I like it also. It does try to differentiate from MGB, adding new amenities rather than competing and providing a larger scale.

I only have one comment: I'd rather see paddle boats in the lake than rowing boats. Seems weird to be out rowing in such a small pond; most big city parks have paddle boats where you work out our legs and the boat impact is much smaller/constrained.

I also think it is a little strange to ring the oval with trees. Seems to detract from the great lawn in a way.

I'm warming up to it.

Like I said in the Union Station thread, I really wish the Harvey Spine would be been incorporated. It's an important planning feature of the Core to Shore master plan that the Devon HQ, Myriad Gardens, Convention Center, and Skydance Bridge all pay respect to. The park is cool, but ignoring the surrounding urban context invites placelessness.

In the very near future Myriad Gardens is going to be way busier. Look how active it is now and there is virtually nothing south and very little to the west. And to the east, the Cox Center is a pretty good blockade in itself.

But imagine the Clacyo block, the convention center and then the Cox site all full of hotels, apartments and offices. That park is going to be overrun.

Central Park is going to be needed in a way that is hard to conceive right now. And speculators (and OCURA) have been buying up property all around, so it won't be long until that area starts to fill in as well.

I like the more open nature of Central Park and really like the idea of the Woodlands Walk, which will allow you to immerse yourself in nature while still being in the middle of the City.

And Union Station alone will make this setting dynamite. I'm starting to get excited about this project.

ya, I agree. this is a gem in the making and does allow downtown to grow. actually, there are downtowns that likely might be jealous of OKC for having nice programmed large scale parks in its downtown.

I know Seattle wanted something like this back in the day (as I and other industrial engineering students did a case study on creating a boston garden type park at south lake union, back in the mid-90's). The parks here (Seattle Center, Waterfront, Freeway Park) are on the edges of downtown or are essentially concrete plazas (Westlake Park, Occidental Park) that don't really add or provide any relief for urban residents/workers. But I think we're going in the right direction here by burying the 99 freeway and creating a lawn that opens up the waterfront (ala Vancouver).

I like it also. It does try to differentiate from MGB, adding new amenities rather than competing and providing a larger scale.

I only have one comment: I'd rather see paddle boats in the lake than rowing boats. Seems weird to be out rowing in such a small pond; most big city parks have paddle boats where you work out our legs and the boat impact is much smaller/constrained.

I also think it is a little strange to ring the oval with trees. Seems to detract from the great lawn in a way.

I disagree, it creates an enclosed arena feel & will also help with acoustics by keeping sound in.

I'm warming up to it.

Same here. The original depictions left a sort of ho hum feeling. Seeing everything fleshed out in more detail makes it much more appealing.

In the image which title begins The Oval - Large Event Setup, at the lower left there is a notation that the permanent stage is not used as a stage.

I suppose I am just having a sleepy morning moment, but why would a permanent stage not be used as a stage for a large event when that seems to be its only reason to even exist?

This looks nicer overall than I was imaging it would. Hopefully these are truly closer to reality. I'm puzzled by rowboats rather than paddle boats myself, if only because in younger days I never managed to swamp out or lose anyone out of a paddle boat. Rowboats and canoes, well, it don't take a heaping helping of onery for mischief to reign supreme.

OKCTalk - First look at final plans for MAPS 3 park (http://www.okctalk.com/content/74-first-look-final-plans-maps-3-park.html)

Ok, how do we get them to table the convention center and do this now?

Same here. The original depictions left a sort of ho hum feeling. Seeing everything fleshed out in more detail makes it much more appealing.

Thirded.

Park is exactly like Myriad Gardens just bigger. What a waste of land and buildings, that we are destroying! They could have had something unique and different, but got the design from the same book as Myriad Gardens.

Park is exactly like Myriad Gardens just bigger. What a waste of land and buildings, that we are destroying! They could have had something unique and different, but got the design from the same book as Myriad Gardens.

You're being a bit dramatic, Curt.

Park is exactly like Myriad Gardens just bigger. What a waste of land and buildings, that we are destroying! They could have had something unique and different, but got the design from the same book as Myriad Gardens.

It's a big park, MBG is a smaller park. Both have the elements of many urban parks around the country... How much different did you think they could make them?

lol I don't think any city could ever have too much outdoor areas.

But anyway, where are the plans for the park south of i40?

It's a big park, MBG is a smaller park. Both have the elements of many urban parks around the country... How much different did you think they could make them?

It seems like this park will have more trees. A lot of trees were removed to add programming to the MBG.

lol I don't think any city could ever have too much outdoor areas.

But anyway, where are the plans for the park south of i40?

They will come later. This is a recent conceptual plan:

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/5497d1387379904-central-park-central4.jpg

Thirded.

Fourthed.

They will come later. This is a recent conceptual plan:

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/5497d1387379904-central-park-central4.jpg

Why such a funny shape for the southern half? I'd think simply continuing the east and west park borders of the north half to the south half would make more sense. I'd much prefer a more classic, natural park as opposed to this over-stuffed, over-designed modern layout. But if we can get anything remotely similar to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_Terrace]Central Park's Bethesda Terrace (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_Terrace), I'll be more than thrilled.

Anyone besides me notice that the planned "light columns" bear a striking resemblance to the new World Trade Center tower? Anyone think this was on purpose?
94269427

"Of course, this is Central Park. This was designed in 1850 by Joe Pepitone. Built during the Civil War so the northern armies could practice fighting on...on grass."

It's a big park, MBG is a smaller park. Both have the elements of many urban parks around the country... How much different did you think they could make them?

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | (http://www.newson6.com/story/22627555/many-tulsa-residents-wowed-by-plans-for-new-park-on-riverside-drive)

Anyone besides me notice that the planned "light columns" bear a striking resemblance to the new World Trade Center tower? Anyone think this was on purpose?

Actually it's a miniature Shanghai World Financial Center:

https://www.mori.co.jp/en/projects/swfc/img/ph_index_01.jpg

I'm warming up to it.

Like I said in the Union Station thread, I really wish the Harvey Spine would be been incorporated. It's an important planning feature of the Core to Shore master plan that the Devon HQ, Myriad Gardens, Convention Center, and Skydance Bridge all pay respect to. The park is cool, but ignoring the surrounding urban context invites placelessness.

Cuatro, do you have a link to what you said about the Harvey Spine? I missed your commentary on this and would like to read it.

Kramer!

Cuatro, do you have a link to what you said about the Harvey Spine? I missed your commentary on this and would like to read it.

Here ya go:
City of Oklahoma City | Core to Shore (http://www.okc.gov/Planning/coretoshore/index.html)
https://www.okc.gov/planning/coretoshore/visuals_data.html

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | (http://www.newson6.com/story/22627555/many-tulsa-residents-wowed-by-plans-for-new-park-on-riverside-drive)

What am I missing?

I'm warming up to it.

Like I said in the Union Station thread, I really wish the Harvey Spine would be been incorporated. It's an important planning feature of the Core to Shore master plan that the Devon HQ, Myriad Gardens, Convention Center, and Skydance Bridge all pay respect to. The park is cool, but ignoring the surrounding urban context invites placelessness.

You know who's gonna notice the lack of that? Planners and people looking at aerial maps. While the spine is cool in thought, and looking at a map I get it, I don't think 99.99% of the people walking through this park are gonna think "man this is one placeless piece of land."

But, maybe I'm not supposed to get it, who knows.

edit - after looking at a few of the drawings in that link it makes a little more sense, still not sure I'd call it "placelessness" though, but to each their own.

What is wrong with it being similar to the Myriad Gardens? Last time I checked that is the best park by far in OKC.

Also, all I hear on here is about "place making" & how everything needs to be designed similarly in the same district. Now this is a problem? Ridiculous.

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | (http://www.newson6.com/story/22627555/many-tulsa-residents-wowed-by-plans-for-new-park-on-riverside-drive)

Whats the issue, that Myriad is next to it and similar in design, or that the design itself is bad? If it's the former, that's weak.

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | (http://www.newson6.com/story/22627555/many-tulsa-residents-wowed-by-plans-for-new-park-on-riverside-drive)

Well I guess the box I live in contains the 5 or 6 urban parks that I've visited in Boston, New York, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Chicago this year... It's a big box.

I have looked at the Tulsa park and it has many of the same design elements that both of ours do. Again, I fail to see how ours is so much worse than their design. They have a few attractions that look like upgraded versions of what we are getting, but that's what happens when you dump $70 million more (at minimum) for phase 1 alone into a park that's 20 acres smaller than ours. Tulsa's park is being funded by one of the largest donations in History for the purpose of building a park, while ours is publicly funded. They also have the benefit of having a river nearby running the length of the park, a natural stream running through it, and mature trees to work with onsite, which help increase the aesthetics while saving money. We are starting with a flat, empty, blank slate that we will have to build up from. One benefit for us is that our park is actually in the urban core, not 2 miles away from it.

If you have such an issue with this, how would you redesign it under the same financial constraints?

We are starting with a flat, empty, blank slate that we will have to build up from. One benefit for us is that our park is actually in the urban core, not 2 miles away from it.

If you have such an issue with this, how would you redesign it under the same financial constraints?

We aren't starting with a flat empty piece of land. Ours had a bunch of $### in it that we had to tear out. It was worse than a flat empty piece of land. Yes, I am saddened by the loss of the film exchange building, but most of the stuff that was in our park area needed bulldozed.

Overall I'm in agreement with you. If some billionaire came out of nowhere and gave us a free $200 million, we could do a lot more with our park. MAPS paints with broad brush strokes. We aren't spending the money (on any of the projects) to get "best in the world". This is about changing "place where you will get stabbed by a hobo" into "pretty nice park".

This is about changing "place where you will get stabbed by a hobo" into "pretty nice park".

No like button on this forum, but thanks for making me spit my water out

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | (http://www.newson6.com/story/22627555/many-tulsa-residents-wowed-by-plans-for-new-park-on-riverside-drive)

Tulsa's Park is a completely different than ours. They are also making it a destination Park away from other buildings while ours will be a central park in the middle of an urban metropolis. To me, ours is more in leu of NYC's Central Park.

Well I guess the box I live in contains the 5 or 6 urban parks that I've visited in Boston, New York, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Chicago this year... It's a big box.

I have looked at the Tulsa park and it has many of the same design elements that both of ours do. Again, I fail to see how ours is so much worse than their design. They have a few attractions that look like upgraded versions of what we are getting, but that's what happens when you dump $70 million more (at minimum) for phase 1 alone into a park that's 20 acres smaller than ours. Tulsa's park is being funded by one of the largest donations in History for the purpose of building a park, while ours is publicly funded. They also have the benefit of having a river nearby running the length of the park, a natural stream running through it, and mature trees to work with onsite, which help increase the aesthetics while saving money. We are starting with a flat, empty, blank slate that we will have to build up from. One benefit for us is that our park is actually in the urban core, not 2 miles away from it.

If you have such an issue with this, how would you redesign it under the same financial constraints?

+1

We aren't starting with a flat empty piece of land. Ours had a bunch of $### in it that we had to tear out. It was worse than a flat empty piece of land. Yes, I am saddened by the loss of the film exchange building, but most of the stuff that was in our park area needed bulldozed.

Overall I'm in agreement with you. If some billionaire came out of nowhere and gave us a free $200 million, we could do a lot more with our park. MAPS paints with broad brush strokes. We aren't spending the money (on any of the projects) to get "best in the world". This is about changing "place where you will get stabbed by a hobo" into "pretty nice park".

Good point. Meant to mention that we were spending a decent amount of money on demolition where in Tulsa they don't have to, but I forgot to add that. By flat, empty piece of land, I meant that we have a lot less to work with than they do - post demo.

I would rather they keep the film exchange as well, but at this point I can't say that I really care enough to waste more energy over it either way. It would be nice if they kept it, it will still be a nice park if they don't.

Moving some 30" waterlines around too for the park down there

I'll stack the Myriad Gardens up against almost any urban park in the world. It's fantastic and that's with 3 sides of it surrounded by utter nothingness. Just wait until all the new development.

This park will be a nice complement and is purposely more open and less heavily programmed. It also allows for larger events and recreation, which the MBG doesn't offer at all.

And perhaps most importantly, it will provide a great bridge from the CBD to the river and that entire emerging recreation area.

As I said before, I starting to get excited about this project and by the time it is completely finished in 2021, OKC will be a very different place and very much in need of urban open space.

This park is pretty vanilla stuff.

I like vanilla.

I'll stack the Myriad Gardens up against almost any urban park in the world. It's fantastic and that's with 3 sides of it surrounded by utter nothingness. Just wait until all the new development.

This park will be a nice complement and is purposely more open and less heavily programmed. It also allows for larger events and recreation, which the MBG doesn't offer at all.

And perhaps most importantly, it will provide a great bridge from the CBD to the river and that entire emerging recreation area.

As I said before, I starting to get excited about this project and by the time it is completely finished in 2021, OKC will be a very different place and very much in need of urban open space.

+1

I like vanilla.

Then something even more boring and bland would be the appropriate analogy.. (I actually like vanilla too)

Then something even more boring and bland would be the appropriate analogy.. (I actually like vanilla too)

I was going to suggest "pedestrian," but then I caught myself. Bazinga.

This park is growing on me; not the demolitions, however.

One thing I wish that was incorporated on this park, is something JTF brought up awhile back, a stone or wrought iron fence around the park to define it and give it entrance points.

I like vanilla.

Me too. Vanilla is wonderful. :)

It seems like this park will have more trees. A lot of trees were removed to add programming to the MBG.

Good move by Devon when they took over the renovation of the MBG. Many people were hesitate to visit the MBG because it was enclosed by hills and shrubs; now it's more visible from the street level.

Good move by Devon when they took over the renovation of the MBG. Many people were hesitate to visit the MBG because it was enclosed by hills and shrubs; now it's more visible from the street level.

Also with the crystal bridge requiring an entry fee and how walled off it was, it felt like the entire thing required tickets to enter.

The loss of history and potentially unique placemaking opportunities is what makes this vanilla.

I was wondering, with the park being directly across the street, would they possibly put up a cool looking wall or some modern curtain? That sure would be an eyesore. ..
9498

I was wondering, with the park being directly across the street, would they possibly put up a cool looking wall or some modern curtain? That sure would be an eyesore. ..
9498

I dunno, but that sure is an ugly building across the street from the substation. I hope it gets torn down.

May the ogres enjoy roasted trolls for breakfast. :P

I was wondering, with the park being directly across the street, would they possibly put up a cool looking wall or some modern curtain? That sure would be an eyesore. ..
9498

I don't know about cool looking, but they do have plans to put up some kind of wall.

paint each component of the substation a different color and make an interesting art piece out of it :)

I was wondering, with the park being directly across the street, would they possibly put up a cool looking wall or some modern curtain? That sure would be an eyesore. ..
9498

Just last week they allocated $1 million to screen this from the park.

One thing I wish that was incorporated on this park, is something JTF brought up awhile back, a stone or wrought iron fence around the park to define it and give it entrance points.

A park needs to be a place to welcome its patrons; wouldn't suggest too many barriers. The MBG had too many barriers when it initially opened. Now it's more welcoming...

Excited about the development proposed for the Central Park, let's hope they make it special.

That's good to hear!!

OKC is building too much park land downtown. It would take 200,000 downtown residents to effectively use all the space. It took 50 years for the land around New York City Central Park to fill-in and the lots along Champs Elysees took nearly 100 years to build out. Who knows how long OKC will have to wait since we already have much smaller downtown parks whose frontage isn't built out yet after 60 years. This Central Park is no different than a giant Walmart parking lot designed to handle parking demands for the day after Thanksgiving and then sitting 90% empty they other 364 days. This park will be used to some high level of capacity for maybe 2 or 3 annual events and will be 99% unsued for the rest of the year - for decades to come. It just doesn't seem like a good use of land, money, or effort but that ship already sailed.

Way smaller than Central Park. Way different than Champs Élysées. But I agree with your premises that it will take 200 years for OKC to become Manhatten, NYC. Will never become Paris. And, I think the intent is not to restrict use to only downtown residents. Now, if we can Ignore trees, flowers, walking paths, lakes, and take out the asphalt, I can see the concern over the park being like a Walmart parking lot.

OKC is building too much park land downtown. It would take 200,000 downtown residents to effectively use all the space. It took 50 years for the land around New York City Central Park to fill-in and the lots along Champs Elysees took nearly 100 years to build out. Who knows how long OKC will have to wait since we already have much smaller downtown parks whose frontage isn't built out yet after 60 years. This Central Park is no different than a giant Walmart parking lot designed to handle parking demands for the day after Thanksgiving and then sitting 90% empty they other 364 days. This park will be used to some high level of capacity for maybe 2 or 3 annual events and will be 99% unsued for the rest of the year - for decades to come. It just doesn't seem like a good use of land, money, or effort but that ship already sailed.

Maybe think of it as discouraging sprawl. There is still tons of vacant lots downtown, so by eliminating some with a park and getting rid of some of the blight, you create a better space for urban development. Plus we get some great green space for concerts and recreation that has been missing in the core.

Big surprise - Rover still doesn't grasp analogies, similes, or metaphors. Maybe 99 days wasn't long enough.

Maybe think of it as discouraging sprawl. There is still tons of vacant lots downtown, so by eliminating some with a park and getting rid of some of the blight, you create a better space for urban development. Plus we get some great green space for concerts and recreation that has been missing in the core.

I thought that way myself but the reality is that this park is going to exist in a residential vacuum for a long time and will eventually be inhabited by homeless people, vagrants, and other undesirables - which will actually make populating this area even more difficult. The city would be better off building nothing here and just keep the lot cleared and mowed until other parts of downtown are filled in.