Week in Review

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.迷你倉Oct. 27--Midstates big on Oklahoma productionHouston-based Midstates Petroleum Co. is on a growth spurt, and a good amount of that expansion is occurring in Oklahoma. Midstates opened a Tulsa office this year in the Kennedy Building, 321 S. Boston Ave., and plans to add 130 people statewide to its current staff of about 50.CEO and Chairman John Crum outlined the company's operations Tuesday at a meeting of the Friends of Finance on the University of Tulsa campus.Crum told a capacity crowd of 400 that Midstates is enjoying success with the properties it acquired from two Tulsa companies, Eagle Energy and Panther Energy. The many drilling targets picked up in the deals have been keeping Midstates busy."We always are looking (for more acquisitions), but we're really not actively in that market right now," Crum said. "We'd probably sell (some assets) before we'd buy."- JOHN STANCAVAGE, World Business ColumnistPruitt, 7 mayors push for antitrust dismissalOklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is continuing to press for the merger of American Airlines and US Airways, telling a court in Washington, D.C., that he intends to file for "friend of the court" status for the upcoming trial in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Justice Department.Pruitt's announcement Wednesday came the same day as mayors of seven cities, all with American and US Airways hubs, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to withdraw the lawsuit."The Department of Justice should drop its lawsuit and allow the merger of American Airlines and US Airways to continue," Pruitt said in a statement. "This merger will benefit consumers by providing more choices and options, and our amicus filing will make the case that the merger does not violate either state or federal antitrust laws and should move forward."Oklahoma stands to gain from the merger, not only from providing some stability for 6,300 American Airlines jobs in Tulsa, but also because US Airways doesn't serve Tulsa or Oklahoma City and travelers in the state would get more access to US Airways destinations.- KYLE ARNOLD, World Business WriterNORDAM in midst of facility expansionNORDAM is working on a 50,000-square-foot expansion to its Cherokee Industrial Park facility that should be finished in late 2014.The privately held Tulsa-based aerospace components company is adding a new automated manufacturing line at the west end of its Interiors and Structures facility in north Tulsa.The expansion is expected to add a few positions when it opens, but the company does not have specific numbers. NORDAM did not disclose a price tag for its project."Our facility expansion provides state-of-the-art clean line capability to support a variety of aerospace applications," Division Vice President and General Manager Phil Marshaself storagel said Monday in a statement. "The size and capacity of this line will allow us to process metallic skins up to 21 feet long and 10 feet wide."The expansion includes a new conveyor system to carry parts through the priming process before being sent to the facility's bonding area.NORDAM built the 430,000-square-foot interiors and structures division at the Cherokee Industrial Park in 1999 and started laying the groundwork for the latest expansion in November 2012.With the expansion and the new line, the company will be able to reduce material handling and minimize the likelihood of damages to parts, Marshall said.- KYLE ARNOLD, World Business WriterCostco among brands looking to build in TulsaCostco, Gander Mountain and Container Store are among the brands that are actively looking to establish their first locations in the Tulsa area, said Ben Ganzkow of CB Richard Ellis/Oklahoma.Ganzkow, speaking at the annual Tulsa Trends conference put on by the Tulsa branch of national commercial real estate organization NAIOP, cited the brands as part of his presentation on retail real estate.Past rumors suggested Costco would come to the 101st Street and Memorial Drive area, though Jared Andresen, managing director of the Newmark Grubb/Levy Strange Beffort office in Tulsa, said in January that the company had yet to choose a location.Ganzkow said he expects retail vacancies to continue their gradual drop from the current level of 12.7 percent thanks to an improving economy and relatively little new construction."We're really putting a dent in our inventory," he said.- ROBERT EVATT, World Business WriterThe weekin numbers70 Highest percent discount off regular prices of items at Nordstrom Rack, set to open near Woodland Hills Mall. The outlet is the off-price retail division of Nordstrom, a Seattle-based upscale fashion retailer.14 Number of acquisitions by BlackHawk Industrial of Broken Arrow since 2010 after acquiring Chicago Hi-Speed Tool & Supply along with its subsidiary, Quaker Tool Grinding Co.5 Megabytes per second, the new speed for the Essential service Internet package offered by Cox Communications on Thursday, up from 3 mbps. Other Cox plans will have increased speeds, and most customers will not see a hike in their bill.Quotable"It seems like the government wants to create an environment where air fares are the same as they were early in the last decade. But that was a time when fuel costs were less and you had almost the whole industry in bankruptcy."-- Seth Kaplan, Airline Weekly editor, citing consumer impact as a reason for the Department of Justice's challenge to the proposed merger between American Airlines and US Airways.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) 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