Santa Fe Square on the big surface parking lot in the Blue Dome...

[Dspike]

"The newly formed Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity approved the issuance of up to $25 million in bonds for the Santa Fe Square project, which the city undertook with the establishment of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District No. 8 in April 2016. . .

Project developer Elliot Nelson is negotiating a lease with a lead tenant in the project, which is set to begin construction in late summer."

https://tulsaworld.com/business/local/long-planned-downtown-santa-fe-square-mixed-use-project-takes-big-step-forward/article_0c6cae48-a2bf-11eb-a5fd-8f8b39719566.html?fbclid=IwAR3zeUM0r-7X5vDbajk4ZaYUeMhfpVipP99VD60LYTAIt9eF82y8t5mEwcY#utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

[shavethewhales]

Wasn't expecting this to push forward this year. I know that it was expected to start after the View, but considering the WPX debacle on top of lingering covid slow downs in higher-level businesses, I thought this would take awhile longer to get started. Not sure who they think is going to occupy the office space at this point. I'm also curious how fast the View will fill up...

So glad this parking crater is being filled, and another big new parking garage is sorely needed in this area. That surface lot isn't even being maintained, but they'll gladly charge an arm and a leg to park on broken glass and pot holes.

[LandArchPoke]

Any ideas who the "lead tenant" could be? It's going to be tough finding tenants for both the WPX project and this. I mentioned it before that I would love to see QT move downtown, but I highly doubt they have any interest.

My hunch is Magellan. I believe a lot of their leases line up to expire in 2022 last time I saw info on their portfolio a few years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to buy the WPX building and just didn't get the sale price or lease rate they wanted so they went over to Santa Fe Square. I believe Magellan is still spread out in several places so this would allow them to upgrade and consolidate space. The rates proposed at Santa Fe were lower than the WPX building which I have heard are being quoted around $30.00 to $35.00 while Santa Fe is in the mid $20's I believe now that they cheaped up the design. It was originally quoted over $30.00 when it was located off Elgin but dropped the rates when they changed design and moved the tower off Greenwood instead.

So glad this parking crater is being filled, and another big new parking garage is sorely needed in this area. That surface lot isn't even being maintained, but they'll gladly charge an arm and a leg to park on broken glass and pot holes.

A centralized garage here is needed - but they are way way way over building it and wasting millions on it that taxpayers are subsidizing with the TIF. Last I saw they are building over 2,000 spaces, that's crazy in size. Every garage I've been in that size (there's lots in Dallas) never fill up half. There's a size limit in garages that people become unwilling to park beyond a point. Same thing happens at the mall, people will drive around for 15 mins for find a 'close' spot. They'd be 1,000% better shrinking it to maybe a 1,000 max and installing smart parking systems (like you see at DFW/Love/etc.) where it guides you to open spaces. You have far better efficiency in space usage that way and it would be cheaper for the developer and they could spend that money on things that would actually make the development better (like materials, landscaping, street front design upgrades, etc.)

[shavethewhales]

^They said 1,100 spaces in the TW article, so they must have paired it down a bit.

I'm surprised WPX is going that high. You'd think they'd cut a good deal for a big company to take over a good chunk of the space. Magellan would be perfect.

[LandArchPoke]

^They said 1,100 spaces in the TW article, so they must have paired it down a bit.

I'm surprised WPX is going that high. You'd think they'd cut a good deal for a big company to take over a good chunk of the space. Magellan would be perfect.

Really that's pretty cheap rental rate wise for new construction of that design/quality. Most other markets that'd be in the mid $40.00's at the lowest. Tulsa is just now trying to break out of the mold that you can't pay over $20.00 for Class A office, I think a lot of tenants had sticker shock at first when they proposed that. Once Vast did their building and people saw the finish out, etc. I think they realized what the extra money gets them in comparison to say $15.00 to 20.00 ish at the Williams/BOK Tower, First Place Tower, etc.

https://images4.loopnet.com/d2/8_VCKYE_d7rDSa40SmVDPZQIsMKFIXHEkYr5WHNI8wU/document.pdf

^ That's one iteration of the site plan after redesign from the original. I'm hoping they did reduce the garage size, I'm sure the site plan will have changed some unless Alamo is still planning to build post bankruptcy. At one point they had the garage size up to 1,929 spaces which would be about 4 spaces for every 1,000 sq. ft. of development (including the residential and retail) - that's ridiculous to have. Several of the largest office owners in Dallas recently did a study because that's the typical build out for office tenants there and they realized they were over building by 25 to 50%. That's a huge amount of revenue to miss out on as a developer when one space costs $25,000 to $30,000 depending on the garage. They realized that a ratio of around 2 spaces for 1,000 sq. ft. is likely better in modern offices and post pandemic that will continue to go down as more people work remote a few days a week.  

[Red Arrow]

Really that's pretty cheap rental rate wise for new construction of that design/quality. Most other markets that'd be in the mid $40.00's at the lowest. Tulsa is just now trying to break out of the mold that you can't pay over $20.00 for Class A office, I think a lot of tenants had sticker shock at first when they proposed that. Once Vast did their building and people saw the finish out, etc. I think they realized what the extra money gets them in comparison to say $15.00 to 20.00 ish at the Williams/BOK Tower, First Place Tower, etc.

https://images4.loopnet.com/d2/8_VCKYE_d7rDSa40SmVDPZQIsMKFIXHEkYr5WHNI8wU/document.pdf

^ That's one iteration of the site plan after redesign from the original. I'm hoping they did reduce the garage size, I'm sure the site plan will have changed some unless Alamo is still planning to build post bankruptcy. At one point they had the garage size up to 1,929 spaces which would be about 4 spaces for every 1,000 sq. ft. of development (including the residential and retail) - that's ridiculous to have. Several of the largest office owners in Dallas recently did a study because that's the typical build out for office tenants there and they realized they were over building by 25 to 50%. That's a huge amount of revenue to miss out on as a developer when one space costs $25,000 to $30,000 depending on the garage. They realized that a ratio of around 2 spaces for 1,000 sq. ft. is likely better in modern offices and post pandemic that will continue to go down as more people work remote a few days a week.  

And the advantage of overpriced office space is???

[Dspike]

"And the advantage of overpriced office space is?Huh??"

Higher priced real estate that still leases lures more development. Same reason to cheer for higher price condos and apartments to sell or lease quickly. It signals to developers to create more supply. At least that's my Econ 101 view on it.

[SXSW]

I'm interested to see what the residential portion will look like.  In the marketing brochure it shows the half block between Frankfort and Greenwood as future cinema, I wonder if that is still the plan?  I know they were targeting Alamo Draft House.  From what I've heard the apartment portion will be 180 units in 6 stories at 2nd & Elgin like what is shown the rendering below

[LandArchPoke]

I think in total the apartments will be closer to 260. There's going to be some on top of the parking garage next to the office building that would be at Frankfurt (if it existed there) and 1st - kind of in the middle of that rendering. Then there's another portion along 2nd between Frankfurt and Elgin that you mentioned. In total it'll be about the same amount of units as the View. That might change depending on Alamo, I'm not sure if they'll add more apartment there or what. The noise issues of putting apartments above a theater without doing concrete construction forced them to move the apartments around a bit. There's been plenty of mixed-use residential above theaters in other markets but they're concrete construction which is not ARG's thing.  

News on Alamo:
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/alamo-drafthouse-auction-canceled-fortress-altamont-1234960873/

Since they aren't being taken over by a new group, it's possible once the debt is restructured that they'll go back into expansion mode. Just not sure how soon that'd be and if it'd be soon enough for them to incorporate into the Santa Fe plans given they're supposed to be starting in a few months.

[SXSW]

I think that is an old rendering and it looks different now.

[shavethewhales]

^Yes, it will be interesting to see what happens to it now after the final revisions. It has gone through one round of value engineering and reconfiguring already, and I'm not sure the final round will do it any favors given the pressure on the market. Then again, it depends on what foundational clients they have. Landing Magellan could elevate the status of the whole property, plus the fact that it truly is some of the best real estate in the downtown area. I still wish they were building that curved building across from Blue Dome though.

[bacjz00]

Now if we can just figure out what to do with all of this!

[SXSW]

Lots of opportunity to bridge the gap between the Blue Dome/Santa Fe Square and the CBD.  Hopefully more incremental developments like the OTASCO/The Brook

[Jeff P]

Sort of related, in terms of downtown office space updates, we're doing a really cool update of the plaza level of the BOK Tower.

Basically taking out where all of the BOK tellers used to be on the north side of the main lobby and making a huge employee/tenant lounge type area and also converting the roof that overlooks 1st Street (facing north) into a large outdoor terrace area.  (The BOK Tellers are moving to the lower level where you enter from 2nd Street).

The renderings look really nice. They are already under construction.

[Oil Capital]

Sort of related, in terms of downtown office space updates, we're doing a really cool update of the plaza level of the BOK Tower.

Basically taking out where all of the BOK tellers used to be on the north side of the main lobby and making a huge employee/tenant lounge type area and also converting the roof that overlooks 1st Street (facing north) into a large outdoor terrace area.  (The BOK Tellers are moving to the lower level where you enter from 2nd Street).

The renderings look really nice. They are already under construction.

Nice!  Thanks for the update.  Are they making changes in the resource center/former Forum also?