These are from the Civic Center's Facebook page.



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There are 2 of those big white metal structures, not sure what they are, maybe a canopy ? I was down there last friday and it's coming along. They still have a lot of streets blocked off, like over in front of the museum, that have been completed but probably still curing, that all that's needed is to remove the barriers.

There are 2 of those big white metal structures, not sure what they are, maybe a canopy ?

Mini band shells, more or less.

Here's one from this AM, courtesy of the P180 Facebook page.

Sod going down and this will make the park look much more complete by the end of the day:



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Progress at Sheridan & Broadway:



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ok... coming along...

at least I know that I can play outdoor chess in front of the Civic Center
(except that I've forgotten how to play :()

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I kind of want to try an experiment of leaving a chess set out there to see how long the pieces stick around.

Look at all that sod:



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Supposed to get good rain off and on through Saturday. They are probably really pushing to get it down.

Yep. Bet it is all green tomorrow.

yea, that's a lot of grass, man

I think that's the most workers I've ever seen on a Project 180 job site!!

I kind of want to try an experiment of leaving a chess set out there to see how long the pieces stick around.

In the Oklahoma wind? About 5 minutes. :wink:

I think that's the most workers I've ever seen on a Project 180 job site!!

No kidding.

Steve addressed this today in his blog:


I asked City Engineer Eric Wenger – does such disparity in urgency signify that getting work done for a party is more important than ending the suffering of downtown businesses?

More on Project 180 | OKC Central (http://blog.newsok.com/okccentral/2012/09/25/more-on-project-180-2/)

^^^ouch^^^

There are 2 of those big white metal structures, not sure what they are, maybe a canopy ? I was down there last friday and it's coming along. They still have a lot of streets blocked off, like over in front of the museum, that have been completed but probably still curing, that all that's needed is to remove the barriers.


Mini band shells, more or less.

I interpreted it more like modern art, especially when you're at ground level.

More progress:



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I commented on that last pic on their page. Seriously? Love the bulky utility box sitting at the corner of the intersection. It's in the Arts District, therefore, I say they should dress it.

Heard the Mayor say they were laying sod at midnight last night.......guess they weren't rained out.

From today; the Civic Center 75th Anniversary bash is tonight:



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/bipark9271.jpg

Was by the site early this morning as I needed to see this with my own eyes.
!!WOW!!
I have never in my life seen this many workers, on a city project in such a small area, at one time all working and nobody standing around.

Amazing how fast that was completed. Yet streets are still torn up across downtown.

I noticed from Will's recent photos that Hudson near Devon and Main St. STILL is not finished.

It looked nearly done when I walked that area extensively in early June. Four months later and it's still a mess.

Realize they aren't finished yet but that looks rather bland/boring. How does it compare to the renderings?

It looks exactly like the last renderings.

Keep in mind that plants need to look good for years and years, so they always start out on the small/thin side.


More from today... Looks like most the big things are operational:



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This looks pretty great:



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Spectacular

I was just down there Saturday, that was fast...

I hope they learn their lesson and put the control board for this fountain in a water proof box. LOL

Huge improvement from the old park, despite younger and smaller trees. Now if they would only get these streets done....

Looks great.

Hey all,

I just posted some pics to the Civic Center's facebook page. You are welcome to have a look. I'll be taking more when the weather clears. These were taken before the 75th Gala Celebration last night. You've already seen two, which Pete nabbed from our twitter account. :p


Oh What A Night at Bicentennial Park | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.534619716564015.142229.170444802981510&type=1)

I honestly think the finished product looks better than the renderings.

Fountain looks nice, I didn't recall there being one planned...going to have to go back and look at the renderings...

Here are a bunch more from the Civic Center FB page:



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I'm really very pleasantly surprised by how nice this all looks.

I agree.

I'm sure it will be even better when the trees and plants mature a bit and they put on all the finishing touches.

The top pic, with the fountain straight ahead, looks like a good Chamber brochure shot (well, on a nicer day, anyway).

The last two shots are interesting. The big open space where the new parking garage will go is quite apparent from this POV. So the new garage will definitely be making a visual impact to folks walking by the Civic Center lawn. Hopefully it will blend in well and help engender a positive view from this spot.

Ran into Rand Elliott taking pictures and gave him props on the project. Hated to see the mature trees removed in such a hasty fashion but honestly have always liked his design for the park itself. Going to go walk through there this afternoon.

it's great to finally have a forum post on here that there was nothing but bickering about a change that was going to occur, only to have it turn out well enough that people are impressed with the final result

I really like that the people here are generally reasonable and truly want what's best for OKC.

Many times something is proposed that looks at least a little misguided, and people express concern. That's certainly not a bad thing and I happen to know the dialog and sharing of information here has led to lots of changes for the better by getting more people involved in the process, and doing so at a relatively early juncture. Just understanding what is happening or about to happen is a big, big thing.

You will notice many more public hearings, questionnaires, action groups, etc. These decisions used to be made by a few people in a relatively private way but now there is no way to get past the citizenry! That can certainly add complexity but it does seem the end results are much more satisfying to the masses.

Steve Lackmeyer deserves a great deal of credit here, too. He's fantastic about being on these stories, challenging (in his own nice way) statements and non-answers, and really getting the word out before everything is already decided. And I do mean Steve and not the Oklahoman. I have nothing against OPUBCO but almost all this work is Steve's own initiative and I've never known anyone who works harder or cares more about the community they cover. I'm one of the few people that really sees what goes into his work, and he is simply an amazing asset for OKC.


Keep in mind that this design was adjusted after outcry over the spinning towers and other elements; they incorporated many of the statues and plaques and found good homes for the others (through the efforts of a local arts consortium), a decent part of the budget came from private funds, etc.

I think this is a great example of a project being directly influenced by the public and the final product becoming better as a result.

Even more new pics added to the Civic Center's facebook page. Take a look! Bicentennial Park September 28, 2012 | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.534764443216209.142247.170444802981510&type=1) In the Spring, when everything has bloomed out and the road construction is completed, we'll bring in a professional to take some high-quality shots for marketing pieces. These are just to share via social media, etc., and to give the public an idea of what has been completed. Feel free to copy and post here and share with friends via your own social media streams.

Love these:


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I wonder how often the fountain will run.

I have stated this elsewhere, but as a person very skeptical of the redesign, I could not be more pleased with how this park turned out. It does a much better job tying City Hall and the Civic Center together than the old park. As the trees and plants mature, the shade along the "wings" will be very nice places to sit and take in downtown OKC. Well done to the designers and crews who built it.

Wow, shocked at how fast this all came together! On a somewhat unrelated note, I noticed they had fixed the fountain at the North end of the Myriad Gardens today. They had it running around 1:30. Looked like somebody was working on the pump and testing it.

It looks they need still to finish the tile work around the Civic Center fountain, so they probably just had it on for the event last night.

I went down there and took a bunch of pictures of the stuff that isn't done. It is impressive and very respectful to the building. With that said, it needs a great deal of "tightening up" to match the other P180 streetscape quality and quite frankly, Rand Elliot's typical standards of finish. IE there still a great deal of detail work to be done.

Having been in construction for many years, I'd say the most obvious challenge to the finish of the site is that because they rushed the installation, a great deal of the soil elevations, plants, and paving stones dramatically settled over the past few nights of soaking rains. Usually, when a construction project follows a typical schedule, the site has more time to naturally settle during rains and so forth during the constructive process. They haven't had time to correct all of the settling that has occurred.

Because the paving stones were installed in a hurry, many of them are not "tight" with the collective group of stones in some of the courses. These set on a bed of sand and really ought to be removed and relaid when things quiet down out there. Also, I thought that many of the "cuts" weren't very well done. It is obvious that many of the pavers were set in a hurry and many of the joints don't follow the courses very well. Almost like bad tile work. A picture from the distance, it looks great. Standing right over it, staring at these joints and textures, there is quite a bit of corrective work that needs to be done to meet the other P180 finish quality.

The fountain is musical. The tile work was not done around the nozzles. There are 8 speakers in niches of the retaining walls to project a moderate level of sound. It was not on but my company looked into biding on the fountain work this that knowledge.

All and all a great design for a large quantity of people. because of the elevation changes, each arch almost seems like its own pocket park where your kids could play somewhat sheltered while you watch. It is a grand space while still creating a sense of enclosure that has a degree of intimacy I wasn't expecting within the curve of the arch. There are also chess tables along the Northernmost perimeter sidewalk.

Love these:

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This is more what I was expecting, I hereby retract my bland/boring comment. Just noticed the fountain isn't on in that pic, otherwise fantastic!

Unfortunate to hear Urban & Sid's observations. Hopefully they will go back and correct the things that were apparently slapped together just to get it done. Always time to do things over but never enough time to do it right the first time? Again, hope they don't decide that it is "good enough". Can't help but be reminded of a few episodes of Design Star where they are under the time element to get the homeowners remodel done and from a distance it looks pretty good until the judges take a closer look and notice all of the things that were left partially done. To HGTV's credit, they have a crew go in and finish the job so the homeowners aren't left hanging.

I hope the city will go back and correct the less than acceptable work now that the 75th Anniversary "deadline" has been met. To accept the issues pointed out by UP and Sid would ruin an excellent design. It looks outstanding in the photos though - especially from the Civic Center steps toward City Hall.

Typically, before receiving work and providing final payment to a contractor you do a final walk-through and create a punch list of things that need to be finished or fixed. Only when these things reach the satisfaction of the client do they get payment.

I'm sure the issues will be fixed. I'm also sure the contractors were under a lot of duress and didn't have time to complete work at their usual standards.

I've been monitoring this project over the summer and can tell you the workers haven't been under much duress. Every time I've driven by, the project the workers looked at me like I was disrupting their siesta. There are contractors out there who will respect deadlines, the city just needs to do a better job finding them and holding them accountable.

I've been monitoring this project over the summer and can tell you the workers haven't been under much duress. Every time I've driven by, the project the workers looked at me like I was disrupting their siesta. There are contractors out there who will respect deadlines, the city just needs to do a better job finding them and holding them accountable.

If they are using contractors and not city employees then they don't micro-manage the job. They hold the contractor accountable through the contract which should spell out all control in detail, including finish dates, penalties, incentives, turn-over requirements, warranties, etc., etc. These contracts are usually pretty extensive and most constraints exposed in the RFQs. The city doesn't go around and tell the contractors' workers to get busy.

When I said workers under duress, I meant only for the Bicentennial Park work, as they were working past midnight, etc.

Wow, shocked at how fast this all came together! On a somewhat unrelated note, I noticed they had fixed the fountain at the North end of the Myriad Gardens today. They had it running around 1:30. Looked like somebody was working on the pump and testing it.

The "wave pool" or the "rock garden"? I was told by an employee that one of the problems they are having at the Northeast fountain is that there is soo much rock surface - and shallow water - that the algae grows very fast in Oklahoma City's warm Summers.

Great job on the Bicentennial Park project. I was also quite concerned to see all the mature trees removed. I remember when the Arts Festival was held here and how much the park improved after they moved the festival to the street adjacent the MG. With the constant foot traffic gone during the wettest season (it always rains during festival), the park began to look nice. Planting trees significantly mature was a great "leap forward" for landscaping in OKC.

I had the chance to monitor the park project more in June and July and my only take away was a lot of people standing around. I'm sure they did a lot of work recently but maybe they should start switching contractors more until they find someone who can build a football field sized park in under 6 months and respect deadlines. Congrats to Elliot on the design though.

The "wave pool" or the "rock garden"? I was told by an employee that one of the problems they are having at the Northeast fountain is that there is soo much rock surface - and shallow water - that the algae grows very fast in Oklahoma City's warm Summers.

I love the other water features, but that fountain looks utterly ridiculous.

The "wave pool" or the "rock garden"? I was told by an employee that one of the problems they are having at the Northeast fountain is that there is soo much rock surface - and shallow water - that the algae grows very fast in Oklahoma City's warm Summers.

The wave pool, the one with the marble finish that has steps coming down from the top pool

Cool photo by Sid of the new Bicentennial Park:



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