Devon Energy Center

[MadMonk]

LOL, Channel 4 just broadcast the picture of the snowy devon construction cam I sent them.

[jstanthrnme]

LOL, Channel 4 just broadcast the picture of the snowy devon construction cam I sent them.

I saw that! Good idea!

[MadMonk]

I included the link to OKCTalk.com, but they apparently didn't feel like putting that up along with the pic.

[gen70]

I included the link to OKCTalk.com, but they apparently didn't feel like putting that up along with the pic.

Maybe hinting responsibility for shot? (Meaning channel 4)

[MadMonk]

Just trying to drum up traffic for Pete.

[gen70]

Just trying to drum up traffic for Pete.

I'am all for OKCTALK.^^

[Pete]

Thanks MadMonk!

Very cool it made the air.

[jeffery581]

I can't wait to see it completed!

[jeffery581]

Thats what I was thinking. But I am not an engineer.

[lasomeday]

Is the Devon structure going to start going up on Friday? If so, I am really excited!

[okcmomentum]

Pictures from today. A bit of a glare from the window but lots going on.

[SkyWestOKC]

Great shots! Thanks!

[OKCisOK4me]

Is the Devon structure going to start going up on Friday? If so, I am really excited!

Not a clue here and just an average joe guess but just because Friday is the first day of the new year, I don't believe that means superstructure. There's a long way to go on all their ground work...

[BPD]

Among other things, they have a hole to dig - a big hole.

[warreng88]

I could have sworn I heard around the end of March the tower will start going up.

[Pete]

I'm not sure they have a big hole to dig.

They have already dug down and have been drilling piers into the soil for some time. I think they may be ready to start going up from where they are now.

[OKCisOK4me]

Quick Fact:

The Chicago Spire which is to be 150 stories at 2,000 feet tall has a maximum depth listed at 80 feet.

Considering this building is not even half that and they're already 20-30 feet down from street level, it very well could be going up before we know it! I just haven't seen any photographs with a defined footprint that indicates steel structure will soon be rising. Oh, but I can't wait!

[westsidesooner]

Oh, but I can't wait!

Ditto that. I keep checking everyday on the progress of the garage, which is going up extremely quick and can't wait to see a footprint for the new tower.

[OKC@heart]

Quick Fact:

The Chicago Spire which is to be 150 stories at 2,000 feet tall has a maximum depth listed at 80 feet.

Considering this building is not even half that and they're already 20-30 feet down from street level, it very well could be going up before we know it! I just haven't seen any photographs with a defined footprint that indicates steel structure will soon be rising. Oh, but I can't wait!

Typically most highrise construction utilize piers as well as a matt foundation from which the structure springs whether it be steel or concrete. The matt foundation is usually a large concrete massively thick slab that ties into the piers and then is filled with tons of steel reinforcing. The column bases often emerge from the mat and then the structural elements such as the elevator cores begin to emerge vertically with all of the other structural elements.

But I can't wait!!!!

[Spartan]

Well I heard the plan was for the structure to start rising the 1st and for the structural frame to start going up about 4 floors a week for a while.

The winter weather may have delayed those plans a day or two though, and what I heard could have been something that sounded nice from someone who has no clue..we'll see on the 1st, soon enough.

[metro]

usually go by progress, not a date. Tomorrow seems way too soon.

[jbrown84]

The information was relayed from reliable sources, but that was a couple of weeks ago and they could be a bit behind.

[Pete]

Devon tower job site is bustling
Crews are building the garage first; work is expected to begin on main building in the spring
BY STEVE LACKMEYER The Oklahoman
Published: January 3, 2010

If only there weren’t fencing surrounding the future home of Devon Energy, downtowners would be treated daily to an elaborate ballet with a stage populated by burly construction workers armed with heavy equipment.

Passers-by are witnessing a rapid transformation of the one-time Galleria parking deck, with a hole being dug for the base of the tower while the former City Center west garage has shot up five stories in just a couple of weeks.

"The garage is on a very aggressive schedule,” said Mary Hill, senior construction manager with Hines, project developer. "It was one of the big deciding factors in the request for proposals we put together when we interviewed contractors — an aggressive schedule put together by a contractor that could deliver on these points was key.”

The job site is being worked by two shifts that run from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, with some odd tasks sometimes being tackled Sundays.

Those lucky enough to have a front-row seat to this production include Klay Kimker, vice president of administration at Devon Energy. Watching the south facade already going up on the five-story addition to the garage, Kimker quickly explains how the large construction cranes are meticulously working north to south to ensure that hundreds of spaces are reopened by a February deadline.

Once those floors are added, the garage’s west expansion will begin where caissons already are being drilled into the ground.

And as all of this is transpiring, work is under way to begin building the 50-story tower that will be the jewel of the new Devon office complex.

It’s on this east end of the site, immediately next to the Colcord Hotel, where caissons will be set 120 feet into bedrock. Steel rebar cages, each weighing 33,000 pounds, will be lowered into the ground by two cranes. A 20-hour pouring of concrete will create the foundation for the tower.

"On a site this small, you can see why it has to be choreographed very, very well and judiciously,” Kimker said. "You can see all the moving machinery, and it all has to move in synch with everything else on the site.”

Despite the site’s history as having once been home to the heart of downtown’s retail district, crews have not run into underground remains left behind by Urban Renewal. They have, however, unearthed remnants of an old barn and an 80-foot-deep water well.

Gavin Kalley, project director with Holder-Flintco, described the site as relatively clean, with minimal expected contaminated dirt remediation completed on schedule.

Kimker points across the street to the Myriad Gardens lake to explain the other challenge overcome by engineers in planning for the tower. Contractors involved with any significant downtown project know that the central business district was originally part of the Oklahoma River bed — and if one digs deep enough, they’ll still hit water.

"If you walk across the street and look at the lake, you can see exactly where the water level would be,” Kimker said. "We would see 5,000 gallons of water coming into the site if it’s not repaired. But it will be cut down to 1,500 gallons an hour with a disposal well and shoring.”

Kalley said the shoring will isolate the site so that while water doesn’t gush into the tower’s foundation, the water level on surrounding properties will be maintained as they are today.

If the site seems busy now, with 180 workers, the pace only will continue to pick up in coming months with the work force to top 800 once the tower is built and interior finishing work is started.

Overseeing this production is a crew of 17 safety officials, engineers, architects and project managers working from two stories of the One North Hudson building across the street from the job site. Hill said the office crew will grow as well as subcontractors open offices in the building — creating the equivalent of a midsized new downtown tenant to the office market.

Kimker is hesitant to boast about the project’s progress, but when pressed he acknowledges it is "on schedule” and "doing well” on budget. Hill expects passers-by will begin seeing the tower rising by spring.

Kimker likes to view the site’s progress from the corner of Hudson and Sheridan avenues. It’s there that he can see the garage expansion topping off, and he explains how the "podium building” — often overshadowed by the main tower — will be even higher standing 108 feet into the air.

"It’s difficult to get an idea as to how large this site is,” Kimker said. "But from this corner you really see it more than from any other. It’s very big.”

Read more: NewsOK

[Dustin]

Hill expects passers-by will begin seeing the tower rising by spring.

Sweet!!

[westsidesooner]

Kimker is hesitant to boast about the project’s progress, but when pressed he acknowledges it is "on schedule” and "doing well” on budget. Hill expects passers-by will begin seeing the tower rising by spring.

by spring....thats only 8-9 weeks away, if it's already "rising" that means that they should start the pad and steelwork soon.......I'm so excited. Someone mentioned that they may be able to put up up to four floors of frame work per week....is that realistic? Also will there be an additional cam to show the pad site more clearly?

regardless...that means I'll be making more trips downtown to watch the progress.