Opportunities that you have to wait more than a year and a half for? I take it your one of those Texas kiss-ass types that wants to make sure that increasing opportunity in Oklahoma doesn't happen.

Just remember your coveted Texas loves to tax the crap out of its own people who seem to be happy with paying those taxes.

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Sorry, pal. I've done enough time in Texas to learn to appreciate Oklahoma more than when I moved. Oklahoma City has a "can do" spirit, but you Texas lovers just love to practice suppression for every positive goal Oklahoma City tries to accomplish.

So, let's get this thread back on topic. It's about the Devon Tower, not about Texas.

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Damn straight!

There are plenty of opportunities in Texas is you dont have a popper work visa.

We'll be calling it "Mexas" in ten years.

Someone is finally getting downtown OKC and other buildings modeled in Google Earth. Check it out............

That's cool, but how does it relate to Devon Tower when it's not in the model?

That pix just made downtown OKC look extremely ugly.

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yeah it does!!! brown lanscape and missing buildings!

I take it your not familiar with Google Earth

Why is it Google Earth seems to always take pics of OKC and OK in general during the winter when everything is brown?

It isn't Google Earth itself that is taking the images. If you look at the bottom of the Google Earth application it shows you all of the sources for that particular extent.

As for the winter, Aerial Photography companies take Aerial photos during the winter because of tree cover. Things stand out more during the winter than they would during the summer. Yes you have to deal with lower shadows in the winter, but when you have little tree cover so you can see homes and streets much better.

it just makes the city look so barren and unattractive

You're right, it doesn't look attractive at all, but those images were not taken to be put on Google Earth, they were used first for data collection (streams, roads, homes) and not meant for the daily viewer to find where they live.


Back on Topic: There is a press conference by COTPA today at 2 to discuss Parking Garage expansion.

I here they are using the lighting firm Arclight International to illuminate the exterior. I wonder what the lighting scheme will be.

rezoneOKC - Urban Infill and Development

Does anyone think that the new Devon Tower will spur future developments of high rises in downtown OKC? Are they needed? Or are we just DREAMING that we need additional condos/high-rise living/office space downtown? Do we really think it's needed and will be supported? I'm not trying to be negative...just realistic. Nobody more than ME would like to see the downtown skyline be FILLED with high rises...I'm just not sure the demand is there. BUT I HOPE IT IS!!!!!!

I don't know about FILLED, but I won't be surprised if we get a couple more mid rises.

When you say mid rises...do you mean something along the lines of the current Devon building? Like 15 stories or so...? Or are we talking more 20+??

mid-rise - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

I also won't be surprised if we get a new high-rise corporate tower, albeit not near as high as the new Devon Tower will be.

Who'se gonna build it an fill it? There has to be some demand for space and they also have to have a developer who can get credit - not easy to do right now.

If we can get the glut of Class C property off the market via residential conversion then that will go a long way towards getting some new towers constructred.

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That is why OKC Chamber of Commerce needs to attract major HQ for OKC. It can be done! Diversification is the key. How about attracting major insurance companies, financial firms. I agree that OKC needs to grow it's home grown companies as well, but it does not hurt if 1 or 2 major Fortune 100 or 500 companies can base their operations here. Logistically, OKC is in the middle of the country with 3 major highways running through it so that helps.

The problem is getting people to realize it's a good place to be. They want to cosmo address, but then they have to pay the higher rates of those cities. We're still fighting the good fight on our image. Until we can conquer that, we're going to have to fight tooth and nail to get something like that here. And I would see having to make a lot of concessions to get it.

But think about it. How often do people build a new high-rise HQ in a new city?

Not to mention the 800-pound gorilla to the south can match or exceed and is willing to do so to veer the potential HQ mover to their state. Until OK eliminates corporate income taxes, we will have great trouble attracting that type of HQ. Every state in the union competes for them.

Now, with MAPSI and II, and if C2S is successful and can truly transform the land south of downtown to the river into an attractive, desireable area for people to want to live and play, the long-term effect will be to paint a far better face on the city for those looking to relocate their businesses and corporations. However, there is a large group of nay-sayers in this city that don't understand the concept of investment. They feel investment in their city is a waste of money and don't understand that we all benefit, at a minimum, indirectly from large scale redevelopments of our inner city. This pervasive attitude paints a bad image on the city.

We have Midfirst bank and American Fidelity insurance are two massive homegrown companies that could benefity from moving downtown. I have heard rumors that American Fidelity wants to move downtown.

And if Chesapeake keeps expanding they could push Midfirst off of their land (at the right price) and Midfirst could move back downtown.

I don't see any of this happening anytime soon, maybe in the next 20 years as downtown continues to develop.