Wish list for downtown...

[rdj]

Chesapeake's ever-growing and sprawling campus seems incredibly impractical and inefficient.  Any idea why they chose this route instead of going vertical?

Mainly hubris.

I've been told for years McClendon wanted a collegial or academic atmosphere.  I doubt they thought it would grow this big when they started the initial construction on the campus.  I will say it is a beautiful campus and is amazing in December when they have the lights on.

What will be interesting is if anything ever happens to Chesapeake how easily can the campus go from single tenant to multi tenant.  It seems in some ways it could weather a downsize or down real estate market easier than a single tenant tower that touches the sky.

To direct it towards downtown Tulsa, I'd love to see a collection of office buildings this size, they are all three-five stores, developed in the east end or on the UCAT land.

[Teatownclown]

Chesapeake is stretched.....thin.

[rdj]

Chesapeake is stretched.....thin.

Many in the oil & gas industry are amazed at the "luck" they've had in being resilient through the various ups & downs of the last decade.  They can thank Tulsa's St Kaiser for bailing their Founder & CEO out following the Semplosion.

[Teatownclown]

Many in the oil & gas industry are amazed at the "luck" they've had in being resilient through the various ups & downs of the last decade.  They can thank Tulsa's St Kaiser for bailing their Founder & CEO out following the Semplosion.

Past tense....

I am implying that underlying credit will rule the roost for downtown development. Unfortunately, after the Bush years, there's been a credit degradation among all sectors except the oil and gas industry (with a few exceptions). It's been a good run considering the dismal National economy. Unfortunately, the imbalances in nat gas have driven the price way low which will throw some things out of whack for a while. Thank Obama for saber rattling in Iran or oil would be $70-75 per barrel.

Meanwhile, we could use some positive news out of the AA bankruptcy situation.

Remember, "when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door...."

[erfalf]

Regarding a wish list, I have always wondered about the following:

What is the feasibility of filling in "missing teeth". For example in Bartlesville there are several instances of a single commercial building being torn down, either due to fire or condemning. I'm talking small scale two or three story commercial buildings. It leaves a street wall with "missing teeth", generally a surface parking lot. The lot has the unfortunate side effect of cutting through the sidewalk as well since they are so small that they are only one way (in from the street, out through the alley).

Now I've only seen one instance of in fill like this. Several buildings were recreated in Sundance Square (Fort Worth). I know that the owners of the property own everything in the area, so by no means is this an indication that this would work financially. But I want to know if it is.

It always seems that any development (construction) in urban environments has to be large scale (The Metro, Fairfield & KOTV projects are all 1/2 block or larger). Is small scall infill (new-construction) not financially possible?

[JCnOwasso]

It's great that Tulsa has two major employers downtown.  However, due to Devon building a new a tower (and leaving of Kerr McGee), downtown OKC added two additional employers and corporate citizens that are nearly equal (off the top of my head) to ONEOK & Williams.  Sandridge, which was founded by a former founder of Chesapeake, was set to build a suburban campus similar to Chesapeake prior to the chunk of Kerr McGee & Devon space opening up.

I am not sure what your classification is of "major employers" but in my opinion there are more than 2 downtown (maybe not on the Williams [size] level, but how many companies are).  Sure you have Williams and OneOK, but you also have the City (not sure how many they employ), the feds (3 different agencies), Samson and SAIC.  Those are just in the Williams towers.  And truely most of the new business development is in the small sector which is great.  Every business has to start somewhere and I think DownTown has a good mix of big and small.  

[JCnOwasso]

My only addition to the list:

A Pony.

[rdj]

I am not sure what your classification is of "major employers" but in my opinion there are more than 2 downtown (maybe not on the Williams [size] level, but how many companies are).  Sure you have Williams and OneOK, but you also have the City (not sure how many they employ), the feds (3 different agencies), Samson and SAIC.  Those are just in the Williams towers.  And truely most of the new business development is in the small sector which is great.  Every business has to start somewhere and I think DownTown has a good mix of big and small.  

Oh, I wasn't saying those are the only major employers.  Hell BOk Financial is a huge employer downtown and they are in the Williams tower.  I was just responding to his assertion of only ONEOK & Williams.

[carltonplace]

I agree with Blake's idea for a retail corridor that is comprised of outlets that will create a regional draw. But we also need run of the mill retail for the people that live and/or work downtown (Target?).

Many more housing option are needed

A downtown circulator

I completely agree with the need for more art downtown...this is one of the things that will continue to define the "unique Tulsa experience". There are lots of creative people in this city, we need to put a plan together and set them loose.

[AquaMan]

My only addition to the list:

A Pony.

Request a pony corral. The ponies will come.

[Teatownclown]

It always seems that any development (construction) in urban environments has to be large scale (The Metro, Fairfield & KOTV projects are all 1/2 block or larger). Is small scall infill (new-construction) not financially possible?

The bigger the development, the bigger the developer fees. Economies of scale come into play and taking on risk creates incentives for venture capital.
Most developments are driven by greed. The move away from medical areas by doctors groups was facilitated by the private hospital expansion that Obamacare has now curtailed (seems these independents drove the cost up significantly).

Can I wish for Rev. Expect a Miracle to return? Pony up....

[Jeff P]

A couple of bits, pieces and clarifications:

I remember fondly the Williams Forum, Jeff. It was quite popular for awhile but iirc it became a victim of poor economy and declining population downtown.

It was that, coupled with the fact that Williams (as the building's owner) could fill that whole space with employees/tenants.  IIRC, LLDS/WorldCom employees filled that space before they moved out to Cherokee.

It's now totally filled with Williams employees.

However, due to Devon building a new a tower (and leaving of Kerr McGee), downtown OKC added two additional employers and corporate citizens that are nearly equal (off the top of my head) to ONEOK & Williams.  Sandridge, which was founded by a former founder of Chesapeake, was set to build a suburban campus similar to Chesapeake prior to the chunk of Kerr McGee & Devon space opening up.

FWIW, SandRidge is much smaller than Williams or ONEOK.

SandRidge is actually roughly the same size (a bit larger) as WPX Energy, the E&P company that Williams just spun off.  They both have a market cap of around $3 billion.

For comparsion's sake, Williams' market cap is around $17 billion, and ONEOK is around $15 billion.

And I'm assuming that the other company you're talking about is Continental Resources. They were absolutly a great "get" for OKC, but again - they are much smaller than either Williams or ONEOK.  They are more akin to Sampson energy or even a company like Magellan Midstream.

And I certainly wish they would have moved here instead of OKC, but I think with their previous HQ being in Enid, it was going to be a tough sell for them to pick Tulsa over OKC.

Don't let your love of Tulsa keep you from recognizing and appreciating the success OKC has achieved as a result of political, private and corporate cooperation and investment.

Oh - I do think what they have done/are doing is great. 

Sure you have Williams and OneOK, but you also have the City (not sure how many they employ), the feds (3 different agencies), Samson and SAIC.  Those are just in the Williams towers.  And truely most of the new business development is in the small sector which is great.  Every business has to start somewhere and I think DownTown has a good mix of big and small.

Don't forget Bank of Oklahoma.  They are the largest financial institute in the region with their headquarters downtown.  You also have two companies that used to be part of Williams with their headquarters downtown: the aforementioned WPX Energy and Magellan Midstream, which is a pretty good sized midstream company.

[rdj]

Sandridge may be smaller in market cap, but they have plans to have roughly 1,500 employees (I think they have about 1,000 now) in downtown OKC and own over 1MM sq ft of office and retail space spread over three blocks with plans to pump $100MM into the buildings.  That's not a small employer or small plans.  Williams Tower is what 1.4MM sq ft?  Williams occupies how much of that?

Continental Resources is a huge get.  Sure, they may only bring a few hundred jobs to OKC, but they are absorbing an empty building.  Can you image if the Williams Tower suddenly became vacant what would that do to the downtown vacancy rate?  They immediately solved that problem for OKC.  Additionally, their market cap is $13B.  Smaller than ONEOK & Williams?  Yes.  Significant amount of capital heading for downtown OKC?  Absolutely.  Who is the last $13B company to relocate to Tulsa?

I didn't mention BOk Financial or other top employers (Cimarex and their new building come to mind) because I was only using ONEOK & Williams which is who you mentioned.

[Jeff P]

Sandridge may be smaller in market cap, but they have plans to have roughly 1,500 employees (I think they have about 1,000 now) in downtown OKC and own over 1MM sq ft of office and retail space spread over three blocks with plans to pump $100MM into the buildings.  That's not a small employer or small plans.

I didn't say they were "small" per se, just that they are smaller than Williams and ONEOK.

And their growth plans are great.  All companies plan to grow, especially mid-sized independent E&P companies like SD.  Whether or not that happens is many times out of their control.  Things happen, you know?  Especially in oil and gas, as we've all seen over the past 3 decades.

If they complete all of their plans and become another CHK, that would be great for OKC and great for the state. I'm all on board with that.

Williams Tower is what 1.4MM sq ft?  Williams occupies how much of that?

I don't know the square footage off the top of my head.

There's the tower and then there's also the Resource Center (the old Williams Forums).

I don't know the exact split up of real estate, but we have right at 1,000 employees in Tulsa post-WPX spinoff.  (We have approx. 4,000 employees total)

The major building tenants outside of Williams are BOK, WPX, Magellan, Newfield Exploration, and Conner & Winters.

I do know that the facility is more or less full, so if and when any of these tenants significantly grow, they'll need to look outside of the tower.

Continental Resources is a huge get.  Sure, they may only bring a few hundred jobs to OKC, but they are absorbing an empty building.  Can you image if the Williams Tower suddenly became vacant what would that do to the downtown vacancy rate?  They immediately solved that problem for OKC.  Additionally, their market cap is $13B.  Smaller than ONEOK & Williams?  Yes.  Significant amount of capital heading for downtown OKC?  Absolutely.  Who is the last $13B company to relocate to Tulsa?

I'm not arguing that they aren't a "huge get." Of course it would be fantastic if a company like CLR moved to Tulsa. Who's arguing against that?

This whole discussion started with me trying to understand what the "Devon miracle" was.

I don't think that CLR decided to move to OKC just because Devon decided to build a new HQ building and some downtown real estate was freed up, if that's what the point was....

[SXSW]

And I certainly wish they would have moved here instead of OKC, but I think with their previous HQ being in Enid, it was going to be a tough sell for them to pick Tulsa over OKC.

I had heard a number of their employees, especially the higher-paid engineers, already lived in Edmond and commuted to Enid.  The CEO, billionaire Harold Hamm, already had bought a house in Nichols Hills before they announced the move.  

A "get" for Tulsa would be a non-energy company like Wichita's Spirit Aerosystems moving its HQ to the city where they already employ thousands by the airport.