Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Tall Buildings

Edited 4/16/2008 to add the Midwest Building


Jump to Tall Buildings Not Done
Jump To Tall Buildings Which Might Be Done

With last week's announcement by Devon Energy Company, one might start thinking about Oklahoma City skyscrapers, "tall buildings" (Doug Dawg did, anyway). How will the new building match up, and, in fact, how tall are other buildings in Oklahoma City, and where are they located? What once-fine buildings no longer exist? In this project, I've drawn much of the data from Emporis.com ... High Rise Buildings and Low Rise Buildings. But, not all ... a few of the buildings shown below are not in the Emporis database (e.g., the Plaza Court Hotel in Midtown on Shartel).

Another which is not in the Emporis list, probably because it lacks 8 "working" floors, is the Oklahoma State Capitol, shown here.
Is there more to come, soon? Steve Lackmeyer whets our collective appetite again today in Downtown investment trend not at an end. Among other things, he says,
This is turning out to be quite a month for downtown Oklahoma City.

March is just halfway through, yet the ramifications of announcements this month outweigh the entire expanse of the city's original MAPS projects.
* * *
So let's take a deep breath. Have we seen the last big announcement for downtown? Don't count on it.
He is such a tease!

Back in the days of the Pei Plan ... the Urban Renewal masterplan for turning downtown Oklahoma City around in the early 1960s ... plenty of general and specific proposals were made ... some happened but many did not. Click here to jump to, "Tall Buildings That Might Have Been."

For this review, I arbitrarily set the threshold at 8 floors for "tall buildings" ... even though that excluded several vintage as well as many new buildings by that choice. Even then, I did "fudge" by including the Aberdeen Apartments ... it has 7 ground level floors but a full basement, so I gave it a 7.5 and included it just because I wanted to! Otherwise, the vintage and still standing Pioneer Building, at 7 stories and when built in 1908 said to be Oklahoma City's first high-rise, the 7 floor 1922 Osler Building in Midtown, and several others, were excluded.

My "personal favorite" that didn't make the 8 floor threshold requirement is this one, Signature Place, at MacArthur & Northwest Expressway ... though I'd like it better if it didn't have "rent me" banners hanging out front uglifying the architecture.

Using 8 floors as the cutoff, here's what I've come up with ... for buildings which once existed, do now, and as have been announced or are in progress as this is written. When this post is finally done, it will also include buildings which were proposed but never happened, and for that I'll draw heavily on Steve Lackmeyer & Jack Money's masterpiece, OKC: 2nd Time Around.

In the table below, click the link or the miniature image for a look at the building and, sometimes, additional information about it.

Oklahoma City Buildings 8 Stories or More
SummaryIncl
Is &
Gone		Those
Gone		Those
Developing		As
Will
Be
 Downtown5516241
 Midtown3102
 Northwest270027
 Northeast80311
 Southeast0000
 Southwest2002

1Devon Tower
Floors: 54
Date: 2012
Where: Downtown
Status: Developing		2Chase Tower
Floors: 36
Date: 1971
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
31st National
Floors: 33
Date: 1931
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		4City Place
Floors: 33
Date: 1931
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
5Oklahoma Tower
Floors: 31
Date: 1982
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		6Sandridge Tower (Kerr-McGee)
Floors: 30
Date: 1973
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
7Biltmore Hotel
Floors: 26
Date: 1932
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		8Regency Tower
Floors: 24
Date: 1966
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
9Leadership Square North
Floors: 22
Date: 1984
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		10Valliance Tower
Floors: 22
Date: 1984
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
11The Classen
Floors: 21
Date: 1967
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		12360 at Founders Plaza
Floors: 20
Date: 1963
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
13Mid-America Tower
Floors: 19
Date: 1980
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		14Dowell Center
Floors: 18
Date: 1927
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
15Gold Star Library - OCU
Floors: 18
Date: 1954
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		16Union Plaza
Floors: 18
Date: 1982
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
17Park Harvey Apartments
Floors: 17
Date: 1956
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		1850 Penn Place
Floors: 16
Date: 1973
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
19AT&T (SW Bell)
Floors: 16
Date: 1928
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		20BOK Plaza (Fidelity)
Floors: 16
Date: 1972
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
21Leadership Square South
Floors: 16
Date: 1984
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		22Globe Life
Floors: 15
Date: 1957
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
23Lakeview Towers
Floors: 15
Date: ???
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		24OKC Marriott
Floors: 15
Date: 1985
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
25Marriott Renaissance Hotel
Floors: 15
Date: 2000
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		26Sheraton Oklahoma Hotel
Floors: 15
Date: 1976
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
27AT&T Annex (Southwetsern Bell)
Floors: 15
Date: ???
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		28101 Park Avenue (Skirvin Tower)
Floors: 14
Date: 1932
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
291st National Additions
Floors: 14
Date: 1957 &
1972
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		30Colcord Hotel
Floors: 14
Date: 1910
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
31Corporate Tower
Floors: 14
Date: 1980
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		32Oklahoma County Jail
Floors: 14
Date: 1991
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
33Oklahoman Building
Floors: 14
Date: 1991
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing		34Auto Hotel
Floors: 13
Date: ???
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed
35Oil Center East
Floors: 13
Date: 1973
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		36Oil Center West
Floors: 13
Date: 1978
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
37Skirvin Hilton Hotel
Floors: 13
Date: 1910
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		38100 Park Avenue (Medical Arts)
Floors: 12
Date: 1923
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
39Children's Physicians Building
Floors: 12
Date: 2009
Where: Northeast
Status: Developing		40Herskowitz Building
Floors: 12
Date: 1910
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed
41Marie McGuire Plaza
Floors: 12
Date: 1972
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing		42OG&E
Floors: 12
Date: 1928
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
43OK Health Department
Floors: 12
Date: ???
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing		44Robinson Renaissance (Perrine)
Floors: 12
Date: 1927
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
45St. Anthony Hospital
Floors: 12
Date: 1899
Where: Midtown
Status: Existing		46Tiffany House Apartments
Floors: 12
Date: ???
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
47City Center Building
Floors: 11
Date: 1921
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		48County Courthouse
Floors: 11
Date: 1937
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
49Integris Baptist Hospital
Floors: 11
Date: ???
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		50Integris Southwest Hospital
Floors: 11
Date: 1969
Where: Southwest
Status: Existing
51Kingkade Hotel
Floors: 11
Date: 1912
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		52One North Hudson
Floors: 11
Date: 1930
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
53Physicians & Surgeons
Floors: 12
Date: ???
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing		54VA Medical Center
Floors: 11
Date: 1931
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing
55YWCA
Floors: 11
Date: 1931
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		56324 Building (Braniff)
Floors: 10
Date: 1923
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
575100 N. Brookline
Floors: 10
Date: 1974
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		58Plaza Court Hotel
Floors: 10
Date: 1960
Where: Midtown
Status: Destroyed
59Campbell Building
Floors: 10
Date: 1910
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		60Classen Center East
Floors: 10
Date: 1965
Where: Northhwest
Status: Existing
61Commerce Exchange
Floors: 10
Date: 1920s
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		62Country Inn & Suites
Floors: 10
Date: 2001?
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
63Court Plaza (Cotton Exchange)
Floors: 10
Date: 1923
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		64Everett Tower
Floors: 10
Date: 1973
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing
65Hales Building (State National)
Floors: 10
Date: 1910
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		66Caliber Center (Hertz)
Floors: 10
Date: 1973
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
67Hightower
Floors: 10
Date: 1929
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		68Character First (Holiday Inn)
Floors: 10
Date: 1964
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
69Landmark Towers Center
Floors: 10
Date: 1970
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		70Landmark Towers East
Floors: 10
Date: 1965
Where: Northhwest
Status: Existing
71Landmark Towers West
Floors: 10
Date: 1972
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		72Lee Huckins Hotel
Floors: 10
Date: 1910
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed
73Main Place (Harbour Longmire)
Floors: 10
Date: 1923
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		74Mercy Health Center
Floors: 10
Date: 1974
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
75Midwest Building
Floors: 10
Date: 1930
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed
Credit Jeff Chapman		76OK DEQ (SW Bell)
Floors: 10
Date: 1957
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
77OK Savings & Loan
Floors: 10
Date: 1928
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		78Roberts Hotel
Floors: 10
Date: 1927
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed
79Robinson Plaza (IRS)
Floors: 10
Date: 1992
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing		80Biomedical Sciences Building
Floors: 9
Date: ???
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing
81Classen Center North
Floors: 9
Date: 1969
Where: Northhwest
Status: Existing		82Crowne Plaza Hotel
Floors: 9
Date: 1970
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
83Hampton Inn
Floors: 9
Date: 2008
Where: Downtown
Status: Developing		84Integris Baptist Building B
Floors: 9
Date: ???
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
85Murrah Federal Building
Floors: 9
Date: 1977
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		86US Bankruptcy Court (Post Office)
Floors: 9
Date: 1932
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
87Waterford Marriott Hotel
Floors: 9
Date: 1984
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		88American National Bank
Floors: 8
Date: 1909
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed
89Cancer Research Center
Floors: 9
Date: 2010
Where: Northeast
Status: Developing		90Courtyard Marriott Hotel
Floors: 8
Date: 2004
Where: Downtown
Status: Existing
91Halliburton's
Floors: 8
Date: 1920
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		92Insurance Building
Floors: 8
Date: 1910
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed
93Integris Baptist Building C
Floors: 8
Date: ???
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing		94Integris Baptist Building D
Floors: 8
Date: ???
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
95Lawrence Hotel
Floors: 8
Date: 1912
Where: Downtown
Status: Destroyed		96OK Medical Research Tower
Floors: 8
Date: 2010?
Where: Northeast
Status: Developing
97One Behnam Place
Floors: 8
Date: 1983
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing		98Presbyterian Tower
Floors: 8
Date: 1974
Where: Northeast
Status: Existing
99Western Tower
Floors: 8
Date: ???
Where: Southwest
Status: Existing		100Aberdeen Apartments
Floors: 7-8
Date: 1927
Where: Northwest
Status: Existing
101What's Next?
Floors: ???
Date: ???
Where: ???
Status: Coming Soon

Tall Buildings Not Done. In their book, OKC: 2nd Time Around, Steve Lackmeyer & Jack Money laid out in magnificent form and content the downtown time zone of the mid-1950s through 2007 ... how we got from there to here. I say again that if you don't already own a copy of this excellent book, you're missing out, big-time!

Fueled by 1959 authorizing legislation at the state level, Oklahoma City established its Urban Renewal Authority in 1962. Internationally well regarded urban planner I.M. Pei came on board and what is commonly known as the "Pei Plan" came to exist. Its sweeping plan involved the destruction of about 2/5 of downtown Oklahoma City, largely on and south of Main, from east to west, and replacing the destroyed buildings with something that dreams are made of!

Thanks is given to Steve Lackmeyer for permission to post the following images ... all are contained in OKC: 2nd Time Around ... click on any image for a larger view.

The 1st image below appears at page 14 of OKC: 2nd Time. If you look closely, you'll see an irregular "gray line" running from the lower right to the upper left and that buildings below that line are a bit darker than those above it. In the 2nd version, below, I've doctored it a bit to highlight the "line" and add names of some of the "tall buildings" that either (1) were marked for destruction and were destroyed, or (2) in the case of the Perrine (Robinson Renaissance) was marked but was spared, or (3) in the case of the Biltmore was not marked for destruction but was.

Credit OKC: 2nd Time and OCURA




The "destruction" phase of the Pei Plan was "successfully" accomplished. The general vision of what would be replacing them is somewhat reflected in the following image which appears at page 10 of OKC: 2nd Time Around:

Credit Okc2nd Time, Greater Okc Chamber of Commerce (COC)
From Left:James T. Yielding, 1st Executive Director of OCURA, I.M. Pei,
and Ralph L. Bolen, Chairman of the OCURA Board of Commissioners

The City of Tomorrow


Of course, the Oil Bust, the Penn Square Bank failure and the resulting bank closing domino effect in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and beyond, marked the death knell of the grand design. The Galleria Shopping area became a parking lot ... but much of it will now become the Devon Tower. To be sure, several new buildings did spring to life before bad times hit, e.g., Myriad Gardens & Convention Center, Corporate Tower, Oklahoma Tower, Kerr-McGee Tower (Sandridge today), Sheraton Hotel, Mid-America Tower, Leadership Square, Liberty Tower (Chase today), and so much good did come of it, even thought not as much as expected.

OKC: 2nd Time Around contains several eye-candy images of some of the things which were planned but never saw the light of day, shown below.

High Rise Apartments
Credit OKC: 2nd Time and OCURA



Galleria Shopping Mall North of "Tivoli" (renamed Myriad) Gardens
Credit OKC: 2nd Time and OCURA



14 Floor Expansion of Skirvin Tower (101 Park Avenue)
Credit OKC: 2nd Time and Greater OKC Chamber of Commerce


Ron Burks became one of the owners of the Skirvin in 1979, along with Bill Jennings, John Kilpatrick, Jr., Bob Lammerts, Jerry Richardson, Dub Ross, and Joe Dann Trigg. See Bob Blackburn's article, A Tradition of Elegance. According to Steve and Jacks' book, and if I interpret it correctly, Burk was principally responsible for opening up the Skirvin lobby (to make it 2 open stories instead of 1), the purchase of a new chandeliers from Europe, and other stuff. At one time, he also owned the downtown Holiday Inn. See pp. 72-73 of Steve and Jacks' book. But Burks wanted more ...

Ron Burks' Office Tower By The Skirvin
Credit OKC: 2nd Time and Howard & Porch



Ron Burks' Hilton Hotel By Myriad Gardens
Credit OKC: 2nd Time and Howard & Porch


Tall Buildings That Might Yet Be. A few others have been identified as possibly being "in the works" ... when a construction contract is signed, I'll move any of them to the "current" table ... but, till then, I consider them as possibilities and uncertain.

Overholser Green. Of the things shown here, this one appears to be the most likely. This Midtown project which calls for development of the block bounded by NW 13th, NW 12th, Walker and Dewey, has, in fact, been approved by OCURA.


This December 6, 2007, article by Steve Lackmeyer says that the project includes,
109 condominiums built in a series of four-to-eight-story buildings above an approximately 220-space garage.

The developer is Wiggin Properties, which owns the 101 Park Ave. building and is converting the Mayo office building in downtown Tulsa into housing.
Although Wiggin Properties has said that construction will start by July 2008 and will include an 8 story hotel, I guess that my "Missouri-Show-Me" side is showing on this one. For lively discussion about this project, see this thread at OkMet.org and this one at OkcTalk.com.

Cotton Exchange. This proposed project would include a 12 story element and will require the approval of the Bricktown Design Committee (and land acquisition), would be located next to the Bricktown Ballpark on Reno.




While this may happen, it is by no means a "done deal." See this thread at OkcTalk.com and this one at OkMet.org for more.

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... Click here to read the full article and any comments ...
Posted by Doug Dawg at 8:43 AM 14 comments
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Friday, March 14, 2008

Is OKC a Viabale NBA Market?

Updated March 14, 2008

New Friday Afternoon ... Sonics Letter of Intent to Okc

First off, I've got to give a shout out to Oklahoma City's Journal Record's Hot Topics blog by Ted Streuli.


There, among other things, Ted reported on communications with the imaginary or real Rob Jones of march4vote.org ... my guess is that Rob Jones never dropped by to have his promised cup of coffee with Ted ... and Ted continues to have excellent posts concerning "hot topics" about Oklahoma City.

One topic/post that grabbed my attention yesterday evening was his Okc Was Barely On The List in which he identifies a study made before the Hornets were here, and even before the Hornets were in New Orleans, as to the authors' economic analysis about how NBA teams might fare in "new" cities, including Oklahoma City and New Orleans. Mr. Steuli linked to excerpts of that study which are relevant to the question posed, above, "Is OKC a Viable NBA Market?"

In that analysis, the authors used various mathematical formulas like the following ... and it all looks so very scientific (as in trust me, it really is scientific, doesn't it) ...


... and reached this summary conclusion shown below ... I've highlighted Seattle, New Orleans, and Oklahoma City, in the graphic below ...


Note, from the above chart, that ...
  • Seattle, a then existing NBA city, projected an average attendance of 19,757. That's interesting, since the presently configured Key Arena has a capacity of 17,072 and is the smallest arena in the NBA.

  • New Orleans, hosting another small NBA arena and before the Hornets relocated there from Charlotte, was projected to have an average attendance of 16,314. As it developed after the Hornets moved from Charlotte to New Orleans, average attendance has been the following to the date of this post:
  • 2002-03: 15,632
  • 2003-04: 14,332
  • 2004-05: 14,221
  • 2007-08: 13,407
  • Oklahoma City, projected in the study to average 11,432, has in fact averaged the following for the Hornets' temporary relocation here:
  • 2005-06: 18,718
  • 2006-07: 17,954
So what does this all mean? It means that:
    (1) "Studied" and/or "scientific" projections, at least by these experts, very badly missed the mark, is/are unreliable and they have no credibility;
    (2) As to Seattle, the experts either didn't know or didn't care about the Key Arena's seating capacity which was more than 2,000 seats above what the arena could actually accommodate;
    (3) As to New Orleans, the "predictions" never made their predicted mark; and
    (4) As to Oklahoma City, these guys didn't know shit from shinola since OKC blew their predictions off of the map ... our average was 18,331, not 11,432.
Sooo ... on March 25, the Relocation Committee will pay us a visit ... see this Oklahoman article:
But the next key date in Oklahoma City's pursuit of an NBA franchise is now March 25, when the relocation committee comes to town to consider the city's assets before making a recommendation to the Board of Governors during league meetings on April 17-18. Stern is expected to join NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Adam Silver, President of League and Basketball Operations Joel Litvin and several others in the league's senior management on the one-day visit.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who was congratulated by Stern via phone Wednesday morning, said Stern was impressed with Tuesday night's results. Oklahoma City residents passed the measure by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin, and Cornett said Stern told him the city's sizable support should impress the NBA.

It's unclear how many owners will be in attendance from the seven-member relocation committee. The committee is made up of the Miami Heat's Mickey Arison, the Los Angeles Lakers' Jerry Buss, the Golden State Warriors' Chris Cohan, the New Jersey Nets' Lewis Katz, the Indiana Pacers' Herb Simon, the Philadelphia 76ers' Ed Snider and the San Antonio Spurs' Peter Holt.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank called the visit to Oklahoma City a standard procedural matter for relocating franchises. Only three NBA franchises have relocated since 1985, the Kansas City Kings to Sacramento, the Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis and the Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans. The Kings and Grizzlies received unanimous support by the league owners while owners voted 28-1 in favor of the Hornets' move.

Sonics Chairman Clay Bennett said the group is expected to take a comprehensive tour of the Ford Center and view a thorough presentation of the arena's planned improvements. The relocation committee will also be presented with ideas and concepts of the off-site practice facility and meet with the city's business leaders "to discuss business issues for the franchise," Bennett said.
Devon Energy's new skyscraper announcement can't do any harm!

NEWS FLASH! LETTER OF INTENT!

Just in at Channel 9 News:
SuperSonics owners send city letter of intent
Posted: March 14, 2008 01:33 PM
Updated: March 14, 2008 02:07 PM
By Nathan Altadonna, News9.com

The owners of the Seattle SuperSonics sent Mayor Mick Cornett a letter of intent Friday explaining their plans to move the team to Oklahoma City.

The letter outlines the lease terms and other conditions the city and the team would need to agree on to relocate to Oklahoma City. Read the letter (PDF).

City leaders will host a press conference at 3:30 p.m. Friday to discuss the team's announcement. News9.com will be updated with more information when available.
The content of the letter in html format is here ... or the PDF original but not as easy to read version is here. But, in the meantime, the City Manager has given his blessing to the proposal. Jeff Latzke, AP Sportswriter, calls today's events a "preliminary agreement", probably prematurely since the City Council won't consider the matter for a few days. And, meanwhile, back at the State Capitol Ranch, it appears likely that the State of Oklahoma will approve a tax incentive package for the Sonics to move here.

So, What's It All About, Alphie?

Well, quite frankly, this was Seattle and Washington's game to lose on and after July 2006 when Bennett et al. bought the Sonics, now approaching two years ago, as was said in a much earlier post, Sleeping In Seattle.

Seattle and Washington, despite the very late intervention of some really really rich guys like Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and his associates, and despite the heart-felt herculean efforts of the "Save Our Sonics" organization, complete with airplanes flying banners over the state capitol in Olympia during the throes of genuine last-minute desperation efforts to keep the team, no one that really counts politically cares enough to be bold enough to stand up and take the political risk of doing what is needed to keep the team ... and that includes the Governor, the Legislature's leaders, and, to be most relevantly complete, Seattle governmental leadership, beginning with the Mayor and on down the chain. Lately, it's all turned into a finger-pointing exercise of who failed what and/or who failed who the most, and nothing gets done.

Seattle and, indeed, Washington state, leadership, lacks the "I'll take-the-risk" kind of gumption that Oklahoma City has benefited from since Mayor Ron Norick took a similar plunge in 1993, as have his successors in the 15 years since MAPS I. The result is that the Seattle problem that did exist remains extant today as far as the Sonics remaining in Seattle and/or Washington is concerned. None that mattered politically were ever listening or else they were pointing fingers at someone else in some other region of Washington state.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City has done and continues to do everything right, through and including the events of this very day. Why? We know that we want to be an NBA city, even while Seattle slowly ponders the question. Oklahoma City doesn't just ponder, it acts!

That's good by me. All I've got to say about that is, when the NBA Relocation Committee pays us a visit on March 25, give 'em some leis!


We ARE a viable NBA market, and we can and will prove it to the NBA's ultimate satisfaction. We try harder! We know that we have to ... we don't measure up to Seattle's size, "Pacific Rim" status, or TV market, or present "stature" as an American city. Seattle regularly slams the NBA and its sportswriters and many of its citizens malign my town with its/their air of superiority, even as they continue to do nothing but sleep and without ascribing any fault in the matter to themselves. Seattle is schooled well in the art of passing blame just as much as is their well-honed talent for not taking responsibility for the events which have led to this day.

Oklahoma City ... we sure as hell are here and we are proud to tell the world about it and that will continue exponentially as this fine city prospers in its undeniable upward spiral. We are the coming-on-strong American City of the 21st Century, and we say, "Welcome, National Basketball Association, to Oklahoma City!"
... Click here to read the full article and any comments ...
Posted by Doug Dawg at 10:30 PM 2 comments
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Thursday, March 13, 2008

March Madness

Updated March 14, 2008
Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.

Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.
NO WAY, JOSE! Instead, Oklahoma City is in the midst of MARCH MADNESS!

With March 2008 only half over, it is apparent that Oklahoma City should have much less concern for "the Ides of March" (broadly speaking) than Julius Caesar would have done well to consider! In fact, March has brought nothing but "joy" as to the resurgence and emergence of our city ...
  • First, the overwhelmingly favorable March 4 Ford Center vote, assuring Oklahoma City of one of the finest sports arenas in the country, at the least, and, at the most, the probability of OKC hosting an NBA team;

  • Second, Phase I of the First National Center revitalization was announced (yesterday) ... also, see OkcBusiness.com and Oklahoman articles;

  • Third, in this morning's Oklahoman, it was announced that Devon Energy would be building the tallest and largest downtown building that our city has yet laid its eyes upon!
So, even though I've not really finished the "last" post yet, Is OKC a Viable NBA City, today's news is much too important not to speak of before doing that ... I'll get back to the NBA post shortly.

Here is a partial scan of this morning's Oklahoman front page ...

Click the image for a larger view


The blockbuster stories splatter today's Oklahoman ... click here for the lead story by Steve Lackmeyer, or here for Steve's OKC Central blog post.

I'm in the midst of writing this post and this is just the beginning. I took some photos of the site this morning and I'll be adding them shortly. But, the following graphic from this morning's Oklahoman shows where the new Devon Tower, with over 1,000,000 square feet, will be constructed ...

Click the image for a larger view


Here's an aerial view of the area, taken a year or two ago, courtesy of Pete Brzycki, owner and administrator of OkcTalk.com ... see this thread there for a lively discussion about this new development, and this thread at OkMet.org for a similar discussion.

Click image for a larger view


I went downtown mid-morning and took some pics from Myriad Gardens looking north toward the area, and did a little playing with the images this afternoon. No, the building will not look like this (thank you Jesus!) ... actual renderings have not yet been made ... but maybe the pics will give you an idea where the building will be.

Click on any pic for a larger view

Looking North from Reno









Inside Myriad Gardens





Near Sheridan




So, What's It Really Gonna Be Like? First, the property, presently owned by the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority, will need to be acquired and that means going through the proposal and other procedures necessary to make that happen. Let's skip that part since it seems to be a no-brainer that it will.

Steve Lackmeyer's interview with Larry Nichols, long-time CEO of Devon Energy, didn't give a lot of detail, much or all of which remains to be flushed out. But, these points were made:
  • Cost: $350-400M ... that equals or exceeds the cost of MAPS I.

  • Spatial Size: More than 1,000,000 square feet.

  • Height: Unspecified, but according to Mr. Lackmeyer's computations, at least 37 stories but quite possibly many more (see the extrapolations, below).

  • Style: "Iconic." Mr. Nichols said, "I do care that it be an iconic building, that it be distinctive building. It will change the skyline downtown, and we want to build a building that everyone will be proud to have in Oklahoma City." The article says, "But Nichols does have some basic ideas as to what he does and does not want in a new corporate headquarters. He doesn't want the sort of windswept plazas that often are desolate around some of the downtown Oklahoma City towers built in the 1970s. But he does want a large public space — a large enclosed atrium with cafes, a large conference center, and an enclosed garden. 'We want a fairly large distinctive atrium that would be unlike anything that exists in Oklahoma at the moment,' Nichols said.

    He also wants to explore opening a never-completed tunnel that connects the Galleria parking deck to the gardens, and he hopes to somehow connect to The Underground pedestrian tunnels.'

  • Time: Mr. Nichols hopes that the project will be done in less than four years.

  • Employees. About 2,000.
Some additional detail/discussion appears in this related Oklahoman Lackmeyer article, and this one by Jack Money.

Extrapolations. Using data from DowntownNow.com, emporis.com, and skyscraperpage.com, we know that ...

  • Oklahoma Tower: Built in 1982, it has 31 floors, is 132.3 meters high, and contains 568,960 square feet.

  • Chase Tower: Built in 1971, it has 36 floors, is 152.4 meters high, and contains 514,642 square feet.
Interpreting that data and using 13 feet as an average floor height, and assuming a "box" shape (not likely true since Devon's building will be "iconic"), and if the Devon Tower contains 1,000,000 square feet (which was said to be the minimum), or 1,100,000 or 1,200,000 square feet, then, depending on the average floor size, calculations as to height and number of floors show the following to be true ...

Click on image for larger view


CuatrodeMayo at OkcTalk.com advises that 15 feet is about the minimum for floor height in new contsruction office buildings. Sooo ... using the same data as above, if the floor height is 15 feet, then the data would be ...

Click on image for larger view


Steve Lackmeyer understands that a typical floor may be 27,000 square feet. If that be so, a very rough approximation of a Devon Tower floor compared to an Oklahoma Tower floor might look like this:

Click on image for a larger view


I'll update this page as more information becomes available.

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Posted by Doug Dawg at 3:07 PM 2 comments
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