Oklahoma City lands a big-capital beachhead

Big names such as Jones Lang LaSalle in Chicago, Goldman Sachs and Cushman & Wakefield in New York, Credit Suisse, based in Zurich, and others finance big investments here are relatively rarely. However, with the city muscling its way through the recession and poised to enjoy the first fruits of economy recovery, those “big city” players could become more common.

CBRE Capital Markets can be seen as opening the way to Oklahoma City for other national and global specialists in debt placement and equity finance for commercial property.

The move directly by CB Richard Ellis' corporate office — this is not an expansion of CB Richard Ellis-Oklahoma, a franchise — extends financial centers on both coasts to Oklahoma.

CB Richard Ellis is based in Los Angeles, and CBRE Capital Markets is based in New York City.

“There is always going to be a bias toward the coastal cities,” longtime Oklahoma City realty executive Ford Price said, but opening a corporate office with specialists concentrating on the city “shows how Oklahoma City has moved up the food chain in terms of how it is perceived by out-of-state investors, and especially institutional investors.”

“Oklahoma City is starting to get rated up there in a way it never has been before,” said Price, managing partner of Price Edwards & Co.

It bodes well for Oklahoma City's fortunes and perception among investors, financiers and other national movers and shakers in commercial real estate investment.

CB Richard Ellis Debt & Equity Finance provides permanent financing, bridge loans, construction financing, joint venture equity, loan servicing, mezzanine debt, structured equity and tenant-in-common financing.

“People are hunting for yields, and there is still so much real estate capital out there looking for a home” that Oklahoma City is more attractive than ever, Price said.