This thought has crossed my mind recently since OKC is in the beginning stages of a skyscraper boom. Considering that OKC is one of the VERY FEW cities constructing skyscrapers,and with more to come in the near future, it seems as though the sky is the limit for our downtown. Any thoughts?

Short answer - no. OKC would have to construct 50 skyscrapers just to break into the top 10 - in the US.

Houston probably could... I don't think any of us want to be anything like Dubai. I would like cities to compare themselves to OKC, and be like can we be as unique and have the quality of life that OKC has? There is so much to do and the people are so friendly!

with a metro of only 1.3 million, having a few new skyscrapers on the way is very rare...are we biting off more than we can chew?

It wasn't all that long ago that Dubai was much smaller than OKC. It went from a small town to a huge city within a decade. With all the momentum we have and the future looking really bright, plus OKC becoming more popular by the day, it doesn't seem too far-fetched IMO.

This is a pretty ridiculous thread..

I certainly don't want to dampen the enthusiasm some have for OKC, but lets come down to earth for a moment.

OKC is definitely on a roll, but there are many people at the state capitol that would much rather us be Mississippi on the plains than anything in the Persian gulf.

In fact, OKC's biggest challenge in the future IMO will be maintaining and increasing growth in spite of the shennanigans at 23rd and Lincoln.

The Charlotte/Indy/Columbus comparisons are far more accurate for OKC. All of those are polished and well respected mid sized cities.

FWIW Dubai's growth spurt in the 2000's was largely fueled by an outrageous amount of speculation and debt, and the city-state has slowed down a lot. Definitely do not want that for OKC.

I had a friend stay in Dubai last week. Said its a cool play to visit, but the whole place is ass backwards in terms of buildings and infrastructure. All the Princes are building all these huge buildings with their money, yet 70-80% (figure from a local) of the buildings are unoccupied shells. Doesn't sound very sustainable.

I hope we get one of those open-year-round enclosed ski slopes.
Off to the side, they could have an indoor climbing wall built to look like the Matterhorn for people who are worried about skiing injuries.

Instead of making it look like the expected--and passé--Giant Dome, it could be built to look like a thousand-foot tall version of the buildings going in over there on Western just north of Classen Curve. If they put two of these side by side they could be connected with a series of enclosed pedestrian bridges at various levels.

I hope we get one of those open-year-round enclosed ski slopes.

I could go for that. MAPS IV?

http://www.mountainyahoos.com/SkiResorts/Dubai/SkiDubai-AftView_520.jpg

http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/H/E/ski_dubai5_sm.jpg

I'm curious if The Princes who put up the money for that project ever considered how many trips they could have made to actual Switzerland for skiing--and to check their secret bank balances--instead of creating that Wonder of The Modern World . . .

Oh. Wait: It was a "Public Works Project" just to show it could be done.

(Yet . . . How could the interior designers have left out some sort of model railroad replete with tasteful train whistles around The Sonny Bono tree?)

i don't think we want to be like dubai...

what happens when you flush a toilet in the world's tallest building (http://boingboing.net/2011/11/08/what-happens-when-you-flush-a-toilet-in-the-worlds-tallest-building.html)

-M

This thought has crossed my mind recently since OKC is in the beginning stages of a skyscraper boom. Considering that OKC is one of the VERY FEW cities constructing skyscrapers,and with more to come in the near future, it seems as though the sky is the limit for our downtown. Any thoughts?

Did you really just post this? Wow.

(RE: Post 12, link opened, story, "like" (to quote Terri Gross), read) . . .

Since Dubai and OKC have "water concerns" in common, I'm thinkin' each of those trucks could make the rounds to make sure the lawn grass in the Urban Core (and grandfathered in suburbs) stays green.

In addition to being hideous, the Burj Khalifa is mostly empty. They have only sold about 100 of the 900 apartments in it.

I don't think anyone's going to be buying a place where one has to wonder whether their poop will get picked up or not.

The more I find out about Dubai the more I think it is not a real city, but merely a creation of some egomanic oil rich princes and idiot Wall Street types that were waaaaay too eager to lend them money.

Or, perhaps there is a less sinister explanation:
Perhaps Dubai is simply a George Soros Disneyworld created by minor contributions from The Vig.

Am I responding to the OP? Ohhhhhhh, yes I am...NO

Just curious, what new buildings have they mentioned and his tall will they be. I was just thinkin that we need more buildings between 600-750 feet to help bridge the gap between the Chase building (500) and Devon (850). Thanks y'all!

Just curious, what new buildings have they mentioned and his tall will they be. I was just thinkin that we need more buildings between 600-750 feet to help bridge the gap between the Chase building (500) and Devon (850). Thanks y'all!

None have been officially announced

This post was made in the middle of a point where many of us on this forum got caught up in thinking about 2 to 4 new skyscrapers would be announced soon (1 - 3 years). Now most of us are just hoping for 1 or 2 to be announced in the near future (1 to 5 years).

Regarding that indoor ski area, we could technically have an actual ski area. Pick one of the two Trash Mountains (over by I-35 & I-240 or the one south of I-40 on Rockwell) and you could totally landscape them into a ski area. One side for a ski lift, one side for a bunny run, one side for a wide green run, and the last side for a blue run. Unfortunately, we haven't created enough trash to build a black run with moguls, lol.

UUmmm No..

None have been officially announced

This post was made in the middle of a point where many of us on this forum got caught up in thinking about 2 to 4 new skyscrapers would be announced soon (1 - 3 years). Now most of us are just hoping for 1 or 2 to be announced in the near future (1 to 5 years).

This, unfortunately. The OPUBCO deal last week took a lot off the table.

Regarding that indoor ski area, we could technically have an actual ski area. Pick one of the two Trash Mountains (over by I-35 & I-240 or the one south of I-40 on Rockwell) and you could totally landscape them into a ski area. One side for a ski lift, one side for a bunny run, one side for a wide green run, and the last side for a blue run. Unfortunately, we haven't created enough trash to build a black run with moguls, lol.

I have driven by those and thought the same thing. Some of the ski hills in the Mid Atlantic aren't much taller...