View Full Version : Thoughts from my August 2013 trip



Pete
08-20-2013, 07:07 PM
Back in California after 8 whirlwind days and thought I'd share some thoughts.


It always amazes me that no matter how much I know or how many photos and videos I see, there are always several things about being back in OKC that surprise me once I see them in person.

I had two such experiences, both positive....

1. Midtown is on the verge of greatness. Moving east from St. Anthony, past Plaza Court and the defacto 'downtown' of this area (Osler, TwelveTwelve, Four30, The Edge, etc.) and along 10th street, it struck me how the new Fassler Hall / Dust Bowl development and the proposed large MidtwonR residential project – straddling Hudson – will effectively knit together all the existing projects with Hadden Hall, The Packard, Guardian, Marion, 1101 N Broadway and all of Auto Alley. That will be a huge difference maker and in my estimation be a tipping point in terms of critical mass. Very, very exciting to think about this and it's going to happen soon.
2. Walking up and over the Walnut Bridge from Bricktown into Deep Deuce was just stunning. All the fantastic stuff in DD ahead, great skyline vista as you look west, the emerging Bricktown skyline to the southeast and all of Bricktown to the south and southwest. Aloft will add so much to this area and will in many ways provide linkage between DD/BT.

And things just got better from there.

It helped the weather was absolutely amazing and I had a incredible class reunion that I hosted at the top of Devon tower over the weekend. And that we had a great little mid-week OKCTalk get-together on Film Row.

But in general, it was all I could do to try and get around and see the progress made since I visited last summer. Had great meals at new kids Back Door BBQ, Waffle Champion and Whiskey Cake. Enjoyed a beautiful afternoon with pizza and beer at The Wedge DD, made three separate trips to Skinny Slim's and enjoyed each one, and was very impressed with WSKY, smoke and all. Made a mis-guided trip to the Plaza District on Sunday only to find everything closed in the afternoon but was still impressed with the progress.

I was also impressed with the relatively final product at SandRidge Commons. Yes, it's sad all those historic buildings had to go but that aside, the area looks and feels extremely high-end. Once the Braniff & Parkside buildings are full and residents move into the now under-construction Carnegie project, that plaza should gain some much-needed life.

Never could catch Kitchen No. 324 when open and that's a big regret. But what beautiful space!

Didn't eat at Packard's but spent a glorious evening on that amazing rooftop deck with a couple of our posters and truly didn't want to leave. Such a beautiful setting and view, a great, fun crowd and a drop-in visit and very interesting discussion with Steve Mason of 9th Street / Empire Slice House fame.

One of the nights at Skinny's I started to chat with a couple while I waited for friends and it turned out to be Cody, one of the co-owners of The Mule. That same night, I met Matt the proprietor of Native Roots at WSKY (amazing, smart, driven person BTW). A few days earlier I was introduced to Jerod, the WSKY owner as we happened upon him on a stroll.

My class reunion was a raging success at Devon Tower, so much so over 100 of us invaded the Flint patio (What a stunning space and setting! What a beautiful evening!) and closed it down at 2AM. Many were staying at the Colcord, so some of us stayed up all night room-hopping and counted down the time until we could get room service breakfast at 6:30AM. That's a great little hotel.

Almost half my reunion attendees were from outside of OKC, including a former foreign exchange student who came all the way from Sweden and who had not stepped foot in Oklahoma since our senior year in 1978! The praise for downtown was universal, and of course it helped we featured some of the best possible bits.

In all, I spent five of my 7 nights out past 1AM and all at places that simply didn't exist even a year ago. Amazing.


I'll reserve my project-specific comments for those respective threads but did want to say that the overwhelming feeling in talking to scores of developers, politicians, civic leaders and activists is that what we are now experiencing is merely the tip of the iceberg. It was pointed out to me several times – and I had recently made this observation as well: Everything that has been accomplished thus far is through tax dollars and local developers. EVERYTHING. (Okay, maybe some small exceptions like the Marcus involvement in the Skirvin, but such things represent truly a tiny fraction of the investment to date.)

And it's also been accomplished in by far the worst lending market in a lifetime!

The Metropolitan is the first of what may be much more in outside dollars coming in. And there are now so many tried-and-true and full and thriving developments of all sorts (apartments, condos, hotels, retail, office, restaurants, bars, etc.) that not only has that grabbed the attention of out-of-state developers/investors, it makes it much easier to access capital.

I had a brief visit with Steve Lackmeyer and he told me, “This is no longer 2010 OKC. This is 2013 OKC and everything has changed.” Meaning, we haven't even had spec office buildings built yet. That when speaking of a potential anchor office tenant, there are scores of possibilities, not just one or two. That each development seems to lead to several more... Etc., etc.

And I instantly knew what he meant because I was in the commercial real estate business in the early 80's when the sky seemed like the limit. That's a bit of a scary comparison I realize because of what came next but this feels really different. It's certainly less reckless, Chesapeake and perhaps SandRidge notwithstanding.

What is happening now has occurred with the tightest possible financial scrutiny. And it's come from so many sources and so many sharp, inspired locals. It wasn't that long ago it was hard to think of a local developer to be excited about and now the list seems quite long: Rick McKown, Midtown Renaissance, Marva Ellard, Gary Brooks, Steve Mason, etc., etc.

And I know, I know... We still have far too many grassy lots in Midtown, big issues with sprawl, too many urban districts that seem forever on the precipice of being fully realized... And I bet there will be some losers in that derby when the music stops – or at least skips a beat or two.

But Deep Deuce is already there. Midtown will get there, and soon. Auto Alley can tie those two together and be amazing on it's own. And Film Row and the Plaza District already are worth frequenting even though in many ways they are still in their infancy.


Ironically, this and every visit of mine is spent largely in Edmond because I always stay with my best friend in Oak Tree. So, I'm out in the furthest outposts of suburbia and see that area and all the sprawl comprehensively and often.

Yet, it is what it is and I'm not going to rehash the core vs. burbs argument other than to say that we are getting very close to having a central city that is so worthwhile that many of the transgressions of sprawl can be forgiven – or at least largely ignored.

mugofbeer
08-20-2013, 08:11 PM
Great insight! I get back to OKC 4-5 times a year and I love driving around each time to see the changes that have been made. OKC is on the verge of some fabulous mid- and downtown growth. My Dad, in his 90's, is also very excited and tells stories of what it was like growing up in OKC. He frequently laments he won't be around to see many more changes. I've silently learned a lot about the city I grew up in from you, Pete, and I thank you for all the work you do. Hopefully, the desire to be near downtown will start to spread to those "middle city" areas (N 50th, S49th, McArthur and I-35) and we'll see a general regeneration of the city. I took a plane ride over Denver a few years ago and wash shocked to see all of the new roof's in the old parts of the city. Hopefully, we will see this type redevelopment in OKC.

soonerguru
08-20-2013, 08:50 PM
Great post, Pete. It's exciting to see so much positive change in such a short period of time. The fact is, we've had momentum in OKC since the late 1990s, but the pace of change has accelerated dramatically (and not fast enough for many of us!) in the last few years. And, with each passing year, it seems to increase more.

I have a family member in Austin I will be visiting in a couple of weeks and he has told me how much Austin has changed in the three years since I last visited. According to him, there are cranes in the sky everywhere. Not all of this change has been welcomed, but I'm excited to see it and I honestly think it's a glimpse of OKC's near future.

Praedura
08-21-2013, 09:48 AM
Excellent write-up Pete. I really enjoyed reading this.

Incidentally, I'm a little curious. Do you think that you'll always remain an ex-pat, or do you see yourself moving back to Oklahoma permanently at some point in the future?

Pete
08-21-2013, 11:32 AM
Do you think that you'll always remain an ex-pat, or do you see yourself moving back to Oklahoma permanently at some point in the future?

I'm keeping that door open.

Ideally, I'd like to split time between California and OKC but my biggest issue is that I have three large Labradors and I don't want to leave them for any extended period of time and I absolutely hate making that drive. Last time I did it I swore to myself: Never again!

Jim Kyle
08-21-2013, 11:55 AM
I absolutely hate making that drive. Last time I did it I swore to myself: Never again!Try doing it with three youngsters (6, 5, and 2) and a full-grown Weimaraner in the back of a station wagon! I did that twice -- first when coming home for a Christmas visit and then again a couple of months later when I came back for good (in 1962)... And we did the drive straight through, to avoid motel fees; took 31 hours stopping only for gas and food (I10 and I40 did not yet exist in those days).

Incidentally, the progress of downtown is amazing even to those of us who haven't left, but seldom have any need to visit the CBD. I was totally blown away by the improvements to Reno, from May east to Lee, when I drove down to the get-together...

bchris02
08-21-2013, 11:59 AM
I like the drive from California to OKC. It gets very scenic once you get west of Amarillo.

PhiAlpha
08-21-2013, 12:31 PM
I like the drive from California to OKC. It gets very scenic once you get west of Amarillo.

How far west... I seem to remember mainly flat desert most of the way through New Mexico.

soonerguru
08-21-2013, 12:46 PM
How far west... I seem to remember mainly flat desert most of the way through New Mexico.

Say wha?

Pete
08-21-2013, 03:26 PM
I like the drive from California to OKC. It gets very scenic once you get west of Amarillo.

I have an issue with that type of long-term isolation; it's two full days in the car each way and I thought I was going to lose my mind last time.


If the summers were all like the current one, I might just scrap California and move back to Oklahoma permanently. But I had to remind myself that the past week was a trick and I *hate* the hot, humid weather.

OKCisOK4me
08-21-2013, 03:34 PM
I have an issue with that type of long-term isolation; it's two full days in the car each way and I thought I was going to lose my mind last time.

I enjoyed my drive out to Flagstaff, almost 3/4 your drive. Then again, it had been my first trip out there since 2005 so it was worth it. My long term hope is that they reroute the Southwest Chief through Woodward and I could then just take that from there to Flag for future visits!

bchris02
08-21-2013, 04:05 PM
How far west... I seem to remember mainly flat desert most of the way through New Mexico.

Not so. Going west on I-40, eastern New Mexico has mesas and shallow canyons, and then you get into the Rocky Mountains. Descending into Albuquerque going westbound is probably the most impressive urban entrance on all of I-40.

OKCisOK4me
08-21-2013, 06:23 PM
Not so. Going west on I-40, eastern New Mexico has mesas and shallow canyons, and then you get into the Rocky Mountains. Descending into Albuquerque going westbound is probably the most impressive urban entrance on all of I-40.

The Sandia Peaks are your first introduction to the southern Rocky Mountain chain. Not to throw Pete's thread off topic, but that is probably my favorite part about driving across I-40 (westbound). :cool:

bluedogok
08-21-2013, 09:42 PM
If the summers were all like the current one, I might just scrap California and move back to Oklahoma permanently. But I had to remind myself that the past week was a trick and I *hate* the hot, humid weather.
That was one of the main reasons why we moved from Austin to Denver, the summer of 2011 was the tipping point for us to make the move.