Plans move ahead for federal office building in downtown OKC

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), May 19, 2000

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma City's downtown will have a federal office building again someday, the commissioner of public buildings for the General Services Administration says.

Plans are moving forward despite the fact local agency offices have not committed to occupy the building, GSA official Robert Peck said.

"It is very important for us to take this symbolic act... so that we do not allow terrorists to influence the presence of the federal government in an area," Peck told The Daily Oklahoman. "While we still don't have signed commitments, we are going ahead with the project anyway."

Peck said the GSA is waiving its requirement for committed tenants because Congress and President Clinton believe the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building should be replaced. The building was destroyed by a truck bomb in 1995, an attack that resulted in 168 deaths.

Federal officials said the decision to build the new office building was not made until after Clinton's visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial on April 19, the fifth anniversary of the bombing.

Mayor Kirk Humphreys said the decision is good for Oklahoma City. "Some people have been waiting for five years to move forward with their plans for their own land around the building's proposed location, and having a new federal office building is just crucial to the successful redevelopment of the area," he said.

Local agencies were reluctant to commit to moving because some employees worried about working in another large office building that could be targeted such as the Murrah building. Others didn't want to be near the Murrah's site, and some agencies wanted to stay in offices where they are now.

The new building will be a block north and west of where the Murrah building stood.

Federal agencies picked to move to the building are the recruiting arms of the Army and Marine Corps, the Veterans Affairs Department, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health and Human Services Department and the Housing and Urban Development Department.

The Indian Health Service, the Small Business Administration and the Military Enlistment Processing Command Center also are planned tenants.

Peck said he realizes some employees may have reservations about moving into a building where federal agencies are grouped together.

"We will continue talking to all the various potential tenants about the building's design, its purpose, and why they should feel comfortable if they decide to relocate there," he said. "We believe that when the building is completed, it will be full."