Looks like this development has sold to Weidner Apartment homes out of Washington for $55 million. That's $220,000/unit.
Same company that now owns Aviare Arts (former Avana Arts) where I live

^

So, at what point do we stop using taxpayer money and other incentives to fund privately-owned housing?

It was all meant to jump-start development and we are far past that point.


Reminder that The Edge received TIF and also a sweetheart deal on the land.

They have now instituted claw-back clauses in these incentive agreements if a property is sold early in ownership. Not sure if The Edge had such a clause but even if it did, the sale timing was likely outside any claw-back period.

You don't offer incentives at the point where the marketplace is not serving the desires of what the city wants. If the city decided it very much wants mid-to-high rise housing along the park or river but no one wants to build it, you may need incentives. Downtown Austin can't build enough high rise housing so no incentives needed. OKC is not at that point for many reasons. It's not just that someone puts something up, but the desired type - like with MAPS, sometimes you just need to fund a pilot project to prove worth, then the market takes over.

And to think many in Heritage Hills fought this from happening, and it turned out to be such a huge catalyst for midtown. Hate to think where things would be without it. Its also the nicest looking large apartment complex in downtown area.

NIMBYism does it's best to ruin everything.

You don't offer incentives at the point where the marketplace is not serving the desires of what the city wants. If the city decided it very much wants mid-to-high rise housing along the park or river but no one wants to build it, you may need incentives. Downtown Austin can't build enough high rise housing so no incentives needed. OKC is not at that point for many reasons. It's not just that someone puts something up, but the desired type - like with MAPS, sometimes you just need to fund a pilot project to prove worth, then the market takes over.

totally agree with this but I think Pete's point is that OKC never moves on to let the market take over. OKC keeps offering incentives even if the development doesn't need or ask. I agree that downtown is mature enough to not warrant any more incentives for projects under 5 floors. Over 5 floors is unproven so as you mention will require incentive to reduce the risk.

New paint colors at the Edge:
18041
18042

Before:
18043

I can't tell if this is an improvement

It is not.

Honestly, I like the color variance it has now. The white makes the other colors pop out a bit more. It's like a marshmellow, caramel, chocolate mix.

It feel like the rents should be dropped thanks to these colors. It has a cheaper feel to me with the louder colors; makes me think of apartments by OU. But I still wish I could afford the Edge!

I don't hate the colors but they do have the effect of drawing more attention to the cheap-looking EIFS panels, so, probably not what they were hoping for. The Edge had been my choice for most attractive of these types of complexes.

At one time, builds like these seemed great, but they are losing their appeal over time. Again, the Edge was one of the best of them, in my opinion, and one of the few that has accomplished getting mixed-use tenants.

That's why I'm excited to see some different housing concepts in OKC.

Deep Deuce apartments also looks like they've been experimenting with some repainting options on the south side of their most NE buildings. Color choice isn't good either.