Oklahoma City is no longer the place where business can carve out a stake and strike oil overnight, but there are still plenty of opportunities for success. The city became a boomtown in the early 1900s due to the discovery of oil. With the decline of the oil industry in the early '80s, Oklahoma City began looking to connect with other types of business and diversify the city's industry base.
The city is undergoing a renaissance, due in part to the tragic bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in April of 1995. But business leaders have also used this opportunity to polish up the OK City's image and attract new business. Voters approved a $369 million downtown development plan in 1993. In the planning and construction phases are a new arena, a renovated performing arts center, new art museum and new residential downtown development.
"While these changes are obvious," says Luke Corbett, chairman of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Kerr-McGee, "the real revolution-the technology and health revolution-is equally impressive." The $3 billion Oklahoma City Health Center hopes to attract and partner with biotech companies and develop new technology industries for the area.
"Oklahoma City's biotechnology industry is on the verge of a revolution," says Mike George, president of UroCor. "There is tremendous activity in the Oklahoma Health Center and its Research Park."
An incubator for the life sciences industries is slated to open in the city later this fall. Already the funding for this incubator, as well as an information technology incubator in Tulsa, has surpassed the $50 million mark.
"These are the kind of companies that create quality, high-paying jobs for Oklahoma residents," says Dr. William A. Sibley, director of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Sciences and Technology.
The city also hopes to train and keep talented technology-savvy workers. The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, north of downtown on a 32-acre (12.96-hectare) campus near the Oklahoma Health Center, has just broken ground on an $11 million expansion. High school students petition for admission into the program, and the program has already scored success. OSSM students have scored the highest in the nation on the ACT mathematics test.
While efforts continue through the Oklahoma City's office of Training for Industry Program (TIP) to keep OK City's work force trained and on the job, employment remains steady. Unemployment for the Oklahoma City MSA remained at 3.4 percent for the month of March, unchanged from February.
The TIP program was recently ranked No.1 in the U.S. by Kiplinger's magazine and offers a statewide network of 54 technology centers delivering customized training to new and expanding companies. Business is taking note.
Celia Smith, vice president of The Hartford's Personal Lines Insurance Center, says, "Oklahoma's Training for Industry Program was a major incentive in locating here."
Corning announced in December plans to locate its newest fiber optic plant in Oklahoma City. The plant will employ more than 800 workers and construction will begin on the high-tech facility early this summer. Company officials cite the availability of a trained work force, infrastructure, positive business environment and overall quality of life for its decision. "This announcement is a particular testament to the economic growth of the western Oklahoma City metro area," says Gov. Frank Keating.
Drs. Tang and Lin at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, part of Oklahoma City's biotech industry.
Johnson Controls will bring 195 new manufacturing jobs to its new automotive seats and overhead systems facility for General Motors next February. Quad/Graphics is building a new printing plant and will employ 600 when the facility opens.
-- Ginny Deal
