Week in Review: Area Housing Starts Behind ’06 Total

By Tulsa World, Okla.

Nov. 18–Home construction rebounded slightly in October, rising 8 percent from September’s levels.

However, numbers from permit tracking service New Orders Weekly showed that September starts plunged 45 percent from August.

October’s total was 315, versus 292 in September.

The total for October 2006 was 266.

Year to date, the Tulsa area has recorded 3,713 starts, compared with 3,881 for the same period a year ago.

Tom Pepper, president of New Orders Weekly, said Tulsa’s home construction seems on track to match 2004, which was considered a “solid” market at the time.

“We’re off about 10 percent from ’05, which I think will be the high water mark for construction,” he said. “It’s not a steep decline, but it’s trending downward.”

Pepper said the drop between August and September was largely due to a spike in August’s construction, as well as August’s figures including five weeks of data compared to September’s four.

He predicted that 2007 construction will likely end 7 percent to 8 percent below 2006, assuming the weather cooperates.

Boost Mobile, a wholly owned cell phone division of Sprint Nextel, launched unlimited local and long-distance wireless service for $45 a month Monday in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

Boost executives said the company also offers unlimited local and long-distance wireless voice service and unlimited text and picture messaging for $50 a month. Customers making or receiving calls outside of their home calling area are charged 15 cents per minute, officials said.

“Oklahoma is a terrific market for unlimited wireless service as many residents desire an affordable wireless calling plan with no contracts, credit checks or activation fees,” said Boost Mobile General Manager Don Girskis in a prepared statement.

Launched last March in parts of Texas and California, Unlimited by Boost is expanding into Oklahoma and nine other states.

For a limited time, company officials said, Boost Mobile is offering the first month of Unlimited by Boost service free of charge with the purchase of a new wireless phone and the activation of a new account.

The Motorola c290 phone is offered for $99.99. The Motorola W385 is $129.99.

Unlimited by Boost is available at participating wireless dealer retail stores in Oklahoma and at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., officials said.

Tulsa and Oklahoma City residents can locate their nearest participating wireless dealer offering Unlimited by Boost by calling (877) 855-6673 or online at cf,fgc www.tulsaworld.com/boostcf,hel .

SemGroup Energy reports earnings

Tulsa-based SemGroup Energy Partners LP reported Tuesday net income of $5.9 million, or 24 cents per diluted common unit, for the period following its initial public offering through Sept. 30.

The partnership began trading July 18 on the Nasdaq stock market. The post-IPO period officially began July 20.

Kevin Foxx, president and CEO, said the company experienced strong demand for its energy gathering and transportation services throughout the third quarter.

“The demand is primarily due to revenue generated under the throughput agreement with our parent company,” Foxx said in a prepared statement.

SemGroup Energy Partners is a publicly traded master limited partnership. Tulsa-based SemGroup LP owns an interest in the partnership through a subsidiary.

The partnership manages a portfolio of energy assets. It owns and operates teminalling and storage facilities, operates two pipeline systems and uses tanker trucks to gather oil at remote locations.

For the three-month period ending Sept. 30, SemGroup Energy Partners posted net income of $4.3 million, compared with a net loss of $9 million for the same period last year.

The 2006 results reflect the performance of the partnership before the initial public offering.

That predecessor of the SemGroup Energy Partners did not record any revenue associated with its services provided to SemGroup LP. But the predecessor did recognize costs, according to a company statement.

Total revenue for the quarter was $25.3 million for the quarter, compared with $7.5 million for the 2006 quarter.

Tulsa weathering home loan crisis

Tulsa hasn’t proven immune to the home lending crisis — a new report indicates that foreclosures in the metro area from July through September rose 19.1 percent from the previous quarter.

However, the same report from real estate analyst RealtyTrac indicates that foreclosures were down 11 percent from the same period in 2006.

David Laughlin, president of BOk Mortgage, said the rising level of foreclosures is a concern but that the numbers are better than he had anticipated.

“We’ve fared much better than the coasts, since we didn’t experience the bubble and speculative borrowers,” he said.

The RealtyTrac report says 1,497 foreclosures were filed in the metro area during the third quarter, or one foreclosure for every 259 households. Tulsa is 58th on a list of the 100 largest metro areas ranked by the proportion of foreclosure.

Of the 100 metro areas, only 14 show a drop in foreclosures from third quarter 2006 to a year later.

Earlier this month, RealtyTrac reported that Oklahoma was one of only five states not reporting a year-over-year increase in foreclosure filings in the third quarter. The state had 3,356 foreclosures reported, or one for every 473 households, down 19.7 percent from the same quarter last year.

CarMax to build used-car supercenter

A company that bills itself as the nation’s largest retailer of preowned vehicles says it will open a southeast Tulsa location.

The state’s second CarMax Auto Superstore should be ready by the middle of next year, said Trina Lee, the Richmond, Va.-based company’s public relations manager.

The store and car lot will be built on a 12-acre site at 9131 S. Memorial Drive. Building permits list the price tag at almost $7 million for the main building, some tanks and a smaller structure.

“We are in the early stages of construction,” Lee said, noting that the main store will cover more than 35,000 square feet.

CarMax has been named three times as one of Fortune magazine’s 100 best companies to work for. Stores typically employ 60 to 100 associates. Hiring should begin in the spring, Lee said, when “people can apply online” at the company’s Web site.

CarMax says that when its store is up and running, consumers will find a different way to purchase used cars.

“We offer a no-hassle, no-haggle experience,” Lee said, which includes posted prices on all vehicles at stores and online, extended service plans, financing and a cash trade-in offer good for seven days whether or not the customer buys a car from CarMax.

Locations typically carry 300 to 400 vehicles to choose from and, except for five locations selling new models, sell used cars and trucks that are generally one to six years old with less than 60,000 miles.

The company operates 86 stores — including an Oklahoma City location — and is growing at a rate of 15 percent to 20 percent a year, Lee said.

Sonoma restaurant opens on Brookside

The creative mind behind one upscale Brookside restaurant is taking on the second challenge of a very different dining concept right next door.

Restaurateur Tim Baker, who opened The Brasserie Restaurant & Bar last November, opened Sonoma Bistro & Wine Bar Friday at 3523 S. Peoria Ave., in the former space of the restaurant Priv?.

And although The Brasserie, a French cuisine restaurant, has been open just about a year, the opportunity to operate another eatery in the trendy entertainment district was too good for Baker to pass up.

“I just love Brookside,” the 34-year-old certified sommelier said about the area that has long been a sought-after location for independently owned restaurants. “It’s a good location, and I can’t think of another place in town for cool, eclectic dining options.”

Baker’s latest endeavor specializes in Northern California cuisine and 100 wines by the glass presented in a casual, wine-country setting.

The menu — created by Brasserie executive chef Justin Thompson — has Pacific Rim, gourmet Southwest and Cal-Ital dishes, including hangar steak with gorgonzola, barbecue salmon tamale, garlic lemon chicken and truffled fettuccini with poached chicken.

Another specialty is brick-oven artisan pizzas.

Sonoma is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, with dinner starting at 5 p.m.

Helmerich & Payne’s earnings increase

Tulsa-based drilling firm Helmerich & Payne beat fiscal fourth-quarter expectations and posted record annual earnings on Thursday.

Net income for the fourth quarter grew 18 percent to $116.4 million, or $1.10 per diluted share, from $98.5 million, or 93 cents per diluted share, a year earlier, according to a company news release.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected earnings of 87 cents per share in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 30.

Operating revenue totaled $449.4 million, a 25 percent jump from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006.

H&P posted full-year net income of $449.3 million, or $4.27 per diluted share, compared with $293.9 million, or $2.77 per diluted share, last year.

Java Dave’s chain continues to expand

A newly formed agreement with the state of Oklahoma will put Tulsa-based Java Dave’s Coffee in several government sites statewide, including inside the Capitol building in Oklahoma City.

A Java Dave’s shop opens at noon Saturday in the building’s new visitor center, just in time to help celebrate Oklahoma’s 100th birthday, said Mike Tiernan, the coffee company’s licensing director.

The location is the first of five shops under a partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services’ Business Enterprise Program, which helps individuals with visual impairments own and operate businesses.

Shops are also confirmed for the basement of the Will Rogers Building in the Capitol complex and at Fort Sill. A shop at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City is being considered. A fifth site has not yet been determined.

“We’re very excited to be partnered with the Business Enterprise Program,” Tiernan said. “The state Capitol is an exciting place to visit, and I could not think of a better place for a Java Dave’s to be located.”

A former director of the program approached company management earlier this year, and an agreement was reached in April.

The company has 55 operational coffee shops and 28 signed licenses scheduled to open by the end of 2008. This year, new owners opened 10 shops, including a second location in Joplin, Mo., one each in Wagoner and Okmulgee, one at Oklahoma State University at Tulsa and one in New Delhi, India.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Tulsa World, Okla.

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