QuikTrip vs. Brookside's Urban Fabric

[Hoss]

The third will be the giant store along I-44.

What giant store?  They have no plans to build it if you're talking about the old Camelot hotel.  They've been shopping that property for a while now.  You might want to read up a little on the subject.

[AngieB]

I guess that's a decent silver lining to have a new bike shop downtown in a renovated, previously empty storefront.  That is too bad for Brookside however because with the church across the street that becomes more of a 'hole' in the urban 'street wall' that has been so successful north of 36th.  Interesting that Crusty Croisant across the street moved downtown as well and is still empty. 

Not empty anymore. http://flyingburritoco.com/

[TheArtist]

Hate to say it, but while driving by the new QT expansion lately, have noticed that it looks and feels worse than I had actually feared it might.  Like someone ripped out the cozy feel of that part of Brookside and shoved in suburban sprawl.  Really sad.     

[SXSW]

Hate to say it, but while driving by the new QT expansion lately, have noticed that it looks and feels worse than I had actually feared it might.  Like someone ripped out the cozy feel of that part of Brookside and shoved in suburban sprawl.  Really sad.    

I agree.  They can significantly improve that by planting trees along their Peoria frontage and continuing the streetscape.  That area would be better served by taking out the left turn lanes at 36th and having on-street parallel parking continue from Starbucks south past 36th down to where it starts again near 37th.  Having cars parked on the street and trees in front of QT could make it at least a little better.  

That Blockbuster and the BOK branch/offices by Crow Creek are the last properties on that strip north of 36th with a big parking lot out front.  Mecca has one but it's not very big or intrusive.  I don't think the BOK/office by Crow Creek are going anywhere anytime soon but I could see the Blockbuster property being redeveloped and a new building built up to the sidewalk.  It would be nice to see the Baptist church at the SE corner tear down its steel building on the south side of the church and instead build an expansion above a retail storefront along Peoria just north of 36th Pl.  As it is with the church and QT across the street that block of Brookside is a 'dead zone' for retail/pedestrians.

[sgrizzle]

What giant store?  They have no plans to build it if you're talking about the old Camelot hotel.  They've been shopping that property for a while now.  You might want to read up a little on the subject.

Even if they do build it, they could easily close the store just north of there.

[Hoss]

Even if they do build it, they could easily close the store just north of there.

I remember them touting that location as the spot they were going to build their 500th store.  Am I remembering that correctly?  I remember a pretty big to-do about it.

[sgrizzle]

I remember them touting that location as the spot they were going to build their 500th store.  Am I remembering that correctly?  I remember a pretty big to-do about it.

Yes, but they postponed due to the construction. Now store 500 was in BA. I-44 construction won't be done for years so it will probably be store 553 or something.

[Hoss]

Yes, but they postponed due to the construction. Now store 500 was in BA. I-44 construction won't be done for years so it will probably be store 553 or something.

Got my first chance over the weekend to drive that stretch (I typically in the last year or so haven't been any further west than the 41st St exit going westbound).  Interesting how they divert the traffic onto the service road between Sheridan and Yale.  Wonder what the people in the neighborhood right there off Darlington think about that?

But it sure looks different along the south side of the highway between Harvard all the way to Peoria.  Even the north side looks barren, but they'd been working on that for more than two years, so I'd seen the ROW acquisitions there.

[YoungTulsan]

I have to admit, I defended QT adding in more pumps, but looking at it now it looks a little ridiculous.   I think in my head I was picturing a LITTLE bit of landscaping towards 36th Pl. but they are putting in 7 rows of pumps all the way across.

[SXSW]

Street trees will help, and no not just one or two like they have put in the planters north of 36th.  More like 5-6 along Peoria and some along 36th and 36th Pl.  It still would've been cool to see a QT front the sidewalk here with the pumps behind...

[Hoss]

Street trees will help, and no not just one or two like they have put in the planters north of 36th.  More like 5-6 along Peoria and some along 36th and 36th Pl.  It still would've been cool to see a QT front the sidewalk here with the pumps behind...

That makes it more difficult though, because the likelihood of them having to move the tanks if they moved the pumps would mean the store for a time couldn't pump gas.  That doesn't draw in customers.

[OurTulsa]

That new shop is rediculous.  It's an absolute gap in Brookside.  No amount of landscaping will make that walk comfortable.  

Of course, I guess it's all relative too.  I've heard some say that people generally don't walk in Tulsa and so any sort of provision for the few unfortunate pedestrians is a 'good' thing even if the sidewalk is hemmed in by cars and crossing over multiple points of vehicular conflict.  

It's frustrating for me what passes for walkable in Tulsa.

[SXSW]

I was there last night.  Parallel parking along their Peoria frontage and a small landscaped buffer with trees will help a lot.  There are 4 entrances into the QT, two off Peoria itself, one off 36th Pl. and one off 36th St.  They added sidewalks along 35th Pl., a nice gesture but they stop at QT's property line.  The lack of sidewalks on the neighborhood streets is one of the main downsides to the Brookside area.  Sidewalks are present along 36th from Utica to Peoria and then abruptly end, it would be nice for the neighborhood to have them continue past QT a half mile west to Riverside to connect to the river trails.

A retail storefront just south of the church across the street would go a long way to improving the pedestrian experience at 36th.  Like I said if the Blockbuster site is redeveloped that could be where Blockbuster moves with the displaced church classrooms above the store and parking in the big lot behind.  That and parallel parking on both sides of the street, the elimination of the left turn lane, and the planting of street trees like they have done from 35th Pl. to 33rd St.

Does the Brookside infill plan have any weight or is it just a guideline?  

[OurTulsa]

Does the Brookside infill plan have any weight or is it just a guideline?  

Just a guide.  It's got relatively no influence on how a private property is developed; unless something is developed through a PUD.  The zoning dictates; hence gas station with lots of canopy and pumps, various curb cuts, large quantities of parking, and big setbacks in a CH district.  No 'urban' requirements.  The plan could have been (and still could be) implemented through the zoning code or a new code like the form based code the Pearl District is hoping to establish.

[SXSW]

Just a guide.  It's got relatively no influence on how a private property is developed; unless something is developed through a PUD.  The zoning dictates; hence gas station with lots of canopy and pumps, various curb cuts, large quantities of parking, and big setbacks in a CH district.  No 'urban' requirements.  The plan could have been (and still could be) implemented through the zoning code or a new code like the form based code the Pearl District is hoping to establish.

Brookside needs a form-based code.  Though private developers have, for the most part, done a good job of building up to the sidewalk with large windows and outdoor patios and all parking behind.  It is one of the few places in Tulsa where this has occured all in one area with new construction, and where the pedestrian experience has actually been significantly enhanced in the past decade.  The parking requirements could be eased though which would be a part of the form-based code.