Word has it that the building across from the maintenance facility is gonna get demoed. Any plans for that site?

Yes, it was bought by the Strawberry Fields group and they received permission to demo.

Trying to find the live feed for our park build. Can anyone post a link? I know I've seen one but I cannot find it for the life of me.

https://www.senserasystems.com/public/embed/M68776484796

Is the Cussack Meat land now up for sale? I thought I saw a sign a couple of days ago when on the way to Capital Hill.

I think it's always been for sale just not at the price the city wants to pay?

So, what is the asking price?

January 10, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oklahoma City, Ok- The Scissortail Park Foundation will host an open forum to update the public on the construction progress of the MAPS 3 Scissortail Park leading up to the opening in the fall of 2019. The Scissortail Park Foundation, a 501 c 3 nonprofit, will be managing the new park once the MAPS 3 construction team has completed work later this year. The presentation will be given by Maureen Heffernan, CEO/President of Myriad Botanical Foundation and Scissortail Park Foundation. It will include details on the many unique features in the north and south sections of The Park, public transportation and parking, the Café operation, an overview of plans for the grand opening celebration this fall and a question and answer session.

The Scissortail Park Foundation is especially interested in getting feedback and suggestions from the public on everything from what kind of programming they would like to see featured in the park and any ideas to include in the Grand Opening celebrations.

The event will be held Thursday, January 31, from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. beginning with a cash bar and light hors-d'oeuvres at 6:00 p.m. The presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. and the Q&A is at 8 p.m. inside the Park House Events Center on the east grounds of the Myriad Botanical Gardens off Robinson Street. While the event is free and open to the public, space is limited. Please RSVP at 405.445-7080 or online at https://bit.ly/2SLtD8w. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.


Scissortail Park, a MAPS 3 Project, is a 70-acre public space opening in June of 2019. The Park, located south of the Myriad Botanical Gardens, continues to the shore of the Oklahoma River featuring a number of engaging experiences for attendees including ornamental gardens and woodlands, 3.7 acre lake, children’s playground and water feature, picnic grove, restaurant and band shell. The Scissortail Park Foundation, a 501 c 3 nonprofit, will be managing the new park once the MAPS 3 construction team has completed work later this year.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/scissortail012019a.jpg

Sack Lake is starting to appear more like a Removed Tooth Lake

Still very sackish if you see the grand lawn as an abdomen or bladder.

In that last picture Pete posted, behind the Union Station building there are garage doors lined up on the East and South sides against the railroad tracks. Does anyone know what is stored in there? I'm imagining this being like River Market in Kansas City where the whole thing is renovated and the garage doors come up and each door, or maybe every couple doors, are businesses like KC River Market has. Some might be produce/farmers market style, maybe a coffeehouse, board game lounge, bookstore, couple of food places.. Then do a once a month huge farmers market out in that area in general!

15133

A few years ago I went on the OKC Architecture Foundation's tour of Union Station and we went back there. Mostly empty/unused with a bit of old junk, back then at least, in the parts of the of the building you mention anyway.

^

I think that back area is empty these days and I'm not sure what they'll do with all that space.

I know back in the day, mail was delivered via rail and then sorted and trucked out of those garage structures.


That whole building is just so great. And it soon will be getting a $10MM renovation.

can someone share the link for the construction webcam?

can someone share the link for the construction webcam?

Here you go:

https://www.senserasystems.com/public/embed/M68776484796

Here you go:

https://www.senserasystems.com/public/embed/M68776484796

Posted this back on pg 75 but I guess it went unnoticed https://www.senserasystems.com/public/DowneyContracting/M68710754797

There is a second cam that looks southward, pretty neat watching the timelapse of the stage area go up

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtThcKvBBoI/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7840/46025564275_dbbda7cc32_o.png

Why is this random user posting this everywhere? It is very old and completely irrelevant now.

^^^ I agree

The great Lawn and Stage will be able to hold 15,000. Wow. I wonder how views will be and sound.

The great Lawn and Stage will be able to hold 15,000. Wow. I wonder how views will be and sound.

I may have missed it but is the ground sloped or flat? That will dictate the views I imagine. Sounds pretty cool.

The other question is will there be a noise ordanance where no loud music after 10pm? Not sure if this has been addressed or even applicable.

I may have missed it but is the ground sloped or flat? That will dictate the views I imagine. Sounds pretty cool.

The other question is will there be a noise ordanance where no loud music after 10pm? Not sure if this has been addressed or even applicable.

I mean...if Paycom could get a permit to do a concert past 10 p.m. when their headquarters are surrounded by subdivisions and apartments, I would imagine that shouldn't be a problem here. Granted, concerts on the Great Lawn will probably be a much more regular occurrence, but I don't think there are any houses in the vicinity, save for a few in the Strawberry Fields area.

I keep looking at the on-going work at Scissortail Park and I want to be excited about it. The location is great and has super potential. But, BUT it just seems mundane with little to no 'wow' power. I realize it's still many months away from completion and appearances will change. But I'm shaking my head and wondering if the final results with have a 'wow' factor. I hate to admit I'm having my doubts. Hope I'm wrong...way wrong!

Upper Park grand opening is scheduled for mid-September. Lower Park has two years to go.

Going to take awhile for all the trees to mature and for it to grow into its potential.

Here's a video of executive director Maureen Heffernan giving an update last week about things.


https://youtu.be/ncSLq7htv04


Also don't forget that several improvements were made after MBG re-opened following the 2011 renovation.

I think this will be a very active park. It isn’t a Disneyland kind of park that some like, but will have plenty of programming. Once the vegitation matures it will be a really good gathering place of activity. For a downtown park, it should be great.

I've been to a few urban parks and I can't for the life of me understand the complaints about this one.

I've been to a few urban parks and I can't for the life of me understand the complaints about this one.

It's OKCtalk.com, where the cool thing to do is find the negative in EVERYTHING.

Saying I hope it turns out better once completed wasn't stated as a negative. I even stated, "I hope I'm wrong".
I've been to a few urban parks and I can't for the life of me understand the complaints about this one.

Looks like a construction site right now. I'm sure it will turn out great once Blvd, Convention Center,Omni, and park are all built out and things start to grow.

Right-click and open in a new tab to get a hi-res version.

You can see the large pedestrian promenade starting to take shape in the northeast corner of the park and curving towards Skydance Bridge. Will eventually cross the bridge and run through the lower park, all the way to river.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/scissortail031719a.jpg

So cool!! Nice pic, can't wait till the fall!

These are high res (especially the 2nd one) so right-click and open in a new tab to see detail.

Park is really starting to come together.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/scissortail032319.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/scissortail032319b.jpg

I truly hope they book big-name acts for that amphitheater. Would be an awesome venue, and would blow the Zoo Amp out of the water! The Zoo Amp is ok, but it is limited in shows it can hold by size.

^

I know one of the reasons they delayed the grand opening celebration was to accommodate a big musical act. Don't know who it is, just told 'big'.

Booking will be by the Jones Assembly guys, so that gives me a lot of hope.

^

I know one of the reasons they delayed the grand opening celebration was to accommodate a big musical act. Don't know who it is, just told 'big'.

Booking will be by the Jones Assembly guys, so that gives me a lot of hope.

True. That does give me some hope. I love rock/metal festivals of (probably in the VAST minority on this board), and a lot of them skip the Zoo Amp (the ones OKC gets are smaller in nature) due to its size. This park is not limited by a zoo and Science Museum OK surrounding it.

Pete do you have any idea how many acres this park( I think it's 36 for upper and like 70 total) plus Omni, Convention center, blvd place plus garage, and then areas surrounding the immediate area is? My guess would 100 maybe 120 acres but I think as this all comes together it may be the biggest single transformation of an area in the cities history, maybe states since the land run. It's just truly amazing how large of an area in the middle of the city and how big of a vision this all was that is really in the home stretch.

^

70 acres. 40 north, 30 lower (probably slightly less since they never acquired that Cusack Meats parcel).

Is the back half of the grass hill (facing SW) going to be activated in some way? If not, they should line it with solar panels to power lighting in the park.

^

70 acres. 40 north, 30 lower (probably slightly less since they never acquired that Cusack Meats parcel).

Drive by the Cusack Meats parcel; that place stinks. Haven't been by there in a month (on bike) because of the weather.

Hope it will be far enough away from the park & amenities that it doesn't affect your visit.

I am absolutely impressed by the park and the development of this district as a whole. This will truly be transformational for Oklahoma City and I can't wait until construction concludes and we start to have shots of the city from this area on ESPN/TNT/ABC.<br>
<br>-------<br><br>
I do have one "negative" that I hope is taken as constructive though: it appears to me that this park is going to mirror MGB rather than be exclusive of it. Part of it seems to be having the same administrator of MGB control this park as well - she even mentions the Gardens and other elements similar to MGB. <br>
<br>
Personally, I think this should be different. Not that it can't have a garden or two but that the focus should be different than MGB. Much like Millennium Park in Chicago has a different focus than Grant Park (Grant being the real PARK, with cultural elements that happen to be world class) and Millennium Park being the very highly programmed urban garden.<br>
<br>
Keep MGB as the very highly programmed urban garden and let Sissortail Park be the PARK with world-class cultural elements - this is my constructive argument. ... Don't let the scope creep.

Ship has sailed I suspect.

Also I'm pretty sure that even though Maureen came here to be the MBG foundation ED, she was surely promised bigger things, such as getting Scissortail also, which is better for her resume I suspect, so I'm not sure there's a way around it at this time, but maybe someday in the future if she has moved on or something that can all be re-evaluated.

In principle I don't disagree with you, I wish they'd have slightly different missions, but I'm willing to let it out of the gate as is while I observe and see how it goes for a bit.

good points, as usual! :)

What are MBG and/or MGB and what do they have to do with Scissortail Park?

Myriad Botanical Gardens. The Myriad Gardens Foundation has the contract to operate the gardens on behalf of the city, and were also awarded the operating rights to Scissortail Park. I may not have worded that quite correctly but hopefully you get the gist.

After attending several Scissortail Park meetings, they are taking great care to make Scissortail a different experience. The scale alone dwarfs MBG, especially when the lower park is completed. I believe SP will become much more activity based with the great lawn, paddleboats, roller blading area, much larger kids playgrounds, huge promenade, activation of Union Station, active restaurant year round, etc.. And I've also heard that MBG will evolve into a more boutique gardens experience with a heavier focus on a true botanical garden feel. Maureen and her team are first class operators, I believe they will create an unbelievable synergy between the two parks and that operating both is a positive in that they will curating them to compliment each other.

That's what I like to hear, now if they actually pull it off, great.

thanks for thos epoints tiger.

All this talk of the synergy between the two parks just makes me more anxious and nervous for what will happen to the vacant lots between the two parks. We have *got* to get some development that allows the areas to flow together. If the two parks are separated without significant green and walk-able terrain it will be a travesty.

All this talk of the synergy between the two parks just makes me more anxious and nervous for what will happen to the vacant lots between the two parks. We have *got* to get some development that allows the areas to flow together. If the two parks are separated without significant green and walk-able terrain it will be a travesty.

The owner (Bob Howard & Co.) tried to have the streets closed in those blocks and the city denied it.

So, the city has leverage: You can close some/all the streets but you have to leave a clear pedestrian path along Harvey.

The owner (Bob Howard & Co.) tried to have the streets closed in those blocks and the city denied it.

So, the city has leverage: You can close some/all the streets but you have to leave a clear pedestrian path along Harvey.

That's good to hear. If the city chose to maintain possession of the street and use the entire width as a grassy pedestrian path is that within their scope of ownership or could Bob nab it back if it's not used as a city "street"

^

Right, and even when the city was planning to put the convention center on that site, the main ballroom was to be underground so that 'Harvey spine' would be open to pedestrians.

Realize we want to incorporate more 'walkability' into every project; however the two parks MBG & Scissortail Park will be fine provided they don't incorporate any development that will obstruct the two.

BTW, now that we are into spring, they are starting to move fast in finishing the park.

They have to be done by September and I would hope most the park would be open before that, lest we miss almost the entire summer.

The owner (Bob Howard & Co.) tried to have the streets closed in those blocks and the city denied it.

So, the city has leverage: You can close some/all the streets but you have to leave a clear pedestrian path along Harvey.

if i remember correctly those closing requests were at the behest of the city

if i remember correctly those closing requests were at the behest of the city

No.

This is when the city was trying to take the property through eminent domain.

The group led by Howard filed to close the streets and my impression is they wanted to include that property as a part of the court appraisal for money that would be due them.

In the end, the city dropped the process because it became clear the courts were going to force them to pay an amount they did not want to pay. There is a point in eminent domain that if you wait for the full appraisal you are then obligated by law to pay the appraised amount; the transaction becomes binding.

Speaking of the "Howard led" ownership group; I have the idea that the Hall brothers, (or Hall Capital, or whatever that real estate partnership is called) is the primary owner of the old Fred Jones Ford related properties downtown. And when it became apparent that they might have an unseemly difference of opinion regarding property value with the City, they elevated Bob Howard into the visible role in negotiations. I think there is some legacy from the "Ford Auto Collection" of Ford buying all dealerships in the OKC metro around the year 2000 that I won't get in the weeds on.

^

Yes, Hall Capital is a part owner of that property as well. The good news is that between the Halls and Howard, there is a lot of money behind any future development at that spot. And both of them have done a lot of quality work in town. It's just going to take a while for them to move forward.


Photo I took last night at the park. As I mentioned, they are really moving fast now and I hope they can get at least part of the park open by this summer.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/scissortail032819a.jpg

Credit their Facebook page for this photo but they say this is the first bloom of the park. Pretty cool. I remember from their presentations but they put a lot of effort into native Oklahoma plants and plants they will survive here easily. Also someone upthread mention solar panels, I couldn't find the reneredings but I believe the lamp posts all throughout the park will all have small solar panels to power themselves. Things could have changed but I'm fairly certain it was something they were incorporating early on. Just as the park filters and drains into the lake they tried to make it all pretty self sustaining. 15213

Lower park:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/lowerpark033119a.jpg

It sucks about Cusack, but since it's only a gravel lot, at first glance, you hardly notice it being out of place. I'm sure many who aren't in the know won't know any different.

IMO looks much better vacant and sodded then it did before.