Greater OKC Chamber – Jim Stafford's BlogOKC

Convergence floor — Second floor of the Convergence tower under development in OKC’s Innovation District.

If you’re like me, you’ve been curious about the new Convergence tower rising from the ground the past couple of years along I-235 just east of downtown.

The eight-floor Convergence tower is a $200 million privately funded development in the heart of OKC’s Innovation District. The project includes the adjacent, MAPS funded Innovation Hall with a future hotel also planned for the site.

A pair of prominent OKC real estate investors/developers in Richard Tanenbaum, CEO of Tanenbaum Holdings, and Mark Beffort, CEO of Robinson Park Investments, have led the Convergence project.

Convergence sits on a pretty small plot of land — 5.5 acres — that surrounds the tiny Stiles Park and its Beacon of Hope, which shines a green light into the night sky like a giant flashlight. The project will have underground parking.

The Convergence website descibes the project as an “ecosystem reshaping Oklahoma City’s economy through innovation, collaboration, diversity and advanced technology.”

The project is certainly reshaping OKC’s Innovation District.

Anyway, I wrangled a ticket to attend the Greater OKC Chamber’s recent networking event and walking tour of the still-under-construction Convergence development.

My professional background includes many years of covering Oklahoma’s emerging biotech industry, first as a reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper and later as a writer and then freelancer for i2E, Inc., the not-for-profit that mentors and invests in many of the state’s entrepreneurial startups.

So, that led me to gather with about 75 folks at the ~~Oklahoma~~ Our Blood Institute, which sits at the intersection of NE Eighth Street and Lincoln Blvd. It’s maybe a 50-yard walk from OBI to the new development.

Here’s what I learned that afternoon during the networking event and walking tour:

First, the Oklahoma Bioscience Association has been rebranded as Life Science Oklahoma, which made its debut at the annual BIO show in San Diego this past June. My friend, Dr. Craig Shimasaki, co-founder and CEO of OKC’s Moleculera Biosciences, is co-chair of Life Sciences Oklahoma, along with Andrew Westmuckett, director of technology ventures at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

Education will play a major role at the Innovation Hall, which features a Bio Pharmaceutical Workforce Training Center called BioTC. We received a good explanation of how the space will accommodate aspiring biotech workers from Koey Keylon, BioTC’s, executive director. It will offer one-week, hands-on short courses in biotechnology manufacturing in which students will learn the biotech process and how to use sophisticated technology involved. It also offers an advanced two-week certification curriculum.

Innovation Hall also includes a large Event Hall, a cafe and lounge open to the public, four conference rooms and two small “phone booth” size work/meeting spaces.

Innovation Hall is part of MAPS 4 Innovation District funding, which contributed $11 million to the development, with another $10 million or so from non-MAPS sources, according to the City of OKC.

After we toured the Innovation Hall, we entered the first floor of the Convergence tower. Much of the first floor will be occupied by Wheeler Bio, an up-and-coming contract development and manufacturing organization in the life sciences space. Wheeler Bio also will have administrative offices on upper floors of the building.

CrossFirst Bank has been announced as a tenant, while the University of Oklahoma, Tinker Air Force Base and an unnamed aerospace partner will occupy the eighth floor.

All this was empty space as we toured it, but you could see the possibilities and envision the future.

By the way, I highly recommend you crossing over I-235 onto Eighth Street to drive slowly past the Convergence project for a closer view, then meander through the Innovation District that includes OSU’s Hamm Institute for American Energy adjacent to Convergence on the north side, University Research Park to the south and OU Health Sciences Center to the north and east.

In a year or maybe less, Convergence tower and Innovation Hall should be filled with bioscience research and manufacturing professionals. as well as students aspiring for a biotech career, while offering great meeting and hangout space in the Innovation Hall.

I can’t wait to see it all in action.

Downtown view — View of downtown OKC from second floor of the Convergence Tower

Innovation Events — Event space in the Innovation Hall

Buildings — Walking between buildings on a tour of the rising Convergence project in OKC.

Jeff Seymour, executive vice president of the Greater OKC Chamber, welcomes guests to the recent networking event and Convergence project walking tour.

I came across the obituary last week of Oklahoma City business leader Phil Scaramucci. I never met him, but his name was familiar. As I read further into his life story, I came across the name of his wife, Avis.

I don’t know Avis, either, but I know of her as the founder of the now departed Nonna’s Ristorante in Bricktown. That was in the obituary, as well.

And THAT led me to recall an event I attended at Nonna’s in 2009. It was called a “Tweetup,” one among many such events that sprang up across OKC and elsewhere in that era, which provided the opportunity to meet my new Twitter friends in real life.

The Tweetup at Nonna’s was such fun. Probably well over 100 people attended, and, as I recall, there was free food and drink. I don’t know who paid for it. Great networking opportunities.

Tweetups became such a thing that I received an invitation to attend a Tweetup at the 2009 International BIO convention that I attended on behalf of i2E and the Greater OKC Chamber.

What set Tweetups apart — and what I call Early Twitter of the late 2000s — was how positive and upbeat everyone was. Folks were eager to lift one another up, and the concept of Twitter trolls had yet to appear to spoil the fun.

Social media was emerging in importance in that era. In fact, my friend Russ Florence, President and CEO of the Consulting and PR firm Schnake Turnbo Frank, recently told me that his firm was among the first to hire a social media and digital media specialist.

I found my way onto Twitter in the Spring of 2008 at Russ’s invitation. I worked as a Business News reporter at The Oklahoman, and discovered Twitter to be an incredible fountain of information and news.

So, I jumped into the deep end and have never left.

About that same time, another phenomenon occurred with the rise of co-working spaces. The first I recall was OKC CoCo — for Coworking Collaborative — created in downtown OKC by Derrick Parkhurst.

Derrick began hosting what he called “OpenBetas” on a semi-regular basis. OpenBetas were events where anyone could pitch their innovation or new business concept. There was food and drink and a festive upbeat atmosphere.

For example, Oklahoma native and entrepreneur Noah Everett shared details of his company called Twitpic at an OpenBeta event back in those days. Twitpic was huge in early Twitter as a way to post your photos.

Screenshot — Oklahoman and Twitpic founder Noah Everett discusses his venture at OpenBeta in 2009.

Another friend, Dan Lovejoy, today an Enterprise Architect Expert for OG&E, also fondly recalled the era of Tweetups and OpenBetas.

“That really felt like an extension of the heyday of the blogosphere when so many people were blogging,” Dan told me. “I remember in those early days I would follow anyone from Oklahoma.

“I spoke at one of those (OpenBetas). They were fun.”

Fast forward to today’s Twitter, which is now known as “X” and owned by Elon Musk, who seems intent upon running into the ground. Many of my old Twitter friends have fled the site as the number of trolls increased exponentially and negativity is everywhere.

I’m still on Twitter (I refuse to call it “X”), if only because it remains a great source for breaking news, both local and beyond. I try my best to ignore the trolls, bots and MAGA acolytes.

But that’s where we are in 2024. Far removed from the naivety of Tweetups and OpenBetas.

So, I’m sorry for the loss of Phil Scaramucci, but I’m glad I got to read his life story in the paper. And how it reminded me of that 2009 Tweetup at Nonna’s.

Tweetups and Nonna’s are now only fond memories. Sadly, neither will ever be replaced.

Tag: Greater OKC Chamber

Walking tour showcases future impact of OKC’s Convergence project

OKC’s Golden Age of Tweetups & OpenBeta