Developer, builders share their thoughts of biblical proportions

When the Warr family sold its long-held flagship property, Mayfair Village, a year ago, the company name had to change from Mayfair Commercial Management Co.

Kory Warr, whose late father, Gene, started the retail center at NW 50 and May Avenue in the 1950s, went with something close to his heart — and head.

Praxis Development is the company's name now.

Why "Praxis”?

"It's the name, in the Greek New Testament, of the Book of Acts, one of my favorite books of the Bible,” he said.

That's his heart. Warr, like his father a man of deep Christian faith, is an active member of St. Elijah Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church. How "Praxis” hits his head: "And in English, it means ‘taking an idea and making it concrete,' which is perfect for real estate development.”

Warr's grandfather, C.B., founded the company as Warr Industries in 1929. C.B. Warr ran the company until his death in 1959. His son, Gene, ran it from then until 2001, when the company's board named Kory Warr chief executive officer and president.

Today, Praxis Development, with offices at 7300 N Comanche Ave., owns and manages commercial property in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Iowa and Michigan, and develops property in Oklahoma and Georgia.

And because I know it irks him, but I also know he can take some ribbing, let me remind everyone that his family is the one for whom the city of Warr Acres is named. His grandfather never sought nor desired such an honor, he will remind me, and the family just lives here and does business like everyone else.

Jeff Click was a pup of 22 when he started building homes in 1998. Before long, with a telecommunication and computer science degree from Oklahoma Baptist University, he became the go-to man for consumer technology built into houses.

Click is another man of deep Christian faith, an active member of LifeChurch.tv. His house plans have names such as "The Luke,” "The Chronicle,” "The Hosea,” "The James” and "The Psalm 1.5.”

The other day I asked him what high-tech tools he used as a builder.

"I often wonder how homes were ever built without the use of mobile phones or computers,” he said. "Those are two major must-haves in this business. Within Jeff Click Homes, we rely heavily on computers in-house for communicating with clients via e-mail, estimating materials, record-keeping and order-placing.

"I'm also a big fan of the solutions that Apple provides for media production and distribution. We use several kinds of Macs to produce and manage all of our media in-house, from print literature, to digital photography of every house we build, our Web site design, and our soon-to-be-available video content that will be distributed to our clients and prospects on DVD, our Web site, and through video podcasts.

"I love the new Apple TV, which we use in our model to run a 42-inch plasma TV to play music, show slideshows and play video content for visitors.”

And he is a geek, a tag he's proud of. He reminds me of a bumper sticker I've seen. It reads: "Be nice to geeks. Chances are you'll end up working for one.”

Caleb McCaleb, president of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, was back-talking the weather.

"It feels like the only person building anything right now would be Noah and his Ark after 40 days and 40 nights of rain that we have all experienced,” he said when I asked about soggy home construction.

"I have talked to several foundation contractors in the past two weeks, and every one of them has 50-plus plans in their trucks that represent a foundation for a builder.”

The — ahem — silver lining? The slowdown is helping reduce inventories. Builders were sitting on a year's supply of some price ranges, he said.