Will the Current Devon Tower Have a New Tenant by 2013?
I’m betting yes. And this bet was placed even before Richard Mize’s story on Saturday that detailed how committed Devon CEO Larry Nichols is to selling the current headquarters at Sheridan and Broadway.
It has seemed as if all along this was one big chess game with a lot of moving pieces. Consider for a moment that the expansion of the former City Center West garage (now a part of the future Devon complex) creates a potential glut in parking on the east side of the central business district.
The Santa Fe Parking Garage, currently maxed out, will suddenly have hundreds of empty spaces – unless. I could say “unless” James Cotter, owner of Chase Tower (oh, excuse me – it’s Cotter Ranch Tower), is able to fill up the half of his building to be vacated by Devon.
Don’t count on that happening too quickly for a lot of reasons ….
Or maybe it will be “unless” First National Center is fully leased. Pretty much everyone would love to see this happen. But don’t hold your breath.
Or maybe it will be “unless” the former Mid-America Tower – currently home to Devon – is filled up by a new owner. And this is something Nichols could control. So consider that the same Devon tower tax increment finance district that is fueling Project 180 also has $40 million reserved for luring a corporate headquarters to downtown. And also consider that the city has plans to apply for matching funds – potentially millions more – from the Oklahoma Local Development and Enterprise Zone Incentive Leverage Act. And add to all this the GOLT bonds passed by voters a few years back that could allow for even more money (again in the millions) to go toward such a corporate headquarters relocation.
Now consider this key statement from Richard Mize’s column on Saturday:
Devon real estate director Todd Glass said they hope to sell it to an owner-occupier by the end of the year.
Now isn’t that an interesting little tidbit? If this comment were attributed to any other company in town, I’d say, “well, isn’t that nice? Hope is a wonderful thing.”
But with Devon, it’s something different. This is a company so conservative that its founders forgot to take photos of themselves as they built what is now a powerful Oklahoma City corporate headquarters. This is a company that shies away from making promises – “UNLESS” – (there’s that word again) – they have good reason to believe such promises will come true. It’s a company that believes in doing more than hoping. So when someone with Devon says they “hope” to get something done …
I’ve placed my bet. And the addition of up to a few hundred more executives downtown as part of a corporate relocation may be the next big boost for revival of the urban core.
Don’t be too surprised if parking at the Santa Fe garage remains daunting for years to come.
Thank you for joining our conversation on OKC Central. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.
Comments
When people say corporate relocation I always remember how OKC made it to the final round of Boeing HQ relocation talks and lost to Chicago. We got the MROTC out of it though.
These kinds of resources aren’t used on small companies, nor are they used on local companies here already. These kinds of resources you squirrel away until you have the best opportunity to make a move for a power player. I really hope they’re not serious about by the end of this year…that’s too rash. They need to wait until economic recovery in 2012 or 2013 and make a power play for a blue chip. The environment for corporate relocation is incompatible right now.
And everything I happened to say just goes out the window if Devon already knows someone within the industry they can bring to OKC, perhaps such XTO or an oil company. ConocoPhilips was looking to become more entrenched in Oklahoma before the recession although that is a very confusing company always sending mixed signals about being HQ’d in Houston.
There is an amazing number of huge corporations led by OU and OSU grads. Boone Pickens?
A continuing “daunting” parking situation is not good news for the downtown library. I know it’s the library for the downtown community, but it’s the closest library to my neighborhood, Jefferson Park. Finding a spot for longer than a quick “run in/run out” can indeed be daunting. Hello… city fathers?
So exciting! This is definitely worth keeping an eye on. I think we should start a thread at OKCTalk and let the speculation commence!
I think we need to think outside the box and get a type of company that is not already here. We should look internationally to see if there is a company in maybe Greece or another country not doing well that will soon have a high increase in taxes. We should focus on states with the same tax increases. I know Oregon is raising taxes. California and New York are as well. We need to jump on these companies ASAP to get them here.
I don’t see any oil or gas companies moving to OKC from Houston.
Nick
ConocoPhillips is pulling more and more jobs out of Oklahoma. They have basically shut down Ponca City. There is no way they would expand in OKC. They have one office currently in OKC and it has 8 people. XTO was purchased by Exxon a few months ago.
I do not recall where Boeing HQ was even a contender for OKC. It would be nice to see a outside company move their HQ to OKC and prefer a non oil based company. The problem with OKC is they still continue to rely solely on one given industry. Not a good thing:( Perhaps a insurance or major financial company, Hertz etc…OKC needs more white collar jobs.
Conoco Phillips is in Bartlesville and they are currently redoing every floor in their tower there. They aren’t going anywhere.
An Oil and Gas Company sounds appropriate, and yes XTO is in the process of being bought by Exxon Mobil and Conoco Phillips corporate headquarters was moved to Houston when Phillips and Conoco merged. Unlikely to get either of those two behemoths to come to OKC, but I wouldn’t be surprised if another second tier O&G company is targeted.
If seems likely we could not get any big O&G company to move out of Houston, but to get a second tier O&G company that is currently not headquartered in an oil region or one undergoing transition to move here seems like a decent prospect. What about Apache? Its founder just retired and they do a lot of work here in Oklahoma. Or maybe bring back Anadarko Petroleum (successor to Kerr McGee), they still have a pretty decent prescence in Oklahoma.
I remember hearing Larry Nichols say a couple years ago (either in an article or at a lecture I watched him give at OU) that he had talked to some CEO friends of his on the coasts about the attractiveness of OKC for doing business, and that many of them were very interested. I’ve never really doubted that they would have their vacated space filled quickly.
Ok Steve…break the news……..not only are we getting a Whole Foods, their headquarters is moving here as well !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An energy company would be a good fit. But I fear that a downturn in the industry would empty Downtown. So, I submit we try to go after a company that traditionally prospers when the energy business slows.
A possibility with a name is Hertz. They have most of their support operations here already. They are based in high-taxed New York/New Jersey, and they may be purchasing Tulsa’s Dollar/Thrifty. Moving the Tulsa jobs, and their Corp HQ to Downtown OKC would be quite logical.
Another suggestion was forwarded years ago by former Gov. Frank Keating, currently President of the National Assn, of Life Underwriters. An insurance company, especially one that specializes in Property and Casualty, may also make a good fir in Oklahoma City.
Finally, any company that is in California, and complaining of high taxes and unbearable cost-of-living should be recruited.
I’m tired; sick and tired, of our job growth being solely in call centers, pie-in-the-sky spaceplane ventures, and carrot-on-a-stick promises from Chinese car manufacturers.
Is our Chamber knocking on doors in high-taxed states? Are they settling for call centers? Are they even trying?
capcha – Dhaniya clothiers
Sorry John, but I’ve got no such news for you. On the other hand, my captcha is “Usenet on.” Does Usenet still exist?
Steve, could you do some reporting as to,
what is the Okc Chamber’s process in recruiting corporations for relocation?
In what areas are they concentrating their efforts?
It would be interesting to follow them day to day and see what they are doing as well as their obstacles, and what they are up against?
Usenet still exists, though rather a lot of ISPs have dropped their newsgroup servers in recent years. (Cox will kill theirs off at the end of June.)
How ’bout MidFirst Bank? They seem ripe to move downtown.