OPUBCO / Oklahoman Business Practices

[Pete]

So now, instead of the excess generated funds going to the general TIF - which typically funds public infrastructure improvements adjacent to new development at a rate of the expected new tax to be generated by said development over a proscribed period of time - it went into a fund that Devon specified, which included all of Project 180 AND a roughly $30 million renovation of Myriad Botanical Gardens (which shortly after completion won national awards).

Now, it's fair to criticize the incomplete nature of P180 or whatever, but Devon COULD have insisted that the monies generated from the new TIF be spent immediately adjacent to their campus, and instead they asked to have it spent downtown-wide AND at MBG. Or, they could have left it alone and the monies STILL would have gone into a TIF district.

First of all, this line "TIF - which typically funds public infrastructure improvements adjacent to new development " is often repeated by the Oklahoman and is utterly false. TIF money is granted to a developer directly, and they can use it for any part of their development. A very small amount of TIF has been used for parking garages.

Secondly, yes there was an existing TIF but what Devon did is demand a new district be created specifically for their project and then they dictated exactly how that money would be spent (primarily on MGB and Project 180 which ended up being the streets and sidewalks all around their campus). Larry Nichols sits on the Devon TIF committee and also chairs the Alliance and OCURA, so he and his allies basically made all the decisions where that money would go, which was generally in a concentric pattern from Devon (which is why there was no money left for Broadway, EK Gaylord, and about half what was originally promised).

Third, there is a ton of flexibility in the general downtown TIF and a good chunk went to John Rex and the new OKCPS HQ, among other school-related projects. Zero funds from the Devon TIF went towards education.

And fourth, TIF districts run 25 years in OKC, the max allowed by the state constitution. The downtown TIF had been in place for 8 years before Devon came along, which means the Devon TIF will run 8 years longer than would have otherwise been the case.

[Pete]

Devon Chief Executive Larry Nichols told the council his company expects the city to provide public improvements to create an appropriate environment for a world headquarters. The company plans to build more than 1 million square feet of space on the northeast corner of Sheridan and Hudson avenues, just north of Myriad Gardens. “It is not, in many ways, a logical place to put a building of this size,” Nichols said. “We do have people inside Devon and people in Houston that think a corporate headquarters of this size and magnitude in our industry is more appropriate to be located, quite frankly, in Houston.

“But that’s a problem we can fix,” he said. “We have imposed two conditions on our ability to build this building. And that is both to fix up the neighborhood and help bring other businesses into Oklahoma City.”


https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...699#post186699

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
Read that last statement of his however you want, but certainly I don’t read it as a threat to move but instead an acknowledgement that it would have probably made more business sense to relocate to Houston (for reasons I’ve outlined above) or at the very least to relocate to the OKC suburbs where land is cheap and you can put whatever you want around your building (see Paycom, among others).

Instead, Devon (who answers to shareholders) made a much, MUCH more expensive commitment to downtown OKC with clear intent to help take OKC to another level, where relocation to another city was no longer a foregone conclusion (Oklahoma had lost multiple Fortune 500 companies in the years preceding).

Also, he made good on the statement that it would help relocate other companies, which clearly happened with Continental among others.

This was strategic for Devon but also for OKC and for DOWNTOWN OKC, and was exactly within the spirit of what the original downtown TIF was designed to do; to make downtown (and by extension the whole city) competitive with other places, and an attractive option and job market.

Furthermore the oohing and ahhing we regularly make on this board regarding the liveliness of the downtown area likely would have been much more muted were MBG still the same tired place it was and were our streets and sidewalks downtown bereft of the P180 improvements that WERE made.

And I think a very good case could be made that our sales tax and property tax collections would be not nearly so robust has they have been in the past decade, or even now at the (hopeful) tail end of a pandemic.

Obviously, the commodities market has changed since then and I have no idea what the future holds for the energy sector. But I think downtown (and by extension OKC) is much better off thanks to the changes made by MAPS, the downtown TIF and yes, the Devon TIF.

I think it’s fair to debate the merits of incentives and of TIF specifically, but to only refer to these things in a subtractive sense and to make no attempt whatsoever to quantify the benefit - or even to deny that it exists - is an incomplete retelling, I’m sorry.

[Pete]

^

I've written extensively on TIF elsewhere, and have given an hour-long town hall presentation on the subject.

This is well-covered territory, although many keep getting the basic facts wrong.


BTW, since this is a thread about the Oklahoman and this was kicked off by my posting about a ridiculous 'article' that had to come from Devon itself, I'll point out that Nichols & Co. made the decision to allocate part of the Devon TIF to the Oklahoman.

[Urbanized]

I wholeheartedly agree that many continue to get the basic facts surrounding TIF wrong.

[BoulderSooner]

BTW, since this is a thread about the Oklahoman and this was kicked off by my posting about a ridiculous 'article' that had to come from Devon itself, I'll point out that Nichols & Co. made the decision to allocate part of the Devon TIF to the Oklahoman.

which IIRC we talked about how crazy that was at the time that a non building owner got TIF funds for their office buildout /move I believe that is still the one and only time TIF funds have been used in that way ..

[onthestrip]

which IIRC we talked about how crazy that was at the time that a non building owner got TIF funds for their office buildout /move I believe that is still the one and only time TIF funds have been used in that way ..

And not for some new business that came to town. It was simply to have a company move from one part of OKC to another part of OKC. Not to mention a few years later they've seriously downsized and dont employ near the amount they once did. Return on this investment probably wont ever come.

[gopokes88]

I'm not going to get into the TIF thing but I will say this (excluding majority state owned oil companies like Equinor or Lukoil) Devon is now the 10th largest oil company by market cap. In the recent M&A phase Devon was a hunter not the hunted. It's a good thing they're down there even if the cost is high.

[David]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but it seems maybe relevant since it impacts The Oklahoman.

Starting from: https://twitter.com/StormeJones/stat...04794996666376

NEW: News9 parent company Griffin Communications has purchased downtown OKC’s Century Center, home of The Oklahoman Newspaper. The $26 Million investment will move News9 newsroom, studios & corporate offices downtown.

CEO David Griffin says they’ve worked closely with Gannett and The Oklahoman to remain as tenants in the building. The company also announced plans to launch a Media Innovation Collective (MIC) co-working space for non-profit and for-profit media organizations at the new location.

The investment includes $10 Million for a new set, IT infrastructure and security upgrades. Griffin says the move should be complete by the summer of 2022.

Griffin says closing is set for the beginning of August. Demo will begin in September.

[HOT ROD]

I mentioned this in the other thread but if I were a corp planner Id arrange the building as follows:

1st floor: News9 studios and reporter offices/touchdown areas, Oklahoman studios, media incubator and studios, reception and community facilities
2nd floor: Griffin HQ offices, OPUBCO HQ offices, Oklahoman reporter offices and touchdown, Ganett Oklahoma Regional HQ offices
roof: possible helipad

[riflesforwatie]

This might be better for one of the nostalgia or history threads but it relates specifically to The Oklahoman so I'll start here, I guess. Does anyone have experience with The Oklahoman's archives? I've been using them somewhat extensively recently but it seems like only certain years are fully searchable, and even in the years that are fully searchable, I find a substantial number of articles that are completely illegible (not that unusual for old newspapers, TBH) or where the rest of the article "after the jump" is orphaned from its parent. I seriously doubt that the paper itself has the resources nowadays to fix its archives but I'm wondering if some of the libraries have better/more searchable archives than The Oklahoman itself.

[Pete]

This is the weirdest thing ever...

They have Berry Tramel -- the sports columnist -- writing about Castle Falls (a restaurant and event venue):

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...am/5645651001/

[catcherinthewry]

This is the weirdest thing ever...

They have Berry Tramel -- the sports columnist -- writing about Castle Falls (a restaurant and event venue):

Not really that weird. Having read Tramel for years it's easy to see his love of history. And in recent years he's been writing a travel blog where he writes about the interesting places and food he experiences.

[Pete]

Not really that weird. Having read Tramel for years it's easy to see his love of history. And in recent years he's been writing a travel blog where he writes about the interesting places and food he experiences.

Can you point to an example of where he has written an article for the paper (not a blog) about something other than sports?

And wasn't that travel blog completely tied to visiting places for sports coverage?

[catcherinthewry]

Can you point to an example of where he has written an article for the paper (not a blog) about something other than sports?

And wasn't that travel blog completely tied to visiting places for sports coverage?

Although I'm not a Tramel historian, I do remember him writing non-sports related stories over the years. I particularly remember him writing about one of the big tornadoes. As for his travel blogs, I first noticed them on his trip to Italy a few years ago. He's a gifted and well rounded writer. I'm not saying that this article wasn't a departure from his usual fare, but it does fit into two of his passions.

[gopokes88]

He wrote some stuff about his trip to Maine and lobsters one summer.

I think Berry is at the point he'll write whatever he wants too and they'll publish it. He's awesome.

[Pete]

Tramel is definitely the best media writer in the state.

[Pete]

I went to high school with Amy Rollins the owner of Castle Falls.

We just talked on the phone and Amy and her husband are friends with Tramel. The Oklahoman is doing a series called Landmarks Around Us and this article was part of that.

[Dob Hooligan]

I went to high school with Amy Rollins the owner of Castle Falls.

We just talked on the phone and Amy and her husband are friends with Tramel. The Oklahoman is doing a series called Landmarks Around Us and this article was part of that.

Is that the series that runs every Sunday? Been going on for month to 6 weeks IIRC.

[Pete]

Is that the series that runs every Sunday? Been going on for month to 6 weeks IIRC.

Yes.

A weekly feature called “The Landmarks Around Us,” exploring the history and background of the special places right in front of us that we often ignore or take for granted, like murals, historical markers, or maybe that hole-in-the-wall family café that has become a neighborhood institution. Knowing the stories and the history of the notable buildings, statues, murals and other landmarks around us enriches our everyday experience and can make an ordinary walk through the city seem like a stroll through a living museum.

[BoulderSooner]

I went to high school with Amy Rollins the owner of Castle Falls.

We just talked on the phone and Amy and her husband are friends with Tramel. The Oklahoman is doing a series called Landmarks Around Us and this article was part of that.

the one benefit is that Tram is actually a pretty good writer .. which is not always the case at that paper

[unfundedrick]

I went to high school with Amy Rollins the owner of Castle Falls.

We just talked on the phone and Amy and her husband are friends with Tramel. The Oklahoman is doing a series called Landmarks Around Us and this article was part of that.

I belonged to a business networking group a number of years ago that met for lunch. Amy and Ralph were members and I got to know them well. They are great people.

[catcherinthewry]

No edition on Labor Day. How soon before they quit printing 7 days a week?

[Jeepnokc]

No edition on Labor Day. How soon before they quit printing 7 days a week?

Looks like they did an edition but didn't load properly. I got three pages of the paper' Front page. A15 and the comics. A15 is missing half the content.

[catcherinthewry]

Looks like they did an edition but didn't load properly. I got three pages of the paper' Front page. A15 and the comics. A15 is missing half the content.

That's all you're going to get. They said they're not printing a Labor Day edition.