OG&E Tower

[BoulderSooner]

Site prep very well could take 3-5 months. And it won't start until march/April at the soonest. That puts us at the end of the summer. With a little delay it is late 14 early 15 and they start construction

[Pete]

Here are a couple of additional renderings that better show the plaza and Walker elevations:

[bchris02]

I really, really like the green rooftop and the way this interacts with the existing plaza. This area should become a focal point for further development.

[bchris02]

So what is going to be the timetable between demolition and groundbreaking? Personally, I think demolition should be held off to as close to groundbreaking as possible, as to avoid the mistakes of the Pei Plan.

[hoya]

Will the green roof be open to the public?

[jn1780]

Here are a couple of additional renderings that better show the plaza and Walker elevations:

[/CENTER]

Looking at this image, it appears California will never be turned into a street because the ramp to the loading dock is in the middle of the street.

[Chadanth]

I like it quite a bit, and agree with the sentiment that we should avoid too much height on the east and west sides of the gardens, to allow for maximum sunlight. Overall, I think it's a great development.

[jn1780]

Rough SketchUp renderings, portraying the new building at 300' tall (which is probably slightly too tall):
Attachment 5465Attachment 5466Attachment 5467

A tower on the Bank of America site would really help fill the skyline from these two angles. Also, If the residential/hotel a little bit taller, I would be completely satisfied.

[Dustin]

I love this more and more the longer I look at it!

[Jared]

I love it and bet that it will look tall enough from the park. I cannot wait to hear what retail it brings. I'm very excited about the housing. We could have gotten a taller office building without housing/hotel. I would rather have another 250 new residents downtown than another 1,000 employees that commute any day. We are getting more retail, more interaction, more people; this is exactly this exactly the kind of developments that I've been looking forward to!

[G.Walker]

Noticed this tidbit from the article:

"Start of building design and construction are dependent on approval of the demolition permit by the Downtown Design Review Committee."

Again, these are just conceptual plans, not a hard final design. I am sure these plans will be modified before its all said and done. It could end up taller/shorter, different layout, we will just have to wait and see.

[Pete]

Looking at this image, it appears California will never be turned into a street because the ramp to the loading dock is in the middle of the street.

Remember the easement issue that was holding up this deal for quite a while?

This must have been it.

[G.Walker]

We need some high-res detailed renderings like this:

[jccouger]

Wanna give Pete a shout out for originally naming this thread "og&e tower"

[HangryHippo]

I like the design more each time I look at it, but I have two questions:

1) Is the second tower (the 8-12 story building) a sure thing? It sounds like that portion is far from certain to be included as part of this overall development.

2) At $100 million, is anyone else worried this development may be done on the cheap? The Milhaus development proposed for Midtown is $42.5 million, so I'm worried that $100 million really isn't that much for this OG&E tower.

[bchris02]

Wanna give Pete a shout out for originally naming this thread "og&e tower"

Agree. It turns out the original educated speculation was correct.

[edcrunk]

I like it. I think it will look great once built. I'm excited at the prospect of a shiny new west side of downtown in a few years.

[s00nr1]

On first impression, I really like the proposed street interaction. Digging further, however, I am a bit disappointed to see such a low development total for this prime property. I would have pegged this as at least a $250M+ piece of real estate. Oh well.

[UnFrSaKn]

OG&E Announces Plans For $100M Facility In Downtown OKC - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | (video)

[HOT ROD]

I echo what others have said; love the street interaction and the design but disappointed by lack of at least 500+ feet in height AND 'cheap' development cost given the location. There are many other locations this could have tone downtown, including near their current site IN the CBD.

One thing I'm noting however, is that this is conceptual and it could very well be a lowball pitch that gets revised or there may very well be plans for a proper development but given its OGE they don't want to start off rocking thaw boat of their customers. Typically conceptual aren't that great so I'm hoping their being humble with this initial pitch.

Very excited about the protects for more towers but I'd like to see okc get away from an either or scenario and adopt downtown strategy that promotes street interaction + height + architectural excellence. As Sid mentioned, I too am waiting for more parking below grade in okc (can you hear me main street garage?); perhaps this is a modest start.

[OKCisOK4me]

Conceptual & lowball.

I like those terms.

Hope you're right!

[soonerguru]

So what is going to be the timetable between demolition and groundbreaking? Personally, I think demolition should be held off to as close to groundbreaking as possible, as to avoid the mistakes of the Pei Plan.

100% agree. I think it will make the loss of Stage Center more painful for those who want to save the building. Like the architecture, but overall I'm starting to be underwhelmed by how this project is being handled. This is one of OKC's only real architectural icons. Whether or not you like it or think it functional isn't relevant. For a lot of people, this is a very significant loss.

The design and site plan are very good, but it's disappointing that whoever leaked info about the project suggested this would be a significant skyscraper. I agree overall with the view that height is not an issue -- street interaction is more important -- but this is really just a very nice midrise office building.

It is starting to seem strange that this was the only site deemed workable for this project.

[soonerguru]

And hopefully the housing depicted in the rendering will be for sale housing.

[UnFrSaKn]

OGE Energy seeks to anchor new tower development in downtown Oklahoma City | News OK

[musg8411]

It looks like 100 million is for just the oge and ground floor development, but the 2nd tower will be developed "separately". This could mean the financing is separate and the total project will approach 200 million for the site. Not sure if I'm interpreting that right though.