Convention Center Garage

[Pete]

Reminder the developer of Boulevard Place is Rose Rock out of Tulsa.

Nice to see some outside-of-OKC interest and investment.

[LuccaBrasi]

Not 100% Tulsa based though.......Tim Strange and Ashley Smith are Partners and they are OKC.

[Pete]

Not 100% Tulsa based though.......Tim Strange and Ashley Smith are Partners and they are OKC.

?? Their website says both are currently working Tulsa projects.

Did they recently relocate?

[Ross MacLochness]

"Boulevard Place" The most literal name possible haha

[shawnw]

I mean, it could have been "Oklahoma City Boulevard Place", so there's that.

[hoya]

I mean, it could have been "Oklahoma City Boulevard Place", so there's that.

Don’t give them any ideas.

Great selection though. This was easily my favorite.

[Dustin]

Boulevard Place added a new video and a few new renderings to their website:

http://boulevardplaceokc.com/

Wow. It looks great! Great choice.

[baralheia]

Today, OCURA named Bouelvard Place as the conditional developer / development.

See first post in this thread for details.

I had a feeling this would be the case... partially because they were the only proposal with a website set up already. Makes me wonder if the selection was pre-ordained and the proposal process was merely a formality.

Er... Sorry for the tin-foil hat moment. I just hope they do something to make the street-level retail look more open and inviting. That building, to me, looks super imposing and unfriendly. Would have loved to have seen something more like the 2West proposal (but with a better Shields streetwall and more ground-floor retail).

EDIT: I just watched the video on their website, and while the building still feels awfully "80's corporate tower" to me, I do feel a little better about the ground floor retail... the close up renderings of the ground floor retail area makes it look more open and inviting than what I've seen up to this point. There's still room for improvement, but not bad, tbh.

[Urbanized]

?? Their website says both are currently working Tulsa projects.

Did they recently relocate?

I'm confused. Did who locate where? If you are talking about Tim Strange and Ashley Smith, both are longtime OKC residents with deep roots in the OKC business community.

[Pete]

I can assure you the Ron Bradshaw group (Two West) was very disappointed.

[citywokchinesefood]

The Two West proposal would be awesome on the other side of the park to wrap a garage that would service the future Strawberry fields district. Boulevard Place seems to accomplish the stated goals of the project better compared to the other options. The daycare will be a huge asset for downtown, I have several employees that it would benefit. The addition of residents, retail, and restaurants will hopefully bring a more significant "downtown" vibe to the area over time.

[HOT ROD]

Bradshaw can take his proposal to another part of downtown, I propose just across the street to 'cover up' the Courtyard garage, make it at least 8 floors and there you go. If not there, he can build 2-west in A-Alley, Film Row, or SoSa/Midtown - plenty of locations for his very nice proposal, just this isn't the best location for it. ...

Anyway, I am ELATED by the choice of OCURA selecting Blvd place; it seems like they are finally getting it. I am not saying that because they selected my choice; im saying that because OCURA finally stuck to their own guidelines Core-2-Shore developments need to be: [8-floors or taller, retail on the ground, steel or steel/concrete construction, etc]. This might be a game changer for the city but also for OCURA to demand better development for our city (instead of settlling for second best and saying, well better than what was there before. Too bad OGE is taking so long to relocate their data center. I wish there was a way to keep it downtown (cough cough Kerr McGee Tower) but also expedite so that we can have most/all of this construction finished by 2020.

Nevertheless, OKC will again be a very different city in 2020; I am so excited AND impressed!

[ChrisHayes]

What's Oklahoma City apartment vacancy rates like?

[G.Walker]

I am glad to see this project chosen, however, not going to get too excited until ground is broke. The NewsOk article states construction won't start until October of 2019, a lot can happen between now & then.

[Pete]

I am glad to see this project chosen, however, not going to get too excited until ground is broke. The NewsOk article states construction won't start until October of 2019, a lot can happen between now & then.

Remember the garage has to happen as part of the contract with Omni.

I'm not too worried about this not happening.

[HOT ROD]

And Pete, along those lines - you know any TIF or other funding assistance -if requested- has already been approved as well.

[Pete]

And Pete, along those lines - you know any TIF or other funding assistance -if requested- has already been approved as well.

They haven't made a formal request but have said their expectation is they would get a TIF grant.

And I'm sure they know that ranges from 6-10% of the developer's total investment.

[Southsider2]

The rooftop pool on this development will be amazing. Great stuff. I do, however, wish they’d find a better name BLVD place is extremely boring.

[sroberts24]

Would love to see the other proposals built somewhere in downtown/midtown. Especially Bradshaw’s proposal.

[jonny d]

The rooftop pool on this development will be amazing. Great stuff. I do, however, wish they’d find a better name BLVD place is extremely boring.

Like some of the stupid names these developments have in other cities? Skyvue, Epic, Skyhouse, etc. I actually like this name. We know where the name comes from, not just random letters thrown together.

[Southsider2]

Like some of the stupid names these developments have in other cities? Skyvue, Epic, Skyhouse, etc. I actually like this name. We know where the name comes from, not just random letters thrown together.

I do agree with you that the name makes sense. But in my opinion, it just seems kind of generic or bland.

[shawnw]

I mean, "Century Center" is not generic (blandness is probably a matter for debate), but hardly anyone local, much less any visitor, has a clue what that means, so it's a bit of a two-sided coin how we name it.

[Ross MacLochness]

https://newsok.com/article/5599604/e...-oklahoma-city

City wants to expand the capacity of the garage apparently. Would this change require any sort of design change for Boulevard Place?

[David]

It probably depends on what the design looks like. If all they're really looking to do is add a floor or two I can't imagine that it would require much change to Boulevard Place, and might be good way of matching the its increased height compared to the other proposals.

[Pete]

https://newsok.com/article/5599604/e...-oklahoma-city

City wants to expand the capacity of the garage apparently. Would this change require any sort of design change for Boulevard Place?

And what are the addtional costs?

We had to beg, borrow and almost steal just to fund the garage as originally proposed.