Enable to move into BOK Park Plaza
Enable Midstream notified employees Tuesday the company is proceeding with a move from Leadership Square to BOK Park Plaza tower, marking a dramatic shift in momentum for the western fringe of downtown’s Central Business District.
The company’s transition will start with relocating its employee parking from the city-owned Santa Fe Garage, 2 E.K. Gaylord Blvd., to the BOK Park Plaza north garage at Hudson Avenue and Main Street.
The company’s 480 employees are set to move to the tower in August 2019, and will occupy the 15th through 20th floors.
“It will take some time to build out the space,” spokesman David Klaassen said. “We will be able to start using the parking garage right away.”
The company’s lease at Leadership Square ends in one year, and the new lease, at 10 years, was one of several considerations that weighed in favor of the move, Klassen said.
“We looked at a number of different options downtown, including Leadership Square,” Klaassen said. “We found the opportunity with BOK Park Plaza is financially smart, and it gives us efficient space that when you look at the needs of our dynamic workforce, our culture, we can build out the space to our needs.”
The BOK Park Plaza tower was the first speculative office space built downtown since Leadership Square opened in 1984. Leadership Square, widely considered one of downtown’s top Class A office buildings, is more than 98 percent occupied. Enable accounts for 22 percent of the space.
BOK Park Plaza was originally built as the new Oklahoma City headquarters for Bank of Oklahoma, with a lease by Devon Energy Corp. for 250,000 square feet. The bank consolidated operations around the city and moved with 250 employees into the tower in January.
The bank occupies the top four floors and operates a branch on the ground floor; the six floors leased by Enable leaves 16 floors still to be leased. An email sent to BOK employees earlier this month reported leases are being negotiated for a Mexican restaurant and a deli for the retail space on the garage ground levels and that a Starbucks is set to open in 2019.
The building connects to Devon Energy Center via a skywalk to the east, and includes two garages. Devon, however, has yet to occupy its space after a downturn in energy prices followed by a change in workforce requirements. The company has been looking to sublease its 250,000 square feet.
The Enable move marks the largest corporate relocation downtown since Devon Energy moved from several different buildings to its current headquarters in 2012.
The move by Enable will free up 462 spaces at Santa Fe and several overflow spaces at the neighboring Broadway Kerr garage owned by SandRidge Energy.
Parking demand at Santa Fe remains high with a request by nearby Continental Resources to buy the garage and BancFirst waiting on bankruptcy court approval of a purchase contract to buy the adjoining Cotter Tower.