WPX Downtown HQ

[shavethewhales]

Yeah, no way are they stopping short at this point. Almost all of the superstructure is in place. Finally some wall material going up on the south end.

[LandArchPoke]

Hopefully they don't cheap out on materials for the façade. Please no Cimarex type exterior lol... Hopefully they had already ordered most of the materials so they couldn't cheap out on finish outs.

Thanks for posting these pics too and of the other projects downtown. It's exciting to see how much is going on still even with the economy. Hopefully oil going back up in the 50s/60s will help buoy the office market - seems like most of the domestic firms can thrive in that price range for the most part.

[shavethewhales]

They've got to be close to topping this thing out. I haven't counted floors, but they are at least on 9. Parking garage is also nearly topped, so they could be done with structural concrete this month.

The news of them gutting WPX personnel really sucks. I had hoped they would keep this as an office for a few years and transition people over time. It feels very short sighted, especially with oil roaring back.

[LandArchPoke]

They've got to be close to topping this thing out. I haven't counted floors, but they are at least on 9. Parking garage is also nearly topped, so they could be done with structural concrete this month.

The news of them gutting WPX personnel really sucks. I had hoped they would keep this as an office for a few years and transition people over time. It feels very short sighted, especially with oil roaring back.

The problem is Devon has about 500,000 to a million sq. ft. of vacant office space they can use in OKC. They have several floors empty in the main tower plus they had leased the entire BOK Park Plaza tower next door (which is now being sublet by them to people like BOK). They also have sublet space all over downtown OKC too which they had put on the market (I'm sure some of those leases have expired) that they anticipated to consolidate that space into BOK Park Plaza prior to the implosion. Devon has more than enough space in OKC for probably a decade of growth at this point. They won't even spend the money to fix busted windows on the tower from a window washing accident years ago. Devon was probably the worst possible acquisition partner for WPX in terms of possibly keeping an office open in Tulsa. That's just how it goes for Tulsa it seems.

I will say driving down Elgin this building really makes a visual impact. I haven't been back in town for a while and driving around downtown and the Pearl area Tulsa really is starting to feel like a real city. The road diets make such a big impact too with having more street parking makes the area feel busier and safer to walk. It doesn't makes the streets feel like a ghost town anymore with the new street parking added. I'm so glad the city is doing so many road diets in this area of town.

[Oil Capital]

The problem is Devon has about 500,000 to a million sq. ft. of vacant office space they can use in OKC. They have several floors empty in the main tower plus they had leased the entire BOK Park Plaza tower next door (which is now being sublet by them to people like BOK). They also have sublet space all over downtown OKC too which they had put on the market (I'm sure some of those leases have expired) that they anticipated to consolidate that space into BOK Park Plaza prior to the implosion. Devon has more than enough space in OKC for probably a decade of growth at this point. They won't even spend the money to fix busted windows on the tower from a window washing accident years ago. Devon was probably the worst possible acquisition partner for WPX in terms of possibly keeping an office open in Tulsa. That's just how it goes for Tulsa it seems.

There probably isn't an oil & gas company that would have been a potential alternative acquirer of WPC that does NOT have plenty of space for additional employees right now. The only way for this to have stayed in Tulsa would have been if the acquirer had been from Tulsa (and other than Williams, I'm not sure who would be in that candidate pool).

[dsjeffries]

Photos taken today:

WPX Building Construction, on Flickr


WPX Building Construction, on Flickr


WPX Building Construction, on Flickr


WPX Building Construction, on Flickr

[LandArchPoke]

Thanks for the pictures - the height really does change the feel of the neighborhood. Once the GKFF development gets going to the NW too this whole area will feel more like the CBD than some random separate area.

[shavethewhales]

Still some concrete left to add. It looks like they are working on the last floor? The area on the north side is still being finished as well. Good progress on the south side with siding materials going up already.

[LandArchPoke]

Thanks for the picture/update. It's looking good. As far along as they are I have about zero concern this will turn into something really ugly (Cimarex 2.0). It would probably cost them more at this point to modify anything material wise or design wise than it would be to just finish the project how it was originally planned.

[ComeOnBenjals]

From the BOK Tower, it seems like they should have one more floor after the one they're working on.  I could be counting wrong or have misremembered how many stories 

[swake]

Thanks for the picture/update. It's looking good. As far along as they are I have about zero concern this will turn into something really ugly (Cimarex 2.0). It would probably cost them more at this point to modify anything material wise or design wise than it would be to just finish the project how it was originally planned.

I will feel better once we see brick going on.

[shavethewhales]

[dsjeffries]

Updated construction photos from yesterday:

[SXSW]

This tower is going to look great!

[BKDotCom]

This tower is going to look great!

Less filling!