Staybridge Suites

[Just the facts]

the building design will improve and will most likely be all or almost all brick the site plan doesn't really bother me .. it is what it is ... but i wouldn't call it "mediocre"

this location is not close to anything else in bricktown

So the arrangement of the physical world holds no inherant value to you? Just, here is a hotel that generates X dollars per year (number of rooms X rate X occupancy percent) and how it is arranged on the ground has no ability to enhance or hinder its income potential, or that of adjacent properties?

[BoulderSooner]

So the arrangement of the physical world holds no inherant value to you? Just, here is a hotel that generates X dollars per year (number of rooms X rate X occupancy percent) and how it is arranged on the ground has no ability to enhance or hinder its income potential, or that of adjacent properties?

sure it does in general ... just not so much with this site ..

[adaniel]

Wow everyone seems to be jumping off the cliff a bit early with this. I agree it looks terrible but nothing has been approved yet correct? Has the design committee already instructed them to go redesign this?

I think the main problem is a lot of developers here are locally based and just very new to downtown development. If they are at least open to changes and the design review committee can stay firm and consistent in its requests I can cut them a break, for now anyway.

[Pete]

It is true almost all development is coming from locals.

Because we've had so little quality urban development in the past, those who only know OKC lack perspective and experience.

That's where these design review committees come in, I just wish they would be tougher. Especially when we have a glut of hotel projects, it's a good time to be more selective and strict.

[heyerdahl]

Especially when we have a glut of hotel projects, it's a good time to be more selective and strict.

Exactly- Bricktown can afford to deny any hotel project that isn't meeting or even exceeding standards. There are 1,000 other hotel rooms in the pipeline and this is just a cheap interstate motel. With uncertainty about the hotel market in Bricktown, if a project doesn't make the committee say "Wow, that would be a great addition to the area and we want to see that built" then why bother approving it? Hotel developers shouldn't be able to free-ride off Bricktown's popularity without ponying up to Bricktown's standards.

This is a lot like the Bricktown McDonald's situation, where the committee was able to say "We have a lot of restaurants here, we don't really need a McDonald's, so unless your design makes us want a McDonald's we're going to deny this."

[Anonymous.]

How about everyone on OKCTalk quits their jobs and pools money together to form an LLC and together we will pave the way for a better OKC.

We obviously have the vision.

[Skyline]

Ironic that this developer referenced McDonald's with his proposal. Because I get the sense that this may be the most scrutinized project since the Bricktown McD's.

[BoulderSooner]

Exactly- Bricktown can afford to deny any hotel project that isn't meeting or even exceeding standards. There are 1,000 other hotel rooms in the pipeline and this is just a cheap interstate motel. With uncertainty about the hotel market in Bricktown, if a project doesn't make the committee say "Wow, that would be a great addition to the area and we want to see that built" then why bother approving it? Hotel developers shouldn't be able to free-ride off Bricktown's popularity without ponying up to Bricktown's standards.

This is a lot like the Bricktown McDonald's situation, where the committee was able to say "We have a lot of restaurants here, we don't really need a McDonald's, so unless your design makes us want a McDonald's we're going to deny this."

they don't have to wow the board or exceed the standards .. they have to meet the standards ..

[Steve]

For what it's worth....
I met with Patel. I listened to him in the meeting. I did not sense in him the same stubborn insistence on moving forward with the "prototype" design after he heard the feedback from the committee. He seemed eager to make changes, to figure out what he needed to do to make it a better fit. I also showed him the photo of the Columbus, S.C. Staybridge shown on this site (I pulled it up on the screen of my laptop after the meeting). He loved it. So again, for what it's worth...

[catch22]

How does this (red) occupy any more or different ROW than the proposal (white)?

[BoulderSooner]

For what it's worth....
I met with Patel. I listened to him in the meeting. I did not sense in him the same stubborn insistence on moving forward with the "prototype" design after he heard the feedback from the committee. He seemed eager to make changes, to figure out what he needed to do to make it a better fit. I also showed him the photo of the Columbus, S.C. Staybridge shown on this site (I pulled it up on the screen of my laptop after the meeting). He loved it. So again, for what it's worth...

thanks steve that is good to hear

[Just the facts]

Did you by chance show him the Holiday Inn Express or Springhill Suites just down the street from that Staybridge? BTW - it is Columbia, SC.

[Pete]

Thanks Steve.

Let's hope a good compromise can be struck here.

Quality and profitability don't have to be mutually exclusive concepts.

[Steve]

Just the Facts, the ODOT easement, as I understand it, is marked by the slightly visible pathway that cuts diagonally across the corner just north of the billboard, and starts directly across from the entrance to the gas station.

[Just the facts]

Just the Facts, the ODOT easement, as I understand it, is marked by the slightly visible pathway that cuts diagonally across the corner just north of the billboard, and starts directly across from the entrance to the gas station.

Yes - that is the abandoned railroad right of way. If you go to Google Earth and change the imagery back to Februrary 1995 you can see the railroad cut across this lot, go through where the gas station pumps are now, cross Reno, pass through the Sonic headquarters building, and service whatever business was located where the Harkin Theater now sits. Now some how the gas staton, the City, Randy Hogan, and who knows how many other people were able to build on this easement.

[Pete]

Easements can be abandoned... Happens all the time.

However, it takes and time and legal fees to make it happen and perhaps the developer doesn't want to go through the trouble.

[Steve]

Yes. But keep in mind; ODOT DOESN'T want to abandon this easement. They are reserving it for future construction of a new ramp.

[Anonymous.]

WHat the heck kind of ramp would be contrsucted from that stretch of land? I thought the ramp would be on the deadend portion of Sheridan on the other side of the Interstate, for an on-ramp.

[Just the facts]

Yes. But keep in mind; ODOT DOESN'T want to abandon this easement. They are reserving it for future construction of a new ramp.

Well that is going to be one hell of a right turn getting on the interstate then and not to mention a huge inconvenience of doing it right in the middle of the parking lot of the hotel.

[HangryHippo]

I have the same question as Anonymous. What in the hell kind of ramp is ODOT considering on this particular easement? I'm very confused on what they could build there because it certainly doesn't seem to work for an off or on ramp...

[Just the facts]

I have the same question as Anonymous. What in the hell kind of ramp is ODOT considering on this particular easement? I'm very confused on what they could build there because it certainly doesn't seem to work for an off or on ramp...

Besides, what would you enter onto - the exit ramp for I-40 west? You can't get on I-235 south from there. The truth is - this is a made up excuse. They need to go sale crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here.

[BoulderSooner]

Besides, what you enter onto - the exit ramp for I-40 west? You can't get on I-235 south from there. The truth is - this is a made up excuse. They need to go sale crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here.

they being ODOT? the fact remains that they have the easement and they want to keep it

[Steve]

Guys, they're calling it a ramp, but it could just as easily be some sort of new fly connection. Whatever it is, ODOT doesn't want to give up that land.

[Just the facts]

When was the last time ODOT was asked?

[Steve]

I talked to ODOT about this in 2008. The developer and planning staff indicate they've been given the same info as the project was restarted.