I don't recall that this thread has said anything so far about the Dell Call Center, roughly at the SW corner of the intersection of I-40 (East/West) and I-44 (at that point, North/South). It occupies either 62 or 68 acres (I've seen both numbers) and is bounded on the North by the "Oklahoma" River ... ha ha ... it's actually a segment of the North Canadian River which was recently renamed and which roughly runs from a little West of I-40 to somewhere East of downtown. Generally, the facility is located about 4 miles North of the Will Rogers Airport. This pic shows the general location (the yellow highlighted area - I-44 is visible, but I-40 is not):
From what I've read, the Call Center focuses on small and mid-sized businesses. A drawing of the 1st building is this:
The 1st building is pretty much done and employees have started moving into it, or so I've read. A 2nd building, similar to the 1st, is said to be done by February 2006. A 3rd building is possible, but not yet assured, as far as I know.
How big a deal is this for OKC? Well, anything from a company like Dell is good. But, as to projections of the number of employees, I've seen numbers all over the map on that one. One says that it may eventually employ 5,000, but, at present, I think the number is more like 1,000, but with more, perhaps another 1,000 to 1,500 when the 2nd building is done. We shall see.
BTW, if I've gotten anything wrong, perhaps someone with better knowledge will chime in. I'm just repeating what I've read elsewhere from several different sources. I have NO first hand knowledge.
And, plans are for a water taxi location to be located here and traveling West on the Oklahoma River a bit East of downtown, which would be approximately 4-5 miles.