mecarr
12-18-2008, 07:53 AM
BY STEVE LACKMEYER
Published: December 18, 2008
Three multimillion-dollar downtown projects are on hold because of uncertainty in financing and the hope that construction costs may drop next year.
JoeVan Bullard, Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority director, told commissioners the national economic crisis is linked to the stalling of the projects, which he identified as the Overholser Greens condominiums, the mixed-use Flatiron and a new Greater Oklahoma City Chamber headquarters.
Officials with the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber hoped to begin construction in January on an $18 million, four-story headquarters at NW 4 and Broadway. Chamber president Roy Williams confirmed those plans are now on hold following discussions within the chamber’s building committee.
"There are two factors they heavily weighed,” Williams said. "One is a report by Flintco that building costs are going down. And there is a very good chance the construction costs of our building will be less than currently estimated.”
Williams said that while Flintco was advising delaying construction to realize cost savings, the chamber was reluctant to begin fundraising until the business community "gets a better sense of what is going to happen.”
"The end result is they want to continue to keep their eye on it, wait 60 to 90 days, and then get back with a contractor and see what happens,” he said.
Grant Humpheys, who hoped to start construction this fall on a $20 million mixed-use development proposed for N 6 and Harrison, cited similar reasoning. "The thing that made us stop first was that we did not meet our pre-sales requirement,” he said. "And more than anything, it was not that the market wasn’t there; we just didn’t give enough time to penetrate the market. We simply ran out of time. So instead of trying to force six months into two in a very difficult economic cycle, we decided to wait six months and then regroup.”
The project, he said, is still viable and likely will resume next summer.
"We’ve got a project that is cued up, it’s gone through the approval process and we’ve got a project team,” Humphreys said. "We met on this yesterday, and we’re continuing to do value engineering with Lippert Brothers. We need time to let the market warm up.”
Chuck Wiggin, developer of the proposed $61.3 million Overholser Greens condominiums, told Urban Renewal earlier this year he hoped to start construction at NW 13 and Dewey this month.
"I just came from a bank board meeting,” Wiggin said. "There is a lot of stuff on hold right now. With Overholser Greens, we’re trying to be realistic about the economic climate we’re in. Right now, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be pushing ahead on a firm timetable with this project. It doesn’t mean we won’t be doing it; we just won’t be doing it this quarter or next.”
Published: December 18, 2008
Three multimillion-dollar downtown projects are on hold because of uncertainty in financing and the hope that construction costs may drop next year.
JoeVan Bullard, Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority director, told commissioners the national economic crisis is linked to the stalling of the projects, which he identified as the Overholser Greens condominiums, the mixed-use Flatiron and a new Greater Oklahoma City Chamber headquarters.
Officials with the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber hoped to begin construction in January on an $18 million, four-story headquarters at NW 4 and Broadway. Chamber president Roy Williams confirmed those plans are now on hold following discussions within the chamber’s building committee.
"There are two factors they heavily weighed,” Williams said. "One is a report by Flintco that building costs are going down. And there is a very good chance the construction costs of our building will be less than currently estimated.”
Williams said that while Flintco was advising delaying construction to realize cost savings, the chamber was reluctant to begin fundraising until the business community "gets a better sense of what is going to happen.”
"The end result is they want to continue to keep their eye on it, wait 60 to 90 days, and then get back with a contractor and see what happens,” he said.
Grant Humpheys, who hoped to start construction this fall on a $20 million mixed-use development proposed for N 6 and Harrison, cited similar reasoning. "The thing that made us stop first was that we did not meet our pre-sales requirement,” he said. "And more than anything, it was not that the market wasn’t there; we just didn’t give enough time to penetrate the market. We simply ran out of time. So instead of trying to force six months into two in a very difficult economic cycle, we decided to wait six months and then regroup.”
The project, he said, is still viable and likely will resume next summer.
"We’ve got a project that is cued up, it’s gone through the approval process and we’ve got a project team,” Humphreys said. "We met on this yesterday, and we’re continuing to do value engineering with Lippert Brothers. We need time to let the market warm up.”
Chuck Wiggin, developer of the proposed $61.3 million Overholser Greens condominiums, told Urban Renewal earlier this year he hoped to start construction at NW 13 and Dewey this month.
"I just came from a bank board meeting,” Wiggin said. "There is a lot of stuff on hold right now. With Overholser Greens, we’re trying to be realistic about the economic climate we’re in. Right now, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be pushing ahead on a firm timetable with this project. It doesn’t mean we won’t be doing it; we just won’t be doing it this quarter or next.”