NBA team sends small tenants scrambling

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 1, 2008 by Kelley Chambers

When a big company - or an entity like the NBA - moves downtown, the event is usually followed by hoopla for the office market.

But many small users fill a needed role in occupying space downtown in all classes of office buildings and help create a balance between large and small users.

One of those smaller companies is the Garrett Group LLC, which moved to the First National Center this week after finding out its space was slated for Oklahoma City's new NBA team.

The company specializes in consulting for utility regulation and has four employees.

For the past three years, the company has been in Leadership Square under a sub-lease from Bank of America.

The bank, under a lease that expired at the end of July, is vacating the third-floor space.

The NBA team, which announced last week it plans to set up temporary offices in Leadership Square, will occupy that third- floor space.

That meant the Garrett Group and others had to find a new home - and fast.

Garry Garrett, of the Garrett Group, said the clock was ticking as his company began looking at options downtown.

"Our main thing was we had no time," he said. "We needed a space that was walk-in ready."

None of the members of the firm had ever had an office at First National, but Garrett said they are pleased with their 2,318-square- foot space on the 14th floor.

Clay Moss, who handles leasing for Wiggin Properties at 101 Park Ave. downtown, said big tenants are crucial to a strong office market, but small tenants also play a key role.

Of the 30 tenants at 101 Park, 14 are each in less than 2,500 square feet.

He said small tenants have helped fill in floors at 101 Park that are occupied largely by those who need more space, but not an entire floor.

"Where those little tenants come into play, and are of major importance, is now we go get two 2,500- to 3,000-square-foot tenants and that floor is full," he said. "It has to be the right combination of large and small tenants."

First National has benefited from large tenants in its buildings, like Devon Energy, but with about 1 million square feet, smaller tenants can help fill in gaps.

Emily Dobson, property manager at First National, said the building also picked up Stormwest Corp., which also had to move from its space in Leadership Square to make room for the NBA team's offices. She said they had little time to get the Garrett and Stormwest deals done and get the two tenants moved in.

"We got the leases together, signed, and fully executed in about a week," she said. "Thankfully we had the space ready for them to move into."

Stormwest moved into 2,563 square feet on the 28th floor of First National.

Dobson said in working to fill First National, every tenant, despite their size, is important.

"It all adds up," she said. "The large tenants are nice because we have so much vacancy but we have room for the smaller guys too. They all add up and add to the momentum downtown."