Wheeler District

[_Cramer_]

They will be starting on the first phase very soon.

Plans or rendering photos?

[Bellaboo]

Plans or rendering photos?

At the top of the page.

[krisb]

They will be starting on the first phase very soon.

From the Wheeler District's Twitter account on February 24: "we're making progress! We hope to break ground on housing next year. We're excited to get started!"

[_Cramer_]

At the top of the page.

Let me rephrase, UPDATED plans or rendering photos?

[Bellaboo]

Let me rephrase, UPDATED plans or rendering photos?

No idea when those will come forth.

[OkieRedRaider]

Looks like most of the development is in the flood plain. Any idea how they will address that or will it just require flood insurance for anyone who buys in the development?

[Canoe]

Looks like most of the development is in the flood plain. Any idea how they will address that or will it just require flood insurance for anyone who buys in the development?

I think they plan on using fill dirt. I am not sure if it will be enough to change the flood determination. There are methods to change the official flood map. It just takes time and money.

[Paseofreak]

Refer to this page for terminology: http://www.clackamas.us/planning/flood_terms.html

Most of the area is in the flood way fringe. In the fringe, they can use fill material (or other methods) to raise the finished floor elevation of regulated structures above the base flood elevation.

No changes to flood map necessary.

[KayneMo]

Looking at a contour map, Wheeler District is definitely within the floodplain, as well as a large area of OKC is. The floodplain ranges from about 1 mile to 2 miles wide.

[Paseofreak]

Look at the Flood Insurance Rate Map, where the flood way (where flood waters are conveyed) and the flood way fringe (where water backs up) are defined. The flood way is relatively narrow. The fringe is what makes the floodplain so wide. You can build within the flood way fringe.

[Soonerinfiniti]

While I am sure they will eventually make a lot of money on this development, it is crazy to think they bought this land for over $7 million, ten years ago. Assuming they had a mortgage on it, they have probably paid over a million dollars just in interest over that time period. That is patience....

[AP]

I don't see them starting on housing next year.

They were a year late on a Ferris wheel.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
Housing/development is where their experience lies; Ferris wheels are not. Not to mention much of the housing will be constructed by other builders. If they can get streets/utilities done this summer housing starts will follow immediately.

By the way, there are a number of moving parts associated with the Ferris wheel plaza. It's not simply plopping a wheel out there. They have had to plan the plaza in such a way that it is immediately more than just a wheel out in a field, while at the same time planning for the wheel and plaza to thoughtfully integrate with permanent commercial and residential that will closely surround it in the future. They don't want to throw the wheel up and at a later date have to move/re-orient. Meaning LOTS of planning beyond what might seem at first glance to be a simple task.

[AP]

I'd love to be wrong and hope I am. As I've said in the past, my fiance and I have talked extensively about moving to WD when it gets underway.

[Teo9969]

^^^^^^
Housing/development is where their experience lies; Ferris wheels are not. Not to mention much of the housing will be constructed by other builders. If they can get streets/utilities done this summer housing starts will follow immediately.

By the way, there are a number of moving parts associated with the Ferris wheel plaza. It's not simply plopping a wheel out there. They have had to plan the plaza in such a way that it is immediately more than just a wheel out in a field, while at the same time planning for the wheel and plaza to thoughtfully integrate with permanent commercial and residential that will closely surround it in the future. They don't want to throw the wheel up and at a later date have to move/re-orient. Meaning LOTS of planning beyond what might seem at first glance to be a simple task.

This has always been my concern with putting the Ferris Wheel in first. The neighborhood is far more important than the Ferris Wheel + its immediate surroundings. So hopefully the planning has given them the ability to have maximum flexibility when it comes time to start developing the actual neighborhood.

[Teo9969]

While I am sure they will eventually make a lot of money on this development, it is crazy to think they bought this land for over $7 million, ten years ago. Assuming they had a mortgage on it, they have probably paid over a million dollars just in interest over that time period. That is patience....

I doubt they had a mortgage on the property. The question is also what is that property worth today. Not as much as downtown land, but I guarantee you more than they paid for it.

[Urbanized]

This has always been my concern with putting the Ferris Wheel in first. The neighborhood is far more important than the Ferris Wheel + its immediate surroundings. So hopefully the planning has given them the ability to have maximum flexibility when it comes time to start developing the actual neighborhood.

I participated in some of their planning exercises last year, specific to the wheel and surrounding plaza. They are VERY far along in the land use planning (and even some building design) for the area immediately adjacent to and surrounding the wheel. Though it might not seem this way from the outside looking in, this is NOT a case of installing the wheel and then planning/building around it, but rather thoughtfully integrating the wheel into an already-planned environment that uses the wheel as a centerpiece. Hope that makes sense.

[David]

New article from Steve about this: OKC Central: Wheeler District is prepared for take off | Oklahoman.com. Sounds like there should be some new information coming soon (or might be available now for someone who knows where to find the PUD applications).

The first hint at how the overall project will proceed is included in a newly filed Planned Unit Development application filed with the city that will be presented to the River Design Committee on April 7 and to the Oklahoma City Planning Commission on April 28.

[LakeEffect]

Pud 1611

[Pete]

I have the full application and I will post the link in a bit. It's huge.

Actually met with Blair this morning and will provide more details soon.

[Pete]

Wheeler has now submitted their full Planned Unit Development application to the planning department.

I have the full application but it's 13MB so I've attempted to summarize the most interesting parts below.

In the first image below you can see the outlined 15-acre Phase which will consist of streets (none currently exist) about 150 apartments (the c-shaped buildings) and then 50 single family lots, a renovated terminal building (future community center) and a 3-story office building.

Wherein most suburban homes fit 4 dwellings per acre, this will about double double that. Approximately 35 homes will be 90' x 36' lots; the remaining 15 or so will be on 65' x 30' lots. Even in the case of the very small lots, there will be no shared walls.

After soundly beating me in ping-pong in his offices, Blair Humphreys told me their strategy is to partner with a homebuilder in this first phase to make sure the homes interact property with the street and other elements. After they get this right, they may just sell lots to homebuilders, although established standards will need to be strictly followed. They hope to develop the office building themselves and are seeking developers for the apartment component.

Homes would range in $250,000 to $350,000; apartment rents TBD.

[Note: Blair is a ringer in ping-pong! I'm pretty decent and he beat me 21-10 and I don't think I saw his full game.]

[David]

I like it, though my inner pedantic is slightly upset by the fact that the plan appears to consist of two quarters and a district.

[AP]

I'm very glad to see these will be affordable.

[HangryHippo]

I have such high hopes for this development. I hope it lives up to its potential.

[Canoe]

What I am most interested in is the interaction with the other neighborhoods. It will be an interesting social experiment.