Sweet! Thanks Pete!

Everyone here collectively, has anyone heard someone from a much larger metro city (Denver, Boston, Miami etc) suddenly develop skyscraper jealousy over a city that they couldn't have cared less about five years ago? All I seem to hear is surprise, but also congratulations and admiration for getting such an iconic and image-changing building. I mentioned in another forum that I just laugh at the person who would get upset over our new building. It's like they think we don't deserve to have something like this.

Everyone here collectively, has anyone heard someone from a much larger metro city (Denver, Boston, Miami etc) suddenly develop skyscraper jealousy over a city that they couldn't have cared less about five years ago? All I seem to hear is surprise, but also congratulations and admiration for getting such an iconic and image-changing building. I mentioned in another forum that I just laugh at the person who would get upset over our new building. It's like they think we don't deserve to have something like this.

"Grapes of Wrath" syndrome. Seen it all over.

Everyone here collectively, has anyone heard someone from a much larger metro city (Denver, Boston, Miami etc) suddenly develop skyscraper jealousy over a city that they couldn't have cared less about five years ago? All I seem to hear is surprise, but also congratulations and admiration for getting such an iconic and image-changing building. I mentioned in another forum that I just laugh at the person who would get upset over our new building. It's like they think we don't deserve to have something like this.

You really think those Major cities populous with beautiful DT's with multiple new, iconic tall bldgs have skyscraper jealousy? really? We get one real skyscraprer bldg and all of a sudden others are jealous, I think not

Is "you really think" a figure of speech? I obviously don't think such a thing, but I laugh at the ones I hear that do. At least one person thinks that because we "stole" an NBA team, that has something to do with us constructing such a tall building and "put us on the map" now.

Having been to ABQ numerous times, its skyline is not good, compared with OKC or Tulsa. Both dominate ABQ. ABQ is still a great town, I like it there, as has already been mentioned the topography is better...

Has anyone else heard that there will be additional construction the next 3-5 years in downtown OKC?

If I were a citizen of Nashville, I would have 'scraper envy watching Devon sprout quickly from the windswept prairie. Those folks had a fantastic supertall 'scraper announced back in '06 (Signature Tower) only to watch the project slowly lose financial support and fizzle out. It was downscaled from 1000 ft to 807 ft and is now gathering dust on some architect's desk 5 years later - no dirt ever moved. Sad.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=104768

If I were a citizen of Nashville, I would have 'scraper envy watching Devon sprout quickly from the windswept prairie. Those folks had a fantastic supertall 'scraper announced back in '06 (Signature Tower) only to watch the project slowly lose financial support and fizzle out. It was downscaled from 1000 ft to 807 ft and is now gathering dust on some architect's desk 5 years later - no dirt ever moved. Sad.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=104768

Okay, we need another company here to buy out the plans and bring that building over to OKC. It can be put in where the empty Ford dealership lots.

How in the world did you take these pics at that height? Wonderful, some of the best close-ups that I have seen in awhile.

Please answer the above question? I'm dying toknow, too?

A camcorder with zoom? I've done these shots plenty of times.

You really think those Major cities populous with beautiful DT's with multiple new, iconic tall bldgs have skyscraper jealousy? really? We get one real skyscraprer bldg and all of a sudden others are jealous, I think not

They could be jealous of this one tower,Denver and Boston have not a nicer one,Miami uhh maybe!Those cities skylines as a whole are fantasic and dense,so no jealousy on the skyline end!

How far away do you have to get to make it look like you are shooting it straight on from the same horizontal plane. I thought maybe it was from a helicoptor or from Skyrick's plane.

I would seriously like to know when the cranes raise for the last time.

By the way, is this pretty much the last angle change on the web cam?

The angled columns actually started on the previous floor. I pointed it out last week.

And the columns have changed several times as the tower got taller. Either physical dimensions or by type of concrete. As you go up, the columns are bearing less weight therefore they don't need to be as "beefy". This, as a result, also lowers the weight of the columns which reduce your load even more. Yay for multiple iterations.

How far away do you have to get to make it look like you are shooting it straight on from the same horizontal plane. I thought maybe it was from a helicoptor or from Skyrick's plane. Hey everybody, i have noticed that on the 925ft version of our Devon Tower, that the angular part of the building to the crown starts right above the second 20ft floor. Now on the 850ft version, it starts right above the first one. And i was driving downtown on 1-40 eastbound and around the south side on se 15th st and got some great pictures, and there is a computer picture looking from the west that has the chase buiding just to the right of the devon tower and is the 925 version, that is all over when you google "Devon Tower." Now my point is, i saw this same shot today and it looks like its on the same way to being the same height. Pete had mentioned just a couple days ago that there was not going to be anymore floors and will still be 850ft. With some of the pictures i took today, and that new shot that Pete put up just today, the angle "triangle" part has started right above the first 20ft floor. Anyone else feel free to chime in with what you think. Before i was thinking, oh man! down to 850 from 925? or 908 or 900. But with still a 100-125ft to go, i'm very happy with how its going to turn out. The crown is going to rock and just be the icing on the cake! I will post these shots i'm talking about asap. I also happened to find a link that said the tower was 51 stories and 900ft, so hmmm maybe it will be a 900 footer. And thank you Pete for all the info and pictures you have brought to the site. I really appreciate it.

To bad our road crews cannot match the pace of this massive project.
That's because road (most) projects are not fully funded from the start, for the most part the turnpikes were so they were built at a much faster pace. The way "free" highway funding is setup they only have so much money per year to build with and that has to be approved every year.

What's up, Will? I check in on you guys every now and then. Well, checking in on the building, too. Denver has recently seen a skyscraper boom of its own. Three buildings in the past five years, all over 450 ft., and the Four Seasons is 546. It got scaled down. Hoping that they will build Tabor Two. It was supposed to be built in the 80s, and the plan is now updated, and it's going to be 660 feet, if built. Nobody is jealous of the building, but you may be surprised at how many people that know it is going up. I've talked to probably a dozen people here about it, and I wasn't always the one that brought it up. I'm happy for OKC, but I'll take Denver, regardless of building height. Our skyline is still about five times the size of OKC's.

What's up, Will? I check in on you guys every now and then. Well, checking in on the building, too. Denver has recently seen a skyscraper boom of its own. Three buildings in the past five years, all over 450 ft., and the Four Seasons is 546. It got scaled down. Hoping that they will build Tabor Two. It was supposed to be built in the 80s, and the plan is now updated, and it's going to be 660 feet, if built. Nobody is jealous of the building, but you may be surprised at how many people that know it is going up. I've talked to probably a dozen people here about it, and I wasn't always the one that brought it up. I'm happy for OKC, but I'll take Denver, regardless of building height. Our skyline is still about five times the size of OKC's.
I'd take Denvers skyline as well,Hell Denver metro has about 3 times as many people,what do you expect!OKC will have when Devons done a better individual skyscraper than all of Denver,
This cannot be disputed but the two skylines are apples and oranges!

Hey, Mike. Did you ever see the video I did in Denver? I'm going back for a wedding an August and will be there for a week.

What's up, Will? I check in on you guys every now and then. Well, checking in on the building, too. Denver has recently seen a skyscraper boom of its own. Three buildings in the past five years, all over 450 ft., and the Four Seasons is 546. It got scaled down. Hoping that they will build Tabor Two. It was supposed to be built in the 80s, and the plan is now updated, and it's going to be 660 feet, if built. Nobody is jealous of the building, but you may be surprised at how many people that know it is going up. I've talked to probably a dozen people here about it, and I wasn't always the one that brought it up. I'm happy for OKC, but I'll take Denver, regardless of building height. Our skyline is still about five times the size of OKC's.

being a former dallasite... denver's got nothing on dallas. nuff said.

I'm sorry, everyone. After re-reading that, and then the responses, I guess that what I wrote could be taken as "rude." I don't believe bashing one place over the other. I didn't choose to be born here, and I didn't build any of the buildings with my own hands, or anything. Yes, EdCrunk, Denver is nowhere near as big as Dallas. Dallas is nowhere near as big as Houston. Houston nowhere near as big as Chicago. Oklahoma City, in my opinion has an appropriate skyline for it's size, with the addition of this tower, which can be described in a lot of ways, but being a boring guy I just say it's "impressive." OKC is at the top of my list of places to live in, if Denver were to stop working out for some reason. Nice people. No harm intended. Talk to you guys in a month or so!!!

Dallas is nowhere near as big as Houston.


Dallas is bigger than Houston...currently...though Houston has some taller bldgs...marginally...

Uh, no, Dallas is not bigger. Houston is much larger than Dallas. Unless you were talking about skylines???

Uh, no, Dallas is not bigger. Houston is much larger than Dallas. Unless you were talking about skylines???

This topic doesn't have much to do with the Devon Energy Center but the 2010 census for Dallas was 1,197,816 and for Houston was 2,099,451. The Dallas Metro area was 6,371,773 and Houston was 5,946,800. So it just depends on what figures you're looking at.

Uh, no, Dallas is not bigger. Houston is much larger than Dallas. Unless you were talking about skylines???



I am not a Houston hater...went to college there...

This topic doesn't have much to do with the Devon Energy Center but the 2010 census for Dallas was 1,197,816 and for Houston was 2,099,451. The Dallas Metro area was 6,371,773 and Houston was 5,946,800. So it just depends on what figures you're looking at.

Not unlike Oklahoma City being much larger than Atlanta 580,000 -vs- 420,000...if you go by city proper...

I would seriously like to know when the cranes raise for the last time.

By the way, is this pretty much the last angle change on the web cam?

I work on site. We were told in a safety meeting this last week that Crane 2 would jump Saturday (it did jump yesterday) and that the last jump would be Crane 1 over the July 4 weekend, probably on the 2nd. That is still 2 weeks out and things could change, but that is the information that I have.

If it wasn't for the heat I would be more active after work. When I've been in it all day, I just feel like going home. That weekend is one of the busiest of the year and I'll be working all day. I don't imagine it will take that long to raise up and if I were them I'd do it in the morning. I just won't be around then. I guess there's always the long process of lowering it though.

Looks like the glass on the north side of the rotunda is largely complete.

All photos courtesy of http://devontower.blogspot.com/

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WgkDNEOzLGA/Tftvx9CLw0I/AAAAAAAAARs/6NuVh3J5Zp4/s1600/CIMG0762.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CTgl-kJ6i4o/TftvxhPWruI/AAAAAAAAARk/MU3BVOTxzSg/s1600/CIMG0761.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jmw9Difi9EM/Tftv-3v8yzI/AAAAAAAAASM/p4ZKh58GpLA/s1600/CIMG0766.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PAKz4EI53vg/TftwASQU0jI/AAAAAAAAASk/b6hwQsIEZz0/s1600/CIMG0769.jpg

If it wasn't for the heat I would be more active after work. When I've been in it all day, I just feel like going home. That weekend is one of the busiest of the year and I'll be working all day. I don't imagine it will take that long to raise up and if I were them I'd do it in the morning. I just won't be around then. I guess there's always the long process of lowering it though.

You have done way more than enough for all of us. No need to do freebies out in the heat. I think you can wait until they start working on the crown.

You have done way more than enough for all of us. No need to do freebies out in the heat. I think you can wait until they start working on the crown.

I second that.

Took my son to the Chevy/Redhawks baseball clinic this weekend and grabbed a few shots of the tower from the stadium.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Mad_Monk/DevonTower/DSCN1357.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Mad_Monk/DevonTower/DSCN1360.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Mad_Monk/DevonTower/DSCN1361.jpg

Playing around with the panarama function:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Mad_Monk/DevonTower/DSCN1236.jpg

^^^The 3rd pic...see the 2 slanted columns making a V in the center...looks like the bottom tip of the inverted chevron crown.

Thanks for the pics!

I deleted a bunch of posts for obvious reasons.

Back to topic, please.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p314/Dulahey/Devon Tower/IMG_1433.jpg

And here's (http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p314/Dulahey/Devon Tower/?albumview=slideshow) the slideshow of the same spot throughout construction.

Pretty cool slide show. Thanks for taking the photos and posting.

Just in time for getting off work, all the clouds have passed leaving nothing to work with. These are your behind the scenes frustrations of time lapse videography. I'd gladly quit my job if I could get $1200 in donations a month. I take cash, check or PayPal.

Just got confirmation of 52 floors from a devon empolyee that took a tour of the building, including a mock up of the decor of the floors which was somewhere near the airport. Top two floors are mechanical.

^^The saga continues!

52 floors?!?! YESSS.

Just got confirmation of 52 floors from a devon empolyee that took a tour of the building, including a mock up of the decor of the floors which was somewhere near the airport. Top two floors are mechanical.

Sounds about right. The the number that seems to be set in stone is the 850ft height. There seems to be a gray area about classifying floors which leads to people thinking they changed the height of the building. So there's 50 floors which people will actually walk or work on a daily basis and 2 mechanical floors.

Maybe it was previously 50 with 48 for people and top two for mechanical then they decided to increase to 50 for people and two new floors for mechanical. Shouldn't that increase it over 900 feet?

Mishap at Devon tower: Piece of metal falls, hits nearby building
By Brianna Bailey
Journal Record
Oklahoma City reporter - Contact 405-278-2847
Posted: 03:28 PM Tuesday, June 21, 2011

A large piece of metal from the Devon tower construction site downtown came crashing through a window of a law office on the 13th story of Corporate Tower Monday evening. (Maike Sabolich)

OKLAHOMA CITY – A large piece of metal from the Devon tower construction site downtown came crashing through a window of a law office on the 13th story of a neighboring office building Monday evening, raining broken glass onto a courtyard below.

Attorney Kenneth Tillotson had just rode the elevator down to the lobby of the Corporate Tower building, 101 N. Robinson Ave., from his office at the Phillips Murrah law firm on the 13th floor at about 7:20 p.m. on Monday when he heard a loud crash.

Exiting the south side of the building, he saw shards of broken glass scattered across a grassy courtyard that butts up against the back of the $750 million, 50-story Devon Energy corporate headquarters construction site at 333 W. Sheridan Ave.

“There was glass raining down and a big piece of metal fell out onto the grass,” Tillotson said.

Looking up, he realized there was a gaping hole on the side of the building 13 stories up where the reception area of the Phillips Murrah office is situated.

Taking the elevator back up to his office, Tillotson discovered the Phillips Murrah lobby covered in broken glass. The crash left a jagged hole in a widow about 3 to 4 feet wide.

The piece of flying debris from the Devon site was a 1-by-3-foot piece of concrete formwork that became dislodged by high winds, said Gavin Kalley, project director for Devon tower contractor Holder-Flintco.

Wind gusts of up to 32 miles per hour were recorded Monday evening at Will Rogers World Airport and a high-wind advisory was in effect for the area earlier in the day, according to the National Weather Service in Norman.

Work crews had just gone through a series of routine safety checks on Monday evening to ensure all building materials on the Devon site were secure when a gust of wind tore the formwork free.

“We immediately investigated to make sure this did not happen again and immediately responded to the incident at Corporate Tower,” Kalley said.

Construction crews at the Devon site conduct thorough safety checks hourly to make sure building materials are secure, he said.

This is the third high-profile mishap at the Devon tower site since construction began there in October 2009. Concrete pillars used in the construction of the Devon tower parking garage came crashing to the ground at the site in February 2010.

A 90-ton crane toppled over at the Devon construction site in March 2010, tumbling into the basement level of the building.

Aside from a few high-publicized incidents, Holder-Flintco has an outstanding safety track record at the Devon site and has instituted a high level of OSHA safety training for workers there, Kalley said.

“From a statistical standpoint, we’re performing on a very high level,” Kalley said. “We have a very successful safety program and we’ve done a lot great training of the work force that we’re very proud of.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Holder-Flintco two safety violation notices at the Devon construction site in August, records show.

The violations included a failure to institute proper safeguards to protect workers on the tower from falls. The other violation was for neglecting to cover up protruding reinforced steel at the site that workers could be impaled on during an accident.

The citations stemmed from a routine OSHA inspection of the Devon construction site and were later dropped after additional talks with Holder-Flintco, Kalley said.

Both OSHA citations were resolved during an informal settlement process, OSHA records show.

The agency had not been notified on Tuesday of the broken window incident near the Devon construction site and has no plans to investigate the matter because no one was injured, OSHA spokesman Juan Rodriguez said.

The crash left a jagged hole in a widow about 3 to 4 feet wide.


Poor lady.

First she loses a husband, then she gets hit by debris.

Poor lady.

First she loses a husband, then she gets hit by debris.

Oh My God, you just made my day. Literally LaughingOutLoud here.

Has anyone else notice that they have slowed down on adding the glass siding since they reached the area where the tower starts to taper?

The only thing I got yesterday was a decent amount of video of them putting the glass up on the Rotunda. I got two semi trucks pulling up in front and them unloading the smaller glass panels and then lifting some up to be installed. They also lifted up and added to the top of the Rotunda another one of the things that suspends and adjusts the cables that holds the platform that the workers install glass on. I don't know what they're called. I didn't notice any glass on the building being put up. I figured that they were putting on the Rotunda glass by the order that they get it, instead of doing it row by row. I imagine every single thing there is numbered. Maybe they are all unique.

a widow about 3 to 4 feet wide.

Well she wasn't exactly easy to miss - no Jenny Craig in her life it seems...

8:41am this morning.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Downtown%20OKC/devoncrown6-22-11.jpg

That is PHAT!

Ran across this on Doug's blog looking for something else. Pretty funny now.

http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-madness.html

Glad it turned out better than this.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/devon_tower/devonview3a.jpg

Ran across this on Doug's blog looking for something else. Pretty funny now.

http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-madness.html
Oh, the pain, oh the pain.

Glad it turned out better than this.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/devon_tower/devonview3a.jpg

Oh, the pain ... oh, the pain. :dizzy:

Oh, the pain ... oh, the pain. :dizzy:Doug is vigilant...always watching.

That is PHAT!

Why is it PHAT?

Why is it PHAT?

Well, for me, it's a shocking level of detail on such a tall structure. Plus the symmetry of the two angular columns that begin the facets of the crown are framed nicely by the subject at large, and the workers in comparison is the "cherry on top".

To echo the others----that is talented photography, sir. Phat indeed!

And I am so glad that that elephant-esque prism made it no further than the esteemed Mr. Loudenback's archives.

just a question, any chance the Petroleum Club would move to Devon, at least one floor? Would that be a conflict of interest?

But if it did move to Devon, would the other club (beacon club) move out of OK tower and into the top of Chase and take over Petro's old area?

what was it that made beacon move out of FNC in the first place? Seems like a prime spot, attop a tower with a real BEACON. ...

The top of FNC is just screaming to be turned into something elegant and classic like the Top of the Mark in San Francisco. This would be a perfect addition to the city and actually complement the new Devon digs!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8318229/Top%20of%20the%20Mark.%20pdf.pdf

All we need now is for the building to be turned into a luxury hotel or high-end condos.

just a question, any chance the Petroleum Club would move to Devon, at least one floor? Would that be a conflict of interest?

But if it did move to Devon, would the other club (beacon club) move out of OK tower and into the top of Chase and take over Petro's old area?

what was it that made beacon move out of FNC in the first place? Seems like a prime spot, attop a tower with a real BEACON. ...
The Beacon Club moved over First National's owners not taking care of the building and low expectations that would change. Of course, the beacon on 1st National is the reason for the club's name in the first place.

A clip from this blog article (http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2007/05/first-national-center.html) reads this way:




Skipping a decade but along the same vein, Oklahoma City's excellent "Beacon Club" located itself in the top of the 1st National in 1941, below the "beacon." According to the Beacon Club's history page (http://www.beaconclub.com/history.php) ...



The Club opened in the late 1941 on the 31st floor of the First National Building. All equipment and furnishings were owned and operated by Faber "Goob" Reid and he called his operation the "Rainbow Room."

The club would eventually come to occupy the top 3 stories of the 1st National. But, with the building's decline and it having no apparent prospects for revitalization, the club moved to the Oklahoma Tower in 1997.

The Big Bust. Fueled by the domino effect of July 1982's Penn Square Bank closing and the "Oil Bust" itself, the 1st National Bank, once the state's largest bank with assets reported to be $3.3 billion in 1982, collapsed, as well. The Oklahoman's headlines on July 15, 1986, told the tale:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/1stnational/1stnationalfailss.jpg

... and of course it got worse and worse after that.

The video coming up next week is the best yet...over 16 min and still adding. If the last two days of the month are good weather-wise then I'm far from done.

Just got back a while ago. Cloudless days make you have to find other scenes with movement. Highway, cars, etc. I got a minute long clip of them adding about 7-10 windows in the SE side. I have a few clips from yesterday of them adding the north side windows (where the web cam views) and they started on the SE corner this morning. They go up remarkably fast. So they haven't stopped at all.