Bad elitists, bad

Go get 'em, Steve. Apparently a number of Heritage Hills residents are raising concerns about the quality of The Edge project by Gary Brooks.

Look, I didn't like the project BEST, but I can admit it's a good project. I moved on from arguing about OCURA/Alliance's flawed selection process, and if I can move on from something, that's probably saying a lot.

But for Heritage Hills residents, I guess paying a whopping $1,000/mo rent for a 1 br apartment will spoil the neighborhood. Are these people pretending there aren't still a few flophouses still in operation around Mid-town??

Brooks has done nothing but reassure skeptics of his development with moves like the recent announcement that they'll pursue LEED certification (silver, as I recall). This will be the first LEED certified mixed-use project in Oklahoma, a designation that was probably going to go to Grant Humphreys' Flatiron before that project died.

I am a critical guy, that secret is certainly out. I am also going to be pretty outspoken about my criticisms, as I was with this project for a while. What I love, and I mean really love (what keeps me going), is when I can admit I was wrong and I have to eat my own words. I'm happily eating my words so far on this project, but I don't want to knock on wood since The Edge only just got the building permit this month.

Perhaps some Heritage Hills residents will also enjoy eating their words once this project is a pleasant surprise to them. I think it will be an excellent contribution to Mid-town.

Everything you could possibly want in this project is there: They made site plan concessions to incorporate the streetcar curve, this will be very transit-oriented. They added ground floor retail when the city pressed them on it. And as I've repetitively mentioned, it will be LEED. I think that the targeted demographics (young professionals looking to pay $1,000/mo for 1 really nice bedroom) is also just perfect.