Do we really need to copy and paste the same rendering 3 times on one page and waste space?

Doug..... I scooped you.

The building will be LEED certified, but at what level has yet to be determined. They stated that much more information on this should be available in the next 6-9 months.

so that in the lower left (SW) is an ampitheatre of some sort?

Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority approves Devon building plan

Pickard Chilton's Jon Pickard and Devon Energy CEO Larry Nichols talk about the newly approved Devon Energy headquarters building plan today. Photo/Mark Hancock



Pamela Grady
8/20/2008

The Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority today approved a redevelopment proposal submitted by Devon World Headquarters LLC to build its $750 million, 1.9 million square foot corporate world headquarters skyscraper.
The downtown building will be located on Sheridan Avenue, north of Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City’s Central Business District.

“It not only is bigger than MAPS or than MAPS For Kids, it’s several times larger than any private sector investment in Oklahoma City before,” Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said.

Devon’s proposal includes plans to purchase and redevelop all or a portion of the redevelopment site. The proposal includes a 54-story office tower and complex to house its 1,700 employees as well as a significant public area. Currently, Devon occupies office space in five buildings downtown. The new world headquarters complex is designed to house more than 3,000 employees.

Jon Pickard, of Pickard Chilton Architects Inc. based in New Haven, Conn., attended the meeting to represent the designers along with developer Gerald Hines, chairman of Hines, based in Houston.

“It’s an unbelievable project that will completely remake downtown. I think people are going to be surprised by the height because it’s so phenomenal and when you look at the scale next to The Colcord Hotel, you really get an understanding on how big this is,” Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, said. “So, it’s really not only going to change the profile of the city, but also probably help identify the city from a very long distance. It’s obviously going to be a national press issue like we have seen recently with the NBA and other things. I think it’s going to do nothing but create an even more positive image and attitude of people to work in Oklahoma City.”

Devon Energy’s CEO Larry Nichols said the majority of Devon’s employee workspaces will be located in a tower situated on the eastern portion of the redevelopment site.

The office tower will feature a three-sided footprint. Floors at the new headquarters will range from 25,000 to 28,000 square feet. Typical office floors will have a clear ceiling height of 10 feet and raised-access floors for wiring and under-floor air distribution.

Also included in the project is a six-story glass rotunda which will serve as the primary pedestrian entrance for both Devon employees and visitors to the building. The first and second levels of the rotunda area will be accessible to the public, subject to appropriate security considerations. At street level, retail space will be available for restaurants and other food service.

Additionally, the 400,000-square foot podium -- a six-story lower portion of the building -- will be dedicated to Devon workspaces and employee amenities. A 2 ½-acre urban park will also be constructed at the site.

Devon employees will be able to park at the West Galleria parking garage which will be expanded from five stories to 10.

Estimated completion point for Devon’s headquarters project is slated for 2012.

Again - the people in the other buildings did purchase a garage - they are called tax payers. My concern is that rather than the garage being used for services tax payers use (courthouse, city buildings, library) they seem to have sold out. And again everyone seems to be saying - naw, I'm sure the city has a plan...well...if they do they haven't told any of the leadership here. Anyway, once again, I'm not dogging the building, I think it looks great, but I think if you lived or worked in the area you wouldn't have quite the lovefest...

You can see it better on one of the other renderings. It's a large pergola of some sort -- perhaps covering an outdoor stage?

They hope to begin working on the west parking garage first. They are hoping to begin construction on it next spring/summer with a 9 month construction period. They stated that they plan on beginning demolitoin of the 'flat part' of the garage around the same time so they can begin working on the footings for the tower in November 2009. The building should be open for occupency in late 2012 to early 2013 (November 2012 - February 2013).

^ I want to say it's some kind of pavilion, maybe with a cafe? Or for concerts with that big lawn next to it? The new park space at Sheridan & Hudson reminds me a lot of Discovery Green in downtown Houston with the open space and water features. It is impressive.

Sounds like they will include a health club, which makes sense.

They stated that the city is VERY aware of parking concerns and there are plans in the works to build another public parking facility VERY close by for the people that are displaced by this.

As people have been stating all along, please quit complaining and whinning because you think you may have to, *gasp*, walk a little more. There are plans in the works to accomodate everyone displaced 'very nearby.' This new parking facility will be open before the parking facility is converted to Devon only parking.

There will be a health facility, but it is going to be on the gound floor of the parking structure (hard to explain but I will try).

The current west garage ends about 1.5 bays from the street. They are going to expand the deck all the way to Hudson with the health club on the ground floor. There will then be parking on floors 2-10 in this area.

Any more clarification on the ground-level retail available? This will be a huge boon to the downtown community. How about that long-sought-after grocery store?

And you've given them what, 7 hours to do so? Slow down a little on the snap judgements.

Makes a lot of sense. Currently the elevated garage doesn't go all the way to Hudson. This will expand it in that direction, but allow for something other than a concrete wall to face the sidewalk there. Instead, glass windows of a health club. Pedestrians in mind!

There's a surface lot between Main and Colcord, and Walker and Hudson, that would make a good spot for a new city garage, hopefully with street level retail space along Main. Also the surface lot at 4th and Hudson is not far, again hopefully with some retail space for pedestrians.

I'd rather see it go at 4th and Hudson. That lot between Main and Colcord fronts city hall across from the OKCMOA, I would hope someday it could be some kind of worthy cultural attraction like the Intl. Photography Hall of Fame.

The folks down in DFW have been talking about this. While most seem to take the pessimistic, "it will never get built" approach, one poster sheds light on the reality of teh project. In his/her words, the cost of this is nothing more than a "rounding error" to Devon.

"The building will cost $750 million; Devon has over $47 billion in assets, roughly $5 billion of which consist of cash and accounts receivable. They also generated net cash flow from operations of $5.2 billion during the 1st 6 months of the year.

In other words, they can pay for this building with their pocket change and don't need to borrow a dime. The total building cost of $750 million can be funded with just over 3 weeks' of the company's normal operating cash flow."

That last sentence blows me away. Is that right or is the poster exaggerating?

Here is parking in the area. The block that says 1200 is the huge county garage that can easily serve most of the "city services" that will be without parking in the West Galleria Garage. There's also a good spot for a garage directly south of City hall, basically behind the Hightower Building.

Amazingly, that person is correct.

Does anyone know how the building will be connected to the Underground?

Nichols stated this was a priority.

Pete, The Underground will be extended west from the Sheraton Hotel

I can't picture quite where the Conncourse runs on that side of downtown...

True it is close but that site deserves something better than a parking garage. It is on the "oval" that goes around city hall to the civic center and directly across from the OKC Museum of Art. There are other surface lots nearby that would be better developed into a new garage, IMO.

And I'd also be curious in seeing what kind of connections this complex will have to the Underground.

Now, if you want to really see some very scared and insecure people click here. They're wetting their pants 3 hours south of here.

Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum - Oklahoma City: Devon Tower (925 ft - taller than anything in DFW)

Regarding the Underground, I posted this on a previous thread with some potential tunnels shown in red.