Downtown Development Overview

[DowntownDan]

Surely Prairie can survive as a taproom only. Maybe a smaller footprint? A spot at or near Mother Road Market might work, or maybe they can take the American Solera spot on 18th and Boston.

[SXSW]

Surely Prairie can survive as a taproom only. Maybe a smaller footprint? A spot at or near Mother Road Market might work, or maybe they can take the American Solera spot on 18th and Boston.

Yep the former American Solera at 18th & Boston would be a good spot.  I know the Knoll at Maple Ridge which is planned for the nearby empty lot along the MV trail is supposed to have a brewery and/or distillery with outdoor patio seating.  I think this area could support two breweries.

[Urban Enthusiast]

OTASCO - retail project at 2nd & Cincinnati that is almost finished - not sure if any tenants have been announced yet? 

I drove by this today and saw a sign on the building up high on the west side that said "Brook Restaurant and Bar."  I guess this will be their 3rd location? 

[Dspike]

Knoll at Maple Ridge

Any updates on this project. Last I saw on the forums were posts from summer 2019. Concerned the pandemic + low gas prices may have slowed progress.

[Urban Enthusiast]

Was downtown this morning and took some pics of the projects going on in the Arts District.  I also snagged a few of the Otasco site development at 2nd and Cincinnati.

The View











GreenArch II & Greenwood Rising







Greenwood trail





Former WPX Headquarters













Davenport Lofts











OKPOP











Otasco Site

[swake]

Great shots

[Dspike]

Agreed. Thanks for these photo updates, especially when many of us aren't heading downtown as much during the pandemic.

[SXSW]

Any updates on this project. Last I saw on the forums were posts from summer 2019. Concerned the pandemic + low gas prices may have slowed progress.

I'm sure the current uncertainty for the retail/restaurant/brewery environment has put this project on hold.  I know Patrick Fox long-term is committed to this site but it may be another year or two before we see it developed.  Great opportunity to really change 18th & Boston with this project and whatever will replace the old Louisianne building.  Both would front the MV trail and offer trail-side outdoor seating which would be a unique offering for Tulsa.  I see this whole area expanding over the next few years with more housing and mixed-use development, more so than any other area outside downtown and around 11th & Lewis/TU.



This picture shows how important the LA King redevelopment will be to connecting the dots along Main.  Same for the TDA lot across the street.

[ComeOnBenjals]

Great shots! So much going on in such a relatively small area.   I hope the longer we go on without hearing negative news about the WPX building, the better. Want the full height!

[LandArchPoke]

I think from a few articles I read is that the new Devon CEO is the WPX CEO right? If so, I can see why they are holding their commitment to finishing this project how it was proposed. It did seem to be that the WPX people took this project more personal than you see a lot of big companies and they seemed to be very thoughtful on site, connection, design, etc.

I could see BOK or someone taking over the building. I did notice a while back that all of BOK's space in the black Williams I & II buildings which was in the 50-100k sq. ft. range. They had moved there from City Hall several years back and Magellan took part of their old space in City Hall.

BOK had renderings drawn up for a new HQ on the two lots they own along Archer and don't think it really ever went further than just some basic design/site planning.

If WPX's leadership is running Devon now - I wonder why they are so intent on consolidating in OKC. Why not put space in the Devon HQ on the market and turn it into what Williams/BOK Tower is now (multi-tenant). Devon does have some huge lease commitments on that other building that was built (BOK Park Tower something next door) where they are trying to sublease the rest of that building still. So, there is a glut of Class A space in downtown there, far more than Tulsa.

Anyone have any info on how much of WPX's leadership is staying versus Devon's?

[DowntownDan]

I've heard that BOK is going to take over more space in the BOK Tower and Williams is also expanding their space within the tower. I think there is enough space for BOK to have most of their people in the tower and don't need a separate building. It would be nice if I'm wrong and BOK could take over the WPX building.

[Oil Capital]

I think from a few articles I read is that the new Devon CEO is the WPX CEO right? If so, I can see why they are holding their commitment to finishing this project how it was proposed. It did seem to be that the WPX people took this project more personal than you see a lot of big companies and they seemed to be very thoughtful on site, connection, design, etc.

I could see BOK or someone taking over the building. I did notice a while back that all of BOK's space in the black Williams I & II buildings which was in the 50-100k sq. ft. range. They had moved there from City Hall several years back and Magellan took part of their old space in City Hall.

BOK had renderings drawn up for a new HQ on the two lots they own along Archer and don't think it really ever went further than just some basic design/site planning.

If WPX's leadership is running Devon now - I wonder why they are so intent on consolidating in OKC. Why not put space in the Devon HQ on the market and turn it into what Williams/BOK Tower is now (multi-tenant). Devon does have some huge lease commitments on that other building that was built (BOK Park Tower something next door) where they are trying to sublease the rest of that building still. So, there is a glut of Class A space in downtown there, far more than Tulsa.

Anyone have any info on how much of WPX's leadership is staying versus Devon's?

I believe the senior leadership of the new Devon is pretty evenly split between former WPX leaders and "old Devon" leaders, with slightly more Devon people.

New Board of Directors is 7 from Devon and 5 from WPX
New Chairman:  Devon
New President/CEO:  WPX
New EVP/CFO:  Devon
New EVP/COO: WPX
New EVP/Chief Development: Devon
New EVP/General Counsel: WPX
New Sr VP-HR: Devon

I suspect the choice of HQ had to do with several factors.  Probably the most important is that Devon was the larger entity and, in reality, this was Devon purchasing WPX. Additionally, as you mentioned, Devon owns a huge building with tons of excess space.  

Their commitment to complete the under-construction building in Tulsa probably just makes better economic sense than stopping construction. They've already committed the money for it.  Halting construction would just leave them with a worthless property (actually worse than worthless; they would still incur ongoing expenses), plus likely costs to cancel the construction contracts.

FWIW, per CBRE, as of mid-2020, downtown Tulsa had more than 1.6 million square feet of vacant office space.  Downtown OKC had more than 1.4 million (of course downtown OKC's office market covered by CBRE's report is smaller than Tulsa's, so OKC's number is relatively worse).

[Oil Capital]

I've heard that BOK is going to take over more space in the BOK Tower and Williams is also expanding their space within the tower. I think there is enough space for BOK to have most of their people in the tower and don't need a separate building. It would be nice if I'm wrong and BOK could take over the WPX building.

That would make sense, especially for BOK. Apparently, WPX/Devon will be vacating 7 floors of the BOK Tower.

Is Williams in one of their expansion modes again?

[SXSW]

I've heard that BOK is going to take over more space in the BOK Tower and Williams is also expanding their space within the tower. I think there is enough space for BOK to have most of their people in the tower and don't need a separate building. It would be nice if I'm wrong and BOK could take over the WPX building.

Best scenario is a NEW company (or companies) moving into Tulsa and taking space in the former WPX Tower.  BOK/Williams can continue to be in their tower and takeover the WPX space.  At one time not long ago there were rumors BOK was going to build a new tower but I imagine they will stay put for now.

[DowntownDan]

That would make sense, especially for BOK. Apparently, WPX/Devon will be vacating 7 floors of the BOK Tower.

Is Williams in one of their expansion modes again?

I know of at least two and a half additional floors being vacated at Williams' request, so there is definitely something going on with BOK and Williams taking more floors, I think.