Investors see downtown as big break

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

The trend of downtown Oklahoma City towers selling to locals continued Monday with the sale of Bank of Oklahoma Plaza for $15.8 million to a group of local investors who are promising a significant makeover.

The buyers, BOKP Investors LLC., consist of Black Mesa Investors, an Oklahoma City real estate investment fund managed by G. Rainey Williams and Greg Wedel. The sale price is lower than the $20.3 million paid in May 2005 by the sellers, First State Investors 234 LLC.

Bill Mee, a member of the investment group, said he and his partners plan to reinvest the difference as part of a promise made to secure a longer lease with lead tenant Bank of Oklahoma. Architectural Design Group has been hired to draw up plans that will include replacement of crumbling brick pavers and new landscaping. The plaza fountain, once a popular gathering spot, hasn't worked for several years. Mee wasn't sure whether it can be fixed or whether it too will have to be replaced.

"We plan to perform significant upgrades to the building's common areas, particularly the exterior plaza which has been in need of repair for several years,” Mee said. "The building enjoys the tenancy of several Class A tenants and we intend to create a Class A environment to match our occupants. We are very optimistic about the future of downtown Oklahoma City and where our building fits in the scheme of things. In addition, we are proud that we were able to bring local capital and ownership to BOK Plaza.”

Located at 201 Robert S. Kerr, the building has been a prominent part of the downtown skyline since it was built in 1972. The 17-story building contains approximately 235,000 square feet and about 80 spaces of underground parking. The transaction also includes the 298-space parking structure located at the northeast corner of Harvey Avenue and Robert S. Kerr.

Craig Tucker, Senior Vice President of Price Edwards & Company, brokered the sale. Carla Curts of Capitol Abstract handled the closing. Price Edwards & Company will be retained to market the building for lease and to provide property management services.

Several prominent downtown towers have sold to local investors in the past few years, including Oklahoma Tower, Leadership Square, and more recently, Kerr-McGee Tower.

"Recent developments, such as SandRidge Energy's purchase of the former Kerr-McGee Tower were positive factors in our decision to purchase the building and gain a foothold in what we believe is a very promising market,” Mee said.

Brett Hamm, president of Downtown Oklahoma City Inc., said he welcomes the planned renovations and hopes other building owners will follow suit with plaza improvements as the city pursues a downtown streetscape plan funded by the recently approved bond issue.

"This reflects the enthusiasm for the momentum not just downtown, but for Oklahoma City overall,” Hamm said. "And investors are seeing an opportunity downtown with office space.”

Allright..another working fountain! We need all we can get.

Now if they could only make it not look like it was built in '72....LOL.

Yea...no joke. That is what I hoped for when I saw the title of this thread. A little misleading.

Is it a good sign when a major downtown building loses 22% of it's value in less than three years?

This may be a preemptive move out of concern over Devon building a new tower and thus dumping a fair bit of Class A space onto the market once they vacate the various buildings they occupy.

Landlords in those buildings will certainly be offering some good deals. The owners of this building are wise in trying to nail down their big tenants.

They should outline the top and side of the tower with red neon lights, Add a lil' character to our skyline... Kinda like the tower in Dallas with the green neon lights.

I've been waiting for a skinned building trim in OKC.

I don't think adding lights will do much....it's just a square of lights like 2 other buildings downtown. They need to find a way to re-facade the place. And who ever decided that designing a building with a blank wall like that was a good idea? Elevator shaft or what, it's ugly.

bombermwc "I don't think adding lights will do much....it's just a square of lights like 2 other buildings downtown"

There are no towers downtown outlining their structure...

Perhaps youve never seen the lights on the top of the Oklahoma Tower or Liberty Tower....If youre talking running them vertically too, that's just gaudy.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...410/dallas.jpg

You think thats gaudy? The tower next to it has just the roof outlined, the tower completely outlined looks 100 times better. IMO.

agreed, that looks really really good.

I wonder if SandRidge will put any kind of signage or lighting accents on their tower when completed.

Any one notice that Devon changed their signage on their building recently? Maybe someone could take some pictures and post? I always liked their old ones especially at Christmas when they changed colors from red to green. Not sure what the new one looks like at night.

I saw a crane out there yesterday. I thought they were just doing sign repairs or maintenance. I'll try and drive by tonight or tomorrow and snap some unless Doug or someone beats me to it.

Here's their new logo...



The official corporate colors are 'clay and slate'.

I haven't paid close attention to the new sign on their building, but I'd think it would still be the same type of sign with the changing LEDs.

despite the public's affection for it, they decided to forego the kinetic led backlighting....

so long Christmas and Fourth of July themes......

Don't know who changed the logo. I always thought their old one was
very distinctive.......elegant even.......

I never cared for the old logo, nor the multicolor LED.

jbrown, ya boring stick in the mud....lol

Watson, yes I think that building in Dallas is gaudy. I've never liked it and I think it is just a way to try and make a mediocre structure stand out. For some reason it just makes it look cartoon-ish to me...maybe cause it's green.

Now we know why they changed it........

The new logo is ugly. Whomever designed/approved it must not have much vision.

I am indifferent on the new logo but the old one sucked. Those multi-colored lights in the photo above looks like vintage 1976.

They never (at least to my knowledge) used the multi-colored scheme. Looks like it is just a test of the LED system. I just remember a scrolling red/green Christmas scheme and red/white/blue during the 4th.

I drove by this past weekend. Looks like most if not all of the removal of the old fixtures, tile, concrete, sculpture, etc. has been done and they should hopefully be installing the new any day now from what I could tell. Hopefully this plaza will be remodeled by end of August. Steve, any chance you could do an article with an update?

I don't believe the sculpture has been removed, unless it happened in the last couple days.