Project 180 to Transform Downtown Oklahoma City
Posted: Dec 14, 2009 3:50 PM CST Updated: Dec 15, 2009 8:29 AM CST

Oklahoma City to Receive Makeover Downtown

The focus of Project 180 will be on 180 blocks downtown.

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Downtown Oklahoma City has changed a lot in recent years, and is about to get another big makeover starting next year.

The project has nothing to do with the latest MAPS initiative, but it has something to do the construction of the new Devon Energy building downtown and some recent bond issues.

Project 180 is the name of a downtown makeover covering 180 blocks. The Myriad Gardens will undergo some of the biggest changes.

For openers, the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory will be re-glazed. New, clear panels will replace the acrylic one. The Gardens will be closed for a year for other improvements, too.

"I believe that over here in the east garden where our Christmas tree is at we're having a restaurant and then on the other side of that we're getting an ice skating rink and stuff, so yeah, it's gonna be awesome," Linda Hanley with the Myriad Gardens Security said.

And that's just the beginning. Project 180 will makeover everything you stand on in downtown, from streets to sidewalks.

"You'll see that we're going to have landscaping, they'll see new parking meters, they'll see even plug-ins for electric cars," Kristy Yager with the city of Oklahoma City said.

Complementing the decision by Devon Energy to build its new headquarters downtown, Project 180 will aim to attract more businesses and economic development into the area.

This sounds like a great project. The ultimate spring cleaning. BTW - I loved the new way finder system downtown while we were there a few weeks ago. I just followed the arrows where I wanted to go. It was a big help.

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Oklahoma City - The surprise your family has been looking for.

Boy I can not wait to see it! Now if there were just more places to live downtown so the prices could fall some...

News9's copywriters are horrible.

Ya, Oklahoma City needs this face lift but commuting downtown will be a NIGHTMARE for about a year..

There only doing a few streets at a time. I think that it is the goal of the city to make sure that it is as painless as possible.

I got an e-mail yesterday from What's Up Downtown about the Project 180 Meetings being held in the 3rd floor of city hall council chamber (3rd floor). There will be meetings Dec 17th, Dec 29th and Jan 12th at noon and 6pm. The e-mail states that all of the meetings will cover the same information and will give people information about the 3 year project and the impact it will have on you and your business.
I tried to find the information on the downtownokc website but was not successful. This is a e-newsletter that I signed up for somewhere when I was downtown that I get probably once a week so I am sure the meetings are open to everyone.

Yes I've seen the announcement of those meetings in several places. If only OCURA would be so open.

The City has several pages on its website dedicated to the Project 180 initiative. Here is the page about the Public Meetings - dates and times:

City of Oklahoma City | Public Information & Marketing

* Dec. 17 noon & 6 p.m.
* Dec. 29 noon & 6 p.m.
* Jan. 12 noon & 6 p.m.

Meetings will be held in the City Hall Council Chamber, 200 N Walker (3rd floor).

All meetings will cover the same information and they are open to everyone.

Thanks for these times and dates. I am planning on going today at noon.

Oklahoma City seeks quick turnaround
Project 180, which will give downtown a makeover, will begin as early as May
BY STEVE LACKMEYER
The Oklahoman
Published: December 18, 2009

The first public presentation of Project 180 — the $140 million downtown makeover — was met with a positive response from the more than 60 people who gathered Thursday at City Hall.

Assistant City Engineer Laura Story told the crowd the project remains on track for starting May 1, and wrapping up in 2014.

Once complete, all streets, sidewalks, parks and public spaces in the 180-acre central business district and arts district will have been rebuilt.

For the rest of Steve's article:

NewsOK

I sure would love to see a larger (or more detailed) version of this pic or more renderings.....any availible? It looks awesome.

Here is the thread dedicated to the Myriad Gardens renovation:

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...-makeover.html

Post #9 by metro has other renderings.

More renderings of the street changes are on my blog OKC Central - Information about Oklahoma City, Bricktown and beyond

If not too much bother, could someone explain to me where exactly the central park will tie in? I've driven the areas that I think will be involved, but can't seem to reconcile my version with the gardens.

The Central Park will be two blocks wide (like the Myriad Gardens), will start where I-40 currently presides and will go down to where I-40 will be in 2012. So it will be two blocks wide and five blocks long. The Skydance Pedestrian Bridge will be going south across the new I-40 at Robinson. The park will then continue south of I-40, one block wide (Harvey to Robinson) to the Oklahoma River. The main area between the current I-40 and the new I-40 will be about 40 acres and the area south will be about 30 acres. At least, that is the plan

Thank you, for some reason, I was under the impression that it would link to the gardens. I suppose this is due to the "Devon's front yard" thing. Thank you for clarifying.

The Myriad Gardens is two blocks wide, running east to west between Hudson and Robinson Avenues. The new park is planned to be in the same 2 block alignment, between Hudson and Robinson.

The Gardens' south edge is presently Reno Avenue. The new park is planned to to have it's north edge along the new Boulevard, which will be constructed in the same place where I-40 is now, basically, SW 3rd Street. The new park will continue south, two blocks in width, until it meets up with the new I-40, at approximated SW 8 to 9th Street

The area between the current Gardens and the north edge of the new park, Reno to SW 3rd, is currently the Downtown Ford auto dealership and other support businesses such as Ira's tire store. The design is for this property to be redeveloped into uses such as office, commercial, possibly hospitality uses, with a 'green' link along the Harvey Avenue alignment, connecting the Garden's and the new park.

On the south side of the new park, the new I-40, there will be a pedestrian bridge that crosses the new highway, at approximately the Harvey Avenue area, connecting with more linear park space that will continue south until it meets up with the north side of the Oklahoma River.

And thank you as well. This is all very informative, and frankly exciting.

Look for an announcement soon re: Bob Howard Ford (S. of Myriad Gardens) relocating.

MAPS3, the 2007 bond issue and the Project 180 appear to be historical projects for OKC. The present a great challenge for those involved to spend money in the most efficient possible way. I hope the people in charge of Project 180 plan their work around MAPS3 projects (and vice-versa) in such a way that there isn't renovation work UN-done and wasted. Hopefully, they will have great communication channels. Wasting money would certainly not help any future project elections.

I totally agree mug. Does anyone know, for instance, if Project 180 will have some consideration for the streetcar lines?

IMO, I think the streetcar should be the FIRST of the MAPS 3 projects, not necessarily to have it up and running but moreso have it PLANNED and rails being put in - to take advantage of Project 180's tearing up of the streets.

I/WE (Im sure) would HATE for the city to renovate the streets only to tear them up again for rail.

Is there some way the city could "borrow" from the 180 money to get planning for the streetcar in full steam? If Project 180 will start in May, that means we have roughly 6 to 10 months to have a plan for the streetcar before we'd begin to see street construction in the 'rail' corridor/alignments. That's NOT a lot of time and certainly there might not be enough MAPS money collected in that essentially 1-6 month time, particularly if the mayor really wants Central Park to begin first.

I truly hope everyone will sit down together; 2007 bond leaders, Project 180 coordinators, and MAPS 3 officials - so that where projects overlap we can plan accordingly and gain synergy. There should eventually be more than enough money to complete ALL projects with synergy gained - so much so that I think the MAPS 3 projects should all be world class and top knotch. We may even have much longer than 6 miles of rail for our 'starter' tram route.

OMG, what a time to be from OKC or live in OKC. ... This all is BIG and will totally help OKC realize the potential all of us have known the city to have.

I do hope, that once the downtown makeover is in full earnest - that city leaders start planning and rezoning (and enforcing) the inner city urban areas surrounding downtown, so that those areas develop organically and we have strategically placed incubators of development to ensure we get the fully thriving city we want. From there we could go to the inner suburban core.

I honestly hope/think that the city should trim off the rural areas of the city limits and the state to give ACOG and/or Oklahoma County more power to manage the watershed areas (without the city having to incorporate that said areas).

If we had a city limit coinciding with the current urban area, OKC today would still have 550,000 people but the city size would be about 300 square miles (keeping some area in the NW/SW for growth). That corresponds to a reported population density of 1833 1/3 ppsm, more than double the roughly 900 figure they currently use. Tell me which figure is a more accurate representation/feel of OKC? (900 or 1833 1/3)

Tell me, with that density figure (which surely will be higher in years to come) - that retailers would continue to balk at a city with a brand new downtown, population over 600,000 (metro over 1.4M) and city density over 2,000 ppsm?

OKC surely should be right there in 2012 - we need to get ready for it NOW and plan accordingly.

Good times! Continue the Renaissance!

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Oklahoma City, RENAISSANCE CITY!

HotRod: Great to hear from you! Wish you were back here in OKC.

So am I the only one that's kind of underwhelmed by what's been presented so far for the new streetscapes?

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

What were you expecting and what suggestions do you have to offer to make it better?