BancFirst Tower

[Pete]

I said from the beginning that I'd love to see the new owner of the property greatly expand the base of the building to cover the huge plaza, especially to the west. That building needs to be brought up to the street.

A really cool glass structure at the bottom while freshening up the exterior without changing it much.... To me, that would be the ticket.

[Anonymous.]

I do like the blue glass move. I wish they would do something to harness/deflect the wind. I guarantee this is the windiest area in all of OKC. South winds slam into the tower and rush down to the street level below and it is insanity on 20mph+ days.

[PhiAlpha]

I said from the beginning that I'd love to see the new owner of the property greatly expand the base of the building to cover the huge plaza, especially to the west. That building needs to be brought up to the street.

A really cool glass structure at the bottom while freshening up the exterior without changing it much.... To me, that would be the ticket.

Im not completely against the proposal but I agree with this. They could replace the glass with the same blue tint glass while keeping the design.

[Pete]

Im not completely against the proposal but I agree with this. They could replace the glass with the same blue tint glass while keeping the design.

Basically what United Founders Tower did.

But I like the darker color glass, as that is a hallmark of the International style.

[gamermp101]

Can someone please explain the logic of building an all glass tower in an area with a very high hail potential.

[gopokes88]

There’s literally no winning around here

*tears down an old building*

WHY ARE YOU TEARING DOWN BUILDINGS

*buys an old building, wants to modernize it*

Don’t modernize it! Keep it ugly looking...just newer ugly!

[Bellaboo]

Can someone please explain the logic of building an all glass tower in an area with a very high hail potential.

I doubt hail would damage the very thick higher tempered glass. The probability of damage would come from debris being thrown by a tornado, not by hail.

[dankrutka]

I said from the beginning that I'd love to see the new owner of the property greatly expand the base of the building to cover the huge plaza, especially to the west. That building needs to be brought up to the street.

A really cool glass structure at the bottom while freshening up the exterior without changing it much.... To me, that would be the ticket.

I 100% think this would be the biggest game changer for this building, much more than a change in appearance (I'm with the yeah-its-ugly-but-its-part-of-OKC-history crowd). The area around the tower is generally dead. When you walk out of the Skirvin you just feel like you're in a concrete desert. Adding a 1-2 floor glass structure around the base of this building would do wonders for the vibrancy of the immediate area and help the areas nearby too.

[Bellaboo]

I have mixed feelings about this.

With replaced glass, the building will look much newer.

But that 70's International style is cool in its own right. It wasn't that long ago that we thought re-skinning older buildings from other eras to 'modernize' them was a great idea and one we now largely regret.

With replaced glass, the building becomes much more energy efficient.

Very happy for the change. Now if they can do something about the plaza.

[HOT ROD]

I'm very curious to know how they would replace all that glass while they have tenants inside.

Especially the Petroleum Club.

take a look at how First Canadian Place reskinned their tower in Toronto, they took it floor by floor at a time and sealed everything during construction so there was no impact to tenants. I'd expect similar to be done here.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2011/10/...anadian_place/

[Bellaboo]

I may be in the minority but I always thought this building was ugly and it has always appeared lifeless (the dark, tinted windows are a huge part of why). That was even the case back in the 90s when it was the BankOne Tower. The new skin will be a huge improvement and am looking forward to it.

I've felt the same way. Been an eyesore for years. It was built in 70 - 71, Kerr McGee was built in 73 - 74. And now that the lights are back on, KM (SD) is way more appealing.

[Pete]

There’s literally no winning around here

*tears down an old building*

WHY ARE YOU TEARING DOWN BUILDINGS

*buys an old building, wants to modernize it*

Don’t modernize it! Keep it ugly looking...just newer ugly!

You'd almost think there were hundres of different voices and opinions and that no two properties are the same.

[HOT ROD]

also, we still have great examples of international in the city in 50 Penn and the Union Bank buildings in NW Expressway Business District. Even downtown still has the old BOK Plaza tower and Sandridge - perfect examples of International Style.

I think this is great and only hope the new crown adds some height - only needs 16 feet or so to move up above the Tulsa buildings (save BOK).

[Pete]

From https://www.facebook.com/bockuspayne/:

[Pete]

^

From the looks of that 2nd rendering, they are planning to change viturally the entire design. This shows something much more sleek and modern at ground level and the surrounding plaza than was orginally proposed:

[gopokes88]

I doubt hail would damage the very thick higher tempered glass. The probability of damage would come from debris being thrown by a tornado, not by hail.

Not to mention the fact hail and the glass will be fairly parallel to each other. To shatter a tempered glass window it would have to pretty big hail coming in almost completely sideways. Which would create a very long list problems besides just the glass.

[shawnw]

Oh good, another blue tower.

just wait until you see the LED light fins that come pre-broken before install

[HOT ROD]

im just curious as to why HAIL is not an issue for any of the towers today, yet with a facade change it will be an issue for LIberty Tower?

[dankrutka]

Seeing the wasted lawn space in such a valuable and dense area makes it even more apparent how much better this area would be served with an expanded glass base with retail. And, of course, I love urban green spaces... but those aren't it.

[Sooner.Arch]

Seeing the wasted lawn space in such a valuable and dense area makes it even more apparent how much better this area would be served with an expanded glass base with retail. And, of course, I love urban green spaces... but those aren't it.

Couldn’t agree more!

[bombermwc]

Well they aren't exactlly hurting on space in the tower right now. Why would they want to make an addition to the building that causes the occupancy rate to look even worse? If the occupancy does well, then maybe you can think about adding something to the pad in another 5-10 years. Just because Bancfirst has cash, doesn't mean they want to dump money in here they dont think they'll have a return on.

Anyone know the occupancy rate on these new ground floor retail spots we see being put in all over downtown? I'd be curious if they're actually filling in (and staying filled after a few years).

Personally, i really like the new lobby look too. I'm glad they didn't just re-skin and leave the arches...just would have looked weird with the mis-matched styles to me. That's always a peeve of mine with hospitals. The new buildings never look like the old so it's a conglomerate mess (Baptist).

[jccouger]

The lobby of the building has always felt super empty. I don't even really want to imagine what it would feel like extended out. I think a better idea would be to have a skinny hotel or office building built on one of the corners, that kind of semi wraps around the base of the tower.

Also, I might be mistaken but didn't the design of this tower have some kind of connection to the old World Trade Center towers? Same designer, or was it just heavily influenced by them? For some reason I have this recollection of this, but it may have just been my own mind making the tie.

[Pete]

Here are a couple of models showing how the skyline would change:

[SagerMichael]

I like the look and it will only be better in real life with the logos and crown on top. But why can’t we get some halfway decent renderings of this project?

[Lafferty Daniel]

I like the change. But if a building was going to get re-skinned, I wish it was SandRidge and the even uglier AT&T building next to it.