The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Construction crews on Hotel Indigo have made a lot of progress in the past two months. It appears most of the heavy work on the old Santa Fe rail station is complete, with new copper gutters, lots of interior work, new windows (unfortunately it's dark glass) and workers were out planting shrubs yesterday. The sixth floor of the new hotel tower has been poured, so there's only one floor to go. They're beginning to frame out the second floor, and HVAC ducts have been installed on the first level.

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Thanks for sharing the photos!

Fortunately, on our next Tulsa visit in January, we will have some spare time, we will have to spend some time in the downtown area and see how much it has changed since we moved in March.

maybe a dumb question, but what did that building on the SE corner used to be, and how are they incorporating it?

Once the office building is built at the corner this one will be kind of hidden.  I'm curious how the drop off drive will tie in with the office building and what the separation will be between the two.

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That is the old Santa Fe depot/station. According to this Tulsa World article (http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/blue-dome-district-s-planned-hotel-indigo-will-be-no/article_e1a20d3b-cc7e-51df-94c8-79e5a88d729c.html), The same article also says there will be an upscale restaurant on the first floor, which I think, given the small-ish footprint of the new building, may take up part of the Santa Fe depot.

Double Acorn lights FAIL

But check out all those awnings and retail and rooftop garden that all will totally happen!

Scheduled to open in August per the TW.

And the quote that made the story impressive is that the understanding is the next round of development should start in the spring. Whether that's garage or the apartments, who knows

I would guess the next step would be building the SW-corner building which is supposed to have lots of office space, retail and (IIRC) apartments as well so they can diversify a bit. I would guess the garage will be so expensive that it will need to be tied in to existing immediate demand for a large number of spaces (which will grow as buildings are completed). I'm guessing they'll have to build a couple more to drive that parking demand up higher and then build the garage  (potentially in parallel with the other building(s) on the far east side of the block).

However they do it, this is a monumental project they've taken on and seeing how tiny the hotel looks compared to everything else in rendering is eye opening after seeing frame in real life! The hotel is looking pretty big for that locale, especially compared to most other Blue Dome area buildings.

It really will be. From near and far it's really hard to imagine the proposed development per the renderings. I always thought the term 'game changer' for downtown was a little overstated, but when this hotel is done and more developments start up, I'll believe it.

Target opening is now October 1st per this article: http://www.newson6.com/story/38043711/hard-hat-tour-of-new-downtown-hotel (http://www.newson6.com/story/38043711/hard-hat-tour-of-new-downtown-hotel)

I found this blurb interesting, and still think they need to tear down the Page Belcher federal building and build a convention hotel on that block sandwiched in between the convention center and BOK Center.

Mmm, so let's find a developer we can give lots of incentives to build a hotel which will sit at 80% occupancy or less the rest of the year.

80% of 93 rooms is still a good economic driver to the area.   74 people (assuming single occupancy) eating, parking, working and entertaining.

Downtown Tulsa will have 2,500 rooms after the hotels currently U/C are finished.  I think the era of building smaller hotels is pretty much over for awhile and the only real need at that point would be one larger full-service hotel next to the convention center.

80% occupancy will get 100% of the marketing directors fired in 90% of all hotels and resorts, or at least transferred to properties less challenging.  Don't ask me how I know.

I am unfamiliar with such things, so I looked it up.  The average occupancy rate for the nation is almost always below 66%.  
https://www.statista.com/statistics/200161/us-annual-accomodation-and-lodging-occupancy-rate/

Only a "handful" of the top 25 US hotel markets post occupancy over 80%:
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/71596/Top-25-A-performance-overview-of-major-US-markets

https://www.ccim.com/cire-magazine/articles/2016/05/u-s--hotel-market--an-overview/?gmSsoPc=1

This isn't my area, like I said, I was unfamiliar so I looked it up... cure my ignorance if I'm reading all this wrong.

I would be intersted to see the number when you weed out every Holiday Inn along the interstate and hotels in...uh...less than desirable areas. I would think expectations would be much higher if you were building a hotel in the Blue Dome district. But like cannon, I ain't in the business.

Aside from being somewhat snarky in my comment I was referencing full service resort and convention type hotels and not considering Motel 6, or the chains which offer free breakfast in their lobby.

In a previous life, I was considering two job offers, one with a chemical company I eventually hired on with or one with the Adam's Mark.  That was pretty much the scenario they played out for me on the occupancy percentages during the interview process.