Devon Energy building new skyscraper downtown! (Oklahoma City, Tulsa: sales, school, sales tax)

[fciman]

Originally Posted by okcpulse

Right, but when is Tulsa going to pass the 400,000 mark? It's been in the 300,000 range since 1970. Nonetheless, south Tulsa is very nice.

In OKC, I can't wait for Core To Shore to take off, and I miss the Lake Hefner region of OKC. I truly do.

WE SEEM TO BE STUCK AT THE 390,000 RANGE IN PEOPLE. .EVERYONE IS MOVING SOUTH IN TULSA. The suburb of Brokeen Arrow is about to pass 100,000 people.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by fciman

WE SEEM TO BE STUCK AT THE 390,000 RANGE IN PEOPLE. .EVERYONE IS MOVING SOUTH IN TULSA. The suburb of Brokeen Arrow is about to pass 100,000 people.

It is unreal how Tulsa's population has been stagnant for so long. Yes, the metro area is growing, but Tulsa's population has been stagnant or declining for so long it's a bit of a mystery.

[TulsaArtist]

Its no real mystery. People have been moving to the suburbs and on top of that, earlier this very decade we lost a LOT of oil companies. For a while there it looked like Tulsa could just dry up and blow away. Company after company kept leaving. In one 18 month period alone we lost about 25 THOUSAND jobs. And the drumbeat of continued businesses leaving continued on for a while before and after that. Thats Detroit scale bad. I dont think a lot of people in OKC realized what Tulsa was going through. But having said that, within the last few years Tulsa gained back every job it lost,,, plus. And average incomes have continued to rise. Thats not bad folks. Most cities this size with the string of bad losses we have had, would have gone under. Let alone held steady and even gained a bit. Not to mention our bets on telecom and some other stuff that went south and the bad news we had in the 1990s. For a couple of decades its been one hit after another.

Yet, I really can tell thing are changing. Even until just a year or two ago we were barely holding steady. Now I am seeing more infill. A few years ago, the growth in south Tulsa was pretty much just keeping up with the losses in other parts of the city. Now we are still seeing growth in south and west Tulsa by the new shopping district, and for the first time seeing more and more infill. Few years ago you didnt see the stuff thats happening in Brookside, Cherry Street, new stuff finally starting to come online downtown, large apartment infill near the mall, etc.

In other words, county wide we were holding steady, perhaps gaining a bit. Tulsa losing or holding steady, suburbs gaining. Now I think Tulsa is gaining and the suburbs are gaining. Finally.

Will be interesting to see how mid-towns census numbers turn out. Right now we are in the odd situation of having actually lost a lot of housing, due to progress. The Bomasada development for instance will add more than there once was, but as of now they have taken out all the housing that was there. A development across the street took out a bunch of housing too, to be eventually replaced with even more loft style homes. The highway widening has taken out a lot of homes and even some smaller apartment complexes. Meanwhile, as a counter to that in recent years, you have seen developers take out a few homes in mid-town, and insert small neighborhoods with sometimes a dozen or more homes. Or just one home and put in two, and vacant lots having homes put on them. Who knows what the numbers would add up to be at the moment, but whats happening is that within a year or so there will definitely be a decent sized net gain once the housing thats starting or is planned gets finished and filled in.

One interesting thing I have discovered. When the census figures and such look at household and population numbers, for a city of Tulsas size there is an amazing amount of housing they say is automatically lost each year. They calculate a percentage and project from that. Its literally hundreds to even a thousand or more, homes lost per year. Think of those abandoned houses in north Tulsa, small apartment buildings, businesses or highways replacing homes, etc. Just as new housing is being built and coming online, old housing goes offline. A city has to add a certain percentage just to keep up with the natural loss. So if your not seeing housing growth in the city, your likely losing housing over all.

One other way to see things as well, is what I mentioned about income growth. Average incomes have been up, housing values up. So if over all the population numbers are about the same...you can be a little worried sure, but some would argue that its not a terrible thing. Especially if your seeing a shift towards the cities population becoming more dense, and the surrounding suburbs and metro population still flowing into the city for shopping, entertainment, jobs, etc. I sure wouldnt complain if the population held steady or only grew a little, yet the cities developed land area shrunk and population got more compact, urban and wealthier, less crime, and we became more of a destination hub with great amenities, arts/entertainment, shopping, etc for the suburbanites. You dont HAVE to be bigger to be better. I love Santa Fe, its a LOT smaller than Tulsa. But it offers a wonderful way of life. Thats very important to me.

Growing population is one measure. Growing quality and wealth is a worthy measure too. Growing both,,, more power to ya lol.

[happytown]

Both cities are doing pretty good. Now Hopefully the Devon Tower will be built.....

[okcpulse]

So far, designs are trucking along and contractors are being hired. I don't see any sign of that project tanking. Devon's Houston office is across from my company. I hit them up for info on the tower now and then.

[fciman]

Ok friends if OKC is building a 700 foot tall building, and the BOK building being 667 feet , Since lightening rods can be counted as height on scyscrapers I think THE WILLIAMS company are going to put a 34 foot lightening tower up for a total of 701feet. ( lol)

[Synopsis]

The Devon tower will be something like 924 feet tall, I believe.

[Goodpasture]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

The Devon tower will be something like 924 feet tall, I believe.

Yeah, but did Brother Oral see Jesus lifting it up? If not, then it might really happen.......

[fciman]

So hopefully they will build a tabernacle in front of the joint, so all the worked up, so the good old skoal chewing people can go bow down in front of the building and pay daily homage to there new god. I mean its just a freakin building

[okcpulse]

Devon Tower will be 925 feet and 54 floors, many of those floors are extended to bring in much more natural light to save energy.