OFFICE SPACE
27-story BOK Park Plaza topped out
A rapid series of changes are set to begin next week at the future BOK Park Plaza that will begin with removal of the tower crane that was used to erect the 27-story tower.
The crane went up in November 2015 and has punctuated the skyline ever since. Dennis Cisper, senior project manager at J.E. Dunn Construction, is preparing for the tower teardown to begin on June 2 and to continue through June 8.
“We’re through with what we call the building phase,” Cisper said. “For a project like this, the tower crane signifies growth of the project. You’re going up floor by floor, everyone is working hard and we’re getting it to a certain point.”
The final glass pieces are being installed through early next week on the building’s “crown,” which conceals the roof equipment and will also be lit up with a LED band once the job is complete. With the tower removed, glass panels will replace remaining openings.
“The whole demeanor of the job changes with removal of the crane,” Cisper said. “We’re at the finish stage and we have to be diligent about how we stay on the little things.”
Those little things include restrooms, cabinetry and elevator lobbies on each floor. Work is already progressing on the interior finishes through the 18th story and air conditioning is on and working halfway up the tower.
Tenant finishes, meanwhile, will await final designs being overseen by tenants. The anchor tenant, the Bank of Oklahoma, will consolidate operations in 100,000 square feet of the building with 111 employees who already work downtown at BOK Plaza, 201 Robert S Kerr Ave., and 124 employees who work at the Commerce Center building, 9520 N May Ave. in northwest Oklahoma City.
The bank will occupy the
top four floors of the new tower along with a branch on the first floor. Devon Energy Corp. preleased 250,000 square feet but is now reported to be offering some of that space for subleasing.
Jim Parrack, senior vice president at Price Edwards, recently estimated about 500,000 of the tower’s 690,000 square feet will be on the market when the tower is completed by its developer, Hines, later this year.
Unprecedented interest
During that same presentation at the Mayors Development Roundtable, Kurt Foreman, executive vice president over economic development at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, reported he is fielding an unprecedented amount of interest among companies wishing to open or relocate downtown.
BOK Park Plaza is the only one of five towers that were proposed before energy prices plunged and that was built. The development at 499 W Sheridan connects to the 50-story Devon Energy Center to the east and includes two garages.
Four towers that were proposed by Chicago developer Clayco and OGE Energy Corp. were scrapped as construction started on the BOK tower.
In response to concerns about clearance of the site, which included buildings considered historic by preservationists, architectural elements were removed from four of the razed structures and are being included in the final design.
Stone and brick caps that stood atop a 1930sera Motor Hotel were removed, cleaned and reassembled by masons and are now on display in a lobby corridor that will connect the tower to garages built along Main Street and at Sheridan and Walker Avenues.
The “north” garage on Main Street is set to be adorned with colored mosaic tiles removed from a former department store that was best known as the longtime home of Carpenter Square Theater. Trim removed from the One North Hudson building, originally known as the Hotel Black, will be added along the “west” garage at Sheridan and Walker.
Trent Wachsnicht, senior vice president at J.E. Dunn, said that with the removal of the crane, work on the north garage will be wrapped up quickly with restoration of sidewalks, lighting and landscaping along Main Street. He estimated Main Street should be returned to the city within the next two weeks.
By early July, work should be wrapping up on the west garage as well, with a crane set to drop a restored Union Bus Station neon sign into a glass beacon at the garage’s corner. The sign will perch three stories above where space is set for a restaurant or retail.
Blue glass tiles removed from the 1941 Art Deco/ Moderne bus station also will be used in the adjoining garage facade.
BOK Park Plaza, now topped out, is the sixthtallest building in Oklahoma City.