Downtown Development Overview

[carltonplace]

I haven't seen it mentioned here but Mcnellies Group is deveolping the old BRIX office supply building on 3rd St to house their coporate offices. I got a peak at the work going on inside and it is very cool, including a beautiful cast iron stairway.

[AdamsHall]

I haven't seen it mentioned here but Mcnellies Group is deveolping the old BRIX office supply building on 3rd St to house their coporate offices. I got a peak at the work going on inside and it is very cool, including a beautiful cast iron stairway.

Looks like a complete redo.  It is amazing how much better the building front looks after they removed the concrete block from the window spaces and installed glass.

I had heard they were also locating a German themed restaurant in the space?  That did not make sense to me considering the proximity to Fassler Hall.

[ElTurnado]

It's my understanding that the upstairs will be the corporate office of McNellie's Group and the downstairs will be an Event Center.

[BKDotCom]

Way back when this was announced I believe they stated it would also serve as a consolidated bakery for the McNellies group?

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

An update on the Hogan building. It is interesting to see all of the features they added in. Nice to see the effort (and probably high expense) they put into making the building attractive, unique and useful for employees. Hopefully more businesses follow suit in Tulsa to provide a premium location and experience for employees rather than cutting costs to move to cheaper real estate.

New Hogan Assessments building combines elements of downtown's past and future

Hogan Assessments faced a happy problem — its business in personality-based assessments had been going so well, the company had outgrown its longtime office in a multi-tenant building near 21st Street and Lewis Avenue.
Blake Loepp, a spokesman for the company, said there was plenty of office space available across the city that Hogan Assessments could have used.
But then they saw the empty plot of land at Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street in downtown.
"We just couldn't pass it up," he said.
Hogan Assessments used that land at 11 S. Greenwood Ave. to construct a $15 million, two-story office building with numerous details that not only provide a more productive environment for employees but also create a striking greeting to those entering downtown from the northeast, said Aaron Tracy, chief operating officer of Hogan Assessments.
"This building introduces you to the architecture of Tulsa," he said.
Hogan Assessments began moving into the 35,000-square-foot building in November and is marking its grand opening Thursday.
The building, designed with the assistance of Selser Schaefer Architects, combines many elements of downtown's past and future, said Hank Spieker of Selser Schaefer. For example, the exterior walls feature glass as a reflection of City Hall, charcoal panels that celebrate the area's manufacturing, and classic brick that honors the historic buildings along Greenwood and elsewhere downtown.
One feature won't be finished for some time: A metal grid fence along the eastern edge of the property will be the framework for a "living green fence" as plantlife grows within it, Spieker said. It will also seclude the parking lot in the back.
The company's new headquarters also features art commissioned just for the company. Visible from Greenwood within the public entrance is Cristallum, a creation by local artists Chris Wollard, Andrew Harmon and R.C. Morrison, Tracy said.
This mostly transparent work is teardrop-shaped with a solid circular hemisphere near the top. At night, it shifts through more than a million colors and often causes cars to slow down as the drivers stare at it, Tracy said.
But employees have taken to calling it "The Iceberg."
"The iceberg is a strong analogy for our business," Tracy said. "I might see the surface of you, but beneath the surface there's many more aspects of you I might not be aware of at first glance."
Within the building are multiple white walls decorated by Shantell Martin, an English artist known for her stream-of-consciousness drawing. Spieker said some of these walls, arranged in broken right angles, separate the kitchen and lounge area from the rest of the office.
"Beyond being great art pieces, they're a dividing space between work and play," he said.
As currently configured, the office areas on the first and second floors completely lack cubicles. Instead, the extended desktops feature padded surfaces to encourage co-workers to sit down and talk.
But the desks don't have trash cans. Employees are encouraged to use a central trash area designed to almost look like another desk.
Tracy said the entire design encourages collaboration.
"We find ways to have random collisions between employees throughout the day," he said.
Though the outer areas of the office follow the lines of the walls, the interior takes these right angles and rotates them a few degrees. Spieker said that's to represent the true directions of north, south, east and west — the roads of downtown are all oriented a few degrees off in order to follow the railroad.
Some areas are more enclosed, such as a number of "phone booths" where one or more employees can go for privacy. There's also numerous conferences that now allow the company to hold its training events and partner seminars on-site.
The Hogan Assessments headquarters has a number of unusual features in order to make it more energy-efficient. Seventy geothermal wells wrap around the north of the building, and all the lighting are on banks of sensors — rather than turn off all the lights when the sun's out, banks of them dim just enough to provide uniform light through the office.
And unlike nearly all modern construction, the air conditioning is blown in through vents on the floor, not the ceiling, Spieker said.
"This type of air distribution is the most efficient way to cool an area with a high ceiling, rather than trying to force air down," he said.
Perhaps the most striking area of the building is the rooftop. In addition to restrooms and a catering kitchen for the large patio area, the roof also has a rock garden with waving stripes of three types of rock, which is itself surrounded by sedum plants, Spieker said.
"These plants are active year-round, and bloom in different colors as the months go by," he said.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/new-hogan-assessments-building-combines-elements-of-downtown-s-past/article_196eee8f-2070-5ba8-b129-57efac281d67.html

[Tulsasaurus Rex]

The OKPOP Museum is another step closer to reality as architects will receive requests for development proposals for the $40 million museum planned for Tulsa's Brady District.
It's being called a huge step forward for the long-term project that will be not only an economic boost but a way to highlight Tulsa's past and where it is going.

Tulsan Ken Busby said, "It really shows everyone that concrete progress is being made, that this is reality, this is going to happen."

For years, Busby and others have been part of the OKPOP Museum discussions.

"Tulsa matters and has a big story to tell," he said.

This week, architecture firms from around the state will receive an official request for design ideas for the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture - set to be built in the Brady Arts District.

OKPOP Executive Director, Jeff Moore, said, "We're hoping that they will lend their creativity to the creativity of the topic of pop culture and make something that is uniquely Oklahoma and very special."

Aside from that, the sky is the limit for what designs could be submitted for the blank canvas.

It's an exciting time for everyone who has been involved in the concept over the last eight years, and they are ready to get the collections on display.

Moore said, "There is not a single topic in pop culture that there is not an Oklahoman directly involved with."

The design process is expected to take about a year - with ground broken on the lot in 2017 and an opening date of fall 2019.

"Hopefully, people from all over the world will come to attend and see what amazing stories Oklahoma has to offer," Moore said.

Busby said, "Right here in the heart of the Brady, an OKPOP statement could be spectacular. I can't wait to see what they come up with."

The $25 million for construction itself is secured through bonds and private donations; the $15 million left for the displays will come from fundraisers and other private contributions.

One thing you might learn see in the museum is that the original comic books for the Star Wars series - published in 1977 - were written by Tulsan Archie Goodwin while an editor at marvel.

http://www.newson6.com/story/30749816/okpop-takes-next-step-seeks-development-proposals

[Laramie]

My son loves Tulsa!  He became fascinated with the Riverside Parks area when I took him and his brother fishing from the converted trestle fishing pier.

Would like to see some companies like Williams &/or Bank of Oklahoma put in another skyscraper in Tulsa.   Bank of Oklahoma & Devon Energy has started construction on a new 27-story (433 ft. high), 700,000-square-foot building to be named BOK Park Plaza.



Downtown uprising is underway as BOK Park Plaza's groundbreaking occurs in downtown Oklahoma City | News OK

_________________
OG&E possible one tower headquarter development.        The original four planned towers (Clayco development) has been put on hold.

Depressing oil prices has put on hold 4 towers (25-26 stories) proposed by OKC OG&E corporation who planned a development on the demolished Stage Center site  (included in the above link video).  OG&E (Oklahoma Gas & Electric) will probably have to settle for one tower instead of 4 (2 office towers/2 residential towers); those will probably be scrapped.

[cannon_fodder]

Awesome. Downtown OKC is really coming into its own. Glad the momentum is continuing.

Tulsa has been doing really well with the low and midrise developments that really add to the urban landscape, OKC kept more of that downtown than Tulsa did. Towers are great for a skyline and hopefully to keep a business anchored, but they empty out after 5pm and just look pretty on weekends. Small cities (Tulsa/OKC) are doing better with that now than we did in the 70s-90s, when anything over 6 stories just had an entrance and glass on the front (if you were lucky). But still, en entire block of 3-5 stories does much more for an urban environment than 1/4 block with a 20 story tower and 3/4 surface parking lot.

There were whispers running around that BOK was thinking of building a new tower in Tulsa, I'm guessing with Williams going away any thought of that is on indefinite hold.

[DowntownDan]

Agreed.  Tulsa needs infill, not high rises.  Also, we know how this works.  OKC gets this




We get this

[LandArchPoke]

Agreed.  Tulsa needs infill, not high rises.  Also, we know how this works.  OKC gets this




We get this

To be fair OKC is getting nothing. OGE will not be building a single structure on that site (for now). They will be "beatifying it" until a proper development can be found to be built there - i.e. they will plant grass and a few trees. They also torn down one of the most architecturally significant structures in the city as well... just for some pretty pictures.

This is what was originally proposed.



The only way OKC was going to get the other project was for 100 million in TIF subsidies. I'd actually take the Cimarex horribly ugly infill project that was on a surface parking lot over the stunt OGE just pulled in OKC.

Also, BOK Park Plaza leveled an entire block of historic buildings that were previously occupied. The new footprint for that block will be nearly 50% parking garages. It will also have a skybridge connecting to Devon's HQ tower. Not sure how that project is great outside of an addition of a shiny tall glass box to the skyline. That entire block will be dead on weekends and after 5pm. They have also requested to remove bike lanes in order to accommodate additional traffic that will be coming in/out of those new parking structures too... yikes.

[Laramie]

OKC has sacrificed a lot of its historic buildings.  People here are fed up with the destruction and the replacement with glass boxes.  There are a few developments in OKC that didn't require destruction of historic buildings.

The Criterion Concert Hall is under construction in Bricktown (DT) District of OKC:


The largely brick building would be 39,606 square feet with a u-shaped upper mezzanine and a capacity of 4,200, coincidentally the exact same as the Brady Theater in Tulsa.

Brady Center Theater (interior)

Civic Center Music Hall (interior)

Now, the Brady Center has seats much like Oklahoma City's Civic Center Music Hall.  The Criterion Concert Hall will be more in line with Tulsa's Cain's Ballroom.  The two venues, Cain's in Tulsa and the Criterion in OKC should bring more concerts to the Sooner State since both venues should attract great acts & entertainment; some may overlap, however the 91 mile stretch of the Turner Turnpike will give us alternatives.

Tulsa Performing Arts Center & Cain's Ballroom are real jewels.

[LandArchPoke]

Oklahoma City has a lot of great infill projects. The Steelyard and the 21c Hotel & surrounding loft/apartment developments are two examples. Everyone seems to always get caught up with tall buildings, when in realty they usually do little for creating good urban environments. They are typically more harmful than good.

BTW cannon_fodder, you mentioned BOK rumored to be looking into building a new tower - they have been planning and evaluating it for a few years. Here's a video that even shows it on Cyntergy's Vimeo page. It's "planned" for the parking lot that they own in the Brady, that will be next to the OKPOP Museum. My thinking is the parking structure that's part of the Museum will allow them to free up that surface lot for their new HQ Tower. Now, things can and do change. There's rumors ETE will sell the tower to BOK and reduce it's footprint in the tower (layoff people) which would allow BOK to consolidate into the tower. BOK's current loan's should frighten anyone, because nearly 30% of their current loans are to energy related businesses and is one of the most exposed large banks in the U.S. currently to energy related loans (source: Wall Street Journal). So who knows what will happen. Frankly I don't think it'd be smart of ETE to sell the tower, they should work on consolidating leased properties from other markets in an asset they own in a prime location in a low cost market... but I'm not an oil exec so what do I know.

https://vimeo.com/57485948

BOK Building: 0:15-0:33 (@0:22 you can see the BOK logo middle right), 1:26-1:35 (you can even see the current Williams/BOK Tower in this part & the BOK logo again), 2:37-2:52

Here's a link to a 3 min overview of the project study: https://vimeo.com/48392143

[Laramie]

Awesome video.  

Would be great for Tulsa if these developments come to fruition.   Is that a proposed new bridge over the Arkansas River with low water dams and a giant hole bigger than the one in Dallas' Turtle Creek?

The price of oil (per barrel) has slowed, downsized or put on hold a lot of proposed developments in Tulsa & OKC; the state's oil industry has lost more than 13,000 jobs. While many of those workers have found work in other industries, the new jobs often pay less. Lower production and commodity prices also have slashed royalty payments to mineral owners throughout the state.

Look for the oil industry to rebound; not to the levels of 2008 but to the point where you will see more developments in Tulsa & OKC.   Tulsa has some magnificent churches (Boston Avenue, Holy Family Cathedral...)


Impressive development with a beautiful facade. Is that parking on the lower levels?

[erfalf]

OKC kept more of that downtown than Tulsa did.

I think you may need to do a little more reading about the destruction of downtown Oklahoma City. Tulsa has lost much of the periphery of downtown, but OKC lost it's core back in the early 70's. It is the quintessential example most often cited of what not to do to rehabilitate an area. Just google the "Pei Plan" and be prepared to be horrified. The city wasn't able to regain favor for 20 years until Maps came along.

[erfalf]

Also, I understand OKC is a much bigger metro area, but the thing that is concerning (less so now with a few projects finally kicking off) is that Tulsa is not getting many of the 3-5 story apartment projects. Now recently in the East Village things are moving in addition to the completion of the GreenArch project. But OKC has quit a few of these completed and in progress. The void NE of Bricktown is now one of the most happening neighborhoods. As much as I think Tulsa still has an edge when it comes to complete urban districts (East Village/Blue Dome/Brady/Brookside) and still has the best urban district in the state (Cherry Street), it is falling behind drastically in the roof count, especially downtown. And on that front, if things continue at there current pace, I see Auto Alley surpassing Cherry Street as the premier urban district in the state.

But I will agree, everyone wants to see high rises. But I think you will find that even those in OKC are biting their tounges about these recent developments (BOK/Devon/OG&E) hoping it will lead to bigger and better things. I'm not saying Cimerex is awesome either, but I will say that as ugly as it is, it only took up about 1/4 of a block and at that it was surface parking to begin with. Those two items alone possibly make this more attractive than either of the two high rises in OKC.