Tower Lakes East Office Park

[G.Walker]

Oklahoma City's premier master-planned corporate office park will feature four 75,000 square foot, 4-story office buildings with custom floor plans, 10' ceiling heights, and state of the art amenities: balconies on each floor, rolling topography, walking trails, park, 2 spring-fed, clear water lakes, fitness center, reinforced concrete safe rooms in each office building, ample surface and covered parking.

Located at the southeast corner of E. Britton Rd. & N. Kelley Ave., only 1 mile from Broadway Extension (I-235), approx. 2 miles from I-35, and just minutes from Turner Turnpike (I-44), Tower Lakes East is literally minutes from all points of Oklahoma City's metropolitan area, yet with a feel of tranquility and a truly inspiring work environment that is only possible through a master-planned park setting.

[G.Walker]

Refilling demand: Tower Lakes offices could break ground this fall | The Journal Record

[catch22]

I'm glad to see the NE side fill in some, but can we please ditch the suburban office park with pitched roof architecture?

[Urbanized]

It has sidewalks so it's walkable!

[Plutonic Panda]

It has sidewalks so it's walkable!

correct. Another great development shot down by a very small minority of the city so no worries, eh. It is walkable and that's the great thing about it. Makes no sense why people would not like this. It's already in a suburban setting as the new office complex in UNP is...

Edit: if we're taking about walkability like one would experience in an urban area, then no. It is not nor does it need to be.

[5alive]

I agree about the pitched roofs. Check out the thread on the office complex to be built in Norman at University North Park. A very nice design.

[G.Walker]

If built as planned, that will be 300,000 square feet of much needed new Class A office space on the market. However, this may deter some companies looking to locate downtown in search of Class A space, as there is virtually no Class A space downtown. This development should also test the market for higher rent rates for new Class A office space in Oklahoma City, which should be $25-$30 per square feet, if that holds we may see even more new Class A office space developed.

[ChrisHayes]

I like the idea of more development up along Britton Road. While I don't have a problem with pitched roofs, I do agree that the corporate center development in University North is nicer with the roof design. That being said, I'm hoping that this does spur more development up north. But like G. Walker said, it might steal from some downtown development.

[adaniel]

I doubt this will compete with downtown that much. Different areas serving different businesses.

Frankly, I think they are asking far too high for this area. I don't get the obsession some have for the Britton/Wilshire/East Broadway area. I get the access via 77, but other than that, it's a very sparsely developed area with little in the way of restaurants or services. So I don't see how they can demand such a premium. If we are talking about downtown or other established suburban markets like Quail Springs or NW Expwy then maybe, but not here.

Most things in that area have been medical or build-to-suite, and what has been built as spec space is on a much smaller scale than this.

[bchris02]

If more people are working in the area, its almost certain the services will follow. It seems like that is the hot area right now for suburban office development. All cities have areas like that. The one thing about the East Broadway area in terms of long-term urban development is there is unlikely to be much in the way of residential growth there being that its in the OKC school district. I guess being halfway between downtown and Edmond, it makes it a convenient commute for people living in both places.

[ljbab728]

The one thing about the East Broadway area in terms of long-term urban development is there is unlikely to be much in the way of residential growth there being that its in the OKC school district.

Is that why there is hardly any residential growth downtown?

[adaniel]

^
Touche...but to be fair we are talking about a different breed of buyer/renter, who likely does not have school age kids or is okay with going the private/magnet/charter route in exchange for the lifestyle benefit of living in the core. Britton and Kelly offer no such benefit, needless to say.

As far as services coming in over time, I just don't see that. Retail is lured by (1) rooftops or (2) traffic counts. With OKCPS and Millwood Schools serving this area, don't expect (1) anytime soon. And if retail hasn't been attracted to Broadway's traffic counts I don't see them suddenly doing it now; That part of NEOKC is still off the beaten path somewhat. I don't see anything besides maybe your drive thru fast food or gas stations.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying office can't work in this area. I would much rather have this area built up rather than some outpost off of Memorial and Rockwell. It will get OKCPS some needed tax base as well. But high-priced spec space will fare poorly here. I image the offices already there chose that area because it's fairly cheap. I see nothing here to justify such high prices. (at least for this market). Can't sell Natty Light with Don Perignon prices.

[bchris02]

Is that why there is hardly any residential growth downtown?

Terrible analogy. Downtown offers a different lifestyle than the suburbs and also targets a different demographic. If you are going to live somewhere like Britton and Kelly you might as well buy a couple miles north in the Edmond school district. School district is one of the primary selling points of a suburban tract house subdivision. Residential might work in that area but it would have to offer something that your typical suburban development does not.

[G.Walker]

I looked it up the asking rental rate is $22-$24/SF/, reasonable.

[Pete]

These will be mostly owner-occupied.

Timberlake Construction is building in this complex.

[adaniel]

Do you know if these are already sold?

[warreng88]

Here is the entire JR record:

Refilling demand: Tower Lakes offices could break ground this fall

By: Molly M. Fleming

The Journal Record

August 22, 20140

OKLAHOMA CITY – David Bohanon and his partners at Blackstone Commercial Property Advisors started building the Tower Lakes office park in 2011. The house-like buildings are constructed according to the tenants’ preferences.

The park sits at the southeast corner of N. Kelley Avenue and E. Britton Road. Blackstone owns 40 acres at the corner, with two lakes in the center. Tower Lakes is on the west side of the lakes, and Blackstone plans to construct four office buildings on the lakes’ east side. Each building would be a maximum of four stories tall.

“It’s going to be (speculative) office space,” he said. “We’re trying to get construction started this fall. Our goal is to get 50 to 75 percent of the first building pre-leased, and then we’ll start to put shovels in the ground.”

Bohanon said a future tenant approached the company about constructing the 75,000-square-foot buildings.

“We thought we were just going to hold off on the east side of the lakes,” he said. “I was hoping we’d get to the point where we have a pent-up demand for Class A office space. The rates have gotten to the point where we can think about doing this.”

He said the company expects to get leasing rates at $23 per square foot. The latest market reports show that downtown Class A office space across the metro is 83-percent occupied. Lease rates are $21 per square foot and the northwest corridor’s Class A office lease rates are $22 per square foot.

Vicki Knotts, vice president of the office division at Newmark Grubb Levy Strange Beffort, said she works a lot in the suburban market, and it’s keeping her busy.

“A lot of people are out looking,” she said. “There’s activity other than just downtown. There are still those diehards that don’t want to fight parking.”

She said the office projects she’s heard about are not oil and gas related, though that industry that has had a big effect on the industrial market. She said she’s also seen some office space turning over, and it is quickly absorbed.

Bohanon said parking will not be an issue at the Tower Lakes office buildings, as there will be some covered areas and a wide parking lot.

“We realize downtown’s great. We love the downtown boom,” he said. “But not everybody needs or wants to be in downtown.”

He said there’s been a void in constructing new office buildings in the suburbs, which he said the company hopes this project will help fill.

“It’s a good central location,” he said. “People like the amenities we have. Everyone loves natural water effects.”

Blackstone plans to build a walking trail to complement the water area. Each building will have a reinforced concrete safe room that will double as a workout facility.

[warreng88]

double post