General Contractor Selected for Devon Energy's Tower

By Alex Cameron, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Devon Energy's new 54-story headquarters tower is an important step closer to reality.

The Oklahoma City-based company announced it has selected the general contractor for the project, a joint venture between Atlanta-based Holder Construction and Flintco Construction out of Tulsa.

Holder has built corporate headquarters for FedEx, Wachovia and Union Pacific, to name a few, and will be the majority partner in the venture.

Flintco has been an active participant in Oklahoma City's downtown renaissance, serving as general contractor to both the Ford Center and the Civic Center Music Hall.

"We worked really hard to get ourselves into position, teamed with a good partner and I think all the pieces just fit together for us, and we ended up being selected" said Mark Grimes with Flintco Construction.

Devon officials said one of the reasons they chose Holder/Flintco was because of their timetable for construction of new parking.

"They presented a much more aggressive schedule than the other teams," said Klay Kimker, President of Devon Realty Advisors.

New renderings provide more detailed views of the tower lobby and the water feature that will give an appearance of a building that's floating and a rotunda that will be a gathering place for all.

"The idea from the beginning of design was to create a public area that would allow us to give back to the city, to the center of activity for downtown, to make it more people friendly," Kimker said.

They expect to begin construction by October 1, and said employees should be able to start moving into the building by December 2012.