Downtown Development Overview

[Vision 2025]

Cost.  Parking garages are expensive...  now you want to bury it..     I think it adds about 30% to the cost.

I'd venture double the cost.

[swake]

it's a perfect location to put new garages up against the railroad tracks. Build more there so they aren't built elsewhere.

[DTowner]

I'd venture double the cost.

I will show my ignorance, but is the majority of the additional cost for excavation?  I get there are additional construction and material costs for the below ground portion, but it would seem the bulk of the structural support, decking and walls would be similar whether a 5 story garage consists of 2 below and 3 above ground or all above ground.

[SXSW]

it's a perfect location to put new garages up against the railroad tracks. Build more there so they aren't built elsewhere.

Agree, I'm ok with one here especially with street level retail along Elgin.  I'm not a fan of the one proposed for 5th & Boulder.


The tenants for Block 44 will park in this new garage on Elgin.  I know In The Raw is opening a rooftop restaurant/bar I wonder what the ground floor tenant will be?


And there are future plans for a Phase 2 on the surface lot to the north at Archer & Elgin, from the TDA application:

Phase I
Phase I will consist of the complete civil and utility design of the project, the removal and burial of the overhead
powerlines, and the construction of the five-story office building. The first floor will be retail / commercial, with
floors two through five set for office use.

Phase II
For Phase II, which will mostly be driven by market need, we envision two to three stories of mixed-use space.
We have reviewed both a multifamily component and a mixed-use office development and both would compliment
the success of Phase I.

[DTowner]

At the risk of sounding snarky, what is up with the new name "Vast Bank"?  Maybe with a couple of mergers we could end up with "Prosperous Vast Blue Skies Bank."

[DowntownDan]

I wonder how many bank employees will quit because of the indignity of having to walk a block from the garage to the building every day. I'm also looking forward to the continuing complaints 2 years from now that "there's no parking for Drillers games!!!" because, again, one whole block. That's basically cross country for Tulsa suburbanites.

[swake]

On their facebook page the Tulsa Club hotel says they will be open in March.

Also, there's now construction fence around the old Sooner Federal Building on Boston that's being converted to a Hyatt Place Hotel.

[BKDotCom]

At the risk of sounding snarky, what is up with the new name "Vast Bank"?  Maybe with a couple of mergers we could end up with "Prosperous Vast Blue Skies Bank."

That's "First Prosperous Vast Blue Skies Bank"

[DowntownDan]

It looks like Vast.bank. Everything is cooler when it's a web address. Like church.

[Red Arrow]

That's "First National Prosperous Vast Blue Skies Bank"

Might as well make it a "National" bank.

[patric]

Michael Overall: A dark narrow alley might be the key to revitalizing part of downtown Tulsa

It might not seem like the most obvious choice for revitalization. But major cities all across the country have been experimenting with the idea of "activating alleys," or turning them into places intended for people to visit at all times of the day. In this case, restaurant owner Libby Billings had the idea to turn the alley behind Elote into the Tulsa Art Alley, a sort of outdoor gallery for pedestrians.

Street Cred picks a part of town that seems neglected and gives it a temporary makeover, often using chalk or traffic cones or computer renderings to show how the area could be redeveloped in the future. The hope, of course, is that developers will see the potential and someday make the improvements permanent.

This time, however, at least some parts of the project will already be permanent. Several wall murals will remain in the alley even after the Street Cred event on the last weekend of April. Other elements of the project, such as lighting and park benches, might last only a few days.

"Lighting will be a big part of this," Hoey says. "We're hoping the property owners and the city will work together to make everything permanent."

https://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/michael-overall-a-dark-narrow-alley-might-be-the-key/article_afe32845-93b8-5afb-ad1d-ea97adc5821a.html


Its an opportunity to get that lighting right this time.

The only thing that scares people more than a dark street is one so full of dazzling glare that they cant see well enough to feel safe.

The photos in the Whirled showed one floodlight and three "wallpacks" that lacked any sort of glare control.  They might have enough "brightness" to satisfy the property owners, but try imagining that same amount of light spread out a bit and shielded from your eyes.

The texture of the brick walls would really stand out if they were lit from above in a "wash" of light mostly directed at the wall.  The alley itself would for the most part be illuminated by the softer, more diffuse reflections off of the brick wall, with some less-intense lighting spread out to fill darker spaces inbetween. Festive strings of incandescent (or incandescent-looking) lights of moderate intensity can add life to the space without creating glare of their own.

No garish blue-rich LED lights to give a cold, uninviting appearance when warm white LEDs are just as energy efficient today.

[Dspike]

To my knowledge, lighting is not an area of expertise for anyone on the Art Alley project. Would love to have a few folks who know lighting well be a part of the team putting this transformation together over the next 3 months. The first planning session is on Jan. 30 at Elote at 6 PM. I suspect there may end up being a lighting subcommittee. We have some ideas on funding for purchase and installation, but that will depend on what we need and what that need will cost.

Bottom line: please come out and help us get lighting right on this project.

[patric]

To my knowledge, lighting is not an area of expertise for anyone on the Art Alley project. Would love to have a few folks who know lighting well be a part of the team putting this transformation together over the next 3 months. The first planning session is on Jan. 30 at Elote at 6 PM. I suspect there may end up being a lighting subcommittee. We have some ideas on funding for purchase and installation, but that will depend on what we need and what that need will cost.

Bottom line: please come out and help us get lighting right on this project.

I wrote that on my calendar, thanks.

[Conan71]

To my knowledge, lighting is not an area of expertise for anyone on the Art Alley project. Would love to have a few folks who know lighting well be a part of the team putting this transformation together over the next 3 months. The first planning session is on Jan. 30 at Elote at 6 PM. I suspect there may end up being a lighting subcommittee. We have some ideas on funding for purchase and installation, but that will depend on what we need and what that need will cost.

Bottom line: please come out and help us get lighting right on this project.

Patric is your guy!

[patric]

Why America's New Apartment Buildings All Look the Same
Cheap stick framing has led to a proliferation of blocky, forgettable mid-rises—and more than a few construction fires.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-13/why-america-s-new-apartment-buildings-all-look-the-same