Construction begins on $750M Devon tower in OKC

OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite the recession, plans for the new 50-story headquarters for Devon Energy Corp. took another step toward reality Tuesday as company officials and civic leaders gathered for a formal groundbreaking ceremony.

The independent oil and natural gas producer formally took possession of the property Thursday, and work already has begun on the site of a former parking garage — a fact marked by a jackhammer next to Devon CEO Larry Nichols, rather than a shovel, at the brief ceremony.

Devon began planning in earnest for the $750 million project two years ago, and because the company is financing the project itself, its construction plans have remained on schedule despite the economic downturn, Nichols said.

Houston-based developer Hines is managing the project. Jon Pickard, a co-founder of Pickard Chilton — the project’s lead architect — said the building will take about three years to construct, which would mean Devon employees likely could begin moving in by early 2013.

One of the building’s primary features will be a glass-enclosed rotunda that will be 120 feet in diameter and 125 feet tall. Pickard has said the skyscraper will be illuminated and a large urban park nearby will include fountains, a green space, pavilion and reflective pool.

“So often, in an office building, people design what I call simple, dumb boxes,” Pickard said. “Devon headquarters is not. … In a normal work facility, they would bar the gate. They would lock the public out. But Larry, from day one, said we want the public to be invited in.”

The building will be 850 feet tall, which would make it Oklahoma’s tallest building. The state’s tallest building now is the 52-story BOK Tower in Tulsa at 667 feet tall. Oklahoma City’s tallest building is the 36-story Chase Tower at 500 feet.

According to the Web site Emporis.com, Devon’s tower would be equal in size to buildings such as the Chase Tower in Chicago and the GE Building in New York.

The nation’s tallest building, the Willis Tower in Chicago, stands 1,451 feet tall.

Nichols said the Devon building’s height wasn’t a primary consideration for the company in designing the structure.

“We first started designing the most efficient square footage that we would need per floor,” he said. “We did a lot of research on how our people worked together and what the most efficient floor size is, and then it was just a matter of multiplying that by the number of people to get the size. The size is just a result of math. It’s not a goal.”

Mayor Mick Cornett has called the construction project the largest in Oklahoma City’s history.

“There are a lot of skylines that have half-finished buildings. … people have had to abandon projects that had the best of intentions,” Cornett said. “It’s my understanding that this building is the largest development anywhere in the world that’s coming out of the ground today.”

Nichols said Devon is confident that natural gas prices — which plummeted last month to their lowest level in seven years — will rebound by the time the building is ready for occupancy. He said he’s also confident that oil and natural gas will still have key roles in the nation’s energy future.

“A building like this requires foresight,” he said. “Three years from now, natural gas markets will recover, the recession will have ended, oil prices will recover and we’ll be growing again.”