Let's Talk Transit tonight

Alright ontherangers,
Let's Talk Transit (the streetcar public forums) will be meeting tonight between 6 and 8 at the Civic Center in the Hall of Mirrors, second floor. Come on out, and advocate for sustainability and greater public transit in OKC.

T-Town update

Thought I would do another Tulsa update, since quite a lot has been going on since I last mentioned them. Several new projects have popped up, primarily..a lot of new retail, which is particularly awesome to see. I enjoy doing these Tulsa updates because it feels good to talk about infill development projects, which have largely ground to a halt in OKC.

The last update was the first post focusing on Tulsa development in this blog in what..a year? two years? So this update won't be as exhaustive as the last one was..since only a month has passed, but nonetheless, you'd be surprised. If the point of my last update was "Gee guys, look at ALL of this development in Tulsa!" the point is amplified by this post, only a month later, in my opinion.

And of course, TDA up to its usual shenanigans...in my last exhaustive Tulsa update I talked about the City Hall redevelopment proposal by Tori Snyder's Brickhugger LLC (and this is one of the only projects mentioned in the last update that I'll go into with this update). Last week was TDA's meeting where they determined the fate of that proposal, and not surprisingly, they did not award the site to the Snyders--although they didn't award it to anyone else, either. A commercial brokerage company (that does not do development) swept in with a last-minute offer of $1.1 million (Snyder had offered $1 mil). So here's the logic: Snyder's had an ongoing offer, have a great proposal, not to mention a track record in restoring bldgs such as the beautiful Mayo Hotel..commercial brokerage firm swoops in with an offer that is only "technically" higher and because their assets total over $300 mil, they'll just sit on the site for years if their asking price isn't met and nothing beneficial will ever happen with the site. Granting a deal to Snyder would be a no brainer..but now we're delayed again. Hard to believe that they're even listening to the new guys.

The ironic thing is that the City of Tulsa, ever since moving City Hall to One Technology Place, has been incurring $50,000 in maintenance losses for each month that it sits on the former City Hall site, which has now been over a year -- at least $600,000 of the city's money down the drain so far. TDA is going to end up costing much more than the cost difference between the two offers by prolonging the city's ownership of the enormous site.

New businesses opening up all over town. New 2-story wine bar opening up on Brookside called "The Ivey." Wolfgang Puck Bistro is once again progressing (construction slowed for a while) on Brookside as well. Boomtown Tees (clothing shop I mentioned in last update) is opening in June in Blue Dome. Max Retropub also opening in June, also Blue Dome. New athletic shoe store opening in Blue Dome called Fleet Feet, which will be their second location..Fleet Feet is opening next to the new Lee's Bicycles (pictured) which just opened a month ago (mentioned in last update as well). Elliott Nelson, the owner of McNellie's and 3 other DT Tulsa restaurants (El Guapo's, Dilly Deli, Yokozuma..all in the Blue Dome district), is opening a FIFTH restaurant in Blue Dome (which also has restaurants not owned by Elliot Nelson, believe it or not)..it will be a German-style beer hall called Fassler Hall that will feature a huge beer selection and frequent live music. The Crusty Croissant in Brookside is being replaced by a new restaurant called the "Flying Burrito."

And outside of Brookside and Blue Dome development news.. one neighborhood you never hear about, the Gunboat Park area (tucked in the SE corner of the IDL, by the Home Depot/Warehouse Market development)--is adding a really cool new retail store, an outdoor merchandise store called Just Camp. If this doesn't just say "Tulsa!," then I don't know what does: An outdoors store with merchandise on the first two floors, the third floor with fake grass and a camping area you can rent out (with stellar downtown views), all inside a minimalist Art Deco bldg. Truthfully, the facade still needs work..it's been restored, but in my opinion they need to do something to break up the monotony on the street level, punch in some windows, a door, add a fake door or fake windows, paint the brick--anything. But it's an awesome store, an awesome concept, and it's been awesomely successful too--the 3rd floor urban campout area is completely booked several months out.



"The Joint" is a new performing arts venue opening up at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Catoosa. "The Joint" will be modeled after performing arts venues inside other Hard Rock casinos, such as Las Vegas. The $20 million, 45,000 sf facility will bring acts to Tulsa off of the casino circuit, which will differ greatly from shows that currently come to Tulsa at the Brady Theater or the Cain's Ballroom, not to mention the concerts at the BOK Center and ONEOK Field. "The Joint" will, in the end, be very similar to the concert space at the Riverwind Casino in Norman which seats 1,500. "The Joint" will seat 2,700, however--almost twice as large.

The Montereau at Warren Woods, a huge retirement village in South Tulsa, is expanding--the expansion includes two new 8-story towers that connect to a 6-story portion in the middle. The $94 million expansion will add 62 new living units and a major expansion to the on-site healthcare facility. The expansion will also add a theater, a day salon, a 6th floor lounge area, and a new chapel. Apparently in order to live at this "independent living retirement facility" it is $200,000 on top of $2,500/month dues. Montereau is off of 71st between Yale and Sheridan.

And here's the big three proposals, actual development proposals:

Land shaded blue is part of a huge mixed-use development proposal called "Talaas." Not sure what to think of this one because it's competing with other proposals for the same land, the developer is an asshole supposedly, and Tulsa's track record with large-scale development is abysmal although this project has Flintco, Matrix, Gensler, and other big names behind him. The developer itself is Formaation, a new group that has an awesome new contemporary-style office in the East Village neighborhood of DT Tulsa. The problem is that although he has some power players behind him he does not have financing, and when asked, his answer is "layers of government programs" for subsidizing his ultra-sustainable development. He's also envisioning the development of a streetcar between his Talaas development in the East Village and the BOK Center opposite downtown, that he would pay for himself, and not charge a fair for (I guess the idea is a link between his development and BOK). Interestingly, he thinks it would ONLY cost $7 million to do a streetcar linking the East Village with the BOK, which is probably 10+ blocks away. The actual Talaas project is a $400 mil mixed-use village encompassing 49 acres with all sorts of mixed uses, residential, retail, office, hotel, etc. Reminds me of Direct Development's "East End" that never got off, so we'll see..it is different in having the local power players behind it, not to mention downtown Tulsa is a lot hotter development-wise at the moment than it was in 2006..so we shall see.

Several other projects are vying for the same land though. One is a site at 1st and Greenwood with a worthless building on it currently (the Hartford Building)--the proposal is to tear it down and construct a 3-story, 60,000 sf LEED-Silver status building in its place that will be the new headquarters of the Ross Group, a local construction company. Financing in place. Second proposal is by Land Legacy for a strip of land to develop a linear downtown park as a development catalyst. KMO had a proposal to build 50 for-sale condos adjacent to the park. If you're interested in the East Village area of DT Tulsa, definitely check out these pictures on the Tulsa Now forums.

TDA's land at Boston and Archer in the Brady Arts District drew two competing proposals that were also heard at the meeting..one from a Minneapolis-based company to develop a 40-unit project with underground parking using low income/new homer buyer tax credits, the other being from a local developer to do 30 condo units called Urban Green, with street level retail. I really wish I had renderings for any of the projects I just rattled off, but unfortunately you don't usually get that when a project is still in the negotiating phase with TDA. Why bother on spending the resources to develop othorgraphic depictions when who knows what's going to happen with the TDA..


Here's a better geographical depiction of the proposals. The reason the Ross Group needs the three blocks (the LEED bldg will go where the existing bldg is) is so that the other two sites, currently vacant sites, will be surface parking. Their building will be bringing in 50-60 new downtown workers, mostly high incomes. As for the Lofts at 201 Park, I'm guessing that's the name of the KMO project adjacent to the park.

The last project..this is a condo project intended for a site in the Brady District. Developer Will Wilkins hasn't yet found the right site but still intends to develop this concept on a vacant site somewhere downtown, preferably Brady. Wilkins is currently working on turning the Enterprise Building right off of Boston Ave in the CBD into urban lofts.

______________________

In closing, I want to reference this article by John Rohde in the Oklahoman. I'm not typically a fan of Rohde's, but this article is great. Rohde wrote: "Sorry to disappoint those who cling to the Tulsa vs. Oklahoma City rivalry. I’ve never been a member of that particular cult and I’m not about to join now, certainly not after soaking in the new ballpark for the first time Friday night during Game 1 of Bedlam." I'm also not one to get too caught up in the Tulsa/OKC rivalry, and I can tell it frustrates a LOT of people that I would dare even point at all of the development in Tulsa--especially when it's become my de facto response to the suggestion that the economy is why we don't see ongoing infill development in OKC. That can't be true. At any rate, Tulsa is a fantastic city, just as OKC is except very, very different from OKC--why can't a little competition be healthy? Seriously, look at all of that infill development!

Cityshot XLIII

The Montgomery in the Arts District. Building was empty and then in 2005 converted to high-end apartments (that were much more successful as apartments than condos) and restaurant. I'm going to have to eat at Trattoria il Centro when I'm back.

Chance to get involved

Here's a really good chance for some of you guys to get involved: It's the Plan OKC initiative, in which the city is currently updating a lot of the planning documents that guide the city and its development. If the city is serious about sustainable development, which we know it isn't, it's going to show it in this initiative. I would still encourage everyone to come and be active in it, I know I will. The website is here.

I meant to get this posted yesterday because now it's a day late..Thursday was the kick off meeting, but missing the kickoff meeting won't really prevent anyone from being able to get involved. As for upcoming events, I don't know a whole lot yet, but I do know that on May 24th there will be a free coffee meet and greet in the Plaza District.

You'll be able to get updates on here, and it would also be a great opportunity for some blog readers to get to meet each other and take part in actively pushing for sustainable development.

Whole Foods official

Officially coming to OKC. More coming in a few weeks, in the way of details. Locating by Nichols Hills, near the Classen Curve development.

Sweet Jeebus, look at that selection of grapes and mangos.

Oh my goodness, look at that selection of cheese.

Eureka, look at those different varieties of plums!

It's a dream come true, you can pick the freshest ingredients for yourself at the cold bar.

Yes sir, now that's a sauce aisle.

--This message brought to you by Okies for Whole Foods.

OKC, street-by-street

Which corridors in OKC do you think are most in-need of streetscape improvement? Truth be told, there are actually a lot of streets that the city has done an awesome job with--a lot more than we realize. These are the obvious ones like Walker, NW 16th, NW 23rd in Uptown, parts of Lincoln and Classen, and so on--also don't forget Grand Boulevard, S 25th/Commerce Street, Shartel/18th which curves through Mesta Park, parts of Robinson, and more.

Thought I would do a map to best convey the streets that I think are in need of an overhaul. It will be interesting to see if they get an overhaul.. a lot of times it seems like these streets get targeted for an overhaul and in the end they just repave it and call it done. They rarely do anything to fix the neglected streetscape aesthetics, but sometimes good projects get through, such as the streets I listed above.

Currently we know that virtually every downtown street is going to get an overhaul in the next two years as a part of Project 180. We also know that 23rd from MacArthur all the way to Penn or so is being repaved. Will they include aesthetic upgrades as well? It would be nice, but who knows. We also know Western Avenue is slated for a streetscape, but how long will the new streetscape be? Honestly, Western Avenue needs to be streetscaped (in my opinion) all the way from NW 63rd down to SW 59th, especially on the southside where it carries more traffic than any other nearby corridor--somewhat making S. Western the southside's main artery (a very blighted artery, too).

In order to read the map, which is self-explanatory.. just consider green to be the streets that the city deserves kudos for, red to be the streets that the city deserves blame for, yellow to be the streets that are alright but could/should be better. Black is for the lost causes, which is any southside street that crosses Shields and E.K. Gaylord in downtown.

E.K. Gaylord is an urban renewal error that needs to be undone and turned into a greenway or something non-concrete. Maybe the parcels with E/W street frontage can be developed and we can get some transit-oriented development out of that possibly. In the original city grid there was not a street there, and the right-of-way for it was carved out of properties with frontage along E/W streets and property lines adjacent to the tracks, so it shouldn't be hard to find a way to revert back to the old grid.

The black/yellow circle is just for the downtown construction zone, or else I would have had to label nearly every street in their red (even though we know those will be turning to green soon). Out of the existing streetscapes, Bricktown streetcapes, Walker, and Broadway all turned out pretty good. Robinson is a key corridor that's particularly in need of a streetscape..


Hopefully we can recognize the need to focus on corridors that make up the greater sum of OKC, because it's through that process that you create well-defined space and a more positive urban environment in Oklahoma City. It can only be achieved one street at a time..

Cityshot XLII

Hard to believe that I'm up to #42..if I'd been doing this more consistently I'd be well over 100. Ah well.

Buyer's Remorse in OKC

The goods: Whole Foods. Trader Joe's. Saks. Nordstroms. H&M. Restoration Hardware. Urban Outfitters. Anthropologie. Ikea. And more. Why won't these stores come to OKC? What's wrong with retail in OKC that seems to be keeping these stores out, while they continue to locate in cities such as Richmond, Birmingham, Tulsa, Omaha, Des Moines, Albuquerque, Boise, Fort Worth, and so on? What can we citizens of OKC do, if anything at all, to improve the situation?

Look at all of those cities that have these stores we want but can't get. The list goes on and on, as I included some of these cities earlier.. and a LOT of these cities are peers or lesser when compared to OKC. That is what's surprising, so what is it going to take to get these stores in OKC, an act of Congress? What is it that is bringing these stores to other cities? Well, simply put..good retail space available. If Urban Outfitters or Anthropologie were to locate in OKC, which we believe they want to, where would they go? A strip mall on Memorial Road? Penn Square Mall? 50 Penn Place? Maybe a kiosk inside one of the metro's top Wal-Marts? That's pretty much the state of retail in Oklahoma City, a lack of a suitable shopping center that meets the standards of these higher-end "elite" chains.

Let's examine Birmingham, which has a Whole Foods in the Cahaba Village development located in the suburb of Mountain Brook, Alabama. Cahaba Village (pictured) is a true mixed-use urban town center development that passes my scrutiny. It's not that big, more than half (50,000 sf) of its 96,000 sf of retail are the Whole Foods--but the project is actually mostly residential, which several floors of chic lofts above the retail on the street level. The same company, Bayer Properties, has developed a collection of similar lifestyle centers dubbed "The Summit" and was until recently attempting a project in Edmond (before Wall Street tanked). "The Summit" in Birmingham is anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue(*) (much like Utica Square in Tulsa), and a huge Belk. Other "elite" retailers included in The Summit in the Ham are: Anthropologie(*), BCBGMAXAZRIA(*), bebe(*), J. Jill, Juicy Couture(*), New York & Co, White House Black Market, Urban Outfitters(*), Tommy Bahama(*), Lucky(*), J. Crew, Brooks Brothers(*), Banana Republic, Coach, Restoration Hardware(*), Coldwater Creek, Pottery Barn, Apple, and more. And yes, this is Birmingham, Alabama we're talking about. A city about the same size as OKC (slightly smaller) with a poor, industrial reputation, only one Fortune 500, and worse-off demographics than OKC. (The retailers with a star next to them denote ones that do not exist in Oklahoma City.) A tenant list of The Summit in Louisville and New Orleans wasn't quite as elite as Birmingham, but it did include at least 5 of the names, but no Saks, etc. In Louisville, many of the stores are instead in Mall St. Matthews, and we all know New Orleans has a lot of elite retailers. Many of the stores in The Summit in the Ham are also in the Riverchase Galleria, in the nearby suburb of Hoover as well--including Brooks Brothers(*), J. Crew, Banana Republic, WHBM, J. Jill, NY & Co, etc--it surprises me that Birmingham has two of these, when OKC only has one or none. Birmingham also has a new outlet mall, WaterMark Place located in Bessemer, Ala. From the shopping perspective, Birmingham has got it going on! And I'll be honest, I have a soft spot for the Southeast--best part of the country, with its genuine people, urban cities, mountainous topography, delicious sweet tea, and pleasant weather.

Another city: Richmond. There, the new Short Pump Town Center includes an Urban Outfitters(*), Guess(*), Macy's, H&M(*), Jacardi Paris(*), Fossil(*), Levi's(*), Nordstrom(*)..and many more stores. The Stony Point Fashion Park (pictured) in west Richmond carries many of the elite retailers that Short Pump doesn't..Saks(*), Anthropologie(*), BCBGMAXAZRIA(*), BOSS(*), Brooks Brothers(*), Coach(*), Cole Haan(*), Louis Vuitton(*), MAC(*), Restoration Hardware(*), Oakley(*), and more. Clearly Richmond raises the bar even higher, with Louis Vuitton and other Stony Point retailers. It's true, Virginia is for lovers (of first-class shopping).

Another city: Omaha. So far the most interesting lifestyle center I've come across is Village Point, off of Dodge Rd in far west Omaha--the center has a FLW prairie school motif--along with the typical stores that these lifestyle centers come with, Coach, Fossil(*), J. Crew, J. Jill, Banana Republic, Jos. A. Bank, and so on.. so not really anything OKC doesn't have. Then you add in Regency Court, which has more of the Penn Square-echelon tenants..WHBM, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma--and Anthropologie(*). One Pacific Place has more of the same pretty much..Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Chico's..so basically the same as Spring Creek in Edmond. Except that it also has California Pizza Kitchen, which I know OKC would love to get its hands on. Look at this list of local retail in the Old Market, the "Bricktown/Brady" part of DT Omaha, bookstores, clothing stores, art galleries, wine bodegas, and more--supposedly around a hundred retailers. That's awesome. Oh, and they've had Whole Foods for a while and just announced that they're getting a Trader Joe's, the result of a community initiative to convince TJ to locate in Omaha. (Interestingly though, it's worth noting that Omaha doesn't have Macy's and is just getting an Apple Store in Village Point.) Aksarben Village and Midtown Crossing, which are huge mixed-use projects currently under construction, will add more to Omaha.

And we all knew it was coming.. I give you, Tulsa. Truth is, I always seem to lose people when I bring up the argument that Tulsa is still superior to OKC in many things, EVEN if our city is on NBA scoreboards and theirs isn't. But you're going to have to concede retail, or I will keep bringing this up time after time. The reason Tulsa has better elite retail options than OKC could be many..it could have to do with a time that Tulsa was more important than it now is, or that it is still home to the state's two highest-income ZIP codes, or it could be that Tulsans are better at supporting high-end retailers (maybe there's more pressure to buy high-end things for people who live in Tulsa than in OKC?). But I would argue all of that is irrelevant and it really just boils down to this: Tulsa has Utica Square, easily Oklahoma's most elegant shopping center, which has ALL of Penn Square's upscale retailers in addition to several OKC doesn't have such as the brand-new Anthropologie(*), Saks(*), Miss Jackson's (a cool local dept store), Coach(*), and Restoration Hardware(*). Utica Square is 50 years old, and soon it will be placed on the National Register of Historic Places more than likely--but it still continues to boast the best retailer directory as well as shopping environment in all of Oklahoma. Utica Square is the standard for retail in this state (thanks mostly to its location at the heart of prestigious Midtown Tulsa), whether you like it or not.

To be certain, when you add up all of the "elite names" that Tulsa has that OKC does not (once you've gone into upscale restaurants like Fleming's and Wolfgang Puck Bistro that's opening in Brookside). The list gets extensive when you add to the Utica Square retailer list, other stores like Fossil, and then go on 71st Street to find an IMAX Theater, Dave & Buster's, a "Magnolia" Best Buy (I guess they're better somehow), Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, and so on. Even if they're not retail, these are "elite names" with national recognition. OKC just lacks elite names with national recognition. Oh and they've also had Whole Foods in Brookside for almost 3 years now. Yes, it's only there because it was originally a Wild Oats (if you believe Tulsa was incapable of landing a separate Whole Foods), but after Whole Foods acquired Wild Oats they closed many of them, kept many of them smaller, and renovated and expanded a few others such as the Brookside store. Tulsa's Whole Foods is, by all means, a Whole Foods, however you slice it in order to denigrate Tulsa.

So we arrive at the inevitable conclusion.. OKC is lacking in this department, no matter how you slice it. We are working on it, however, or trying to at least. How many lifestyle centers have been proposed in the last 5 years? 10? 20? 30? Probably around 10, but you get my point..a LOT..and so far we have nothing to show for it. The sad fact is that in Oklahoma we are still building strip malls when the rest of the nation has moved on to building mostly lifestyle centers. There has not been a town center-type development built in Oklahoma since 1950, probably making us one of 5 states that don't have a new one. We've also pretty much come to the conclusion that in order to attract these types of developments and encourage the new trend to take root in Oklahoma, we may have to subsidize it a little. That's okay, Austin subsidized their hot new town center, The Domain--with a $20 million TIF district. Norman put up a TIF district for University North Park, and in exchange, all we got was a lousy strip mall. Edmond was prepared to go in on the Covell Town Center, even put the proposed Edmond convention center there, but the economy tanked and nothing has ever happened since. The only two projects that have come to fruition that somewhat resemble a step up from the traditional strip mall are Spring Creek in Edmond and the MWC Town Center in Midwest City. MWC is pretty much a huge strip mall with a small town center portion at the heart of it that is alright. There were some pretty good retail projects proposed, too..the factory outlets, Tuscana, Quail Springs Ranch, Bricktown Village, Bob Funk's other Kilpatrick Tpk development, a new lifestyle center currently proposed for Memorial/County Line, The Summit, Shops at Remington, Copper Creek Marketplace, University North Park, Riverwalk Plaza, Railway District, one that was proposed at 2nd/I-35 in Edmond, Kelley Pointe, Gaillardia Towne Center (developed office, but no retail), Crown Heights, The Waterfront, and more.. the list goes on for town center busts.

There is one bright spot, and that is the unconventional Classen Curve project. Now, I'm not dogging Classen Curve. I like Rand Elliott's work about 70% of the time, and this is no different..I am about 70% favorable toward this project, and the other 30% will no doubt come when all of these awesome new tenants open up. Classen Curve is going to be a special place for shopping in Oklahoma City, but it may be overhyped in my opinion. First the good news: The design is unique, innovative, and about as modern as you'll get in Oklahoma. The really good news is that super awesome tenants are popping up to be a part of this primarily because Chesapeake is behind it, and you can't go wrong with that. The bad news is that the site is only 95,000 sf total. About 20,000 sf, as I believe, will be taken up by the new Balliet's--which will be by far, one of the coolest local department stores around (women's-only). Balliet's has been in 50 Penn Place decades, and with everyone bailing there it made sense that they leave for somewhere else. Classen Curve is closer to Nichols Hills AND Rand even specially designed their two-story building just for them. In addition, virtually everyone in the know right now is saying that Whole Foods is currently building at Grand/Western where they tore down the funeral home last year. Classen Curve is an exciting project, Balliet's will be great and Whole Foods is a long time coming--but the remaining square footage is only just over 60,000 sf and there aren't ANY other spots that are even big enough for an Urban Outfitters, a H&M, or an Anthropologie--so none of that kind of retail will go there.

Chesapeake, who has been tight-lipped and refusing to release any details on this, most likely had a signed letter from Whole Foods before they tore the funeral home down. Now Chesapeake has torn down about 5 different apartment buildings along Grand between Western and 63rd, another on 63rd, and tons of site work has begun around the community gardens they put in off of Shartel. There is absolutely no telling what is going on but it is something HUGE. Most likely a lot of corporate expansion, which we can count on--except that Chesapeake has always been one to proudly announce anytime they break ground on a handful of new office buildings. It's the retail projects that they keep top secret for whatever reason. There is an overall masterplan here that was released a few years ago, but it really shows nothing north of 63rd. Looks like a mixed-use town center to the west of the headquarters, but one of the few things we do know is that the economic downturn has slowed Chesapeake's progression on their campus development.

Breather.

So much talk about suburban lifestyle centers. Suburban lifestyle centers in Birmingham, Richmond, Omaha.. talk about more urban developments like Utica Square and Chesapeake, but still nothing that really relates or adds anything to downtown. If there is anything that we have done an impeccable job of in OKC, it is focusing on our downtown before anything else and truly elevating it to become the beating heart of the metro. Why don't we try to get some of this retail we lack to come downtown instead of Far North, Edmond, or Norman? Why isn't downtown being proactive on the retail front before it gets beaten out by Edmond?

The answer is that a few people are acting. In a post the other day I mentioned the Red Dirt Marketplace project that is set to open on the Lower Canal in June. I'm very excited for this one and can't wait to check it out when I'm back home this summer. In fact, I believe that the local retailers is what downtown needs--and not chain retailers. Even though I still believe that there's no reason downtown shouldn't be focusing on landing your "urban essentials" like GAP and Apple (virtually every good retail downtown has a GAP, even Athens, Georgia..), I really believe in wanting to keep chains out to a certain extent.

But part of the problem with this is that downtown will absolutely REQUIRE some kind of anchor. Typically, in order to be successful, shopping centers require anchors. There is no anchor for downtown retail, although there are a few good smaller stores here and there. The concerning trend, a result most likely of lacking an anchor, is how quickly some good stores have gone out of business. Firefly Clothing, LiT Clothing, and the Crescent Market all went out of business in the last few months. Envy is still in business, to my knowledge, and I have heard that they may be locating on the street level of the Bricktown Canal right above where Chad Huntington is putting in his Red Dirt Marketplace, and where the Brewer's are putting in other new tenants as well. The problem with this is that it is still lacking an anchor and no matter how wishful the thinking, there is absolutely no way in hell that OKC is going to get a Nordstrom's or a Sak's that is not a part of a stellar shopping center project with a good developer behind it. In order to accomplish this, I propose 4 alternatives, each with varying degrees of desirability and their own pluses and minuses.

Starting with my least favorite alternative:

1. Allow Wal-Mart to come into downtown. Wal-Mart DOES do urban models, they exist in Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, and other cities--and they actually are kind of cool. The perfect site for an evil big box in my opinion is the site of The Hill, a doomed condo project that is destined to just sit as a mudpit for decades if we don't find another use for the land that doesn't really require street frontage, all of which was used up by the few crappy townhomes that DID get built in that project. A way to temper the evilness of this proposal would be to try and get Target to come in, instead--their urban stores make more sense with the urban demographic, anyway. The whole point to all of this is that it would be an anchor to bring retail in that would require the smallest city subsidy (maybe for Target) if any at all, and a natural development influx could follow afterward.

2. A huge subsidy for a town center project in downtown that includes a Sak's or a Nordstrom's and the other retailers we are lacking. The subsidy could simply come in the form of a 10/15-year TIF district which I would presume could generate as much as $20 million. Remember what the ULI panel said about downtown retail? We will have to subsidize it, and they didn't think that the local climate here would be very favorable toward that. Luckily the local political climate isn't needed for a simple TIF district, I think--unless of course someone opposes it and gets it put on a ballot, in which case it will probably pass anyway. The downside to this, and I'm not an economist, but I don't think it would be a very natural development influx..and I don't know that it would ever put in motion a natural retail development cycle either. Another downside is that it wouldn't be doable in the interim because unfortunately, big projects like this in downtown are held-up waiting to see what happens with Core to Shore--BUT maybe Devon and Project 180 completion would be "epoch-making" for such an occasion? We could hope.

3. My favorite alternative: A minor subsidy, just doing whatever Grant Humphreys needs in the form of minor assistance, to get his Crown Heights mixed-use project off the ground. This project WAS going to include some kind of organic grocer, plus a sizable collection of additional retail as well--in a true town center setting, in a great location as well (similar to the upscale environs of Midtown Tulsa, but on a smaller scale) and great access to I-235 and downtown. This might be the farthest south we are able to get retailers like Create & Barrel (which is supposedly coming to OKC) and Trader Joe's to come, because even though their urban stores are the coolest, they consistently go where the demographics. Some companies will just go where the quality space is available, others are more insistent on the rooftops being there and these are your stores that are almost certain to end up in Edmond or hopefully as far south as Nichols Hills, but Crown Heights would be a great option for most of the retailers we want to bring into OKC.

4. The fourth alternative, and in my opinion this is something that has to be done regardless of what kind of national anchor we try to bring into downtown, but this is that we need to try and convince some well-established locally-owned businesses to move downtown. I'm talking particularly of Full Circle Bookstore, which is one of my Top Ten favorite bookstores in the country. It's not Book People, nor is it the Elliott Bay Book Co in Seattle, or other more famous bookstores--BUT it is definitely the best bookstore in Oklahoma, and there are only about 15 cities (in my guestimation) that have a bookstore this cool and special. Their Oklahoma book section is also awesome. I think Full Circle regulars and people in OKC in general ought to start hounding them to move downtown. Look at 50 Penn Place..what a dump, and now that Balliet's is moving out and Talbot's is long gone, this seems to be the perfect opportunity to jump ship. They're going to move either way. Downtown OKC Inc. and Bricktown, Deep Deuce developers, MidTown developers--etc, ALL need to be targeting them. I think they'll be highly receptive to the idea..Jim Tolbert was initially involved early-on in Bricktown, so he's a downtown kind of guy. He's also heavily involved in the downtown arts scene, further proving the point. Why is his amazing bookstore still located in a dying shopping mall out in the burbs?

Another key locally-owned business that might want to consider a move downtown is Mr. Ooleys, especially if a top-notch retail space comes open that is better than the space they currently have in the front of Penn Square. I think that Ooley's has a special customer base that is dedicated enough to follow them downtown, considering how specialized his store is and how he really goes out of his way to cater to his customers. Where would be a good Ooley's location? What about on the Canal in Bricktown, in one of the Brewer's buildings that they're bringing tenants to. Store fronts could go as follows: Envy Clothing, Sammy's Pizza, smoothie shop, Mr. Ooley's, (with the Red Dirt Marketplace underneath on the canal-level). That's a lot of converging factors right there, and Bricktown retail MIGHT just begin to take off.

But the reality is that there are TWO impossibilities surrounding downtown retail and they are, in the end, equally impossible. The first is that Sak's is NOT going to just up and locate in downtown OKC because they will suddenly realize the error of their ways of not being in OKC, and specifically Downtown OKC. The second is that it is very difficult for a locally-owned business WITHOUT a reputation built up to be successful in a start-up market, although it's not to be completely ruled out.. if you can captivate a scene such as the Plaza District has, sometimes you can get a lot of synergy out of a start-up market completely comprised of start-up businesses, but I'm just saying it's difficult to do even then, and that's not going to be an option for Bricktown because that district is too conflicted trying to cater to two completely contradictory scenes: They're trying so hard to be "family friendly" (which has obviously done WONDERS for Bricktown retail), and then they also focus on the nightlife--probably where Bricktown has been most successful. So my point, after a lot of sidetracking, is that in order to make a fledgling retail market successful you need non-fledgling names, and those names can be national..or what I don't think people in OKC have realized, is that those names can be LOCAL too.

Seriously. Let's start a campaign to get, specifically, Full Circle, and Mr. Ooley's, to move downtown. Along with Balliet's which is already moving into Classen Curve, these stores are OKC's absolute best local businesses--and they set the standard for local bookstores, menswear, and upscale women's dept stores. These stores will be a hit no matter where they locate as long as it's a good space and a good location, and they don't require certain demographic or rooftop thresholds that national chains do because Tolbert and Ooley know that their OKC customers will go to Downtown to visit their store. Period.

MAPS: 1 month and counting

The MAPS 3 penny sales tax went into effect on April 1st, which means people in OKC have now been paying the MAPS 3 tax for exactly 1 month and 2 days. So now that we have our first month behind us.. I was going to pose the question:

Is everyone still making it alright? Can everyone still afford groceries, clothes for the kids, and electricity?

Just making sure.

Still standing: The Gold Dome

I came across an interesting article recently. You can read it here. It has to do with the Gold Dome building which was saved a few years ago from demolition, and has since become a community treasure. It is the home of an Asian community center, law offices, an upscale restaurant and bar called Prohibition Room, and more.

As we know, the Gold Dome is still standing, full of quality local tenants, and adding lots to the culture of Oklahoma City. But in 2002 it was an uphill fight to save this building from demolition. The owners of the building wanted to tear it down and put a Walgreen's on the site instead.

"'They (the building owners) have a building that is functionally obsolete,' said Dennis Box, an attorney representing Walgreen Drug Stores."

Obviously in this guy's infinite wisdom, the Gold Dome was an eyesore and needed to be razed for new development that was not "functionally obsolete."

Maybe "functionally obsolete" is the new "cool."

The impact a school can have

I recently came across a really interesting example of a downtown high school that I think Oklahoma City could benefit from, especially as we're still in the middle of MAPS for Kids, especially as we're currently determining the fate of the Emerson Alternative School at Walker and Fifth, and especially as we begin to consider the possibility of a downtown elementary school.

The example is that of the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio--which is currently moving into a new home in the revitalizing Over-the-Rhine district of Cincy. For those who remember the Cincy riots in 2001, this is the neighborhood where most of that violence occurred. Today OTR, which has a style and scale similar to the Greenwich Village in NYC, is redeveloping steadily. Numerous multi-million $ public improvements are slated. One group, the Cincinnati Center City Redevelopment Corporation (which is a private nonprofit known as 3CDC) has alone invested $84 million into 152 "seriously deteriorated" buildings and 165 vacant parcels. Of their 100 for-sale condos, 70% have been sold to people under the age of 30. This February they finished another 200 condos and 30 storefronts and have sold 60% so far (at least), despite the "down economy." Indeed, the neighborhood has come a long ways since the riots--much like how OKC has come a long ways.

The community in Cincinnati came together to put a school in the OTR community which would provide an influx of culture. The school is a charter school that has existed for decades that traditionally focuses on arts education, which these days you don't get in normal schools. The community developed what I believe is a very innovative strategy for funding and running such a school: $41.3 million of the funds came from the public, which was matched by over $31 million in funds from community benefactors. As a result, the benefactors have been guaranteed 5 out of 12 seats on the school board (for the school, not the school district). This is to avoid, shalwesay..John Marshall/U.S. Grant/etc type results..

The school union balked, imagine that, but lost in the end. The community would have a say in the school, even if it meant teachers only had 3/12 say. Parents got the rest of the say (which personally, I would think parents should have the majority of say in a school). Anyway, the school opens this year.

I understand that OCPS currently has a number of alternative and charter-type schools and this is good. We need to be offering a diverse system of education with many different options for many different lifestyles and types of students. Some of these alternatives are in fact highly desirable, such as magnet schools and arts-centric schools. Others, the ones just labeled "alternative schools," are directed towards the special needs of some of Oklahoma's most at-risk students: a special educational environment for a special challenge, with the end goal being a high school diploma for everyone. The reality of course is that not nearly everyone attending school in the inner city graduates and the drop out rate is tragic and high. BUT we're doing our best, plain and simple--by offering these alterntives.

Now let me go and one-up that. Why don't we offer better facilities for these alternatives? None of these alternative or charter schools, save for the Oklahoma School for Science and Mathematics off Lincoln (which is state-ran, not OCPS-ran), have facilities to brag about--although many of them are absolutely beautiful old buildings that I would have enjoyed going to school in (myself being far from normal in that regard). Example: Harding Prep School and Harding Academy are both growing rapidly and currently fighting with each other for space in the same historic building. Here's an idea, give one of them the historic building and move the other downtown into a new facility instead of a "traditional elementary" downtown (which I would argue is not really in line with reality).

The reason that this solution is, in my opinion, by far the best adapted for us is two-fold, one having to do with the students, and the other the community. The students at an arts-focused academy would be the best fit for the downtown environment and would stand to add their own unique flavor to it as well in my opinion, and we should not discount the ability of minors to heavily affect a community. It would be bringing more arts and more arts-minded individuals downtown, and that would be an awesome thing. Then as for the community, well you know what they say, it takes a village to raise a child. The money is probably not there for a $60-80 million school for downtown, but with the community's help and support, it could be done. With the community involved in running the school, my hope is that the community would be involved and stand in to help prevent the poor initial situation at several of the brand-new OCPS high schools such as U.S. Grant, probably the most dire. I love it when the community and schools are involved in a partnership for the betterment of the community..I love seeing the commercials about Chesapeake's school mentor program, I love the drawings the OCPS kids made for the Devon construction site, and so on. That's what this community is about. In order to achieve success on a higher level you have to be able to merge Oklahoma's strong community values with the kind of multi-million $ projects that we now have the means to pull of.

Think about it, OKC.

A thousand questions

So many questions, so little time. In lieu of a full post (currently working on an exhaustive retail post), I think for this week I'll just post some questions that are burning in my mind. If anyone would venture some answers, feel free.

I am afraid that if it's questionable, in "this current economy" (I disagree with that..) and in the current malaise that is private development in downtown OKC, you have to assume the worst..that each of these possible projects are negligible. I want to be wrong. Or here's a much more optimistic possibility: Maybe everyone is waiting to see what's going to happen with MAPS 3 before they put any more investment into downtown? Too much up in the air right now. There is an amazing amount of change going on, but it's virtually all public sector and instead of invigorating the private sector, the private sector seems to have taken a breather.

So here goes, no particular order:

1 Is OKC still doing anything to attract more retail? Did the ULI panel give the city some ideas? Is the city willing to subsidize a "Core to Shore boulevard" retail development?

2 Has anyone besides myself realized the demolition spree that this city is on? Multiple buildings on 10th Street, the SandRidge proposal, Bricktown Steffen Creamery bldg, and more. Now it looks like the next may be a row of shops at Classen and NW 30th. Oh and the site Bradshaw cleared at Broadway/12th. The more I think, the more examples I come up with.

3 How has first-floor leasing been going? Legacy and Park Harvey were huge successes in that regard. What about the Maywood Lofts? Chuck Ainsworth's Candy Factory project? I'm sure there's some I'm forgetting. I know there is no first-floor retail yet in the Candy Factory "Lofts" or in Maywood Lofts' spaces..

4 I'm curious what Steve Mason's been up to. He's always up to something cool.

5 The Maywood Brownstones have changed hands. So does that free Ron Bradshaw up to do some more projects? Hopefully something more economically feasible. And what does this mean for Maywood Park? Will the brownstones be finished out as originally planned? (dozens more were originally planned)

6 When I was last in Bricktown I saw a ton of site work going on around the Steel Yards project. Is that going forward, or is something else entirely going on?

7 Did the ULI knock some sense into the city, or is Mayor Mick still intent on building the convention center adjacent to the Core to Shore park? It might make or break MAPS 3. Not really, but still--why be intent on making the worst out of the top-dollar ticket item?

8 What is the deal with Chesapeake? I realize we will never find out, but it's worth speculating. So much construction equipment between Classen and the tracks, on top of several blocks that I'm guessing they cleared. They've also been clearing a half dozen apartment buildings off of Grand Blvd between Western and 63rd. There was an apartment building on 63rd in front of Nichols Hills Plaza they also just razed. No announcement from Chesapeake as usual. What is going on? We already know Whole Foods is going in where they tore down the funeral home earlier this year.

9 Ron Bradshaw (I think it was him) bulldozed that site at like.. NW 12th and Broadway. What will come of that? Another site that was bulldozed just to sit for decades? We all thought we'd see development of that site by now, no surprise--no development. Maybe something is still planned, or is he no longer developing?

10 What is going on at Saint Anthony's Hospital? I'm hearing a lot about two possible new mid-rise buildings at the hospital, including a new emergency ward--and in addition to that, I'm hearing about a group of doctors interested in building a new doctor's office building (significant midrise as opposed to lowrise from what I hear).

11 What's the deal with some of these downtown developments that you hear nothing about? Like The Carnegie. The First National Building renovations? The CityPlace Lofts (in the upper floors)? Will Lower Bricktown ever be finished (is Randy Hogan going to be 'let off' or will OCURA ever take the land back)?

12 Our friend Nicholas Preftakes... 'nuff said.

13 Are some property owners actually trying to make sure that the downtown streetcar does not go in front of their property? Words can not describe how misdirected I think such a move would be. Streetcar = good. Usually the argument against it is "I'm too cheap to pay for it," and not.. "It better stay off of my lawn!"

14 Would a downtown grocer even be successful? Crescent Market closed. The deli is still open, thankfully. People really do a lot of talking about what downtown needs and yada yada--when someone comes in are they supporting them? It's a valid question I've heard raised by many. I've asked people what businesses they think are in need of support, nobody wants to specifically name a business that's doing badly, but maybe we really do need a downtown endangered list..if it would help.


Not to be all negative, unexpected answers that have come up..

1 Is Bricktown EVER going to have some decent retail? Apparently, yes--in June. The people behind the Red Dirt Emporium are opening a "public market" type space in June that will feature a collection of local vendors with different kinds of booths. It will also hopefully act as an incubator for new retail in Bricktown, where people who make shirts or food or whatever--can start out with a booth here and then get their own store as they expand. The market will be located on the canal level of the Jackson Building in upper Bricktown--the interior will be very avant garde, very Bricktown. Can't wait to see it.

2 Will SandRidge be opposed? Yes, big-time. An awesome group has formed with the mission to "Keep Downtown Urban." Preservation Oklahoma has filed a public appeal against SandRidge Energy's plans to raze north downtown leaving only SandRidge Tower standing. Today during lunch they held a "Building Hug" ceremony downtown, gathering about 40 participants, as well as spectators and news reporters. They gave out free "Keep Downtown Urban" t-shirts as well.

3 Can development happen during this economy? Yes. Look at Paseo, look at the Plaza District--not only is there significant redevelopment going on, but these are also by far some of the highest-risk (as far as lender's are concerned) development areas of the city. Low risk development: Bricktown, or Memorial Road. High risk: Plaza District (because there aren't active precedent indicators that a project will be successful). Look at the transformation the Plaza has undergone during a bad economy, and look at the local retail tenants that have miraculously popped up. Plaza has a truly awesome retail scene in my opinion. Maybe the low expectations lent themselves to a surprisingly successful district? Maybe the ridiculously high expectations are what's problematic in Bricktown.

Think about it, OKC.

Feedback: "Favourite" World City

I thought I'd do a post designed to encourage reader feedback, seeing as I've got a large reader base of people that rarely leave comments. What is you guys' favorite world city you've been to, and favorite world city you haven't been to but hope to see soon?

Mine would have to be Saint Petersburg, Russia. Never been..really itching to go. I know I've mentioned Russia in the past and gotten some really interesting comments. So.. anyone been? (Typing the word "Russia" is surely just opening my blog up to a barrage of most-bizarre web spam..LOL)

Iron Starr Campus Corner / Norman Arts Council

Iron Starr Urban Bbq sent me an email about a promotion they've got going on at their Campus Corner Norman location. I would encourage people, when hungry for some 'que, go support a local business AND local arts simultaneously..plus it's one of OKC's best bbq joints. County Line, Earl's, Bad Brad's, Iron Starr--you take your pick of the best, but they're right in there.

The view from the Civic Center Music Hall steps

When I was in town recently for various things, including attending the transit forum--I was walking out the Civic Center Music Hall and onto the steps in front of it and I was just blown away by the setting that surrounds the Civic Center. Here's an idea: Why don't we focus more on the Civic Center/City Hall area and build downtown around that environment? Sure, it has its challenges..Sycamore Square isn't exactly dazzling high design, and the County Jail looms in the distance--but this is arguably one of downtown's most special environments.

Nowhere else are you surrounded by a plethora of mid-rise buildings in a walkable environment, where you are surrounded by arts. The Arts Festival, Myriad Gardens, concerts at the Civic Center, important art exhibits at the OKCMOA, jazz from the OKCMOA roof, etc etc. As OKC tries to cast a name for itself with increased attention from the Playoffs, and as the national media is currently in love with OKC--let's market THIS area of downtown more! Let's also build and orient more of our downtown toward this bright area.

Here are some pictures I took, equipped only with my phone:





This sculpture that is coming to the lawn known as Bicentennial Park between City Hall and the Civic Center is a start. I haven't yet considered whether that area NEEDS such a large piece of public art as this, as opposed to the OTHER side of City Hall facing Couch Drive, but public art is almost never a bad thing. I'll say that.

The art piece, entitled "Compass Rose" is a $350,000 donation from the Inasmuch Foundation, and comes at no cost at all to the city. Even better!

SandRidge appeal

This is the application that never ends, it just keeps going on and on my friends..

And yes, now it has been appealed. Text of the appeal that was filed are here, on Doug's blog. I haven't gotten a chance to look over it much, but I was looking into who sits on the Board of Adjustment.

I don't think it looks good for historic preservation but I will say that SandRidge is not going to have an easy time getting this application through. Honestly..I'm starting to wish that more could be done to work WITH SandRidge and not AGAINST SandRidge to get the best masterplan for this site.

SandRidge wants the best too, they just see us urban enthusiasts working against them. We're not opposed to them or their project, just a small part of it. This is indeed a very broken process. More later..

Cityshot XLI

The new McNellie's in Norman..Main Street. Actually, it's the "Abner's Ale House." A lot smaller than the other two McNellie's locations in OKC and Tulsa, but pretty cool to come across along Norman's Main Street.

Fun with DIY streetcar routes

The most recent COTPA "Let's Talk Transit" public forum was a lot of fun and I am glad I was in OKC for it. I still think COTPA has some work to do, and they could be a little smoother in how they answer questions and present the streetcar system, but I would give them an all-around A. The meeting flat-out exceeded my expectations, and I came away with a few ideas of my own. Various COTPA and Planning Dept people gave presentations and took questions from the group.

They did a great job of giving a base explanation of the streetcar system and showing the examples such as Portland, but there was one question they never really answered: One older woman who looked well-cultured and like the perfect potential downtown resident stated her frustration with the fixed guideway nature of the streetcar project. Because downtown is still growing developmentally, she didn't understand why we were going with a fixed rail transit system when downtown's growth patterns are still evolving, which she thought that bus made much more sense for. Mike McAnelly told her he'd answer her question later, which he did in a way, but never made the specific connection. I wished he would just directly tell her that streetcar affects and incites development in a way that nothing else can, which makes the still-yet evolving developmental patterns one of the most important reasons behind the need for a fixed guideway transit system. To put it more simply, with streetcar we have an opportunity to shape the development of downtown that we don't get with many other public projects. It's a golden opportunity to take advantage of our blank slate downtown and use streetcar.

The most important realization I came away with is a new appreciation for how hard it sometimes can be to take a group of random people who aren't professional planners and get them to think like a planner, plan like a planner, and at least find a consensus and keep a project on track. Simply put, it isn't possible. My group was comprised of an incredibly diverse group..one was an older guy with strong convictions, a businessman who was really quiet, a guy who looked to be a student maybe 5-6 years younger than me, and lastly a bona fide crazy dude in his 20s with badly thinning hair that was a bizarre cross between Kramer and Einstein. I thought about taking a picture just for demonstration purposes but I decided that would be mean, and besides I shouldn't negatively identify anyone I meet. And then our COTPA liaison was Jeanne Smith, the River Transit Manager for COTPA..who was great.

Kramer/Einstein would not stop talking and yammering on, and made it incredibly difficult for our group to work together. And he kept standing up over my shoulder and pacing, also incredibly annoying, despite the numerous empty chairs around the table. By the time that half of our allotted time had already elapsed we had absolutely nothing to show for it, so I devised a new plan where the entire group would just write down important sites they wanted to be on a route or near one. Kramer/Einstein still would not shut up, and I was near giving up. We were down to our last 5 minutes and still had nothing to show for it.

So getting desperate with the group's bickering and wasting time, I gave up on the public process and just drew the damn route I remembered putting up on the blog earlier that day on a brochure I had in front of me. When I showed it to others, the group instantly settled on what I drew and the older fellow liked it so much he said, "That's it. Build it." I was however disappointed that Mr. Kramer/Einstein didn't allow for us to have a true public process that had the unique input and suggestions from the otherwise great people in my group--but at least we had a good, respectable proposal to show to the rest of the public forum assembled, and in my opinion, it was one of the best ones. There were a few others that stood out to me.

Mainly, proposals from the group that had Jeff Bezdek and the group that had Chuck Wiggins. I tend to agree with the person in the audience who said the group that had Jeff was cheating just by having Jeff. Speaking of Jeff, it was great to finally meet him although I'm afraid he came away with the wrong impression of me personally as I couldn't stop laughing when Doug was circling us, snapping pictures. Doug should really consider a career as a professional photographer. Anyway, here's Jeff's plan--one thing that struck me after he presented was how remarkably similar Jeff's plan was to mine, with the only difference being that he had one arm going N/S west of Broadway going down Hudson. Another similarity that Jeff's had with our route proposal was a Sheridan baseline all the way down to Mickey Mantle and then going up to the Oklahoma Health Center.

One concern that Jeff mentioned was that there would be a cost difference between tracks going up the Mickey Mantle bridge between Bricktown and Deep Deuce versus just crossing underneath the BNSF tracks at NE 4th Street. And despite noticing that people seem to really like Walker for a route alignment, he has a few good reasons for avoiding it and going down Hudson, two of them being that Hudson needs redevelopment more and that the Walker Circle poses engineering challenges, and I think his other concerns will come out when it's appropriate. I still favor Walker personally because you don't really have to extend the line beyond the circle and the traffic circle could very well be a natural end point for a segment, instead of having to do a pinch section in the middle of a street for the streetcar to turn around. I strongly favor Broadway having a streetcar line, and Hudson is only 3 blocks from Broadway. Walker is only 4, but because it never really goes through the CBD, psychologically the difference is better and it incorporates more of the Arts District.

Like I mentioned I also appreciated Chuck Wiggin's proposal, in which the focus was on employers. A practical focus. Once again, it has the similarity with the base line going down Sheridan. I think virtually every single proposal out of the 7 different groups all used Sheridan as a baseline, which was something I remarked on in my presentation. I think Sheridan more than any other corridor in downtown seems ripe for rail. For N/S alignments we all kind of differ, but I feel like a strong consensus is building behind the idea that Sheridan connects it all. In fact in Jeff's proposal and in my proposal, Sheridan is the only E/W route, while there are more than one N/S routes (mine has three, his has two). Chuck's uses 4th Street to get over to the Oklahoma Health Center and has the longest Sheridan alignment I saw, connecting the new OCU Law School to Bass Pro, McDonald's, and the proposed/formerly proposed Candlewood Suites. You know, the coolest area of Bricktown. Instead of a loop system, as proposed by Walter Jenny's group and a few other groups, or a hub-and-spoke system as proposed by me and Jeff, his is an interesting combination of both that I think I'll call loop-and-spoke. The more and more I think about Chuck's proposal the more I like it as much if not more than mine, and just about the only person at the forum that I didn't meet was probably Chuck Wiggin. Shucks.

Overall, I know that some other bloggers such as Doug have been concerned about the level of public involvement in these public forums. I also know COTPA was heavily criticized for only getting 250 survey responses on the website, which everyone agreed was low. However, I think that this meeting more than answered the need for public involvement. COTPA asked us to sign our names on the maps and they seemed to take great care to collect all the maps and I believe they will be using them in the next meeting which I suspect will be over land uses surrounding the streetcar--probably the meeting that really gets the public excited behind the project.

In talking to Kinsey Crocker, who is doing their PR, I believe they are going to put all the routes up on the Let's Talk Transit website, and I can't wait to see those. I also believe a news station was there, and I know KTOK had someone there recording audio..don't know if they were broadcasting live though. Reruns will also probably be on City Channel 20. Overall it was a great process, a good experience, and I think COTPA not only got a lot of useful feedback but will put the feedback to good use. It was also great to meet so many people, a lot of whom read this blog. I look forwarding to attending the future public forums that are planned.

To conclude, I want to come back to the planning process with the average joes and how it didn't really work so well. It's a very difficult leadership challenge and I personally struggled trying to find a way to get the group moving in the right direction and working effectively toward the same goal, and not just yammering on about their favorite and least favorite streets in downtown--although I will admit my sole reason that I insist Broadway has a streetcar route is just that Broadway is by far my favorite street in downtown, and Automobile Alley is my favorite area (one reason I've featured so much of Steve Mason's stuff on here). I think I saw first hand what Mayor Mick experiences and it could be a major reason as to why he has allowed for such little public involvement in MAPS 3.

It's true that the public, for the most part, is really not who you want planning this kind of stuff--despite the high quality of proposals that got presented at the public forum on Tuesday. Those proposals took a high degree of leadership from me, Jeff, and the other people who took charge within their own group to lead everyone in the right direction (although I have no idea if other groups had the same difficulties..I certainly didn't see another Kramer/Einstein). It's something to think about. I can see where Mayor Mick has a vision he wants to achieve, and more importantly, I don't see him willing to take a chance on public involvement..indeed it can be a scary thing. I still think it's a flaw of the dear mayor's because while being a scary thing, it is an absolutely VITAL thing. Vital. And it's not all bad, like I mentioned, the end results were almost all good even if the process seemed scary at times. There are always people within the community who are more than capable of providing input that IS valuable and you have to let those people take the lead on public partnership initiatives, and they can't do that unless there is public involvement. And that's what this is, and that's why I encourage everyone to roll out to the next public forum which will be held April 29th from 6-8 same place..

Keep Downtown Urban

The SandRidge fallout is beginning to roll. Keep an eye out for this new site..looks really good. The address is Keep Downtown Urban and it is going to be dedicated to opposing the SandRidge application and hopefully other anti-urban proposals that continue to destroy the remainder of Oklahoma City left over from the first Urban Renewal (with today being the "second Urban Renewal").

Also you can read more about the political fallout here on Steve's blog..and there may be an appeal down the road. I honestly didn't even realize that opponents of a proposal could appeal a DDR ruling. My personal opinion is that DDR members are doing a good job, they're doing the best they can. They deferred it as long as they could and did due diligence to survey the buildings themselves.

Something just doesn't seem right with SandRidge and the OKC good ole boy system, and my opinion is it'll be interesting to see what happens to Betsy Brunsteter who was the only committee member that voted against the demolition. Anthony McDermid was extremely critical and said that "blood" was on their hands, but in the end he voted yes just because it was a forgone conclusion in his opinion. Or did he vote yes for other reasons?

Steve raises some good questions.. why was Jim Couch there? I've been to DDR meetings myself before and I know Jim Couch doesn't typically come to those. Typically by the end of a DDR meeting I am the only person there, because it's just people who have an item up for consideration and they leave as soon as they get a verdict. Jim Couch does not even attend City Council meetings typically because he is supposed to be too busy running the day to day operations of the city to give a crap about the crazies who speak at the end of meetings or Brian Walters' political posturing as the neo-con who's gonna save OKC from the grip of the libs. (to summarize a typical City Council meeting)

There are a lot of other good questions being raised. Now it appears that the most important question of all is, did the DDR members have any choice but to vote yes towards the demolition?

Route evolution

Let's get straight to the issue surrounding COTPA's Let's Talk Transit forums. What people want to know is the route of the proposed streetcar system, when it's going to be built, and issues like that.

If you're still back on Page 1 and wondering what kind of rail we're doing and questions like that, just research "streetcar." Throw out everything you know about heavy rail, commuter rail, light rail, etc--those types of mass transit are not designed to work effectively and safely within pedestrian spaces, do not make quick stops, travel too fast, and are cost prohibitive for a condensed (LOL at that one) downtown area. Streetcar is a cost-effective option that is also clearly the best-adapted to what we hope may at some point in the future be a good pedestrian area.

Now moving on. The route. That is the real issue, and probably one of the most complex issues that remain unresolved with MAPS 3 (besides how a powerless advisory board can possibly be relevant in anyway). It involves many complex issues, and possibly politics although I hope it doesn't come down to that.

Because of streetcar's incredible ability to stimulate infill development within 4 blocks of a streetcar line, you have to look at the potential of certain key nodes of activity in downtown, and not just what is presently there. With that said, you also want a good mix of current hotspots such as Bricktown, the Devon Tower site, Ford Center/Cox Center, etc. In my opinion the goal should be to maximize the best mix of potential infill stretches that link current hotspots. One example is the area between the CBD and the Walker Circle in MidTown, another example is the area between Bricktown and the OUHSC/Oklahoma Health Center area.

I would also encourage anyone looking at a route to heavily consider the potential to expand the system. For instance, if you go with a certain route, consider how an expansion to further-out important activity areas (such as perhaps the State Capitol, OCU, etc) would tie-in with what you're creating.

Then there are technical ramifications. Consideration of locating a hub for the system. What type of route configuration, are we going to go with a loop system, or a hub-and-spoke? I tend to prefer the loop because it's simple and incredibly easy to expand, difficult to mess up from a planning perspective--and with planning being what it is in the Heartland you definitely want to minimize the risk in that area. The mayor seems to prefer the hub-and-spoke system based off of what has been in the media, and I'm not one to question the planning expertise of Mayor Cornett. Actually though, the hub-and-spoke does offer a few advantages, the most important being that it seems you can cover more of downtown using the same 5-6 mile distance of track. That is a clear advantage that could make hub-and-spoke the best option for OKC if it chose to go in that direction with the streetcar project.

Like I mentioned, a loop route would be almost too easy. A hub-and-spoke system would require heavy coordination of tying in the different streetcar lines, a schedule that is a work of art, and of course it would require that every line be a double track.

Here's an interesting hub-and-spoke route that I put together. There are three overall lines: the Blue Line is just a strip down Sheridan Ave, the Red Line is just a loop that goes through MidTown and ties into..the Orange Line, which connects downtown and Bricktown to the OUHSC area and closely resembles the abstract route proposed by the Modern Transit Project led by Jeff Bezdek.

This is a good route in my opinion because it does a good job of tying sites that currently have high importance with areas that could see a lot of infill. The infill is important because that is almost the only area in which OKC stands to get an economic benefit out of streetcar, and the economic impact of downtown development shouldn't be underestimated. The areas in this system that would see a ton of infill are along Sheridan in the Film Row area, the "Medical Business District" along 10th Street, the area along Walker before you get to the Walker Circle, and also the area along Lincoln would stand to be built up.

The system also ties in a good array of important sites, starting with the hub which would be placed at Santa Fe Station. In the past I've talked about the opportunity to expand the Santa Fe Depot and build a true transit hub that ties into the east side of the Cox Center (which is currently an embarrassing blank wall), but it's the same general area. Realistically with streetcar, you don't need a hub, but it can be a valuable bonus to tie the streetcar into Amtrak, potential light rail/commuter rail to other parts of the city, bus services, among other modes of transportation. Other important sites that are linked by this system are Bricktown (from end to end), the OUHSC, Devon Tower, the Cox Center/Ford Center, Myriad Gardens, and OCU Law School along the Blue Line and the OUHSC leg of the Orange Line. The Red Line connects the Arts District, City Hall, Civic Center Music Hall, OKC Museum of Art, Walker Circle (restaurants), and so on. The Orange Line goes all the way down North Broadway and feeds off of the Automobile Alley area--imagine how awesome streetcar will look gliding along its rails with the historic storefronts of A-Alley behind it and the CBD skyline off in the distance.

And then, as for tie-in to potential expansion, here's what I've got in mind:

You can see where the goal here is mainly to connect the one remaining big activity area (the State Capitol) to the rest of the system and for the rest of the expansions, I think the best idea is to follow historic precedent. There are certain historic areas of our city that were originally built around streetcar expansions in the first place and these areas today still offer the best chance for success. For the most part, these are also the denser, cooler strips that could use a real hand in redevelopment--such as the Plaza District or Uptown. Future streetcar expansions should connect hot spots such as OCU, 23rd Street, the Asian District, Uptown, Plaza District, perhaps Western Avenue, Paseo, etc. Imagine the diversity that someone from out of town would come in contact with simply by riding the streetcar of OKC.