Kerr-Edmondson State Office Complex

Work on the new State Office Building in Tulsa was approved in 1973 and construction swiftly began on the massive new complex. But the early days of its inception didn’t come without controversy between officials and citizens alike.

Very early on it was announced that the new state office building would be exempt from following Tulsa’s Building and Code Enforcement. It would not need a city building permit nor would it need to abide by city building regulations and codes. Apparently this was customary to levels above municipal governments.

Another issue arose when picketers stood outside the construction site. The dispute was between General Acoustics and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union. A US District Court was asked to step in and halt the picketing.

The $8.2 million complex was progressing well by the beginning of January 1974. Cowen Construction was the general contractor on the building, a prominent institute in the state. A bill was passed in 1976 to officially name the west building after former Governor J. Howard Edmondson and the east building after US Senator Robert S. Kerr.

But the controversy of this and the Jim Thorpe State Office Building in OKC continued due to the office rental space. Many believed that the occupancy rates were far too high leaving many of the spaces under-utilized. This would be a reoccurring issue throughout the next half a century.

Just ten years before the OKC Bombing, this office complex was evacuated due to a bomb threat. For an hour and a half, workers stood from a safe distance outside unsure if they were in danger of a terroristic attack or not. An anonymous caller claimed that a 9-pound bomb had been hidden somewhere in the building. When OHP arrived they cleared the scene and were unable to find any bomb, allowing all workers to return to their respective floors.

Come 1988 one of the largest agencies in the state office building vacated their space opening up four floors of prime office space. This allowed the Department of Agriculture and Education to move in. But while some viewed the newly available space as a good thing, others view it as a continued issue of vacancies in the building. Instead of renters coming at their own free will, it seems that the state was forcing the hand of the state agencies. They were quoted saying “State agencies can be ordered to move into the building and those already there can be instructed to stay”, also saying “Additional taxes would be needed to pay the state building bonds if the space is not leased.”

The building being a state office building, with many state-run departments in it made it no stranger to threats. Headlines were made in 2001 when an arsonist broke windows to get in then shot out interior doors before lighting a fire causing $350,000 in damage. The fire was set on the seventh floor where the suspect regularly reported for parole. The building remained closed while repairs were being done. This terroristic act came just a few months before the 9/11 attacks that shocked the world.

Another shocking event occurred in 2009 when a the state office building again made headlines. This headline was one that was rather unbelievable. Authorities were called to the scene of the state office building to dismantle a partial meth lab. Groundskeepers found chemical-filled bottles on a stairwell outside the office building.

Renovation of the Kerr-Edmondson State Office Complex

In 2020 it was announced that the state services would move out of the Kerr-Edmondson Buildings and relocate services elsewhere in town. The building would then become the brand-new inpatient VA hospital for Eastern Oklahoma. In partnership with OSU Medical, the brand new facility promises to be one of many successes providing not only general medicine services but also mental health and research services.

In preparation for the new hospital, the entire facility was gutted in 2023 and has already begun construction with plans to open the new hospital as early as spring 2025. You can even view a time-lapse of the construction here.

Gallery Below of Kerr-Edmondson State Office Complex

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