Downtown Living Tour (http://www.downtownokc.com/downtownlivingtour.aspx)

From the article:

Thinking about taking the leap to urban living? Whether you're looking to rent, buy, or you're just curious, the Downtown Living Tour will offer you a glimpse of what it's like to live in the heart of the city. Join us on Sept. 30 from noon - 4 p.m. to check out new, popular, high-end properties in the downtown area. Tours will leave by shuttle every 30 minutes, starting at noon, with the last shuttle departing at 3:30.

Interestingly, they include Native Roots on the itinerary. So, will people be touring the inside of this not-yet-finished grocery, or just staring at it from the outside?

Anyway, nice list of properties included.
Sunday, September 30

Oh well... just looked at the sign up page -- they're already filled up!

Sorry - I know there is no other way to do it but an urban living tour via shuttle bus just seems wrong. Anyhow, the fact that the tour is booked solid and from my understading most places on the tour don't have any vacancies, should give developers an idea of how high the demand is for downtown housing. With transportation cost being higher than actual housing cost for many suburbanites, living is are that doesn't require a car is very appealing. I did the math for my personal situtation and I could live in downtown OKC just on the money I save by living downtown. Think about that for a minute.

Oh well... just looked at the sign up page -- they're already filled up!

Are you sure? I just signed up with 12:00, 3:00, and 3:30 being my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time slot preferences. Didn't see anything about them being filled up.

Are you sure? I just signed up with 12:00, 3:00, and 3:30 being my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time slot preferences. Didn't see anything about them being filled up.

At the very top of the page it has a disclaimer that all slots are full. But it invites you to sign up anyway in case they add tours.

At the very top of the page it has a disclaimer that all slots are full. But it invites you to sign up anyway in case they add tours.

Got it, thanks.

Did anyone go on this tour? And if so, anything interesting to report?

My roommate went. The one piece of info he passed along was that Level has finally found a restaurant tenant, or are very close to finalizing a deal with someone. Wouldn't provide any more specifics however.

I haven't heard this elsewhere, so I am hoping it is legit.

Sid - what percentage of people on the urban housing tour would you say are currently urban dwellers vs people looking to make a lifestyle change?

My roommate went. The one piece of info he passed along was that Level has finally found a restaurant tenant, or are very close to finalizing a deal with someone. Wouldn't provide any more specifics however.

I haven't heard this elsewhere, so I am hoping it is legit.

Very interesting!

I'll see what I can find out.

I think that's true. I heard there were two serious applicants for the spot, because I know someone who has a restaurant and was interested in the space and was told "no thanks". It's a restaurant that I think a lot of people would like to have as a tenant and so the disinterest made me think that the restaurant space was pretty much locked up. I was told "bar and grill".

I went and enjoyed it immensely. I finally got to see some of the great renovations/restorations I had read about and only seen in photos. My favorite was the street level apartment at the Sieber, followed by 711 Walker and of course the City Place penthouse. I was impressed by Hadden Hall and 1212 Walker also. Now I am not sure where I would prefer to move to - Deep Deuce or Midtown.

In my group, it was a fairly even split between soon to be empty nest surburbanites looking to simplify their lives and a few 20 somethings. There were several that were just curious about what is available downtown. I will do it again next year for sure.

Ah, how do I answer that question. Lol!

Lets just say there were a few urban dwellers and I was a little surprised at how suburban their tastes were. It just confirms what people keep telling me, it is still going to take time in OKC for the urban class to become the majority in any district in OKC.

To me, this is precisely why The Hill has been so successful. When you walk in, these townhouses feel like a regular suburban house. If it gets people downtown who might feel uncomfortable with something more urban, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's not for me, but clearly my house isn't for everyone.

Downtown OKC, Inc has posted a bunch of nice photos of the tour to their facebook page.

Here are some of the best ones.

back patio of Hadden Hall
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/420514_448559255182461_929931075_n.jpg


courtyard at LEVEL
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/r270%2F398328_448559268515793_887831822_n.jpg

bedroom at Sieber
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/254582_448559285182458_1702833655_n.jpg

hallway at Sieber
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/198638_448559305182456_885221254_n.jpg

inside show home at City Place
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/523104_448560475182339_243328819_n.jpg

City Place, northwest view
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/67123_448560495182337_1185082949_n.jpg

1212
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/485745_448560481849005_893508318_n.jpg

source: 2012 Downtown Living Home Tour | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.448559088515811.99433.138937816144608)

I went on the tour as well and had a blast. The one that I was most impressed with, outside of City Place, was the Sieber Hotel. Level wasnt all that impressive to me; the appliances and materials on the inside of the unit did seem to be of cheaper quality like others on here have said. 1212 and Hadden Hall were really nice as well, too bad every unit is leased out. This tour definitely makes me want to live downtown.

Did the City Place condo have access to the slide? That would be a make-or-break deal for me :)

I forgot to ask about the slide until we had returned to the lobby!! Our guide said it was accessible from the condo.

The slide sounds much more fun in theory than it is in practice.

Yeah - I would probably want to get off after the first 10 floors, but the idea of doing it at least once is appealing. Maybe an OKC Bucket List to check off. :)

what is this slide you guys are talking about? never heard of this

It is the fire escape in the City Place tower - a spiral slide that goes from the top to the ground floor. I have only been in the building once and forgot to ask about it until we were about to leave. I am pretty sure Urbanized or some of the other people can give you a better description than I.

It is also very steep. Jumping on is in itself a leap of faith.

My husband and I were on the last tour of the day. Our last stop was City Place. I did ask about the slide and the building engineer said the slide was one floor down from where we were and that he would never take the ride since the space is only 4ft wide. He promised to show me where the slide came at the bottom when we were done but an interesting thing happened that made us forget about that. We probably had too many people in the elevator and we went about 1/2 a floor too far on the way down. We were stuck for about 15 minutes before the doors were opened from the outside and we got to climb out of the elevator. Luckily, we did have the engineer on the inside and he had his phone and knew how to get us out safely. Also, everyone on the elevator was pretty cool so no one really freaked out or anything. So our tour ended there and we did not get to see the new apartment on Hudson. Definitely a very interesting tour that I will never forget.