Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

[lasomeday]

Mr. Beffort states in his interview....

These statements make me think that it will not be an out of state relocation.

I still think the only logical choice is Midfirst Bank. They used to be downtown, their corporate office is in the Chesapeake Empire target zone. They have the capital to do it.

It would be nice to have a large bank downtown to diversify from oil and gas.

American Fidelity would be the second choice. They are massive and could build a nice tower. I don't know how much money they would have. I know a company like that would benefit from having their name out more. A tower would be a great way to do it.

As for ConocoPhillips and Sunoco. They aren't moving. Sunoco will be in northeast where its refineries are located, and ConocoPhillips won't be moving until they get the CEO out. So any talks of them moving any jobs out of Houston and Bartlesville won't happen. They should logically split the jobs out of Bartlesville for the new Phillips 66 company to Ponca City, but the CEO hates Ponca, so he is bound and determined to make that town go down.

[lasomeday]

I still think the only logical choice is Midfirst Bank. They used to be downtown, their corporate office is in the Chesapeake Empire target zone. They have the capital to do it.

It would be nice to have a large bank downtown to diversify from oil and gas.

American Fidelity would be the second choice. They are massive and could build a nice tower. I don't know how much money they would have. I know a company like that would benefit from having their name out more. A tower would be a great way to do it.

Also, these two companies have not down any work on their corporate offices in the last 10-15 years. They might be saving up for a move?

Midfirst has expanded throughout the city in former Wal-Marts and such and other odd locations. They would benefit from a large tower to have everyone centrally located.

[adaniel]

ConocoPhillips is separating it's pipeline/refinery business from it's exploration arm.

I can't imagine either moving away from Houston.

I know they have different units scattered around so perhaps one could be coming to OKC -- hopefully not at the expense of Bartlesville.

COP has actually increased their Bartlesville presence since the days of just Conoco and Phillips, largely at the expense of Ponca City. So I don't think its them. Plus, between that and Continental could you imagine the howling that would flare up at the state capitol of "big, bad OKC poaching our little towns"?

In the spirit of wild speculation based off of questionable sources, I don't believe SandRidge is the new tenant for the mystery office building. But my uncle, who works for a large concrete company in town, indicated that SR wants to start on its building right away. At this point it is just waiting for Devon to be completely finished on its building to free up contractors.

[Pete]

I think you are right Skyline because Preftakes has been acquiring those properties for several years, which indicates this plan has been long in the making.

Also, Beffort's quote was "corporate headquarters", which is very different than just an employer like Boeing that is bringing in lots of jobs but still staying HQ'd in Seattle.


My guess this is either American Fidelity (who has expressed interest in downtown), MidFirst (in the path of CHK growth and bursting at the seams) or less likely, Continental.

[Bellaboo]

The CEO of AT&T is from Moore, OK. Does that mean anything ?

[Pete]

One other thing about MidFirst...

They have a built in buyer for their properties in Chesapeake. As has been well documented, CHK has been buying every office building within a 5 mile radius of their campus and the two MidFirst buildings are actually surrounded by their holdings. MF also owns a good chunk of acreage adjacent to one of their buildings.

The way CHK splashes around money, you can bet they would pay about $100 million for those properties -- maybe more. That combined with a possible sweetheart deal on the Pretakes properties and downtown TIF money would go a long way towards a brand new 40-story building.


American Fidelity has lots of money too but would not be able to readily liquidate their properties on Classen. That wouldn't necessarily stop them because they don't have a ton of money sunk in there, but they wouldn't be able to move with the nice chunk MidFirst would be getting.

[UnFrSaKn]

If it's a local company, it'll probably be pretty modest in size. Could be wrong.

[Just the facts]

From all indications, yes.

If that is the case then this plan has been in place for a long time, which means we will most likely see ground breaking this year and not just an annoucement for a future building.

[metro]

A new headquarters could mean anything, a from local companies to out of state companies. wish it would have said if the company is currently located in okc, and is building a new HQ, or that its a outside company buildinga new HQ in okc. But at least we know for a fact we are gettinga new building in okc

That's what I said on Steve's "blog", but I guess that was too controversial for him so he deleted it. While I doubt it is a small HQ, keep in mind a company like Sonic has a large presence, but a small HQ, just 4 stories. I doubt this is the case on this one, but could be the case, but I'd take it even if it is.

As others stated, Midfirst is the likely candidate for the reasons stated, plus their is already speculative renderings we found and posted here (of course it could possibily have been another tenant). We also know Midfirst is busting at the seams and scattered throughout town. It just makes sense for them to centralize.

[Steve]

Maybe we should start with what we know:

http://newsok.com/downtown-oklahoma-...rticle/3647036



From OKC-Central

http://blog.newsok.com/okccentral/20...ine-will-grow/



My questions is this - is the tower talked about by Beffort the same one being speculated on the Preftakes block?

I believe they are the same one, but with a caveat. Here's another thought to contemplate; what if, as we keep looking in the pond to figure out what fish is swimming around, teasing us but never stopping long enough for us to be sure of what we're seeing, and always darting through from unexpected locations so we're left totally bewildered ... what if there are two fish, and not just one? As an aside, I have not deleted any comments. But some comments, posters, do end up caught up in the spam filter.

[G.Walker]

I'm all in with my chips for CLR. It just makes sense. They already have a good relationship with Devon, they already stated they are tripling in size in the next few years, and they own the most real estate in the biggest oil play in the US via Bakken Shale. With that being said, growth of CLR will put them close to 1,000+ in the next 5 years or so. I am sure Devon had a big hand in convincing CLR to move to Oklahoma City and buying their old headquarters. So I wouldn't be surprised if Devon is helping them build corporate headquarters on the Preftakes block.

[G.Walker]

I believe they are the same one, but with a caveat. Here's another thought to contemplate; what if, as we keep looking in the pond to figure out what fish is swimming around, teasing us but never stopping long enough for us to be sure of what we're seeing, and always darting through from unexpected locations so we're left totally bewildered ... what if there are two fish, and not just one? As an aside, I have not deleted any comments. But some comments, posters, do end up caught up in the spam filter.

Man, wouldn't it be something to have two major skyscrapers, CC Hotel, and Sandridge Tower all started around the same time? Talk about sea of cranes across downtown!

[s00nr1]

That would be phenomenal but I still believe the CC hotel needs to be at least 20 stories to make a significant impact on the downtown hotel market. I'm really hoping someone like Westin, Marriott, or Grand Hyatt will be the brand.

[Pete]

Another tidbit on Midland Mortgage is they recently had to place a bunch of people at Shepherd Mall of all places, which shows they are well out of space.

They really came out of the recent financial crisis in good shape and are extremely well positioned. If they are already sending employees to Class C properties, you can imagine they are going to need lots more space in the near future.

They own the acreage immediately north of the MidFirst building and have done nothing with it despite needing the room to grow. This is another hint they might not be staying in that area much longer.

[s00nr1]

Something like this would be my ultimate dream:

[lasomeday]

I'm all in with my chips for CLR. It just makes sense. They already have a good relationship with Devon, they already stated they are tripling in size in the next few years, and they own the most real estate in the biggest oil play in the US via Bakken Shale. With that being said, growth of CLR will put them close to 1,000+ in the next 5 years or so. I am sure Devon had a big hand in convincing CLR to move to Oklahoma City and buying their old headquarters. So I wouldn't be surprised if Devon is helping them build corporate headquarters on the Preftakes block.

G, it is not CLR! They are going to need more office space but it will be about 3-5 years from now. They will be like Devon leasing in neighboring office buildings until then. Then I see them building. But not for at least 3 years not 2012.

[lasomeday]

Another tidbit on Midland Mortgage is they recently had to place a bunch of people at Shepherd Mall of all places, which shows they are well out of space.

They really came out of the recent financial crisis in good shape and are extremely well positioned. If they are already sending employees to Class C properties, you can imagine they are going to need lots more space in the near future.

They own the acreage immediately north of the MidFirst building and have done nothing with it despite needing the room to grow. This is another hint they might not be staying in that area much longer.

From what I have heard that Shepard Mall office space is a huge disaster. I could see them wanting to get out of that soon!

[lasomeday]

Something like this will be a great change!

[UnFrSaKn]

I wonder if Chesapeake would ever lure a HQ here with their new campus and move downtown someday in the future. They would really stand out more with a building rising up along with the others instead of away from downtown.

[G.Walker]

G, it is not CLR! They are going to need more office space but it will be about 3-5 years from now. They will be like Devon leasing in neighboring office buildings until then. Then I see them building. But not for at least 3 years not 2012.

it will take 2 1/2 years just to build it, lol. Let's say just for pure speculation it is CLR, and it is announced this year, and its slated for the Preftakes block. And lets say its announced this Summer after Devon is completed. More than likely it would take Preftakes the remainder of 2012 for demolition of buildings on that block and site prep. So we would be looking at 2013 for actual construction starting, and then tack on another 2 1/2 for construction and move in, puts us close to 2016. 4 years from now, CLR would probably have outgrown their space, so why not start now?

[Pete]

If you are a growing company in the OKC suburbs, good luck finding any decent property to rent. CHK has bought up everything in sight while at the same time pushing out existing tenants who all have to land somewhere.

Speculative building is still super-tough to get funded so I don't see this changing any time soon.

[BG918]

ConocoPhillips is separating it's pipeline/refinery business from it's exploration arm. I can't imagine either moving away from Houston.

I know they have different units scattered around so perhaps one could be coming to OKC -- hopefully not at the expense of Bartlesville.

They are planning a major campus in Louisville (suburb between Denver and Boulder) which many in the industry think could be the new exploration/R&D HQ while refining side (Phillips 66) will remain in Houston, or vice versa. Bartlesville could be majorly impacted once they are settled in at their new Colorado HQ, or eliminated altogether.

[Pete]

I don't believe that Louisville, CO site will be any sort of HQ... They are calling it their Global Technology and Corporate Learning Center and are only planning a maximum of 2.5 million square feet. That's only slightly larger that what Devon is building.

I know they have lots of land there but it also sounds like they are struggling to get the community to even agree to the initial 1.6 million sq. ft.

[G.Walker]

Glad we are getting a new skyscraper, but its going to take a whole lot of money, and one hell of architect to top Devon Tower!

[Just the facts]

I just hope the new tower is not a glass monolith.