Devon to build office & meeting facility near WRWA

[Pete]

Devon buys 11 acres near Will Rogers for $1.25 M
by Kevan Goff-Parker
The Journal Record


5/17/2006 OKLAHOMA CITY - Devon Energy will build an office and meeting facility on more than 11 acres of land it purchased for $1.25 million at the northeast corner of Airport Road and S. Meridian Avenue, a Devon spokesman said Tuesday.

Spokesman Chip Minty said Devon Energy had been searching for a property near Will Rogers World Airport for about three years.

"A building at that location will help us accommodate meetings and training," Minty said. "It will serve as an auxiliary location to our headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City. The airport is a very good location for our business."

Minty said Devon Energy has offices and about 750 employees in Houston, 800 employees in Canada and about 1,200 employees in Oklahoma.

Terry Klaus, president and chief executive officer of Klaus Realty, handled the transaction for the seller, Waterford Investors, while Brad Hogan of Grubb & Ellis assisted Devon Energy.

Klaus said Devon Energy had been interested in the former Tower Tech building at SW 199th and Interstate 44, but the energy company decided it needed to custom build what it wanted closer to the airport. He said the 11.12 acres cost Devon Energy $2.58 per square foot, which is a good price since the property is located near the airport and has major street visibility.

"Industrial land, instead of just having a gradual increase, has just shot up in the last year," Klaus said. "We've seen price increases on land going vertically straight up. It has probably gone up 20 to 30 percent in the last year."

He said buildings tend to inch up in value, while land historically tends to sit put until it shoots up.

"It will just take a vertical climb instead of a gradual increase," Klaus said. "People are buying in large chunks of anywhere from 10 to 70 acres. They are buying up a lot of industrial land, especially closer to the central core of Oklahoma City. It's a bit of sticker shock for people building new buildings."

[floater]

North of SW 54th, Meridian remains an awful gateway. If they're planning some kind of beautification effort for the hospitality strip, it can't come soon enough. Hopefully, the Devon facility will upgrade the look a little.

But I very much like the welcome artwork coming out of the airport. Designed by none other than Rand Elliott, the arrows and native OKLAHOMA CITY lettering (which flashes colors at night), give a cultural and cool intro to OKC.

[metro]

Not sure how I feel about this. At least it's in OKC instead of Houston, right? Like you said it should clean up the area a little bit.

On the other hand, Rand Elliott's other project, the Chesapeake Boathouse had some major problems last week. The decorative "masts" in front of the boathouse that stick up vertically; blew over in the wind. They were'nt designed for high winds. In Oklahoma!

[Pete]

Floater, I agree that that area of Meridian is unsightly and that's particularly troubling considering it's often the first impression visitors have of OKC.

Hopefully this development will kickoff more improvements.

[floater]

On the other hand, Rand Elliott's other project, the Chesapeake Boathouse had some major problems last week. The decorative "masts" in front of the boathouse that stick up vertically; blew over in the wind. They were'nt designed for high winds. In Oklahoma!

I can't believe they didn't think about that.

[zuluwarrior0760]

The masts may not have been constructed to spec
or they may not have been installed to spec

Why do we automatically assume that Elliott "missed it"....

???