Bricktown Strategic Plan

[okcboy]

The special events in Bricktown will probably remain status quo until the city starts pumping in money and services and the ability to close off streets. Would suggest that city leaders look into the things that Chicago have done with their Cultural and Special Events department within its mayors office. A Baby Disco Event? Really ?

http://www.cityofchicago.org/content...festivals.html

[okcboy]

The on street parking will be a revenue source for the city. Customer puts in 4 Qtrs and stays over an hour and returns to a green envelope with a special
gift inside. If this great idea is to shoot at surface pay lots it won't work. These will be like any other meters downtown. Filled by employees feeding them all day or
someone dropping something off, picking up, or a short meeting. I think its better when someone parks in a surface lot and stays through meals and into the evening.

[okcboy]

The problem with developing upper floors at for example spaghetti warehouse is that the city will not let you do one floor at a time. If you want to bring one floor up to code for office or residential you have to do the whole building. This gets to cost prohibitive. Spaghetti Warehouse wanted to this several years back but didn't want to remodel every floor. Interested in doing a floor at a time.

[BoulderSooner]

The problem with developing upper floors at for example spaghetti warehouse is that the city will not let you do one floor at a time. If you want to bring one floor up to code for office or residential you have to do the whole building. This gets to cost prohibitive. Spaghetti Warehouse wanted to this several years back but didn't want to remodel every floor. Interested in doing a floor at a time.

this is not true as far as i know ... several projects have been built out 1 floor at a time

[Just the facts]

The on street parking will be a revenue source for the city. Customer puts in 4 Qtrs and stays over an hour and returns to a green envelope with a special
gift inside. If this great idea is to shoot at surface pay lots it won't work. These will be like any other meters downtown. Filled by employees feeding them all day or
someone dropping something off, picking up, or a short meeting. I think its better when someone parks in a surface lot and stays through meals and into the evening.

I think the Reno street parking would be free with probably some kind of time limit (2 hours). We used to go to Ft Bragg, CA every year and their downtown parking was free with a 2 hour time limit. Parking enforcement came around every hour and put a chalk mark on your tire. If they found you with two chalk marks you got a ticket.

They look like this:

[BoulderSooner]

it would be metered if created just like the rest of the on street parking in bricktown

[Just the facts]

it would be metered if created just like the rest of the on street parking in bricktown

While it might be metered now, I thought part of the Bricktown Plan was to make all city owned street and surface parking free, thus killing the surface parking lot market.

[okcboy]

They way I understand it is all floors above the restaurant are not up to current codes.
You can't just do a sprinkler system, plumbing, electric, etc and get an occupancy permit by floor. That they would have to bring all the upper floors to code to get a occupancy permit. The Bunte Candy building just did this but it was around an 8M investment I heard.

[BoulderSooner]

They way I understand it is all floors above the restaurant are not up to current codes.
You can't just do a sprinkler system, plumbing, electric, etc and get an occupancy permit by floor. That they would have to bring all the upper floors to code to get a occupancy permit. The Bunte Candy building just did this but it was around an 8M investment I heard.

ok i understand ... they wouldn't have to do the build out per floor .. but would have to get the "shell" up to code on every floor

[Urbanized]

LOL I had a long-winded rant (not the one on the previous page) 95% typed up last night on my office machine, and was going to wrap it up and post this AM. Came in this morning and Windows had applied updates and restarted my computer. Perhaps that means my thoughts on downtown retail are best kept to myself!

[wschnitt]

The problem with developing upper floors at for example spaghetti warehouse is that the city will not let you do one floor at a time. If you want to bring one floor up to code for office or residential you have to do the whole building. This gets to cost prohibitive. Spaghetti Warehouse wanted to this several years back but didn't want to remodel every floor. Interested in doing a floor at a time.

Dowell Center was done one floor at a time.

[Urbanized]

Dowell Center also had semi-modern sprinkler systems, HVAC and electrical service already in place, only requiring upgrades. I'm not 100% certain if okcboy's assertion is correct, but it makes a certain amount of sense if you consider that some of the buildings down here substantially or entirely lack those systems.

[Skyline]

This is the Bricktown strategic plan.

What are the Lower Bricktown strategic plans? ...

[BoulderSooner]

Dowell Center was done one floor at a time.

isn't dowell center still 100% empty??

[Just the facts]

This is the Bricktown strategic plan.

What are the Lower Bricktown strategic plans? ...

LOL - there is no strategic plan for Lower Bricktown. Nothing short of a bulldozer can fix lower Bricktown. The iconic boulevard is going to have great views of the backs of everything.

[Urbanized]

Meh, I think you can "fix" Lower Bricktown with infill. I would start by building structured parking where the large Harkins/Toby Keith lot is, and systematically eliminating the other surface lots by building on them, making sure to build to the streets and the canal. I'm pretty sure you could leverage TIF for the garage.

[mcca7596]

LOL I had a long-winded rant (not the one on the previous page) 95% typed up last night on my office machine, and was going to wrap it up and post this AM. Came in this morning and Windows had applied updates and restarted my computer. Perhaps that means my thoughts on downtown retail are best kept to myself!

I'd like to know if you ever get the time again.

[mcca7596]

While it might be metered now, I thought part of the Bricktown Plan was to make all city owned street and surface parking free, thus killing the surface parking lot market.

I thought it included making all Bricktown city-owned lots and street spaces free as well.

[BoulderSooner]

Meh, I think you can "fix" Lower Bricktown with infill. I would start by building structured parking where the large Harkins/Toby Keith lot is, and systematically eliminating the other surface lots by building on them, making sure to build to the streets and the canal. I'm pretty sure you could leverage TIF for the garage.

would really like to get the empty lot next to toby keith's built upon

[Skyline]

I'm glad you thought that was funny.

Who owns all of the surface parking in Lower Bricktown?

[soonerliberal]

Meh, I think you can "fix" Lower Bricktown with infill. I would start by building structured parking where the large Harkins/Toby Keith lot is, and systematically eliminating the other surface lots by building on them, making sure to build to the streets and the canal. I'm pretty sure you could leverage TIF for the garage.

Totally agree. There are plenty of areas in Lower Bricktown that can be filled in. There are prime spots to the east and west of Toby Keith's and along what will become the new boulevard along with between Residence Inn and Sonic. There are also plenty of areas of surface parking that have enough space to be repurposed as garages.

[Just the facts]

I'm glad you thought that was funny.

Who owns all of the surface parking in Lower Bricktown?

It is owned by a number of different people. Here is a link that will allow you to find the owner of any property using a map. Just click the Launch Map Viewer and zoom into the area you are interested in.

http://oklahoma.latitudegeo.com/imf/...ma/launch.html

[Larry OKC]

...I don't understand the contempt for visitors, anyway. ...

Exactly. Visitors are NEW money coming into the economy and that can only be a good thing. Most anything else is just redistribution of existing monies spent from one area of town to another

[Urbanized]

Visitors are also downtown and Bricktown's best hope for making the area outperform the current abysmal residential demographics retailers look at when considering an area. Other than more rooftops, the sales tax revenue they bring to downtown zip codes is OKC's best hope for attracting quality retail downtown. Ignoring them is, well, ignorant.

I'm still working on finding time to post some of my thoughts and observations regarding downtown retail recruitment. Much of the stuff I read on this board regarding this subject is frankly comical.

Trust me, nobody would love it more than me if an Urban Outfitters and a West Elm plopped down in Bricktown, but those types of nationals are INCREDIBLY unlikely in the foreseeable future. I understand that now more than ever, between years spent either trying to lure retailers to a district, or listening to highly-qualified real estate people (NOT property speculators) talk about retail development, and now having had the benefit of starting two downtown retail operations from scratch over the past five years. Those things have all made me temper my expectations, without question.

[lasomeday]

Are the zoning laws in Bricktown keeping more residential units from happening or is it the parking lot issues?

I think AA has more potential for new mixed use being built than Bricktown because of the parking for tourists issues. AA could get a few more retailers once the developers see its potential and as the street cars move in.

Does the plan include the street car route and how it will attract residents?