OKLAHOMA CITY | Projects & Construction

[Dale]

Hope so as it really draws attention to the top and provides for a better foil to Devon.

[GoldenBoot]

How much actual height will this add to the tower?

[JoninATX]

Peerson, do you know if the city has plans to develop that parking lot between Myriad Botanical Gardens & The new Scissortail Park? If not I think they should extend Scissortail all the way to Myriad Biotanical Gardens and have one massive park.

[Peerson]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

How much actual height will this add to the tower?

Not much. If the second rendering is correct, then probably about 15 feet, since the letters in the BancFirst logo are described as being 14 feet high.

It's not significant. Having the top of the building well lit would be though.

[Peerson]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

Peerson, do you know if the city has plans to develop that parking lot between Myriad Botanical Gardens & The new Scissortail Park? If not I think they should extend Scissortail all the way to Myriad Biotanical Gardens and have one massive park.

You've asked a really big question (whether you knew it or not)...

That's the Fred Jones site -- called that because there was a huge Ford dealership at that location for decades.
Kind of a local icon actually. But it was closed down years ago.

Or it's referred to as the Bob Howard site because he's the one that currently owns the property.
Actually, I think he's part of an ownership group, but he's the main guy.

This was actually the city's original choice for where they wanted to build the new convention center.
Here's a map that shows the choices they were looking at:



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=26179&page=78


The #1 choice was the Fred Jones site, the one you asked about.

The city was unable to acquire the site because REHCO (the management group that Bob Howard leads) wanted too much money for the land.
They were no dummies, they knew how pricey those downtown lots had become.

The city considered eminent domain, but ending up backing down because they knew the market appraisal for the land would have been close to what REHCO was demanding, and it would have blown a huge hole in the budget that MAPS3 had alloted for the convention center.

So they ended up going with the #3 option instead (the #2 Bricktown location became unviable for reasons I forget)
A lot of people on the forums groaned loudly, but I was happy with it. I always thought the location south of Chesapeake Arena was a good spot.

But what of the Fred Jones site? What will be developed there?

Some have suggested, like you, another park (or an extension of MBG).
That way the Myriad Botanical Gardens would flow right into Scissortail Park, and you'd have one great expanse of parkland.
But I don't think that's going to happen.

I couldn't remember if there had been any recent news in regards to this site, so I looked through the OKCTalk forums to see.
Well, no, not really. The latest info seems to be some comments from Pete about a year ago:

I wouldn't be surprised to see that property remain vacant for quite a while and not just because MidtownR is methodical and seems to have no clear plan here.

But because what type of commercial development would would be viable in the near future?

Hotel? There are tons of them all over downtown, a bunch more coming and 2 new heavily subsidized nearby properties (Omni and First National) set to bring tons more rooms onto the market.

Office? Way overbuilt right now in downtown and not being absorbed quickly at all.

Retail / restaurants? Only as part of a much larger development.

Condos? Bob Howard has said many times he doesn't want to build for-sale housing.

Apartments? Maybe, but that's a huge piece of property in a key area to waste on just apartments.

Also, Howard & Co, make good money off parking and that property was paid for a long time ago.

I could see the waiting being 10+ years rather than 2 or 3.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=23785&page=16

and this:

Reminder that the owners fought tooth and nail not to let the city acquire this property for the convention center, taking them to court.

They also refuse to sell any of their properties (and Bob Howard has said he absolutely will not consider that) and they own a ton that remain un- or under-developed throughout the urban core. They also recently chose to move a huge business out of the core to the far north side of town creating much more vacant property with no real plan to develop it.

Everyone wants something great at this location but considering this ownership group has been sitting on it and a bunch of other properties for a long time and tends to move very slowly -- and has never come close to developing anything on this scale -- people are right to be concerned that this spot could sit vacant for quite a while. It already has.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=23785&page=17

He's pretty pessimsistic about anything happening any time soon.

[patriotizzy]

Originally Posted by Peerson

In regards to the post above, here are a couple of photos that show just how much space the super block occupied by the Cox Convention Center is currently taking:






Clearing up that area opens up enormous amounts of downtown space.
Expensive, highly desirable space.

Public plaza? A good one though, not a poopy one like Pershing Square.

[Peerson]

West Village

West Village is a great new mixed-use development along Sheridan. It's largely residential with 345 units.
It opened late last fall.

The Hall family, who owned the old auto assembly plant that was converted into the 21C Hotel & Museum, had ambitious plans for the whole area surrounding 21C:



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=39529&page=9

Looking at the buildings along Sheridan in this diagram, we see building C, which is an apartment complex with an attached garage that extends nearly to Classen.
To the west is The Jones Assembly, an entertainment venue, which was the first development to be finished.
Building D is West Village.

Construction began in 2017.


(photo from September 2017)

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=39529&page=16


It was essentially complete by November 2018.















https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=39529&page=26


Aerial showing the full complex out to Classen:




Murals are being painted on the south and west faces of the garage:




The mural on the west face of the garage is nearly complete:



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=39529&page=28

Stitch cafe, which already had a location in Bricktown, opened a new one in West Village in early 2019:



http://www.theideacollective.co/stitch-cafe-okc

They offer free delivery to residents of West Village.


A plant shop operates in the corner atrium area:



http://www.theideacollective.co/the-plant-shoppe-okc

more info here: http://okcretail.com/news/2018/12/07/new...development-anchored-by-local-businesses


Here's a pic from a couple of weeks ago, looking down Sheridan:



https://www.flickr.com/photos/katsrcool/32789822127/

[tdawg]

OKC is such a strange place to me. A few blocks from the CBD you have a drive-thru Taco Bell and Sonic? My dad grew up in Bartlesville and I've only been to OKC once for a family reunion but other than the Devon Tower it still looks so minor league. Kinda shocked that the city has an NBA team. I'm not trying to be nasty or elitist but am just very curious what the draw is. I know that it's growing pretty fast. Is the growth driven by oil & energy? What is Oklahoma City's economy based on?

[Peerson]

Cajun Corner

New Asian fusion seafood restaurant to be constructed on 23rd street.

Brothers Rick and Nam Nguyen are following up on the success of their first location in far west OKC
with a new restaurant in the popular Uptown district.

The proposed two-story building will feature a patio along 23rd and a large rooftop deck.
There will two full bars on each floor which a large craft beer selection.

The brothers aren't new to fusion cuisine, having previously launched both Guernsey Park and Covell Park in Edmond.

Location:



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44471


This area along 23rd is becoming a hotbed of local bars and restaurants.
Right next door is Tuckers Onion Burgers and across the street is Backdoor BBQ.
Further down the street is Ponyboy, Scottie's Deli, Bunker Club, and the newly renovated Tower Theater.

There's a nice write up about these brothers and their restaurant here:

https://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/okie-cajun/Content?oid=3970146

“We decided we wanted to open a Cajun restaurant because it’s comfort food,” Nam Nguyen said.
“It’s not traditional Louisiana or Southern Texas-style Cajun, but Okie Cajun because we’re up in Oklahoma.”

Building permits have been granted and construction has recently started.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44471

[Peerson]

Golden Phoenix

Golden Phoenix is one of the most popular Chinese restaurants in OKC.
Recently, they have begun work on new construction to help expand their business.

Located on Classen, close to 23rd street, the building was next door to an abandoned building that used to be the home of Pipkin camera.
It has been boarded up for years.




They have purchased that lot and are demolishing the existing building.




The new restaurant will be built on the cleared lot:




The new structure will allow the restaurant to have a much larger interior.
The existing building will be kept and re-adapted.

They already had a supermarket at the old location -- this will be expanded.
It is evidently very busy and many local restaurants shop there for supplies.
It also gives them room for event space (weddings and other functions).

Here's a more recent shot - the old building has been scraped.



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=28574

[Peerson]

Gun

Japanese pub concept to open in the Paseo



from the OKCTalk thread:

84 Hospitality Group, proprietors of Empire Slice House, Goro Ramen, Revolucion and Ponyboy, have released more information about their latest venture coming soon to the Paseo District.

The group bought the building last year and is now deep into construction on a highly visible corner in the center of the popular arts district.

The name is derived from Goro's sidekick in the cult movie classic Tampopo.

More renderings:








The pub will be located in the Paseo Arts District, which is a small but vibrant section along 28th and Walker.
This quirky neighborhood contains mostly Spanish style stucco buildings and is home to a local artist community along with various restaurants and bars.

Incidentally, even though the name is officially "Paseo Arts District", every one here just calls it "the Paseo".

Location:







https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44903
https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=43517&page=2


This will evidently be OKC's first "robatayaki".
Go ahead and look up that term -- I had to as well...


Edit: Here's an updated pic of this building, from a couple of days ago (May 27, 2019):



https://www.flickr.com/photos/18284386@N02


This was taken during the Paseo Arts Festival.

[Peerson]

Heartland HQ building along Broadway has added some more steel:



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44171&page=7


The steel frame is just starting to make a presence in the skyline



https://twitter.com/DowntownOKC


Unfortunately, since it's only 7 stories, this building won't rise too much higher in the skyline than that.

[Peerson]

BancFirst to reclad entire exterior of Chase Tower

I posted back here about BancFirst's planned renovation to the Chase Tower.

Now it has come out that they are making even more extensive changes.

They decided to reclad the entire exterior in new, blue-tinted, energy efficient glass.



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=19447&page=19


Article: https://oklahoman.com/article/5632516/ba...to-include-new-exterior-on-all-36-floors

The old glass is single pane, and makes it difficult (if not impossible) to make the building truly energy efficient. This is the reasoning behind the recladding.
There's more info about the changes in the article.


I'm a bit conflicted about this.

The building definitely needed an overhaul on its internal systems, and a refreshing of the exterior is greatly welcome. This is mostly a good deal.

But changing the architectural style of an existing tower makes me uneasy.
I'm sure that the reclad building will look sharp, and it certainly will change the views of the OKC skyline -- giving it an interesting new look.

But it's not true to the original exterior design. That concerns me a bit.

[Peerson]

Downtown Sheraton Hotel



The downtown Sheraton hotel has been renovating the interior over the past couple of years.


Recently they set about converting a grassy area on the east end into a nice outdoor patio area.
Here's how it looked before:




This was basically a dead space between the Sheraton Hotel and the adjacent Renaissance Hotel and Continental Resources buildings.
(Cox Convention Center is across the street)




The new patio area was completed last summer. Here's how it came out.









https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=29924


Very nice.

Now they are planning on repainting the exterior.



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

Since I'm not a fan of the current creamy, orange-ish (whatever color you call it) scheme this building has, I'm all in favor of the change.

This was proposed in April, but has not yet started.

[Peerson]

A couple of historic art deco buildings in downtown slated for renovation

Cain's Coffee Building



This 5-story structure was built in 1918.
50,000 sf with a full basement.

It was home to the Cain's Coffee Company for a long stretch, but the building changed ownership many times.
It's been empty for a number of years now and had degenerated into a pretty bad condition.






It's now slated for a complete restoration.

from OKCTalk:

Plans call for a full renovation of the 1918 structure built in the Art Deco revival style.
The white glazed brick and cast stone will be repaired, cleaned and sealed.
The original steel windows will be restored with new insulated clear glass lights with repainted frames to be made operational.

Renderings:






Location:




That fact that OKC's new home for the Contemporary Arts is being built across the street probably helped prompt action to fix up this old structure.

Work has already commenced on this.
Here's a pic showing the huge amounts of junk and debris being cleared out:



Inital plans indicate office space for most of the building, however a fitness center could be put into the basement and possibly a restaurant on the ground floor.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44285



Stryker Building



https://www.flickr.com/photos/40295335@N00/14272716603/in/photostream/

Originally built in 1930 as the home for the Oklahoma Baptist Convention.
Located at NW 11th & Robinson, it is across the street from the historic First Baptist Church.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/40295335@N00/14065873028/in/photostream/

Recently slipping into receivership, the building was purchased by local developer Richard McKown.
McKown is not sure how the space will be re-adapted, but has several ideas.

from an Oklahoman article:

While nothing is completely decided, McKnown said his initial vision includes converting the top three floors to apartments while acknowledging that is not the likely direction for the former bookstore, auditorium and lower office floors.

The bookstore, he said, “wants to be funky and special, but we don’t know what that is.”

The auditorium, he said, has large windows that make it a likely candidate for a restaurant. The sloped floor of the auditorium, he added, could make the basement ideal for a specialty theater.

You could put a 40-seat movie theater under the auditorium,” McKown said. “These are early ideas. But the building has a crazy amount of potential."

Article: https://oklahoman.com/article/5629688/redevelopment-eyed-for-art-deco-landmark-in-okcs-midtown

The building is right along the streetcar line that runs up 11th street with a stop located a couple of blocks to the west, by the Ambassador Hotel.
Because of the challenges involved in working out the internal re-design, this renovation likely won't start until early 2020.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45049

[Peerson]

Some up-to-date pics on the convention center construction:













https://twitter.com/Maps3

[Nautica]

Originally Posted by tdawg

OKC is such a strange place to me. A few blocks from the CBD you have a drive-thru Taco Bell and Sonic? My dad grew up in Bartlesville and I've only been to OKC once for a family reunion but other than the Devon Tower it still looks so minor league. Kinda shocked that the city has an NBA team. I'm not trying to be nasty or elitist but am just very curious what the draw is. I know that it's growing pretty fast. Is the growth driven by oil & energy? What is Oklahoma City's economy based on?

I appreciate the fact that no OKC forumers responded to your post. They're much kinder than I am. I don't believe you have to try to be elitist-you just are. Who puts their photo and job title on a forum header? Listen, its just not right coming on to a cities forum site just to bash them. Typical of Atlanta forumers to downplay another southern city's successes. If you want to learn about the city why don't you just do a little research. But as a Creative Director in fa fa land, I'm sure you're just too busy.

[Dale]

I think OKC rocks myself. And what’s wrong with having the best skyscraper in a decade and a Taco Bell just blocks away ?

[Peerson]

Social Capital OKC is a beer garden being built on the west side of Scissortail Park

Here's a current pic of the rooftop patio construction:



Patrons will have a nice view of the park.


Additionally... today the sign goes up:



https://twitter.com/socialcapitalok

[Peerson]

First National Center



https://www.flickr.com/photos/katsrcool/29519549446/sizes/l/

This wonderful 1931 structure is in the midst of a huge renovation.


It's actually part of a complex of several buildings, as there were multiple add-on structures appended to it.



The Center building was added in 1956. The East building, in 1974.
Both add-on buildings are to have their interiors gutted during this renovation and converted to parking.
(They have both been largely empty for years)

The section of the East building fronting Broadway, however, was to be demolished and replaced with a modern structure.



https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=9355&page=89


Ordinarily, when a large multi-story structure needs to be taken down, you call in the munitions experts and have them strategically place explosives and bring the whole thing down in a matter of seconds.
But given that building was attached to, as well as close by, other structures that must not be affected, that was not an option.

So, instead, crews have been laboriously breaking down each level and removing the concrete and debris.













https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=9355&page=99
https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=9355&page=100


This has been going on for months and months....

It is nearly finished. Here's a shot from yesterday:




A new structure will be built here that will have the look of an office building.





https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=9355&page=101


The idea is to preserve the look of the urban wall along Broadway.