City tries out new leasing strategy for One Technology Center

TULSA - Empty office space at One Technology Center in downtown Tulsa is costing taxpayers a couple million dollars a year.

A full acre of office space on the ninth floor has been difficult for the city to lease. Officials hope a new strategy will attract small businesses to the building.

The ninth floor at One Technology Center has its first tenant under a new plan.

The Forge, a business incubator started by Tulsa Young Professionals, just moved in.

"We made the transition over here, which was like going from a very nice neighborhood to a very, very nice neighborhood, and of course we couldn't be happier. The building's beautiful, the address is very prestigious," said Dixie Agostino.

Agostino works for a start up company involved with The Forge.

"Luckily we have enough flexibility we can bring someone in and have enough room for them. There's lots and lots of space up here," she said.

Companies can now rent short term office space for a few months at a time. The ninth floor has 320 work stations, already furnished. Tenants share an internet cafe, conference rooms and a great view.

"So instead of letting it sit vacant any longer, we've decided to come up with this collaborative workspace environment that will allow someone to come in and use this beautiful facility," said Angela West, vice president and partner of commercial real estate developer CB Richard Ellis.

In the same building that's home to the mayor's office and city hall, the 14th floor is also sitting empty.

"This building is a very unique building, it's a beautiful building that has a lot of high tech significance to it. But it also has two empty floors, and we'd like to be as agressive as we can to rent out the building," said Mayor Dewey Bartlett.

Bartlett hopes the plan spurs new ideas and new business.

"Boom, we've got essentially an incubator situation, where people with good, aggressive, visionary minds and entrepreneurial spirit can get together, talk about things, and maybe a deal might be hatched," Bartlett said.

The city has been negotiating with some companies to fill this empty space.

"We've got a couple of other leases that are being reviewed and are in negotiation so we're very hopeful," West said.