I don't like this, I don't like this at all.... The soccer field section is no better than this:
Get rid of the soccer field. 11th to 10th you are making a pedestrian walk along the picture above ^ and that is bad, bad, bad. Also, a tunnel over 11th street is terrible to pedestrian friendliness!!
The southern section I think looks great, they're just trying to force this playing field that is not in conducive to this site. Also, turf? How are they going to manage the run-off from an elevated turf field like this? And just fyi... turf can be just as expensive to maintain as real grass. Turf on an elevated surface like this will be about 160 degrees in the summers with no shading features, rendering it useless for most of June - September. Another thing I'm sure they have thought of is that with an elevated field like this you are going to have to put walls all around the field with high netting too. If you don't put walls (or a sturdy chain link fence), what's to say someone doesn't run past one of the sidelines, and falls off onto Boston Ave? You'll need nets along the entire perimeter to keep as many of the soccer balls, footballs, etc. from going into traffic or pedestrians below. How much of that sounds appealing to any pedestrian walking along Boston Ave?
Also, the costs are not realistic at all. They need to add an extra $10 million at least.
Guthrie Green cost $8 million to build and is 1/2 the size of this proposal. Park costs will be easily $16-20 million. Underground parking spaces are at least $25,000 a pop. Many can cost into the $30,000-$40,000 a space range depending on soil and other factors. So 200 spots would be a minimum $5,000,000 cost (@$25,000/space). 200 spaces would barely give back what is already there, and would not encourage TCC or Boston Ave Methodist to develop or sell any of the other lots around the park. Honestly, you're looking at a realistic cost of $40 million to build the park and enough parking to make the other surrounding surface parking lots redevelopable.
The Good
- Underground parking
- South section looks great! Shade trees, and it interacts with the sidewalk at street level!
- The geothermal wells, etc. features sound great too
My Advise
- Axe the soccer field - there are to many negatives to it and it's not suitable for this site what so ever. It's also going to add a tremendous amount to the construction cost to float this field over 11th Street.
- Carbon copy the south section to the north block, and turn 11th street into a brick paved street that can be easily closed off for events and it easy to the eye of the pedestrian to cross (would you rather walk across Main Street between 5th and 4th or walk under a dark tunnel for an entire block?)
- Add more retail, especially along Boston. Boston Avenue is one of Tulsa's biggest gems, and we need to figure out ways to entice development along it. Blank street walls are more destructive than the surface parking lots. Boston Ave could be Tulsa's version of Congress Ave in Austin that goes through the high-rise district and transitions into a more human scale area with funky businesses, retailers, and food places.