BOK Park Plaza

[Pete]

499 W. Sheridan
status=Under Construction
owner=Hines Development
architect=Pickard Chilton
start=2015
finish=2017
height=433 ft. / 27 floors
sq. feet=692,716
acreage=2.7
Information & Latest News

Links

County Assessor Record
Gallery

[OkieNate]

Top seems to have a crown hopefully they will have L.E.Ds. Like the inlets of Devon!

[_Kyle]

Top seems to have a crown hopefully they will have L.E.Ds. Like the inlets of Devon!

I Hope so too

[tpg4635]

Have they said if the garages have the possibility for either expansion of the garage, or better, a building on top of the structure?

[Pete]

Have they said if the garages have the possibility for either expansion of the garage, or better, a building on top of the structure?

There is nothing to indicate the garages would be expandable.

In fact, in the John Pickard interview he said that the 9 story garages are as about as tall as you can make them and still be practical, otherwise you are 'driving to heaven".

[Stickman]

True! no fun parking on the top floor. Some comments have said go down, but OKLAHOMA..........the land of clay and high water tables.

[Snowman]

There is nothing to indicate the garages would be expandable.

In fact, in the John Pickard interview he said that the 9 story garages are as about as tall as you can make them and still be practical, otherwise you are 'driving to heaven".

That interview frustrates me more than the building itself, from it he makes it sound like three sides will be largely fronted by retail and be porous entrances for urban design. At least call a spade a spade, only two of the sides have even close to half the frontage being retail and even those are broken up by the grand (overly wide) pedestrian entrance/lobby out to the garden on one side and the garage entry/exit on the other. This building does not respect urban design as was tried to be indicated, not sure if it was a slip but he mentions something like paying tribute to Devon tower is the first priority (which I believe) , it also looks like the second priority is giving a good view of the gardens is the second (which ironically also should give it horrible glare/lighting in the mornings)

[Pete]

BTW, you can see the skybridges are going to look like the existing one that connects Devon's garden wing to the auditorium:

[Pete]

Looks like the plan is to have some basic lighting in the crown:

The tower will include a lighting strategy at the top two bays of the crown curtain wall module (approximately 28’) to highlight the presence of the tower during evening and early morning hours. The lighting is designed to have two levels of brightness. The brightest light will occur within the 1 foot 4 inch space between the primary vertical expression and the secondary vertical accent tube, creating slots of light that run the perimeter of the taller volume of the crown. A more subtle light will be cast from the remainder of the wall in the 28’-0” lighting zone. The lighting strategy will further enhance the experience of the nighttime skyline.

[s00nr1]

This area quickly becoming akin to Rosslyn in DC.

[Pete]

Regarding the garages, one way to deal with the number of levels is to put a good number below ground.

That way you enter and exit in the middle and can either go up or down.

Interestingly, there is zero below-grade parking in this project.

[metro]

Regarding the garages, one way to deal with the number of levels is to put a good number below ground.

That way you enter and exit in the middle and can either go up or down.

Interestingly, there is zero below-grade parking in this project.

Agree, was really hoping to see underground parking for this project.

[betts]

It looks like a box. Bleh.

[hoya]

I don't mind the box. The parking garages will be ugly though.

It would be fairly easy to make this project into a total home run.

1) Eliminate the angle of the building so that you can keep the Hotel Black.
2) Take out the back half of the Motor Hotel and incorporate it into the new building. Sort of like the Braniff building. Kinda. Convert the original half to luxury housing with ground level retail.
3) On Main Street, recreate the original storefronts for your retail space. They're going to have to tear down those buildings to put in their parking garage, but there's no reason they can't make the corner of Main and Hudson look like the Carpenter Square Theater again. Much better than the sides of the Devon garage that currently lines Hudson.
4) Build the garages study enough so that in the future a few levels of housing can be placed on top. People don't want to drive up 9 levels to park, but that doesn't mean you can't put 4 or 5 levels of nice expensive apartments with a view of the Myriad Gardens on top. Don't even have to do it now. Just build it so you can do it later.
5) Incorporate some of your west parking garage into the base of your tower. This raises the tower up another 5 levels or so, so most of the offices will still have a great view of the park. That takes care of any lost parking spaces as a result of keeping the Hotel Black and the front of the Motor Hotel. The building will also be like 50 feet taller so that soondoc will shut the hell up.
6) Make the ground floor design of the garage on Sheridan look similar to the old bus station.
7) Make a space on Sheridan for the Lunch Box to come back.

If they did half of those things, it would go a long way towards making people happy. If they did all of them, people would be ecstatic. And some of them should actually be really easy and not that expensive.

Edit: These changes would also be something that would be worth allocating TIF funding to get.

[Bellaboo]

I don't mind the box. The parking garages will be ugly though.

It would be fairly easy to make this project into a total home run.

1) Eliminate the angle of the building so that you can keep the Hotel Black.
2) Take out the back half of the Motor Hotel and incorporate it into the new building. Sort of like the Braniff building. Kinda. Convert the original half to luxury housing with ground level retail.
3) On Main Street, recreate the original storefronts for your retail space. They're going to have to tear down those buildings to put in their parking garage, but there's no reason they can't make the corner of Main and Hudson look like the Carpenter Square Theater again. Much better than the sides of the Devon garage that currently lines Hudson.
4) Build the garages study enough so that in the future a few levels of housing can be placed on top. People don't want to drive up 9 levels to park, but that doesn't mean you can't put 4 or 5 levels of nice expensive apartments with a view of the Myriad Gardens on top. Don't even have to do it now. Just build it so you can do it later.
5) Incorporate some of your west parking garage into the base of your tower. This raises the tower up another 5 levels or so, so most of the offices will still have a great view of the park. That takes care of any lost parking spaces as a result of keeping the Hotel Black and the front of the Motor Hotel. The building will also be like 50 feet taller so that soondoc will shut the hell up.
6) Make the ground floor design of the garage on Sheridan look similar to the old bus station.
7) Make a space on Sheridan for the Lunch Box to come back.

If they did half of those things, it would go a long way towards making people happy. If they did all of them, people would be ecstatic. And some of them should actually be really easy and not that expensive.

Edit: These changes would also be something that would be worth allocating TIF funding to get.

Quote of the day. Maybe it won't be a mid rise now.....

[soondoc]

I don't mind the box. The parking garages will be ugly though.

It would be fairly easy to make this project into a total home run.

1) Eliminate the angle of the building so that you can keep the Hotel Black.
2) Take out the back half of the Motor Hotel and incorporate it into the new building. Sort of like the Braniff building. Kinda. Convert the original half to luxury housing with ground level retail.
3) On Main Street, recreate the original storefronts for your retail space. They're going to have to tear down those buildings to put in their parking garage, but there's no reason they can't make the corner of Main and Hudson look like the Carpenter Square Theater again. Much better than the sides of the Devon garage that currently lines Hudson.
4) Build the garages study enough so that in the future a few levels of housing can be placed on top. People don't want to drive up 9 levels to park, but that doesn't mean you can't put 4 or 5 levels of nice expensive apartments with a view of the Myriad Gardens on top. Don't even have to do it now. Just build it so you can do it later.
5) Incorporate some of your west parking garage into the base of your tower. This raises the tower up another 5 levels or so, so most of the offices will still have a great view of the park. That takes care of any lost parking spaces as a result of keeping the Hotel Black and the front of the Motor Hotel. The building will also be like 50 feet taller so that soondoc will shut the hell up.
6) Make the ground floor design of the garage on Sheridan look similar to the old bus station.
7) Make a space on Sheridan for the Lunch Box to come back.

If they did half of those things, it would go a long way towards making people happy. If they did all of them, people would be ecstatic. And some of them should actually be really easy and not that expensive.

Edit: These changes would also be something that would be worth allocating TIF funding to get.

I actually agree with what you said except the extra feet, it needs to be 100 to 150. Just kidding, I would take the extra fifty if it takes it up to at least the height of what the title of the thread is 499. I really do think it would look great if they did tweak a few things and did as you mentioned and did some cool things to make it a win- win for all. I also think a 550- 600 foot tower would look amazing next to the Devon and that BOK at the top of the crown would sure look great on TV during those Thunder games. wink, wink!

[macfoucin]

Picture #2 above makes 499 look pretty small in comparison to Devon. The building doesn't look that impressive. Need to add some height or it will be hidden from several angles.

[CuatrodeMayo]

The retail spaces in the garages were clearly an afterthought. At 20' deep, they are barely large enough for pop-up shops.

[Pete]

The retail spaces in the garages were clearly an afterthought. At 20' deep, they are barely large enough for pop-up shops.

I'm sure most that space will be fitted with the fake window boxes ala the Devon garage along Hudson.

To my knowledge, they haven't made any real effort to find tenants for that Devon space; it's not listed anywhere as available.

[CaptDave]

The retail spaces in the garages were clearly an afterthought. At 20' deep, they are barely large enough for pop-up shops.

That was my thought also - set up to fail from the beginning. I don't think a 7-11 could even work in those spaces. I'm not sure they can be viable and will not be anything but a void along those sidewalks for a long time.

Overall it isn't terrible, but incorporating some of hoyasooner's suggestions would improve it quite a bit. The height discussion sometimes gets silly, but it is undeniable the skyline could use some balancing. None of the buildings proposed in the area does this. It is almost like there is an unwritten rule in OKC that no one is allowed to build anything that diminishes Devon's dominance. *sarc*

[sgt. pepper]

WOW....a short glass box, how original and exciting!! An Architectural gem for sure, something to be proud to have.

[lasomeday]

It's bland and destroys so much of our city for parking and a glass box. How disappointing!

[bchris02]

Once again, this isn't terrible it just isn't special. Most cities have a building or two that looks like this in their downtowns. Major cities like Dallas and Houston have plenty of these structures in their suburban areas. I would like this a lot better if it were ten floors higher so it would actually make an impact on the skyline. It is tall enough to be noticeable as is but it will be hidden from many angles.

[Urbanized]

Shhh...he hasn't found this thread yet. Supports my theory that he's actually a bot.

[jccouger]

I hate to be that guy, but I feel like all the guys trumpeting the "urban design" horn are ignoring the white elephant in the room.

Some of you may not remember but OKC experienced the worst terrorist attack in American history (at the time) with the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. I think from that time on, OKC has no choice but to build "away" from the street in at least some capacity with major projects. Safety has to be first, & I know for a fact this played a giant part in the designs of the Devon tower. Since the company who is designing this building, and the same company who will be occupying this building, are the ones who also were behind the Devon tower you have to expect similar design standards. I'll sacrifice a little street activity for an increase in security.