View Full Version : Changing Silhouette of DT



metro
02-16-2010, 07:48 AM
Looks like a good article in today's JR. If someone has online access please post full article. Also, I noticed the incorrect statement of $100 million renovation of the Braniff Building.


Changing silhouette
By Brian Brus
The Journal Record
Posted: 11:08 PM Monday, February 15, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – The new Devon skyscraper, a $100 million renovation of the Braniff Building and 50 blocks of streetscaping all have a common theme, officials said Monday: more open, public spaces in downtown Oklahoma City. But while the end result will be a massive change in the city’s appearance, it won’t be an easy adjustment, ...

warreng88
02-16-2010, 08:35 AM
Looks like a good article in today's JR. If someone has online access please post full article. Also, I noticed the incorrect statement of $100 million renovation of the Braniff Building.


Changing silhouette
By Brian Brus
The Journal Record
Posted: 11:08 PM Monday, February 15, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – The new Devon skyscraper, a $100 million renovation of the Braniff Building and 50 blocks of streetscaping all have a common theme, officials said Monday: more open, public spaces in downtown Oklahoma City. But while the end result will be a massive change in the city’s appearance, it won’t be an easy adjustment, ...

Changing silhouette
By Brian Brus
The Journal Record
Posted: 11:08 PM Monday, February 15, 2010

OKLAHOMA CITY – The new Devon skyscraper, a $100 million renovation of the Braniff Building and 50 blocks of streetscaping all have a common theme, officials said Monday: more open, public spaces in downtown Oklahoma City.

But while the end result will be a massive change in the city’s appearance, it won’t be an easy adjustment, especially in the case of the latter Project 180, Assistant City Manager Cathy O’Connor said.

“There are going to be challenges,” O’Connor told a crowded auditorium at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber’s Breaking Through luncheon. “We plan to reconstruct the streets from building face to building face, and we will disrupt traffic. You can’t make those kinds of improvements without disrupting traffic to some extent.”

O’Connor said that for the next four years, some streets in downtown will be narrowed for construction, much like the number of lanes has been reduced on Sheridan Avenue while Devon Energy Corp.’s corporate headquarters is built. But by then the skyline will have changed, too, with more than 50 stories of new office space. Other buildings will be upgraded as well.

O’Connor was joined by Devon Chief Executive Larry Nichols and SandRidge Energy Chief Executive Tom Ward, who outlined their companies’ contributions to the downtown makeover. The Devon project is directly responsible for the streetscaping of Project 180, because when the energy company announced its intention to build, executives asked that a tax increment finance, or TIF, district be created to fund public improvements in the so-called Core to Shore redevelopment between downtown and the relocated Interstate 40 Crosstown at the Oklahoma River’s edge.

Project 180 is expected to cost about $140 million, funded primary through the TIF. Devon’s nearly 1-million-square-foot skyscraper is projected to cost more than $750 million.

Nichols said the intention to enhance downtown’s overall appearance has proven successful, as shown by businesses such as SandRidge moving into the district and making improvements of their own.

The Devon building is still on target for completion in the second half of 2012, he said. When it’s done, the building will include a large reflecting pool, garden landscaping and a rotunda at ground level. That circular, six-story-tall building will have 25,000 square feet by itself, entirely surrounded by windows. It will connect to another office building of about 400,000 square feet that Nichols referred to as the Podium.

“It will be a major focal center for the building, a large town hall,” he said. “There are rings of walkways around each of the top floors to allow people … to go from the tower to the Podium, and yet have it appear as though they’re outside, on an outside sidewalk. So it will create life and activity, and yet still be within the security area of the building.”

Nichols also praised Ward and SandRidge for taking an entire downtown block and turning it around. Ward said the company looked for a campus site in north Oklahoma City, but found that renovating the Braniff building on Robinson Avenue, formerly held by Kerr-McGee, was more attractive overall.

“We wanted to have a place in Oklahoma City where people could use the space, not only our employees,” Ward said. “We didn’t want to build a campus that had walls; that you couldn’t be a part of. We want visitors to be able to come across our space and use our space … a common area.”

The company also plans to build an activity center across the street and to remove some construction that blocks the Braniff. Extensive landscaping is expected.

And from SandRidge to Devon and beyond, every inch of downtown streets and sidewalks will be renovated to provide a more cohesive appearance, O’Connor said. Every bench, grate and light post will be replaced with a new design, one-way streets will be converted to two-way, and bicycle lanes will be added.

Changing silhouette (http://journalrecord.com/2010/02/15/okc-official-improvements-won%e2%80%99t-come-without-costs-real-estate/)