Convergence (formerly Innovation Plaza)

[BG918]

Very cool, not everyday you see subterranean parking built in Oklahoma..

[HFAA Alum]

Very cool, not everyday you see subterranean parking built in Oklahoma..

Considering the weather changes and risks, I'm surprised there hasn't been a harder push for that in the downtown area. It would also help cut down on the need for surface lot parking spaces. Just imagine what the city would look like if every building in the district were five stories or higher, stacked on top of parking places or built adjacent. The interaction between building and street would be even greater than having a large surface lot crowding around a high-rise building.

If you want to find visual examples of that travesty, look no further than 1980's Houston.

[Pete]

There is more integrated parking in large OKC buildings than most realize.

All of these sit atop parking: Union Plaza, Valliance Tower, Regency Tower, The Bower, The Centennial, Leadership Square, Arvest Tower, Oklahoma Commons and First National Center just converted a ton of office space to parking over retail. The old Cox Center has more than 1,000 spaces underground. The Omni has a bunch of below-ground parking.

The Century Center has parking above office space.

[HOT ROD]

Chicago is a great example of buildings with parking in the lower floors and office/residential on top. Vancouver is a great example of buildings with underground parking, podium for the first few floors and tower on top.

One of these should be a requirement in the cbd and shoulder areas in OKC for buildings taller than 5 floors with floorplates greater than 10,000 square feet. Should not build any more Devon style garages where the building and garage are separate.

[Pete]

You can see the base of the crane that is getting ready to go up:

[Bellaboo]

That hole is really deep.

[HOT ROD]

I wonder will it be a luffing crane or a boom tower crane?

[Pete]

The crane is up (from https://www.instagram.com/ulioklahoma/):

[dcsooner]

What's going in this hole? one building, two? what is the final design

[Bellaboo]

What's going in this hole? one building, two? what is the final design

I believe mostly underground parking. A few levels. And then buildings on top of the parking.

[BoulderSooner]

What's going in this hole? one building, two? what is the final design

see this post https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...46#post1181246

[dcsooner]

see this post https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...46#post1181246

Thank You!

[Pete]

[G.Walker]

OKC's Convergence development altering plans as construction costs skyrocket

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...y/69709236007/

"A hotel planned as part of the $200 million Convergence development east of downtown Oklahoma City might be put on hold following construction and interest cost increases topping $45 million."

"The project, being developed by Mark Beffort and Richard Tanenbaum, will also undergo design changes that include elimination of stairs and ramps connecting the buildings. An architectural fin that would have cost $2 million also was eliminated."

[chssooner]

Inflation sucks. Makes cool project lame.

I am just glad they are still able to build any of it. The hotel would be nice, and I still think it will happen. But as an auditor of banks, loans are not going out as frequently for construction as they were a year ago. Just hope the rates can go down sooner rather than later.

[Anonymous.]

I'm pretty sure the fin is this protruding section of the left building where it says Wheeler Labs.

[G.Walker]

I personally didn't like the fin. Sometimes OKC can over do it on the designs and try to be too different. This results in not being able to establish an architectural identity. Sometimes less is more, sometimes you just need to keep it simple.

[bombermwc]

Personally, don't care about the fin one way or another. But the hotel and connectors, those were pretty big. Hopefully, in a few years when the cost of things levels back out, they can pick it backup and complete the plan.

[Mississippi Blues]

That sardonic side of me won’t let me ignore the part about this development being called “Convergence” but losing connectivity (stairs, ramps) as a cost saving revision. That can easily be added back at a later time, which hopefully won’t be long. I’m still hoping for all of it to be successful moving forward.

[shavethewhales]

Apologies if I missed this, but this recent news story seems to have new renderings that I haven't seen before: https://www.news9.com/story/639a6a78...strict-in-2024

It looks quite drab compared to the original plan, to say the least. Still has some nice components that will make an impact, but it's been value engineered to be pretty basic and uninspiring.

Time to dust off this meme again:

[BridgeBurner]

Apologies if I missed this, but this recent news story seems to have new renderings that I haven't seen before: https://www.news9.com/story/639a6a78...strict-in-2024

It looks quite drab compared to the original plan, to say the least. Still has some nice components that will make an impact, but it's been value engineered to be pretty basic and uninspiring.

Time to dust off this meme again:

Pretty good synopsis, just going to be another boring med district development now.

[LocoAko]

Apologies if I missed this, but this recent news story seems to have new renderings that I haven't seen before: https://www.news9.com/story/639a6a78...strict-in-2024

It looks quite drab compared to the original plan, to say the least. Still has some nice components that will make an impact, but it's been value engineered to be pretty basic and uninspiring.

Time to dust off this meme again:

Wow. That's quite the downgrade and seems a bit more dramatic than the few changes originally mentioned...

[Pete]

From that Channel 9 video:

[Jake]

The "Something Good" graphic is great.

[chssooner]

It is still a development that will pay MAJOR dividends for OKC. Wheeler Labs is growing like a weed, and will have many high-paying jobs in these buildings. Just because it may not look pretty (100% blame inflation and interest rate hikes, but I won't post anything political beyond that) doesn't mean it won't have a major impact on OKC's future. Why let great be the enemy of good? It isn't your money they are spending.