The building is going to be in line with Harvey... so Oklahoma Tower will not be covered up from the direct South.

The atrium will line up with Harvey, the tower will be east of that.

Oil was over valued for 8 years? :rofl:
ya know... i'm no oilologist (heh) and never took oilnomics 101. so please, once you stop rolling on the floor, enlighten me as to why you wouldn't describe it as being overpriced.

Yes, from directly south it will mostly cover up Oklahoma Tower.
hey jbrown, i think it'll only cover like a 1/3 to 1/2 half of it.

I know nobody stands and gazes at The Oklahoma Tower...but it seems like the buildings downtown are so close (First National and City Place for example) that they often cover each other up, thus not offering a great view from afar. For instance, coming south on Broadway Extn. it looks like we only have 4 skyscrapers...just wish it was a bit more spread out so downtown would look bigger. I know some think it's great that we have a "dense" area of buildings, but to me, that's only good if you have a LARGE area of tall buildings. We don't have that here, so IMO, if they were more spread out downtown would appear bigger. Looking forward to possible more high rises with Core 2 Shore...we'll see!! :)

I would rather have the density.

Agreed! density over the illusion of a big downtown!

Yep density is awesome, but if skyscrapers downtown happens to sprawl west or north or south, I wouldn't complain.

I think the location of the Devon Tower is perfect. The western edge of downtown needs some new life.

I vote for density, not area. OKC74, just take a look at NW Expressway. Do you like it as it is or would it look much cooler if all of the buildings along NWE were clustered together in one spot.

I totally understand and agree with what you guys are saying. I guess I'm just wishful thinking that we can have density AND a really large area of high-rises - ha!

I wouldn't mind seeing something really tall near 23rd and Classen added. Boston is similar. There is the financial district high rise cluster... then there is the Prudential and John Hancock tower.

I agree...that would be nice! I like the view driving north on I-235 near the State Capitol...looking northwest. Kind of a "second" skyline for OKC, even though the high-rises are spread out. It still looks nice.

Well the good thing is, since it is so dense, as we add buildings, they will have to go on the edges, which will widen the skyline while keeping it dense.

Does any1 have new pics or news about the Devon Tower?Other than the TIF passing, no news since then!

I'm not with Density if you can walk past it in five minutes. I truly think this Devon building should be further away from all the other buildings. We can worry about infill later. I will take it where it is but our downtown really does need to be a few blocks wider than it is.

It will get there plmccordj but I don't want to make the same mistake Detroit made with the Renaissance Center. From a distance they have nice looking downtown, then there is a huge gap between it and the towering Renaissance Center. It looks bad.

I will take it where it is but our downtown really does need to be a few blocks wider than it is.

With the Okie resistance to walking, I don't think we can afford it being much wider. The key to a successful downtown (and really the whole point of one) is density of services and spreading it out won't help much with that.

I agree that ours could double in size and still be easily walkable, but people have problem with the concept of walking from the Santa Fe garage to bricktown of the Ford Center now. I'd hate to spread it out more just for postcard points and make it less appealing for locals to work and hang out there.

One of the great things about this project is that by putting it on a surface lot just on the edge of what comprises the business and convention district, it helps to elevate the exposure and usability of other downtown assets like the Myriad Gardens instead of pulling a few thousand workers away from the core.

I agree that ours could double in size and still be easily walkable, but people have problem with the concept of walking from the Santa Fe garage to bricktown of the Ford Center now.

I do not know many people in any city that park on one end of downtown and walk to the other side. The goal is not to walk across downtown and I am not sure anyone has ever suggested such a thing. I seriously doubt there are many people in Dallas that park on the East end and walk to their work on the West end. I would hope that the Santa Fe parking garage is not the only parking lot in all of downtown.

Secondly this notion that people are resistant to walking is not simply a thing of laziness. On some days our weather is not particularly conducive to walking in a suit and tie. Whether it be winter or summer, we can have some rather harsh weather. Also most companies do not give their employees two hours for lunch and walking to Bricktown may take longer than a person has for lunch. As far as density of services having the buildings 30 feet apart would not change that. What sort of services are you talking about? Throw in a laundromat or two :) Just kidding. I am not trying to be difficult but I am not exactly sure what you mean.. My point in all this is that our downtown is so compact that you could lay a 925 foot building on its side and it would almost be longer than our entire downtown from certain angles.

This density and walking arguement should be a moot point. Our downtown wont realize its full potential until there is a constant, free shuttle/transit system that loops through downtown, bricktown, and the surrounding housing complexes. Then it wouldnt matter how the weather is or how long it takes to walk from west DT to BT. But thats another topic.

My point in all this is that our downtown is so compact that you could lay a 925 foot building on its side and it would almost be longer than our entire downtown from certain angles.

The skyscraper part of downtown, maybe... But not if you count the rest of the urban inner core which IMO stretches from the Medical Center to Film Row and 13th St to I-40 and is pretty rapidly becoming an infilled single unit

It was recently on the news about groups saying that the worst of recession/depression is yet to come in the upcoming months. Any possible effect on the plans? Have Devon secured the winning bidders of whatever companies before those companies lays off their workers?

Well the good thing is, since it is so dense, as we add buildings, they will have to go on the edges, which will widen the skyline while keeping it dense.

someone who gets it, well said!

Other than possible Core 2 Shore plans...does anyone know of any potential plans to add a high-rise hotel downtown? I know there have been numerous hotels built in Bricktown...but I'm thinking more along the lines of 20+ stories in the CBD...

I am old enough to have experienced several recessions and one thing that always seems to be common with each of them is that the media always says "this one is different" or "this one is going to be the worst". I highly doubt that this will be the worst. Despite people's political views if we were honest we would have to admit that the media has a larger impact on our economy than either political party's policies. The media hates Republicans and therefore will portray everything negative when a Republican is in office. They will beat a dead horse day in and day out until everyone believes the sky is falling. Since they REALLY REALLY hate George Bush, they have gone out of their way to portray the world as even worse this time.

Since they influence people's opinions and scare people to death this results in a self fulfilling prophecy. People get scared and stop buying resulting in companies losing sales, stocks fall, and all the other events that happen when people are afraid they are going to lose their money. The terrible economy has zero to do with the policies of who is in office. Maybe not zero but I would say very little.

The good news for the economy is that they love Barack Obama. I mean the really love him. When he is inaugurated the media will portray the world as a "world of hope". The great Obama will fix the woes of the world and all will be well. This is not necessarily true but since the media loves this guy they will get everyone to believe it and they will gain confidence. They will begin to buy again and the economy will grow. The people will believe that Barack Obama is the second coming of Christ for fixing all the problems of the world. The end result is that the economy will improve. His policies will have little to no impact on any of this but people will think it will. Most people that follow politicians do not even know what their policies are.

I would not worry too much about the economy as the media has their man and they will have the world thinking we have reached a new Utopia and the people will believe it and start becoming active in the economy. There will always be those on the far left and the far right that will hate or love their respective candidates no matter what the media does but the average person to their own detriment will take the media at face value. This is not an attempt to put down Obama but to point out that the media has a bigger impact on the economy than the the President. They will never admit they have this power but anyone that pays attention knows this.

It was recently on the news about groups saying that the worst of recession/depression is yet to come in the upcoming months. Any possible effect on the plans? Have Devon secured the winning bidders of whatever companies before those companies lays off their workers?

Unfortunately there is a good chance the "news" might be right that the worst hasn't hit yet, but please don't believe everything you hear on the news without verifying it from many sources or getting to the root of why they are making their statements. The media often skews things. As with anyone, no one can predict what will happen in the future, but based upon history, we can get pretty close usually when it comes to certain matters.

I am old enough to have experienced several recessions and one thing that always seems to be common with each of them is that the media always says "this one is different" or "this one is going to be the worst". I highly doubt that this will be the worst. Despite people's political views if we were honest we would have to admit that the media has a larger impact on our economy than either political party's policies. The media hates Republicans and therefore will portray everything negative when a Republican is in office. They will beat a dead horse day in and day out until everyone believes the sky is falling. Since they REALLY REALLY hate George Bush, they have gone out of their way to portray the world as even worse this time.

Since they influence people's opinions and scare people to death this results in a self fulfilling prophecy. People get scared and stop buying resulting in companies losing sales, stocks fall, and all the other events that happen when people are afraid they are going to lose their money. The terrible economy has zero to do with the policies of who is in office. Maybe not zero but I would say very little.

The good news for the economy is that they love Barack Obama. I mean the really love him. When he is inaugurated the media will portray the world as a "world of hope". The great Obama will fix the woes of the world and all will be well. This is not necessarily true but since the media loves this guy they will get everyone to believe it and they will gain confidence. They will begin to buy again and the economy will grow. The people will believe that Barack Obama is the second coming of Christ for fixing all the problems of the world. The end result is that the economy will improve. His policies will have little to no impact on any of this but people will think it will. Most people that follow politicians do not even know what their policies are.

I would not worry too much about the economy as the media has their man and they will have the world thinking we have reached a new Utopia and the people will believe it and start becoming active in the economy. There will always be those on the far left and the far right that will hate or love their respective candidates no matter what the media does but the average person to their own detriment will take the media at face value. This is not an attempt to put down Obama but to point out that the media has a bigger impact on the economy than the the President. They will never admit they have this power but anyone that pays attention knows this.


So. Very. True.

I am old enough to have experienced several recessions and one thing that always seems to be common with each of them is that the media always says "this one is different" or "this one is going to be the worst". I highly doubt that this will be the worst. Despite people's political views if we were honest we would have to admit that the media has a larger impact on our economy than either political party's policies. The media hates Republicans and therefore will portray everything negative when a Republican is in office. They will beat a dead horse day in and day out until everyone believes the sky is falling. Since they REALLY REALLY hate George Bush, they have gone out of their way to portray the world as even worse this time.

Since they influence people's opinions and scare people to death this results in a self fulfilling prophecy. People get scared and stop buying resulting in companies losing sales, stocks fall, and all the other events that happen when people are afraid they are going to lose their money. The terrible economy has zero to do with the policies of who is in office. Maybe not zero but I would say very little.

The good news for the economy is that they love Barack Obama. I mean the really love him. When he is inaugurated the media will portray the world as a "world of hope". The great Obama will fix the woes of the world and all will be well. This is not necessarily true but since the media loves this guy they will get everyone to believe it and they will gain confidence. They will begin to buy again and the economy will grow. The people will believe that Barack Obama is the second coming of Christ for fixing all the problems of the world. The end result is that the economy will improve. His policies will have little to no impact on any of this but people will think it will. Most people that follow politicians do not even know what their policies are.

I would not worry too much about the economy as the media has their man and they will have the world thinking we have reached a new Utopia and the people will believe it and start becoming active in the economy. There will always be those on the far left and the far right that will hate or love their respective candidates no matter what the media does but the average person to their own detriment will take the media at face value. This is not an attempt to put down Obama but to point out that the media has a bigger impact on the economy than the the President. They will never admit they have this power but anyone that pays attention knows this.

I read about half your post and it's bunk. It IS different this time - Economic fundamentals are all f'd up and it has nothing to do with the media.

The media made up the banks failing and no available credit?

.. and the media must ahve made up the Iraq war, the Cheney/Haliburton scandal, the oil price speculation fiasco, Enron, and the mess the Auto/Airline/'you name it' Industry Recession and the record profits that Bush supporting companies made over the last 8 years just to discredit the Republicans too.

Shoot, I bet the media also made up the stuff about Bush's daughter and the vote count in Florida - just to make him look bad. In fact, I am confident the media made up the Osama Bin Laden tapes that keep arising, where he is laughing in America's face because we don't have a government strong enough (or smart enough) to get him - so we switched to countries that had nothing to do with 911 (ie, axes of evil - N Korea, Iraq, Iran). ....

You bet, the media really slants things against Republicans and Conservatives dont they.


-------------

Political embellishments aside, now back to devon tower discussions. ...

Devon will build their tower, just wait a few months. Goodness.

The media might not make up things, but your ignorant if you don't think they slant things a certain way usually. HOTROD, don't you think the media up there in Seattle slants things a liberal way or down here in a conservative way? You've got to be kidding yourself otherwise.

You bet, the media really slants things against Republicans and Conservatives dont they.

Yep, they sure do!

The media might not make up things, but your ignorant if you don't think they slant things a certain way usually. HOTROD, don't you think the media up there in Seattle slants things a liberal way or down here in a conservative way? You've got to be kidding yourself otherwise.

Oh I agree. But that doesn't change the fact that Bear Stearns/Lehmen/IndyMac/etc went under. The right tries to blame it on the left and vica versa.

I've seen both ends of the spectrum.
Out west the news is has a huge liberal slant. And in OK... well we all know. :)

doesn't OKCTalk have a political forum in here????????? take it outta here!This is about the devon tower!

I will Be so happy when they start building!

doesn't OKCTalk have a political forum in here????????? take it outta here!This is about the devon tower!

Seriously!! You can argue about liberal media bias to your hearts delight over there.

Back to the topic, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the recent interview Larry Nichols did with News 9. Basically he stated the project was still on and, if anything, the schedule hasn't budged largely because of declining construction costs.

News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | Video - News (http://www.news9.com/Global/category.asp?C=116601&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3314521)

Any1 see the daily Oklahoman article this past Sunday?Hopefuly the Devon tower will only be the tip of the iceberg of things to come!

Wow! I never had any idea that my rant would have lasted this long. Sorry for the political rant in this venue. I am very optimistic about the future and Devon's building. :)

I drove by on the highway earlier and was lookin at the area. It feels so empty without Devon. There is that vast emptiness crying out to be filled. This is going to take years. One day, technology will allow buildings to pop up within days or weeks.

Maybe not days or weeks, but probably a few months.

I will Be so happy when they start building!


I drove by on the highway earlier and was lookin at the area. It feels so empty without Devon. There is that vast emptiness crying out to be filled. This is going to take years. One day, technology will allow buildings to pop up within days or weeks.

On new years day I thought to myself "its finally here, the year downtown OKC's skyline begins to change" anyone whos lived here long enough knows how long our skyline has been stagnet....its finally time to change that. Now when I drive around town, each time I get a glimpse of downtown I try to imagine what it will look like when the buildings done......heck, even while its going up will be exciting. Anyone have an idea how long the ground work and basement work will take before the first steel starts rising above Sheridan???

It will take quite a while.

I think they said that the foundation work/preliminary site work will take approximately a year. That said, they will be breaking ground this fall (which is another misconception) and you will probably not see anything rising from the hole until summer/fall 2010.

As far as the groundbreaking is concerned, I think they are actually going to tear down the existing parking garage and start construction on the west galleria parking deck (expanding it up and out) this spring. Thus the actual groundbreaking on the tower/podium will be in the fall when there is actually dirt there and not a parking garage.

But when we start seeing the first couple of floors, things are going to really fly! I can't wait to start counting floors... But I'm thinking watching the parking garage rise will tide me over until the foundation starts to be poured.

In that interview on Channel 9, Nichols said they would do some demolition and start driving the pillars for the tower this fall.

Not sure when it will start going up, as it generally takes quite a bit of time to do the subterranean work, but it will be very exciting to see them get started.

I am old enough to have experienced several recessions and one thing that always seems to be common with each of them is that the media always says "this one is different" or "this one is going to be the worst". I highly doubt that this will be the worst. Despite people's political views if we were honest we would have to admit that the media has a larger impact on our economy than either political party's policies. The media hates Republicans and therefore will portray everything negative when a Republican is in office. They will beat a dead horse day in and day out until everyone believes the sky is falling. Since they REALLY REALLY hate George Bush, they have gone out of their way to portray the world as even worse this time.

Since they influence people's opinions and scare people to death this results in a self fulfilling prophecy. People get scared and stop buying resulting in companies losing sales, stocks fall, and all the other events that happen when people are afraid they are going to lose their money. The terrible economy has zero to do with the policies of who is in office. Maybe not zero but I would say very little.

The good news for the economy is that they love Barack Obama. I mean the really love him. When he is inaugurated the media will portray the world as a "world of hope". The great Obama will fix the woes of the world and all will be well. This is not necessarily true but since the media loves this guy they will get everyone to believe it and they will gain confidence. They will begin to buy again and the economy will grow. The people will believe that Barack Obama is the second coming of Christ for fixing all the problems of the world. The end result is that the economy will improve. His policies will have little to no impact on any of this but people will think it will. Most people that follow politicians do not even know what their policies are.

I would not worry too much about the economy as the media has their man and they will have the world thinking we have reached a new Utopia and the people will believe it and start becoming active in the economy. There will always be those on the far left and the far right that will hate or love their respective candidates no matter what the media does but the average person to their own detriment will take the media at face value. This is not an attempt to put down Obama but to point out that the media has a bigger impact on the economy than the the President. They will never admit they have this power but anyone that pays attention knows this.

Are you suggesting this is all a "mental recession?" I think it's probably much worse than they're telling us. When every major investment bank on Wall Street faces imminent collapse that is different than, say, the 1982 recession, which was a bear, or the Dot Com crash.

This is a multipronged problem, and now, global. Do you think the four million people who lost their jobs in the last year believe this "isn't as bad as the media is telling us?"

You're not being honest with yourself, or us.

We are a little more insulated here in Oklahoma, so it's easier to believe this is all media hype. But it's not. It is really happening. And I work with a ton of small business owners throughout the state and region and many of them are feeling this hard, now, and it's nowhere near the bottom.

This is not media fiction for ratings. To suggest it is is unfair to those people who are truly suffering right now. If your're not, congratulations, you're lucky, count your blessings.

soonerguru, you may be right, but one truth people need to realize is that most Americans are frightened and unimaginative, and thus when the media mentions the words "BAD RECESSION", Americans panic and start stashing their cash, sometimes unnecessarily, out of fear they will lose their jobs. And that compounds the problem.

Why do you think so many retail and restaurant establishments are beginning to founder? And as far as the financial industry goes... f**k 'em. Serves them right being irresponsible vultures of fortune.

okcpulse,

that is an excellent point. We shouldn't freak out. There's no point in that. There are, however, non-mental aspects to this, such as: freeze in interbank lending, four million job losses in a year, implosion of mortgage-based finance sector, implosion of auto industry, unprecedented government debt forecasts, unprecedented government intervention in the economy, the collapse or near collapse of hundreds of banking institutions.

Look. This could be "good for us" if Americans learn to save a little more and live more thrifty lives. But it's silly, demeaning and inaccurate to chalk this all up to people needing to take a Xanax and return to the mall.

Everything is psychological in a sense. Economies are, after all, rooted in the concept that little green slips of paper are worth something. You want to see a bad economic situation, look at countries like Zimbabwe where they have 10,000% inflation. That's the point where people realize that those little slips of paper really aren't worth anything.

This particular inflation has the potential to be really bad, because several things hit at once. Housing prices were out of control, and many banks didn't have the sense to not get involved with that stuff. Auto makers are in trouble because they didn't see the coming oil price rise, and they had no alternatives to gas guzzlers in place. Now oil prices are have come tumbling down because their high prices were unsustainable.

Fortunately, however bad this recession is, we're in a better situation now than we were two years ago, before it hit. Regardless of the guy who was earning $180K a year last year who is cashing unemployment checks now, as a whole, our economy is in a "better place", because we now have a good grasp of the real value of most things. In my opinion, it is better to have a good grasp of your situation rather than continue on in ignorance. We were on a tightrope before. We're still on a tightrope, but now we're clinging on for dear life because someone took off the blindfold.

Second, we're in a better situation because we will soon enter a period of recovery. People are still scared, but as time goes by, and banks don't fail, as automakers rehabilitate their product lines and begin to have higher sales, as gas prices remain reasonable and people don't buy Hummers, our economy will slowly begin to grow again. People will come out of their caves. And this time, they won't be as stupid with their money. At least for a while.

Devon, however, has been wise. Their stock is still strong. They've got tons of cash reserves, and now construction prices are plummeting. They are in a very strong spot.

Soonerguru I was already scolded once for speaking politics in here so I will let that go.

VIEWS..........

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-2-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-3-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-4-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-5-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-6-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-8.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/close-1.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/close-2.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/close-3.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/close-4.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/close-5.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/close-6.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/close-7.jpg

Impressive stuff. Why doesn't google earth have any of okc's buildings in 3D?

Impressive stuff. Why doesn't google earth have any of okc's buildings in 3D?

Google Earth does have the Cox Convention Center Modeled as well as the State Capital building. As for the rest of downtown OKC......no one has stepped up to do it. Some cities, such as Denver have probably paid a firm to model most of thier CBD, actually mapping the actual photographic images of buildings onto sketchup models. Google Earth Denver is very impressive.........check it out if you haven't seen it.

Google Earth Denver image.........

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/googledenver.jpg

more google earth denver..........

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/googledenver2.jpg

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/googledenver3.jpg

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/googledenver4.jpg

are these sick or what..........

Architect, thanks for the views!

I think Google partners with some cities to do the full 3D renderings. There are a ton of cities that are as good as Denver now. Check out all Florida's major cities, Chicago, NYC, Charlotte and Raleigh, Nashville, Memphis, Minneapolis, and most of California's cities, lots of others. Really wish that OKC would be 3D photorealistic.

I'm excited to see it start taking shape downtown; hopefully it will come to fruition even with the economy the way it is...

Any new news on this?i hate to see this thread bump down to page two!

No, there's not any news. That's no cause for alarm.

With the drop in construction prices do anyone think there might be a chance this building tops 1000'.

With the drop in construction prices do anyone think there might be a chance this building tops 1000'.

Devon should get the building to top 2,000' during this time. Great deals!