COSTCO CENTER
Costco buys Hertz building for new operations center
The Hertz administrative building is set to become home for the new Costco operations center.
The four-story office building was sold to Costco on May 21, just a day before the 102- year- old car rental company declared bankruptcy. The company laid off hundreds in Oklahoma City shortly before the bankruptcy declaration.
Records at the Oklahoma County Assessor show t he company paid Hertz $ 25.4 million for the four-story building at 14501 Quail Springs Parkway.
The purchase was not unexpected with Cost co committing to buying a property for its operations center as part of a jobs incentives agreement with the city that will pay the retailer $3 million toward creating at least 1,044 j obs with wages averaging $60,000.
Hertz was once one of the city's leading employers with operations spread out over multiple locations and a job count that topped 3,000.
The company still employed 1,300 in the metro before laying off 415 employees in April.
The Oklahoma City Council approved $3 million from the city' s General Obligation Limited Tax bond approved by voters in 2017. The deal also requires 500 of the 1,044 new positions be hired in the first year.
The 224,730- square- foot building was part of alongterm local growth plan for
Hertz. The land wasp urchased in 1987 from the late developer W.P. Bill Atkinson when the office park was still open pasture. The building was built by Hertz in 2001.
Mayor David Holt noted the operation is within 500 feet of an EMBARK bus line, a question raised during the incentive discussions.
“It' s a big building that was being left by Hertz ,” Holt said. “We don't like to see high quality office space left empty, so we got a twofor-one. We got to fill a huge structure and get a big new tenant like Costco.”