Headlines of the Week

Williams: OKC’s image improvingThe Journal Record
By Brian Brus
December 1, 2010

OKLAHOMA CITY – A snapshot of Oklahoma City’s image as perceived by business site hunters elsewhere in the country suggests that the area has improved dramatically in the last three years, Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce President Roy Williams said Tuesday.

The chamber focused on three targets in its recent survey: corporate site location consultants, chief executives and other top officers in Fortune 1,000 companies and employees of those companies.

“We have had a profound improvement in their minds,” Williams told the Oklahoma City Council. “In fact, we have leapfrogged every one of our peers, and we are virtually at the top of list of corporate site location consultants.

“We’re not that great with CEOs in the executive offices,” he said. “Part of the reason, though, is because our marketing strategy over the years has been directed toward site location consultants. So we have moved that needle exactly as we wanted to do. Now we’re focusing on corporate executive officers and beginning to mount campaigns.”

Williams said it helps when the area gets positive recognition, such as placing first among Forbes’ recent rankings of affordable cities. Hosting high-profile conferences here such as the World Creativity Forum and the Small Business Innovation Research National Conference also provides a big boost.

Williams also said aeronautics giant Boeing Co. is starting to post information about Oklahoma City job openings on its corporate website as positions are defined for a move expected in the first quarter of the new year. More than 500 engineering jobs are expected in Oklahoma, company officials said. Boeing announced plans in August to move its C-130 Avionics Modernization program and its B-1 program to Oklahoma City from California during the next two years.

“We hope after the first of the year, we’ll be able to make some pretty positive announcements about additional Boeing opportunities in Oklahoma City,” Williams said.
Williams also said the chamber is pleased with recent biological science business investment and developments, adding that local employment in the nonhospital biological sciences sector is up nearly 18 percent.

The chamber surveyed 282 companies in the metropolitan area over the last 12 months and found that 34 percent of them have specific expansion plans, down about 7 percent from a year earlier. Respondents also said the metro area is conducive to business because of low costs and high quality of life, aspects that help attract other companies to the area, he said.

Challenges that remain include a lack of skilled labor in the area, low educational attainment for residents, few quality business sites available, low venture capital resources and a lack of nonstop airline flights to key cities.

The chamber’s Forward Oklahoma City program, a five-year economic development program, is now raising funds for use through 2015. The chamber has raised about $16.5 million so far, he said.

Sharing a vision: Developer to present plans for riverfrontThe Journal Record
November 30th, 2010

OKLAHOMA CITY – There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to facilitate development along the Oklahoma River, Developer Grant Humphreys said.

“One of big challenges downtown and along the riverfront is infrastructure that is either nonexistent or antiquated and needs to be replaced and how might the city approach that infrastructure,” he said.

Humphreys will give a group of riverfront stakeholders an update on Wednesday on his Waterfront development planned for the site of the old Downtown Airpark at a meeting facilitated by the Oklahoma Riverfront Development Authority.

Humphreys hopes to facilitate a dialogue between other groups that have a vested interest in the future of the Oklahoma River.

“What we are looking to do is not just cast a vision for what our waterfront project should look like, but talking about a shared vision for the Oklahoma River and discussing with stakeholders a possible framework for an action plan that would help the river reach its full potential,” Humphreys said.

The riverfront stakeholders group includes representatives of the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, the American Indian Cultural Center & Museum, Devon Energy, and the Stockyards City area, which all have an interest in development along the river, said Pat Downes, director of development for the Riverfront Development Authority. The stakeholders have been meeting regularly each quarter to communicate about various development projects along the river.

Humphrey’s 86-acre Waterfront development site on the south bank of the Oklahoma River on S. Western Avenue has just been accepted into the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality’s federally funded Brownfields Program, making it eligible for grant money for environmental cleanup from the Environmental Protection Agency. The area was once the site of an oil field and commercial airstrip. Humphreys said he has already spent about $300,000 of Environmental Protection Agency grant money and private funding doing preliminary environmental work on the site.

The Waterfront is planned as an “urban village” on the airpark site along S. Western Avenue south of downtown. The Waterfront development would include office and retail components as well as up to 950 housing units. The first phase of the project is slated to begin in 2012, but the entire development could take up to 10 to 12 years to build.

Humphreys and a group of investors bought the old airpark for $7.2 million in 2006, but sat on plans to develop the area when the economy took a nosedive.

“We always knew it would be a long-term play,” Humphreys said.

Oklahoma City was a global player during recession, report finds The Oklahoman
BY SUSAN SIMPSON ssimpson@opubco.com
December 1, 2010

Oklahoma City's economy improved during the recession compared to many other cities worldwide, but it is seeing a mixed recovery, according to a report released Tuesday by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and London School of Economics and Political Science.

The Global MetroMonitor report compared 50 U.S. cities with 50 in Europe and 50 in Asia and Latin America.

Of the 150 metro areas globally, Oklahoma City ranked No. 132 before the recession and No. 46 during the recession. Oklahoma City is ranked No. 76 post recession.

“You are a major U.S. economy,” report author Alan Berube said of Oklahoma City. “People may not call you a global city, but you are.”

Still, Oklahoma City is showing a mixed recovery. While employment fell 1 percent in 2009, income grew by 2.4 percent.

“You are experiencing gains in output and per capita income but not really growing employment yet,” said Berube, a senior fellow with Brookings. “You are doing more with the same number of workers.”

In the post recession ranking, none of the top 25 cities were in the United States, which shows an accelerated shift of economic power to Latin America and Asian cities. Austin, Texas, was ranked No. 26.

“The U.S. and other developed regions of the world have been at the short-end of the stick in regards to growth in recent years, said Robert Dauffenbach, director of the Center for Economic and Management Research at the University of Oklahoma. “Thus, in world rankings, any U.S. metro area is likely to not show all that well.”

Metropolitan areas are the drivers of global growth, Dauffenbach said.

So, “it is important that Oklahoma City is being considered a region of significant size to even be included in such analysis,” he said. “From January 1993 to September 2010, nonagricultural employment in the Oklahoma City region expanded by 27 percent while for the U.S., growth was 18.9 percent. Relative to the U.S., we are doing pretty well.”

Oklahoma City was the only Oklahoma area ranked in the report. Regionally, cities ranked were Kansas City, No. 122 in economic recovery; Dallas, ranked 39th; and Denver, ranked No. 84.

ARINC plans to add hangarThe Oklahoman
BY JAY F. MARKS
December 2, 2010

Maryland-based ARINC Engineering Services LLC has announced plans to double the size of its operations in Oklahoma City, bringing as many as 200 new jobs to the area.

ARINC Engineering Services LLC is poised to double the size of its operations near Will Rogers World Airport, an expansion that could add up to 200 jobs.

ARINC Engineering Services LLC is poised to double the size of its operations near Will Rogers World Airport, an expansion that could add up to 200 jobs.

The Maryland-based company Wednesday announced plans to build a 62,000-square-foot hangar to increase capacity for aircraft servicing at its Aircraft Modification and Operations Center in Oklahoma City.

ARINC plans to break ground in January.

The company has been faced with growing demand for avionics upgrades and scheduled depot maintenance, especially on large government and military aircraft, a spokesman said.

“We have been very aggressive in developing more business from both our existing domestic and international customers, as well as launching a dedicated effort to develop new customers, especially in the international marketplace,” said Mike Young, ARINC's vice president for aerospace engineering systems and support. “Our success in capturing that work has driven us to expand the facility.”

The company's current facility includes a 50,000-square-foot commercial hangar that opened in April 2007. It also has 30,000 square feet of shops and administrative offices.

The new hangar will double the capacity of the Aircraft Modification and Operations Center.

“When ARINC's new hangar is operational by June 2011, our site capacity will be nine large aircraft, including space for four aircraft on the ramps,” Young said. “We clearly need the additional capacity to remain competitive in this active marketplace.

“The work that will be accomplished at our expanded aircraft modification facility will create between 150 and 200 new high-paying jobs in the Oklahoma City area over the next couple of years.”

ARINC recently secured contracts for avionics upgrades on two Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft and two U.S. government OC-135 Open Skies aircraft. The company also has contracts for programmed depot maintenance on a C-130 Hercules transport and modifications to four more large military transport-category aircraft.
ARINC's existing hangar can house three such planes, while the new hangar will be capable of handling three to four more.

Oklahoma City riverfront development set to start The Oklahoma
Steve Lackymeyer
December 3, 2010

Kirk and Grant Humphreys say they are preparing to start development of “The Waterfront” at the former Downtown Airpark, but advised fellow stakeholders along the river to seek public/private partnerships to draw more interest.

Kirk and Grant Humphreys say they're gearing up to start development next year on the former Downtown Airpark along the Oklahoma River.

The father and son developers, however, told a group of riverfront stakeholders their help is needed in approaching the city about creating public/private partnerships that will ensure other developers will follow their lead.

Grant Humphreys said he wants to complete an initial wave of multifamily housing, offices and a hotel by the time the new alignment of Interstate 40 opens in late 2012. The master plan for “The Waterfront” also includes retail and a park anchored by a Ferris wheel Grant Humphreys bought over eBay from the Santa Monica Pier.

At a presentation this week, Humphreys said current conditions along the Oklahoma River, despite progress with MAPS and Boathouse Row, discourage developers from taking a chance along the waterfront.

“If you are looking to do something along the riverfront today, it's parceled out in smaller pieces,” Humphreys said. “People are reluctant to put their money down without knowing what's going to happen next door.”

Humphreys added his company was fortunate it was able to acquire the 87-acre airpark — one of the largest continuous pieces of riverfront property — and that it's located across the street from another large parcel owned by Chesapeake Energy Corp.

“We bought the Downtown Airpark because it's 87 acres along the river,” Humphreys said. “We wouldn't have bought it if it were smaller ... because of the fear of the unknown.”

Humphreys said the amount of land along the river that is either classified as being in a 100-year or 500-year floodplain require potential developers to pay for significant dirt infill — a cost not associated with development in suburban “green space.”

Humphreys also provided photos from the 1930s and 1940s showing the riverfront littered with oil well and disposal ponds.

Humphreys said he spent $300,000 working on remediation plans for the airpark and recently received approval from the Department of Environmental Quality.

Humphreys praised the efforts of city, state and federal entities trying to help address polluted properties, but added it's another hurdle many developers would just prefer to avoid.

“We are losing deals to Moore and Norman,” Humphreys said. “Without addressing these issues, a developer is going to go to Moore.”

Kirk Humphreys noted the renovation and reopening of the Skirvin Hilton Hotel couldn't have taken place without the city first buying the property and eliminating “unknowns” for potential developers. Likewise, Kirk Humphreys suggested that stakeholders seek public input and draw up potential solutions that will make the riverfront more attractive for development.

Pat Downes, economic development director for the Oklahoma City Riverfront Redevelopment Authority, said the discussion sought by Kirk and Grant Humphreys began with the presentation Wednesday to the stakeholders' group, which included city council members Gary Marrs and Larry McAttee.

“The stakeholder group, all of whom have a vested interest in the present and future of the Oklahoma River, is a well qualified group to weigh in on this issue,” Downes said. “The city has a number of processes in place to address those kinds of proposals. We'll do our best to work through the right channels to bring those ideas to the surface.”