Karchmer Garage

[Dob Hooligan]

I have looked at this building, and I can't work up any vision, love or outrage. If it had corrugated steel on the outside, instead of brick, we would not have given it a second glance.

[Pete]

First look at new downtown garage

Plans are moving forward to construct a 7-level parking garage in Bricktown.

The garage is part of a deal with BancFirst which recently purchased what was most recently named Cotter Ranch Tower, the city's second-tallest building.

BancFirst bought the tower out of bankruptcy and along with Continental Resources, negotiated with the city to also purchase the neighboring Santa Fe Garage. As part of the same deal, BancFirst and local developer Don Karchmer worked with the city to obtain property just to the east of the railroad tracks, as Karchmer owned property along Main Street and had been operating the surface lot on a lease with the city.

BancFirst told the city they would not move forward with purchasing the tower unless they could also control Santa Fe Garage and come to terms for building a new parking facility nearby.

The new parking structure is a part of that complex deal and plans have been drawn to build it on the westernmost section of the surface lot.

The configuration will allow for easements to serve future commuter rail lines as Santa Fe Station has been envisioned as the hub, although there are currently no set plans for commuter trains.

At the time of the deal with the city, it was stated the new garage would include a connection via tunnel or skywalk to the Santa Fe Garage and thus the BancFirst Tower.

The structure has been named ParcFirst@Bricktown and would contain 799 spaces, although 148 surface spaces would be lost.

[PaddyShack]

Lately, most news seems to be about parking structures... I just don't see the need for more of these. Especially with businesses changing their position on how much physical office space they want amid this pandemic.

[5alive]

So what is your best educated guess... tunnel or skywalk?

[Plutonic Panda]

A tunnel would be awesome. They need to expand the underground.

[Pete]

So what is your best educated guess... tunnel or skywalk?

Not sure because either is tricky due to dealing with the railroad.

The city could never work things out for the proposed tunnel from Santa Fe station into Bricktown, which is why that plan was abandoned.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ The portal beneath the tracks is permanently abandoned!? I thought it was only shelved.

[Pete]

^^^ The portal beneath the tracks is permanently abandoned!? I thought it was only shelved.

Anything is possible but there is no present plan to do it. And the federal grant money has already been spent.

[Plutonic Panda]

Hopefully once they get commuter rail up and going the tunnel is brought back.

[DowntownMan]

I saw a crew out doing a survey last week so I figured something was coming soon on this.

[Anonymous.]

The Cox (not going to be demolished anytime soon), Santa Fe, and Sandridge garages all have huge vacancies. I get this is part of the deal, but things have changed drastically since then. This garage seems like a waste. Oh and it is ugly.

Thumbs down.

[LocoAko]

More parking. Yay........

[Timtoomany]

Putting aside any discussion of parking requirement/provision, or even the materials and appearance, that is a truly terrible piece of building placement. It has no relationship to the railroad or the footpath that runs along side it, the old elevated tracks off 2nd Street, the surrounding streets; it's just whatever they could fit between easements. No wonder the visualizations show it without context.

[HangryHippo]

The Cox (not going to be demolished anytime soon), Santa Fe, and Sandridge garages all have huge vacancies. I get this is part of the deal, but things have changed drastically since then. This garage seems like a waste. Oh and it is ugly.

Thumbs down.

This.

[dcsooner]

regardless of the need for more parking, I see this structure as a improvement over the multitude surface parking in and around DT OKC. I'll take a structure over flat parking any day

[Plutonic Panda]

regardless of the need for more parking, I see this structure as a improvement over the multitude surface parking in and around DT OKC. I'll take a structure over flat parking any day

I agree as this will allow for more developments to be built without parking.

Question: are there no parking minimums in bricktown?

I am happy to see a rail spur is being preserved. At some point we should see more developments with no parking given the sea of parking that exists in the form of parking garages.

[Pete]

^

There are no parking requirements in Bricktown or in much of the core.

[shawnw]

There are no parking minimums downtown.

[Plutonic Panda]

Good to know!

[David]

I am happy they came up with a design that preserved the railway easements, aside from that it looks okay enough. LOL at the name, but it may be corny in a good way.

[5alive]

Amazing how two parking garages can look so different. The new garage for the Convention, check out the post on that one, is going to be awesome and a real head turner. I realize this garage is reflecting the heritage of Bricktown but a few glass and metal elements could go a long way.

[Pete]

By far the strangest thing about this will be a parking garage with absolutely nothing around it.

It will just be sitting there like an island. I suspect it's going to look very odd.

[HFAA Alum]

I think that's going to be temporary. If anything, they're just consolidating the parking space. So instead of having this massive field of empty lines and asphalt, they can keep better track of who goes in and comes out, while also opening up Bricktown to have more establishments and venues. No doubt ParcFirst will sell the land to developers who will build either residential or commercial properties.

If anything, this gives the city the opportunity to add to their skyline. If the Bricktown Marriott is already breaking the glass ceiling, then this opens the door for a larger development to take place. A mid-rise or two would be great at that spot.

[dankrutka]

I mean, it would still be nice to have some retail on the ground level. If there is more development in this area this garage could be an unnecessary dead spot for pedestrians. Not a big deal for this ñocation, but it would still be nice.

[Pete]

I mean, it would still be nice to have some retail on the ground level. If there is more development in this area this garage could be an unnecessary dead spot for pedestrians. Not a big deal for this ñocation, but it would still be nice.

This will be in the middle of a sea of surface parking, rail tracks on 2 sides will be connected to the underground via tunnel or skywalk.

I seriously doubt any pedestrians will be anywhere near this.