Innovation Link

[dankrutka]

Columbus, Ohio

Yes! I searched for it (albeit briefly) and couldn't find it. It's a fantastic development.

[chuck5815]

i think this is the Columbus development y'all are referencing.

[dankrutka]

Yep. That's the one.

[_Cramer_]

Don't get me wrong, this is great looking and a good start! However, I was really hoping for full cap with a good mix of everything. From the Harrison/10th Street Exit to NE 13th Street.

[traxx]

the entire Research district is embarrassingly suburban

I don't know that I'd go that far. It's not embarrassing at all. There's some nice, new construction that has gone on in the last several years. No, it doesn't look like Midtown Manhattan and it never will and that's okay. It's a campus. Sure, it could be made more pedestrian friendly but if you've traveled through the area lately, you know that there's actually quite a few pedestrians around at all times of the work day. The area could use some help and improvement, but I wouldn't call it an embarrassment at all.

[Anonymous.]

You have to remember I said embarrassingly suburban, not embarrassing. My idea of suburban is a lot of empty space/parking lots between POIs, which this district has a lot of. Sidewalks just abruptly end and begin on new lots or don't exist at all for blocks. And the sidewalks that do exist are pointlessly winding around in open spaces that lead to no doorsteps or said POIs. That is exactly what it is like in suburbia. Bikelanes and street parking are nowhere to be found. It is concrete monoliths and paved asphalt as far as the eyes can see. The area is clearly built for easy vehicle access in and out.

[RodH]

You have to remember I said embarrassingly suburban, not embarrassing. My idea of suburban is a lot of empty space/parking lots between POIs, which this district has a lot of. Sidewalks just abruptly end and begin on new lots or don't exist at all for blocks. And the sidewalks that do exist are pointlessly winding around in open spaces that lead to no doorsteps or said POIs. That is exactly what it is like in suburbia. Bikelanes and street parking are nowhere to be found. It is concrete monoliths and paved asphalt as far as the eyes can see. The area is clearly built for easy vehicle access in and out.

Your description may fit what you see from Lincoln Blvd. but it does not necessarily describe development east of Phillips and north of Eighth. As new structures have been added they are more urban than the structures built before 2000.

[traxx]

I agree with RodH. But you are correct, Anonymous. There is a fair amount of surface parking and that's out of necessity. Most of the people you have visiting the campus are from the greater metro area and beyond. My parents go to Dean McGee for the eye doctor and they travel from 3 hours outside of OKC. Most of the patients for the campus are not people walking over from DD, AA, Midtown etc. Again, this area doesn't need the urban density of Manhattan to be a good and useful district. Buildings with surface parking can be fine if done well and done right.

I know several people on this site don't like the suburban feel of the campus but I think everyone would be complaining more if we didn't have it at all. I think it's great to have it here in OKC and so close to downtown. It'd be great to try to have new construction in the area adhere to good design principles, but I think we need to be more concerned with the jobs, technology and research that those buildings brings. And we need to be working on bringing more of that here. GE is a good start.

[ljbab728]

Steve's update:

http://m.newsok.com/article/5519231

[warreng88]

Innovation Link would connect downtown, OU Health Sciences Center

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record October 20, 2016

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Innovation Link is a concept that would build a large covered bridge across Interstate 235. It would provide a safe connection between downtown and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

It would also cost about $200 million, according to architect Miles & Associates’ calculations. Since presentations began in early fall, money has not been identified to make it happen.

Architect Dennis Wells said the design was just a fun project for him and firm founder Bud Miles. No one asked them to do it.

But other cities that have similar highway caps also started with no funds. In Dallas and Columbus, Ohio, each project had champions that stepped up and either raised or contributed the funds.

In Columbus, the idea for the Cap at Union Station started in 1989. An unpopular highway-widening project led residents to wanting a park. An idea to cap the highway was developed, but it came with a price tag of more than $8 million.

The price was a minor hurdle compared to the two years and $50,000 it took the city to buy the air rights to 13 parcels underneath the cap.

The Ohio Department of Transportation paid the $1.3 million to construct the bridge platforms, where the retail buildings would sit. The city paid $325,000 to install utilities. Continental Communities Real Estate Co. secured a $7 million conventional loan to construct the buildings and do tenant build-out.

Continental Chairman Jack Lucks said he didn’t want the freeway system to cut people off from his apartment project. The spaces were used by artists.

The Cap opened in 2004. Merchants include Cold Stone Creamery and Hyde Park Prime Steak House.

“There’s been a little bit of turnover with the merchants because we don’t have 500 parking spaces,” he said. “But it’s a terrific thoroughfare.”

The OKC Innovation Link plan calls for about 1,400 parking spaces on two levels.

In Dallas, the $110 million, 5-acre park-deck over Woodall Rodgers Freeway was a public-private partnership, but the public part almost didn’t happen, said Tara Green, president of Klyde Warren Park.

A group of real estate investors was upset about losing out to Chicago in the bid to be the home for Boeing Co.’s headquarters. City officials were told it was because Dallas did not have a vibrant downtown.

The investors were able to raise $10 million in six weeks to get the project on the bond ballot. Nearly half the project was funded through state and city money. The other half was from private donors.

Construction started in 2009 and the park opened in 2012.

“We have doubled our estimate on annual attendance,” Green said. “We’re seeing a million people annually. We are not seeing that sophomore slump.”

She said the biggest change in downtown is the price of real estate around the park. There has been more than $1 billion in development around the park, which has been all private development.

The price of land has skyrocketed. In 2009, land near the park was $80 per square foot. This year, the Texas Capital Bank building sold for $500 per square foot.

“It taught Dallas how to walk,” she said. “Of course, people know how to walk in Dallas. But we used to get in our cars to drive a couple blocks. Now in Dallas, people who live uptown will walk to work. If your walk is scenic, people are more inclined to walk.”

The OKC Innovation Link would span from NE 13th Street to NE Eighth Street, over I-235. It would go only as far east as Oklahoma Avenue and west to Walnut Avenue.

The Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority gets the first right of refusal on land sold in the area, said Lisa Salim with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. OCURA can buy the land at the price it was purchased for in the 1980s.

OCURA Executive Director Cathy O’Connor said if the organization is involved in the development, it could acquire the land and provide it to the developer. The group did a similar process with the GE Global Research Oil and Gas Technology Center.

“On a project like this, we’d have to know the city is interested in pursuing it and the funding is available,” she said.

[Spartan]

i think this is the Columbus development y'all are referencing.

Since this was built 20 years ago, the surrounding area has started to see numerous infill towers.





One of those is Glimcher, another became a massive garage instead, and several more are planned. Several more caps exist and continue to be planed, including two on the east side of downtown, and two on the south side of downtown.

[KayneMo]

This reminds me of the Pulteney Bridge in Bath, England that spans the River Avon, built in 1774.

[Spartan]

That's pretty sweet. Venice has those types of arcaded bridges as well.

I don't really understand doing it over water though. You do it over a freeway bc the freeway is an ugly break in the urban fabric that hinders pedestrian walkability and connectivity. Water on the other hand attracts people, but perhaps like Venice they have plenty of other water-centric spaces, too.

[aDark]

Is there still talk of this project or is it dead in the water?

[Spartan]

Dead.

They may instead do some gateway enhancements with the upcoming GO bond.

[dwellsokc]

It's not dead. Things are cooking behind the scenes...

[pw405]

Is there still talk of this project or is it dead in the water?

The project was a conceptual idea, but it was never funded. More like a pet project for a long term vision to link various downtown areas that have been severed by the construction of I-235.

Dead.

They may instead do some gateway enhancements with the upcoming GO bond.

Is it accurate to say it is dead if it was never alive? That's like saying I am divorced from Reese Witherspoon.

[Spartan]

The project was a conceptual idea, but it was never funded. More like a pet project for a long term vision to link various downtown areas that have been severed by the construction of I-235.



Is it accurate to say it is dead if it was never alive? That's like saying I am divorced from Reese Witherspoon.

I say 100% emoji to that

That's a shame though. Like Andrew's other idea of Market Circle, it was literally too perfect of an idea that the city/Alliance/powers-that-be could never get behind it.

Oklahoma has a lot of these native sons who are brilliant but have to begrudgingly pursue opportunities elsewhere. Oklahoma should really listen to them (selfish argument lol).

[warreng88]

Health Center Foundation to manage Innovation District

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record April 18, 2017

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Health Center Foundation is getting a new life as it takes on managing the Innovation District.

“We’re going to reinvent ourselves,” said Terry Taylor, president of the foundation. “We’re going to restructure ourselves. That means a new organization.”

The call for a leading entity came in a nonprofit research group’s study of the Innovation District, which stretches south from NW 13th Street to Fourth Street, southeast to the railroad tracks, east to Lottie Avenue, and west to Robinson Avenue.

But there’s not an ideal group to manage the district, not even the foundation, according to the study. The authors wrote that while the foundation coordinates its members and oversees the campus master plan, it doesn’t have the structure, powers, or comprehensive geographic focus to coordinate cross connections within the district.

Taylor said the foundation has a lot in the works, including considering whether an executive director is needed.

“We’re branching out,” he said. “We’ve been looking at staffing as the months come on. We’ll determine what we need to do.”

The foundation has about a $3 million annual budget, though $1 million is designated for projects specifically in the health center. Taylor said trying to get more money will be one key factor in the restructuring. The study suggested more events that allow district employees to commingle, and there are grants available for those activities. Taylor said the foundation is studying how it can take advantage of that money.

As the foundation looks at its new role, the state is considering its part in helping draw more development to the Innovation District.

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services oversees the development within the State Capitol Complex and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The district runs from NE 30th Street to NE Eighth Street.

OMES Planning Director Ben Davis said the state is working on changing its conditional uses in the area, allowing more flexibility with development.

Davis said he helped prompt the rule changes after he learned there are not many permissible uses in the Health Sciences Center’s zoning.

The existing rules allow for nine uses permitted by right, including clinic, extended care facility, health-care residential, helicopter pad, hospital, hotel, research lab, and a public health facility. There are also five conditional uses: bank or credit union; barber shop, spa or salon; child care; copy center; and conference center.

If the rules are changed, new developments could include office, residential, institutional, and retail use not tied to the health center. New development proposals in the area must be approved by the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission.

Davis said there is vacant land available for new structures, but some areas are surface parking lots. A majority of vacant land is outside the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement District, he said. It’s 950 acres total and overlaps the Innovation District’s 832 acres.

“I think the new rules will make it a lot easier for mixed development to happen,” he said.

[Timshel]

I tried and failed to find an Innovation District thread, so feel free to move this post to a more appropriate thread if applicable, but the Brookings Institution just released a report regarding the challenges and opportunities facing OKC's Innovation District. I've just read the summary and not the full report, but it seems to be very comprehensive and informative. I plan to read the full report later and will edit this post with any interesting information provided therein, but thought I'd post in case anyone else is interested.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/p...tion-district/

[wsucougz]

Thanks for the link. "Implement a technology-based economic development and entrepreneurship effort within the innovation district."

Can't help but think of the Edge fund, well on its way to a $1 billion goal when Fallin liquidated it in 2012 in a seemingly short-sighted(to me, anyway) move. http://newsok.com/article/3677810

I don't know how well Edge was performing, but killing it just as it was getting off the ground was pretty stupid. These things take a long time to cultivate.

[HangryHippo]

Thanks for the link. "Implement a technology-based economic development and entrepreneurship effort within the innovation district."

Can't help but think of the Edge fund, well on its way to a $1 billion goal when Fallin liquidated it in 2012 in a seemingly short-sighted(to me, anyway) move. http://newsok.com/article/3677810

I don't know how well Edge was performing, but killing it just as it was getting off the ground was pretty stupid. These things take a long time to cultivate.

That was truly one of her more idiotic moves.

[Rover]

That was truly one of her more idiotic moves.

With so many bad moves to choose from, it is hard to tell which is her most stupid. She and the legislature are in a race to the bottom.

[HangryHippo]

With so many bad moves to choose from, it is hard to tell which is her most stupid. She and the legislature are in a race to the bottom.

Without a doubt. It's truly embarrassing.

[aDark]

The Miles Associates website has been updated and it shows an "innovation link" rendering that is more limited. The new study modifications seem to only build out at 10th St and I-235, as opposed to the previous plans which also built out at 13th and I-235. They summarize this study as, "SMALLER CAP = SMALLER PRICE TAG"

My apologies if this updated study from Miles Associates has been linked to previously. If anyone has any insight as to odds on this project becoming a reality I am very interested. I think the recent purchase of the Walcourt (13th and I-235) is evidence that interest is still growing.

http://www.milesassociates.com/okcinnovationlink