Metro areas of only 1.3 million in population don't typically see such grand developments. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if the Devon Tower was by far the tallest tower in a city this size in the country.

At least until Midland builds its tower: Midland's 58-story tower will become a symbol of oil boom - Dallas Business Journal