SandRidge Center & Commons

[king183]

Is the Globe Life building physically connected to that other building? Do we know how long demolition will take?

[mmonroe]

I feel like the Sandridge buildings are the mutilated baby of a cross between Devon Tower and CHK campus, lol.

[Bellaboo]

I like that canopy above, but since it's near the Braniff building, they should have made it resemble a giant airplane wing.

[Just the facts]

I can tell you this, after experiencing the plazas here in Philly vs streets where the buildings are pushed to the sidewalk my disdain for plazas is at an all time high. The plazas around the Philly City Services building and Love Park is a 100% disaster and failure on every level. Ironically there is a giant Sorry game piece in front of the building. It fits.

[Pete]

$3 million building permit today to renovate the Braniff building.

Very excited to see this building come back to life!

[Urbanized]

Any idea if the Braniff renovation will include removal of the non-original aluminum-framed windows currently in the building and replacing them with period-appropriate double-hung wood sashes? I was admiring the newly-revealed red brick the other day and thinking how incredible the building would look with historically correct windows.

It made a HUGE difference when the Magnolia Petroleum Building replaced their windows by reverting to wooden double-hungs about ten years ago. The YMCA renovation of the bomb-damaged Oklahoman Building saw the same improvement when it added the double-hungs, even despite the fact that its windows are a bit faux, in that they are not operational.

I know it sounds goofy to be that window-obsessed, but truthfully good/appropriate windows are critical to a top-notch historic preservation, and it seems like Sandridge is attempting to do a quality job on the one historic building they didn't demolish.

[Snowman]

I feel like the Sandridge buildings are the mutilated baby of a cross between Devon Tower and CHK campus, lol.

The owner of Sandridge was a partner in CHK for a lot of years, given how much stock he owned and his position he would have had influence in their style over the years, though the most recent CHK development happened after he left.

[mmonroe]

The owner of Sandridge was a partner in CHK for a lot of years, given how much stock he owned and his position he would have had influence in their style over the years, though the most recent CHK development happened after he left.

I'm well aware, i've read the annual reports.

[Pete]

Any idea if the Braniff renovation will include removal of the non-original aluminum-framed windows currently in the building and replacing them with period-appropriate double-hung wood sashes?

On the west and north exposures they will indeed be replacing the existing windows with "insulated clad windows"; you can see them in the rendering below. I doubt any of the new windows going into buildings these days are truly double-hung; almost always they are fixed and not able to be opened. However, they do replicate the look.

On the eastern and southern sides they will use a more modern cladding to tie the building into the tower.

[MDot]

Why haven't I ever seen that rendering before?

[Urbanized]

On the west and north exposures they will indeed be replacing the existing windows with "insulated clad windows"; you can see them in the rendering below. I doubt any of the new windows going into buildings these days are truly double-hung; almost always they are fixed and not able to be opened. However, they do replicate the look.

On the eastern and southern sides they will use a more modern cladding to tie the building into the tower...

That rendering clears things up a lot, if they build out as drawn. Those are definitely closer to the originals in appearance and will be a major improvement.

I agree that most double-hung retrofits are generally NOT operational. When the YMCA built out the Oklahoman building they made the decision to have fixed windows due to several factors. One was cost; there is a small per-window savings in fixed, as they don't require the mechanical elements needed for operation. Spread over many dozens or even hundreds of windows it adds up. Second was energy efficiency. Though operational windows themselves aren't that much less efficient, when you give tenants the ability to open windows you cede control of your HVAC expenses to the whims of the tenant. Finally, liability was a factor, owing to the fact that it is a multi-story building, and someone leaning too far out of a window can literally turn into a sticky situation in the blink of an eye.

Generally HP standards accept these modern issues as reasonable, and good HP doesn't necessarily require the windows to be operational.

I will say, though, that when the Salyers replaced the single-pane, dark-tinted windows in the Magnolia Petroleum building circa 2000, I will give them props for going the extra mile and choosing operational double-hungs. My office was there at the time, and the ability to open the windows on a spring day was awfully cool and appealing.

Here's a photo of the building sometime after the window replacement. I'll see if I can scare up a photo pre-replacement at some point to show what a difference it made.

[Pete]

That Braniff rendering is the one submitted for final approval from the Downtown Design Review Committee, so it should represent what actually is done.

And it's certainly true that windows make a huge difference in any building.

[Urbanized]

BTW, when I visited the Empire State Building last year, they were in the middle of a window project that required removal of more than 6,500 windows. They disassembled them on-site, cleaned them, applied a baked-on plastic energy-efficient film, and charged them with inert gas, making them 2-4 times as efficient. Since they were recycling the original windows, the "green" value of the project increased exponentially. Those windows remained operational double-hungs. It was all pretty fascinating.

Here's a link to a story about the project.

[SharkSandwich]

Does anyone know if SR plans to light up their building at night like Kerr McGee did years ago? Also, does anyone know if SR plans to put a SandRidge sign atop the building once renovations are completed?

[Pete]

Photo from today's Oklahoman showing the original red brick coming back to life on the north facade of the Braniff Building:

[BoulderSooner]

this is going to look so good in a couple of years

[Rover]

That's not possible. It is a SR project after all. LOL

[MDot]

That's not possible. It is a SR project after all. LOL

I laughed.

[Spartan]

That is going to be a beautiful building. It really goes to show just how these old buildings will amaze you as you start to peel at the onion layers shrouding it.

[Pete]

Here's a screenshot from William's awesome video... Shows good progress at ground level:

[metro]

Can't wait to have my daughters party in their plaza.......

[wschnitt]

No one commented about how AMAZING the Braniff Building looks at night all lite up.
So I will-It looks truely AMAZING!!

[Spartan]

I haven't seen it yet. Photo?

[coov23]

it's rendering or model up for its second tower next to their ongoing renovated o e? Thanks.

[Bellaboo]

I know there was an article a few months back with Tom Ward in which he confirmed a tower with equal size to their current headquarters, but only preliminary pictures of the overall Sandridge Commons have been released. The article said we are still a couple of years away from any particulars to the development of the next major building. I think maybe they said 2014 ?