Automobile Alley

[Urbanized]

Yeah that makes no sense. I’ll take two, please.

[Pete]

I interviewed the developer a few weeks ago and never wrote it up.

But I'll go back through my notes and post what she told me.

These will be very high-end with modern finishes. She was still finalizing the design which is why the only images are so vague.

[LFordD40]

I had a family member call after seeing the story to express interest, and they said the $300k number was a misprint. I can't remember exactly what they said, but the starting price on them was closer to the $700k price range.

[Pete]

Just mathematically, they would have to be more expensive than The Hill because 1) They are free-standing and less dense; 2) the land was more expensive and 3) the finishes will be more high-end.

I'll get back in touch with the developer and get some additional details.

[OkieRedRaider]

I noticed on the CA that Lydia Francis (the original owner) is listed as owner and Sheryl Willingham is only the applicant.

[Pete]

Sheryl Willingham is the developer. She is an experienced home builder in the area.

I suspect the property has not officially changed hands. In these situations the sales contract is usually contingent on getting the necessary approvals first, and they still have a ways to go on that front.

[Urbanized]

Regarding the lower speed limit on Broadway (reducing from 30 to 25) it was brought before the Traffic Commission by the AA Board.

The city did their usual in-depth analysis and concluded it was not necessary.

However, just like the Heritage Hills stop signs which the staff also deemed unnecessary, the Traffic Commission approved anyway.

I very much disagree with these situations being similar, other than very superficially. Regarding Heritage Hills:

1. Heritage Hills stop sign 'sploshion was driven by a largely NIMBY complaint against increased traffic in what had been a leafy enclave until adjacent commercial districts began to emerge from decades-long dormancy.
2. The stopsigns were requested in an effort to make driving through the district inconvenient enough to drive non-resident traffic elsewhere, in hopes of preserving the quiet streets, despite the fact that they are public streets, on the grid, and also that lack of traffic is an unreasonable expectation when purchasing in an urban area.
3. City staff recommended against it because the request was counter to City policy, which states that stop signs in neighborhoods will not be considered until a yield sign is first tried, and that such requests are made on a case-by-case basis and by individual signed petition. Also, traffic planning best practices discourage stop sign placement as a deterrent or an attempt at speed control. In some cases placement of stop signs has been shown to INCREASE speeding as people speed up between them. Staff was correct in these recommendations but was overruled, likely due to requests coming from influential residents of this neighborhood (though to be fair I have no first-hand knowledge of this).

Regarding Broadway:

1. This request was made not to deter traffic, but to make the street safer for pedestrians, who are increasing in number exponentially as this street and surrounding district redevelops.
2. Most everyone (not just property owners) recognizes that currently it is a pretty sketchy proposition to cross streets in Automobile Alley, owing to the prevailing speed and visibility. This has potential to affect the commercial growth of the neighborhood, but more importantly there is a real possibility of someone being hurt or worse.
3. While the request was made by an individual business owner, it actually represented the wishes of the Automobile Alley board and of the Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership, which is the district management organization for the neighborhood. Steve Schlegel - who made the request - is the chairman of the Automobile Alley board, which voted to request the change.
4. The staff position on this request was not specifically denial but instead more of a hands-off, shoulder shrug of a recommendation. Essentially, they said the street is designed to be faster than 30, and most people will continue to speed anyway, so changing the speed limit is a waste of time. They are actually correct, and yet submitting to this reality illustrates a car-centric bias that is very problematic for downtown, especially as comeback districts such as Automobile Alley experience higher pedestrian traffic.
5. While the merits of stopsign-as-traffic-deterrent (Heritage Hills) are debateable, there is no question whatsoever that a 5 MPH drop in speed represents a significant increase in a pedestrian's ability to survive being hit by a car (and also increases the chances they won't be hit in the first place). In fact in this case it would be better if the average speed were dropped to 20, but that would have been asking more than what was possible at this point. A number of cities in the U.S. these days are in fact dropping their default speed limit on city streets (unless otherwise indicated) from speeds like 30-35 to 25. Here are several articles that illustrate why city speed limits (especially in areas where you expect people to be walking) should be 20 or 25:
   
   https://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/05/...-city-streets/
   https://www.wired.com/2014/11/loweri...ave-lot-lives/
   https://www.vox.com/2014/11/18/72409...limit-new-york
6. The Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership, when speaking in favor of the Automobile Alley change, acknowledged that they real problem with Broadway is the design of the street, as was inadvertently pointed out by the City's traffic engineers. DOKC stated in front of the traffic commission that they view the speed limit change as only the beginning, and the easiest change to implement first. But they committed to working closely with the City in an ongoing effort to change the character of the street through design measures, infrastructure, striping, lighting, traffic control devices etc.. In other words DOKC views this speed limit change not as the end-all-be-all but instead as a starting point.

I suppose you can make the case that each request was self-serving, in that Heritage Hills residents want to keep their neighborhood quiet and sleepy, while Automobile Alley merchants want to better develop commercially. But the critical difference is that AA merchants are making their request in the interest of public safety, which in turn makes their neighborhood more successful and appealing.

[Pete]

All I meant is that the City has an entire staff of people who go to great lengths to consider these requests and make a recommendation based on actual data collected at the sites of proposed change, then applying industry standards.

In both these cases (and frankly the only two I've followed closely) they disregarded those recommendations.

[Urbanized]

Just to reiterate and be really clear here, although staff used the average speed dictated by the (current) built environment of Broadway to punch holes in the idea that lowering the speed limit would be effective, they did NOT recommend against changing it, while they DID recommended against the stop signs in Heritage Hills.

The staff recommendation for the 30-25 mph change on Broadway:

Summary of Staff Recommendations: Action on this matter is at the discretion of the Commission.

Staff does not have cause to recommend lowering the speed limit on N Broadway Avenue between NW 4 Street and NW 13 Street to 25 mph. The necessity to reduce the regulatory speed limit on this highly travelled roadway is not indicated by the collision experience along the corridor or by driver behavior based on the observed travel speeds of most vehicle operators.

Action Required: Approve or do not approve the request to change the speed limit on N Broadway Avenue between NW 4 Street and NW 13 Street from 30 mph to 25 mph.

Again, basically a shoulder shrug. So the commission wasn't disregarding. They weighed staff's research and combined with the anecdotal evidence from the people who spoke before the commission and the request of the district, they made a decision that WASN'T counter to staff recommendation; it's just counter to what we can safely assume staff would have preferred.

[Urbanized]

Also, regarding industry standards, in this case they relied on longstanding traffic engineering standards that are everyday more and more at odds with modern (and constantly evolving) urban planning standards. As the core of OKC continues to redevelop as a community we are going to need to begin to adopt standards in the urban, walkable areas that might be different than those typically applied in more suburban, less dense parts.

[Urbanized]

Here's another link that is excellent regarding the injuries/fatalities relative to speed: https://www.propublica.org/article/u...at-many-speeds

There is a really nifty interactive graph if you click through to read the story, but here is a still shot of it without the interactivity (cue PluPan to say he "disagrees" with the premise ):

[Pete]

[Urbanized]

I wish that curve would have been a block further north so that it could have been incorporated into the streetcar route. As it is it would not have allowed for the westward swing through Midtown. But would have been cool to restore rail to that street since it was originally shaped by it, not to mention spurring redevelopment along a block which I’ve always believed holds tremendous potential for a great sense of place.

[Jim Kyle]

When I rode the streetcar to school back in September of 1946, from the 300 block NW 13 to Classen at 1901 N Ellison, I boarded the car at NW 13 and Robinson Place (the short street in the lower right corner of the photo). I rode south on RobPlace to Broadway Circle, where the rails took a left turn back to Broadway. Coming home the car went north on Brodway to NW 13, then left on NW 13 for one block to the point where I boarded it in the morning.

In the morning, it was the Belle Isle car; the afternoon trip was on the Culbertson car. The operator would change the placard at the point where I boarded. The full route was down Broadway to Main, west on Main to Olie (now called Classen Blvd), thence north on Olie to NW 16 where the street became Classen Blvd, on one more block to the 17th street station, and that's where I got off and walked the two blocks to the school. The rails continued north to the Belle Isle power plant, where they looped back and the placards changed again.

Those rides continued until December, when we moved to NW 20 and May and I didn't ride the streetcar any more.

[Pete]

Mercedes dealership closes in Automobile Alley, property future uncertain

Last week, one of only two remaining downtown car dealerships relocated to a new site near Edmond, leaving Volvo to carry on the Automobile Alley heritage; and that operation will soon move as well.

The Bob Howard Auto Group, which owns the Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma City franchise, had previously announced plans to shift to a brand new location at 14240 Broadway Extension in far north Oklahoma City. Citing the need for more space and the desire to be closer its largest core of customer, the move was completed several days ago.

Now, the sprawling facilities and holding lots sit empty in the Auto Alley / Midtown area while plans are underway to move the adjoining Volvo operation – also owned by Bob Howard -- to a location directly next to the new Mercedes facility.

OKCTalk has learned that after Volkswagen of Edmond (to be renamed Allen Samuels VW) relocates to a new complex currently under construction at Memorial and Santa Fe, that that property will be remodeled for Volvo and the last of the Auto Alley dealerships will be gone.

What is to become of these massive buildings and the many adjoining surface lots just as the new streetcar is set to start rolling by later this year?

That remains a mystery as Howard's Midtown Renaissance group owns all the real estate along with a slew of other nearby properties, including many vacant lots as well as new and redeveloped buildings such as the Buick and Pontiac buildings at 10th and Broadway, the Plaza Court complex, the Ambassador Hotel, the building that is home to Fassler Hall and Dust Bowl, and several smaller apartment and commercial properties.

Just two weeks ago the company announced plans for a 4-story office building, The Monarch, in the heart of Midtown.

For more on the Mercedes relocation, see this story by our news partner KFOR-TV.

[warreng88]

Former car dealership building could gain some height

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record June 7, 2018

OKLAHOMA CITY – Bob Howard could soon bring some height to N. Broadway Avenue.

Howard said the former Mercedes-Benz dealership building at NW 12th Street and N. Broadway Avenue was built with the long-term idea to add floors to it. He’s having engineers look at the possibilities.

The existing main floor could also be expanded to go over the service department, which has openings for oil changes. That would bring the first floor’s size to 54,000 square feet.

“I’m not a seller of properties,” he said. “I like to repurpose them and do something that’s good for the city.”

He said multiple uses are being considered for the empty building, which has a surrounding 7 acres. He said the most likely use is office space, though the showroom is being considered for a restaurant.

“I did enjoy having a dealership downtown,” he said. “I enjoyed the atmosphere of Midtown and downtown. But we were landlocked.”

Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma City moved to 14240 N. Broadway Extension in late April. It has about 11 acres of land, which offers more space to display the vehicles.

Howard said the move was also prompted by Mercedes-Benz. The company had noticed a change in demographics.

“The bottom line is that’s where people live,” he said.

Operations assistant Kim Malone said a company came in on April 27, packed up the merchandise, and moved it north. The dealership opened April 30.

This puts the dealership next to several high-end automotive dealers. Mercedes-Benz now sits northeast of Jackie Cooper BMW, north of Bob Moore Maserati, and east of Eskridge Lexus. The new location makes comparison shopping easier, Malone said, where in the past a customer might head north and not come back to downtown.

The location off the John Kilpatrick Turnpike also makes it easier to access than coming downtown, Howard said.

Malone said she’s been surprised by all the traffic on Broadway Extension. It’s always busy, which gives the dealership more exposure.

“The exposure is 100 times what we had before,” she said. “It’s quite phenomenal.”

The new building comes with several perks, including hail tents to protect the vehicles. All the departments are under one roof. In downtown, they were in different buildings. There are double the number of technicians, ready to service the anticipated increase in vehicles.

For the customers, there’s a workout facility that includes Peloton-brand stationary bicycles, Precor fitness equipment, and free weights. There’s also a lounge area and spacious boutique space.

Howard said the foot traffic has increased since the move.

“That’s obviously something you look for,” he said. “So far, so good.”

[Pete]

^

They could have built structured parking for car storage but chose not to. It's common in other cities, even in suburban settings.

It's a big expense but they also had millions in inventory sitting out in the Oklahoma weather all day, every day.

[catch22]

It’s a big property. Would be perfect for a grocery store.... right on the streetcar line.

[PhiAlpha]

^

They could have built structured parking for car storage but chose not to. It's common in other cities, even in suburban settings.

It's a big expense but they also had millions in inventory sitting out in the Oklahoma weather all day, every day.

They used to put a bunch of them on the upper levels of the garage across from the Marion.

[rte66man]

It’s a big property. Would be perfect for a grocery store.... right on the streetcar line.

+++1

[Dustin]

It’s a big property. Would be perfect for a grocery store.... right on the streetcar line.

Omg yes.

[Anonymous.]

I haven't been down 10th in the dark in a while until last night.

How in the hell did this ever get approved, this billboard is atrociously bright and random. Directly across from Sidecar. I would be pissed if I was the owner of Sidecar. The thing hurt to look at and was shining all the way up to Broadway Ave. and back to Oklahoma Ave.

[5alive]

This is nothing more than putting up a giant 12x18 light! (or whatever the dimensions)

[HangryHippo]

I've noticed that too. That damn billboard is an outrage and ought to be dimmed or flat out turned off at night.

[Pete]

It's the OKC Community Foundation.