OIA facilitates expansions, new development

I’ve written about the Oklahoma Industries Authority several times in the last nine months, and for good reason. The industrial market is thriving. With the warehouse and industrial market vacancy rate now below 10% in Oklahoma City, demand for space has never been higher.

The Oklahoma Industries Authority promotes and facilitates the development of industry and commerce in Oklahoma County. For companies looking for large expansion space, the authority acquires property, develops infrastructure and serves as the contract vehicle to support real estate transactions for large land and development projects.

One OIA project was highlighted just a few weeks ago with the Tinker Air Force Base expansion. The OIA acquired 220 acres along Douglas Boulevard, purchasing smaller parcels and holding them for years, with the goal of selling or leasing to Tinker for mission expansion when the time was right. The new 220-acre parcel, combined with the new configuration that incorporates Douglas Boulevard into the Tinker footprint, will bring several maintenance, technology and communications operations on the east side of Douglas Boulevard sometime around the end of 2022.

Another recent OIA announcement is the 577-acre site at I-240 and Eastern, a collaboration and land swap with the Commissioners of the Land Office. This site has many advantages – located immediately south of I-240 and just 1 mile from I-35, its expansive size will attract industrial businesses looking for large, contiguous space. An empty field now, it can be developed into any configuration of warehouse, loading docks, storage, office or lab space and parking. Its proximity to Tinker Air Force Base, only 4 miles away, will be attractive to aerospace, defense and engineering businesses. This is another timely land acquisition. In Oklahoma City during 2019, about half of our 53 known industrial projects required facilities with 100,000 square feet or more on 50 acres or more of land, driven by growth in manufacturing, distribution, research and development, data centers and aerospace.

This site in south Oklahoma is being marketing to industrial businesses that have expansion plans. This week, the OIA launched a website to support announcements, available land and the mission of the OIA. For more information, visit www.okindustriesauthority.org.

In its 50-plus-year history, the OIA has assisted with over 200 economic development projects, resulting in the creation of over 100,000 jobs and over $3 billion in new facilities.