Mar. 15--Oneta Square project thriving

Construction on a 30,000-square-foot, $4.5 million shopping center is well under way at Oklahoma 51 and Oneta Road southeast of Broken Arrow.

Although retail building projects are becoming less numerous in the Tulsa area, Christopoulos Construction was able to proceed with Oneta Square because of the large amount of home construction in the vicinity with very little retail development, said Tom Christopoulos, the company's owner.

Additionally, Oneta Square is near the site of the future $67 million Armed Forces Reserve Center at 101st Street and 261st East Avenue. It is expected to serve up to 1,200 members a month from state National Guard and Reserve units.

A Java Dave's coffee franchise signed up as the first tenant, Christopoulos said.

- ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer

SemGroup LP to transfer unit

Even though 9 percent of local surveyed employers expect to reduce payrolls in the second quarter, the hiring outlook for the Tulsa-area market from April to June is expected to be the 10th best in the nation, according to the survey released Monday by Manpower Inc.

Of those interviewed, 19 percent of companies plan to add employees and 65 percent expect to maintain current staff levels, while only 9 percent expect to cut payrolls and 7 percent are uncertain of their hiring plans.

AAON sets earnings record for 2008

AAON Inc., a Tulsa

manufacturer, continued a hot streak by logging record profits in the fourth quarter and all of 2008.

The maker of high-end industrial air conditioners and heating systems earned $28.6 million during 2008, up 23 percent from $23.2 million the year before.

The company also increased sales by 7 percent to $279.7 million. It had record fourth-quarter earnings of $6.0 million, an increase of $2.4 million from the same period in 2007.

But despite all the good news, executives said AAON is facing pressure and warned that its forecast for 2009 is muddled by uncertainty about the economy.

AAON employs about 1,000 people in Tulsa.

- KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer

State foreclosure rate same in February

The rate of Oklahoma foreclosures remained steady in February, yet there were significantly fewer people losing their homes compared with a year ago.

Approximately 1,030 foreclosure filings were made last month, or one for every 1,576 homes, according to real estate data service RealtyTrac.

Oklahoma ranked 34th in foreclosures. That was up 5.9 percent from January, a month when it dropped more than 23 percent. However, February's total was down 42.5 percent from February 2008.