Alley's End (4th & EK Gaylord)

[baralheia]

Yes, I've been there. The building and decor is great, the food is WAY overpriced. I personally don't care for all the fufu junk, I just need some nice natural ingredients & I think Uptown Grocery has some of the worst I've ever seen TBH. When it comes down to it, I got grocery shopping for the groceries & not to be in a cool building. The delis are pretty neat though, but do we not have enough restaurants downtown? lol

I don't even shop at Wal Mart but the hate they receive is steeped way more in irrational emotion than it is fact. Their groceries are pretty damn good.

That depends highly on the individual store. The full-service Walmart and the Walmart Neighborhood Market nearest my house on the south side both consistently have terrible produce. I still tend to shop there because there aren't any other real options nearby - though I'm at the point where if I need any fresh fruit or vegetables, I'll drive out of my way to go to Crest or Sprouts. The new Walmart on I-44 has much better produce than the closer Walmarts, but it's also even further out of my way than Crest or Sprouts.

[jedicurt]

so.... 4th and EK Gaylord... i'm really looking forward to some hopefully new proposals, and both of them were kind of meh before... and it was a matter of just picking the better of meh options.

[Martin]

i deleted a heated argument over... produce selection. let's get back to topic.

[jedicurt]

i deleted a heated argument over... produce selection. let's get back to topic.

haha.. hey, i was trying to get it back on topic! lol

thank you sir!

[jonny d]

Is it bad to want something like this to come to this area? Maybe not the Ritz, but some kind of upscale hotel and 100's of condo's? Not saying we are the next Portland, but I think something like this, in a key locale like 4th and EK Gaylord, could work, especially if the residential units have some market-rate component.

https://www.bizjournals.com/portland..._news_headline

[jedicurt]

Is it bad to want something like this to come to this area? Maybe not the Ritz, but some kind of upscale hotel and 100's of condo's? Not saying we are the next Portland, but I think something like this, in a key locale like 4th and EK Gaylord, could work, especially if the residential units have some market-rate component.

https://www.bizjournals.com/portland..._news_headline

i would love something like that.. this block screams for height... but i think i have to agree with most that it probably won't happen

[onthestrip]

i would love something like that.. this block screams for height... but i think i have to agree with most that it probably won't happen

I would imagine you are less likely to get more height that Rose Rocks plan when you force new proposals to use the entire large block. It will now be lower and more spread out. I still think a bird in one hand applies here. I dont think its necessary to try to make a whole block proposal happen, unless they in fact do want a grocery store here. Otherwise, take whats in front of you now.

[Pete]

The new RFP with the combined properties is not issued yet...

I found these renderings on the Beck Designs website. I believe they have been around for a while, and this will never, ever happen considering the very large amount of vacant downtown office space, but still fun to look at. 55 stories by my count.

[jonny d]

Why not? Dream big. Haha

[Bullbear]

Thanks for sharing Pete. fun to look at for sure!

[Plutonic Panda]

I like it but but the podium sucks. This would be nice for NWE with the current proposal.

[jccouger]

Why would you do that to us Pete?!

[SagerMichael]

WOW! Scrolling up from bottom to top got my hopes up like crazy! Fun to look at for sure but I’d love for Devon to stay the tallest building in the city. Devon represents a change in OKC. It became the tallest building in the state right in the midst of other transformative times for us (MAPS 3, getting the Thunder, etc). Devon Tower screams “we’re finally a big league city”. It’s our crown jewel.

At least to me.

[Anonymous.]

Yea my heart about stopped. Either of those towers would be a true miracle. But like Pete said, the CBD is full of vacant offices and the only thing that would justify a tower right now would be a massive company relocation from outside of OKC.

[Pete]

Even Devon Tower has a lot of empty floors.

SandRidge Tower is almost completely vacant, BancFirst has tons of space as does BOK Park Plaza. And Enable just left a big hole in Leadership Square; Echo has plenty of space for lease at the Parkside Building.

That's a lot of new and newly renovated space sitting on the market right now.

[bchris02]

^^^ It goes to show how out of sync OKC's economy is with the national economy. This city was booming early in this decade whenever the rest of the country was still in recession. Today, it's quite the opposite situation. I wouldn't say the local economy here is bad but it's definitely more on the stagnant side at the current time.

[Dob Hooligan]

Because I am sports obsessed and old, the first thing that came to mind is---

"The Howard Schellenberger Obelisk".

[Geographer]

This tall erect tower is obviously the corresponding art piece to the nearby OKC-cockring


*sees self out the door*

[Bullbear]

this tall erect tower is obviously the corresponding art piece to the nearby okc-cockring


*sees self out the door*

bravo!!!..

[Pete]

OCURA will re-issue the RFP for the entire parcel (including the land being acquired from Jonathan Russel) on 9/23 and responses will be due in December.

[kukblue1]

Even Devon Tower has a lot of empty floors.

SandRidge Tower is almost completely vacant, BancFirst has tons of space as does BOK Park Plaza. And Enable just left a big hole in Leadership Square; Echo has plenty of space for lease at the Parkside Building.

That's a lot of new and newly renovated space sitting on the market right now.

So build it they they will come isn't happening downtown like they thought?

[Pete]

So build it they they will come isn't happening downtown like they thought?

The big oil companies have downsized pretty drastically and that's the biggest part of it, along with BOK Park Plaza coming online.

[jonny d]

Amazon seems to be handing out 1,000's of jobs to cities all the time (see Nashville or Portland, for example). I am still not sure why this city and state think only O&G companies need downtown office space. Why don't they target big banks or tech companies? Just mind-boggling.

[Pete]

Tech companies are drawn to centers of education and many are start-ups that come from high-level colleges.

Until we invest in education we are always going to lag in tech.

[onthestrip]

OCURA will re-issue the RFP for the entire parcel (including the land being acquired from Jonathan Russel) on 9/23 and responses will be due in December.

So OCURA is buying Russel parcel? Any idea what they are paying?