By Megan Juneau
Business Crossroads Magazine
Hospital leaders sunk shovels into Norman soil September of 2006, marking the groundbreaking of the new $110 million Norman Regional HealthPlex to be located at Tecumseh and 1-35. The groundbreaking coincided with Norman Regional hospital’s 60th anniversary. Norman Regional already boasts about 2,300 employees and will become even more of a major employment center in the future. Construction is expected to take two years with the HealthPlex opening in late 2008.
New up and coming developments seem to be a popular theme among
Norman Employers. New employers, including
Albon, connecting rod manufacturer, and SDT, software testing, have
big plans for 2007. In addition, the heavily
anticipated University North Park is fully underway, with phase I
scheduled to be complete in 2007.
Most major employers in the Norman area are at all time high levels of employment, as well, including Client Logic, OfficeMax, York International, RiskMetrics, Southwestern Wire and the University of Oklahoma (OU).
The opening of the National Weather Center at OU’s campus in September of 2006 marked an important step in building a more diversified economy based upon research and high technology in Norman. Additionally, OU’s Two Partners Place is already planned for opening in spring of 2007. The 50,000 square foot building will stand on the university’s research campus and will house OU research programs along with private sector companies.
Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC), China’s oldest carmaker, announced in 2006 its plans for locating MG’s worldwide headquarters in Oklahoma City and its research and development center in Norman this year. MG’s R&D Center will directly involve OU in engineering and designing future MG models.
Cherokee Nations Industries (CNI) recently purchased the former John Saxon Corporate building near Highway 9 in Norman. The tribal business corporation, which plans to do $400 million dollars of revenue in 2007, will consolidate its Oklahoma City operations into the 65,000-square-foot facility. Bio-Cide plans on relocating, as well, to a new facility currently under construction in Norman. In addition to these, a number of new office buildings are being planned, and six hotels were announced in 2006, two of which have already broken ground.
The question of what businesses are planned for Norman’s University North Park still remains a mystery. Located at Robinson and I-35, the 585 acres of empty land space promise a shopping lover’s haven. Currently, there are tentative plans for various department stores and smaller retail businesses. Names being thrown around at this point include, Kirklands, Office Depot, Circuit City and restaurants, Pei Wei and Chick-fil-a. Although names remain a guessing game, it is certain University North Park will create thousands of new jobs in the next two to five years.
“Norman has seen decades of steady growth and all signs seem to indicate that will continue for decades to come. Much of Norman’s current focus is on quality versus quantity,” said Don Wood, Executive Director of the Norman Economic Development Coalition.
