OKLAHOMA CITY | Projects & Construction

[Peerson]

Nice pic of people enjoying the Parlor OKC rooftop:


https://deskgram.cc/p/2125125524325322619_9192980425

[Peerson]

A roofing team working on the south wing of the State Capitol:


https://twitter.com/CapitolRestore/s...57021975719936

[Peerson]

Wheeler District

Tietsort Design has posted some close up looks of the new Steel Lite doors and a large fixed window installed at the terminal building.







https://deskgram.cc/p/2130664104938179524_5867904356


This is the terminal building from an aerial shot:


https://deskgram.net/p/2127224866792145357_1271969511

[3rd&Brown]

what is that neighborhood??!?!?!?

I want to live in one of those houses.

[ChrisHayes]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

what is that neighborhood??!?!?!?

I want to live in one of those houses.

It's the Wheeler District. It's in it's very early stages of development.

[Peerson]

^ Yes, definitely early stages when you look at the plans they have in store:





It will take many years for that kind of density to develop.

Nevertheless, I have to say that I'm impressed with how far it has progressed in the past couple of years.
I didn't think things would proceed that quickly (nice surprise, for a change).

[Peerson]

Construction update on Fan Club / Okie Kush










https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Z-slYhqPF/

This is the property on the corner of NW 10th & Hudson that is being renovated into a sport bar / arcade (Fan Club) and dispensary (Okie Kush).


https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44948

[Peerson]

Play Cafe

A new restaurant is in the works for the Uptown / NW 23rd area.
Not a large development, but it is based on an interesting concept.



This building was formerly a pawn shop.

It received (the start of) a renovation, including the white paint job, in 2017 when it was to become a fitness center.
The Dallas based company ZYN22 signed a lease to create a spin studio there.
But they unexpectedly backed out (never did hear an explanation of why).

Instead, it is to be developed as a restaurant called Play Cafe.
The name reveals the strong emphasis on catering to families with children.


https://www.playcafeokc.com/

The front half of the building is to hold a restaurant / cafe with fine dining for adults.
The back half contains a children's play area.
But the two sections are integrated and encourage family interaction during visits.

There will also be an outdoor kids play area behind the building.

The idea is that parents with small children can actually enjoy a nice dinner out without having to find a baby sitter.
Or attempt to take the kids to a nice restaurant, which normally does not work out well for the kids or the other patrons.
Or give up on the idea, and grab fast food takeout to bring back home.

Their instagram page is full of quotes such as: "Remember when leaving the house was fun? SO DO WE"

Of course, "family friendly" is a common buzz phrase these days and a lot of restaurants attempt accomodations.
But this is taking it a step further, building it into the core philosophy of the business.


Renderings of the interior:





https://www.instagram.com/p/B0TwlDehO0D/

This is located along a vibrant section of NW 23rd Street:

original: http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/cajun053019a.jpg
source: https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44471

The cafe is about halfway between the Tower Theater (on the east end) and Guyutes restaurant (further west).
It is adjacent to Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt and Pizza23:


https://www.crexi.com/lease/properti...600-nw-23rd-st


Construction photos:


https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz5qnizhGI6/


https://www.instagram.com/p/By32-R1hskd/


https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzn5p64BENA/


https://www.instagram.com/p/B1w476xBI0f/


https://www.instagram.com/p/B2NnqYeh7P_/

The last photo was from 5 days ago.

Originally scheduled to open in the fall.
But that seem unlikely.
Probably more like early 2020.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45069
https://www.instagram.com/playcafeokc/

[Peerson]

Ye Olde (or rather, new) Construction Photos of the Convention Center:





https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=26179&page=190

[Peerson]

Left Frame Lofts

Living room window view:


https://deskgram.cc/p/2135168806971336953_11130663314


Compare to rendering:


https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...087392875_zpid

Yep, these condos are going to have great views.

[Peerson]

Will Rogers Terminal Expansion


https://www.okctalk.com/content.php?...Rogers-Airport

The first extension from the existing building for the new terminal (Phase 1) has begun.


https://app.oxblue.com/open/WRWATerminalExpansion



https://www.facebook.com/WillRogersW...74636199227974

[Peerson]

BancFirst has applied for building permits on the former Chase Tower which they purchased last year.

The extensive renovations they have planned should begin relatively soon.

Pete at OKCTalk has compiled a very interesting collection of images showing the current state of the tower juxtaposed next to renderings with changes.
This is a useful way to gauge the upcoming alterations.

I appreciate this effort as it must have taken quite a bit of time to put this together.
Have a look:



















































https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=19447&page=26

[Peerson]

The Theodore

This is a follow-up on a previous post about the redevelopment of 900 N. Klein.



This building, originally Roosevelt Jr. High School, had long been used by the OKC public schools for administrative offices.
But since they are moving to a new location, the old structure is being re-adapted for new use.

The RFP issued by the city received responses from 3 groups:

• Far Wespen - an east coast development firm
• Carpathia - a mix of OKC and Tulsa developers
• A group headed by Marva Ellard (local developer who is currently working on Villa Teresa)

Apparently, Carpathia has the winning bid, as the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority (OCRA) has recommended their proposal.
This would still need to be approved by the OKC public school board, but that seems to be very likely.

Carpathia's proposal was the one that emphasized making the redeveloped site a local destination (hotel & entertainment).
The other two submissions mostly concentrated on the housing element.
Perhaps that was the feature that secured their selection.




The Carpathia concept, dubbed The Theodore converts the old high school building into a 109 room hotel.




Rendering:



The old school auditorium would be converted to a performance space.
Lectures, meetings, concerts, plays, etc. could be hosted here.
(possibly used as a movie theater as well)



The third and fourth floor rooms of the hotel are to be developed in a manner that would make it easy to convert to apartments if it turned out there was market demand for that.

There will also be 3 food and beverage concepts located here
(no word yet on any particular restaurants or eateries that might be involved).
They intend to have two commercial kitchens located on the ground floor -- one on the north end and one on the south.

The smaller building on the site would be used as office space.

Of note: the RFP requires 500 parking spaces for this site.
Carpathia's proposal only contains 223.

They are working with the city get a variance on this.
If not, they will need to build a parking garage on the the parking lot section in order to meet the requirement.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45057&page=2

[Peerson]

Thrive On 10th - Senior Housing

A senior housing project is to be constructed downtown at the corner of Western and NW 10th.
This will be called Thrive on 10th.




This project is strongly connected to the previous post about the redevelopment of 900 N. Klein.

One of the groups that submitted proposals for 900 N. Klein was Far Wespen.
Here's a rendering of their idea:


original: http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/farwespen1.jpg
source: https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45057

The upper section in that image, surrounded in red, is property already owned by Far Wespen.
The northern part, surrounded by black, is the lot in the works for a senior housing development.

Far Wespen responded to the city's RFP for Klein with a submission that integrated development at that site with their own property.
Which made sense as those properties are immediately adjacent.
In fact, Far Wespen proposed a pedestrian bridge to link the two together.

However, it appears that the proposal from Carpathia is the one that will be chosen.
Which makes Far Wespen's plans uncertain...

The lot designated for senior housing absolutely will happen -- this was already in the works.
But it's unclear whether Far Wespen would want to develop the remainder of their property to the south, since it was tied into the 900 N. Klein proposal.
They may just sell it to another developer.

What we have found out is that the senior housing project will be developed by Commonwealth Development Corporation.
This is a firm based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Their plans call for 176 units of affordable independent senior living and 140 units of assisted living residences.




Here's another view of the location:




One bummer about this project is that it calls for the demolition of several buildings on the site:



The one at the corner of Classen and 10th was built in 1929 and has a certain charm to it.
Too bad that this could not be saved and integrated into the project.

It appears that Commonwealth has not yet made a firm decision on the architectural designs.
They have released some images showing various design ideas:



Some comments from Pete at OKCTalk:

Although there will be two separate facilities, they will share a ground-floor podium to include parking, common space for each building including a lobby, kitchen, dining facility and some leasable commercial space.
The complex would be 5 levels in total.

While based out of Wisconsin, Commonweath Development is not a stranger to OKC.
They recently finished a similar project in the NE section of the city called Dunbar Commons.
This was a renovation of an old high school into senior housing:


http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r...senior-housing

That project is worthy of a separate post in and of itself.
The Dunbar renovation came out very nicely and is receiving great press.

This newly proposed Thrive senior housing project will require approval by the Downtown Design Review Committee.
Very high chance of approval.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45340

[The Best Forumer]

whats that tall tower???

[Peerson]

Originally Posted by The Best Forumer

whats that tall tower???

That would be Devon Tower.

At 844', it's easily the tallest building in Oklahoma City.


http://www.kendall-heaton.com/projec...-headquarters/

[Peerson]

Social Capital OKC - the new beer hall across from Scissortail Park - opens today (9-21-2019).

As usual, Pete Brzycki from OKCTalk has the definitive set of photos for this....







































https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44232&page=6

[Peerson]

Latest photos of the Omni Hotel and new Convention Center:


https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=35905&page=88



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=26179&page=192


As can be seen, it's a bit gray of late.

The summer heat pattern is shifting -- we've had several cooler, misty, humid, overcast days.
Early signs that autumn is slowing nudging its way onto the scene...

Misty Myriad Gardens:


original: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EE_a5N9W4AE7SOU.jpg
source: https://twitter.com/myriadgardens/st...98720374038528

Edit:
But the clouds trying to clear over Bricktown Canal:


https://deskgram.cc/p/2138110109963093149_423527

[Peerson]

I'm extremely happy to report this news...

Previously, I had posted about Hubcap Alley and the various buildings awaiting renovation along Robinson.

One of the prominent structures, close to the lower section of Scissortail Park, was this:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/willia...06875/sizes/l/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/willia...22396/sizes/l/

This was the 'Robinson Trading Post' many decades ago.


https://oklahoman.com/article/383879...y-then-and-now

Before that, it was a garage with 4 apartments on the second floor.
It was originally built in 1926.

Unfortunately, it was recently damaged by a storm.
The second floor started crumbling, and soon after, fell apart.


original: https://www.okctalk.com/attachment.p...1&d=1567368700



Once I saw that, my first thought was "uh-oh, that building is going to be demolished for sure now".
That's usually how it goes.

But this story has a happier ending.
The owners plan to rebuild the structure and fully renovate it.

Location:




This building will be converted to retail on the first floor and a large single residence on the second floor.

A new garage will be built along SW 10th, and the small building adjacent to it will become an artist's studio.



The owners are a couple -- the lady is a designer and her husband is a sculptor.
Which explains the artist's studio.

Great news for this old building.

And the park as well.
Once the lower park is developed, the properties across from it (east of Robinson) will become much more valuable.



There are a number of properties along east Robinson that are set for renovation.




And so the gentrification for this area has begun.

https://www.okctalk.com/content.php?...see-renovation
https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=29309&page=5
https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=29309&page=6

[Peerson]

Sheraton Hotel Repaint



The downtown Sheraton Hotel has been doing a lot of renovations the last year.
One of the final items was a "refresh" of the exterior with a new paint job.

Here's a closeup of a high res photo showing the original look:


original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gaedde...79912/sizes/h/


The new paint option was proposed back in spring, with this rendering:




Just recently -- within the last few weeks -- they finally got to the task.
Here's some nice aerial shots showing the new look:








Clearly, they're not quite finished yet...



I have the feeling they are trying to get this done in time for the grand opening of Scissortail Park.
Could just be coincidental timing (but I doubt it).

I like the new look.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=29924&page=2
https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=29924&page=3