Is that paid parking?

We were there around noon today and we parked in that lot. It was free parking today, (no one in the booths at least) we normally park along the road by the convention center but it's all been blocked off for street vendors. Not sure where else you are supposed to park to visit the area easily honestly.

There's usually some free spaces along the Boulevard during less busy times. If those are taken I'll usually opt for Dewey south of SW 4th, which is always deserted to the point where I have no qualms posting about it on a public forum lol

FYI the convention center is open for tours until 5pm.

Went on the tour, pretty impressive. Aside from the obvious things, what I'm looking forward to, is when these doors in the main hall are opened onto a busy 4th street experience, it's going to be cool.

167511675216753

^^^ glad you made it out safe without the building killing you

I also did the tour and was extremely impressed. 167561675716758167591676016761

167641676316765

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Looks amazing! Not a fan of the wall tile Urban Farmhouse look but that's just me.

https://cf.bstatic.com/images/hotel/max1024x768/810/81007726.jpg

Couldn't help but notice the 1,005 room J. W. Marriott in Indianapolis that will be the major host hotel for the 2021 NCAA Division I Mens Tournament.

This is what Oklahoma City will eventually need in addition to a Dome Stadium if it wants to begin hosting big events like the NCAA mens tournament, major party conventions and the NBA All Star Game.

Our $288 million Convention Center & $241 million 605 room Omni Hotel is a signal that OKC may be ready to take the next big step with MAPS V in 2028.

now THAT's a nice highrise hotel, 30-floors? 1005 rooms. That's what we should have expected, maybe not 30 floors but definitely 20 something, at least 750 rooms. ...

I will mention that it appears the floor heights of our Omni are taller than this JW Marriott, so if our hotel were 24 floors it'd probably be the same height as Indy's JW.

IMO we should have more NBA floors than just the top, more than just the opposing team's players travel with the team (who are significantly tall). Anyway - hopefully we'll get another hotel and do the high-rise part of it correctly. Imagine the JW Marriott (with taller floors) on one of the Ford blocks across the street - now that's BIG CITY!

now THAT's a nice highrise hotel, 30-floors? 1005 rooms. That's what we should have expected, maybe not 30 floors but definitely 20 something, at least 750 rooms. ...

I will mention that it appears the floor heights of our Omni are taller than this JW Marriott, so if our hotel were 24 floors it'd probably be the same height as Indy's JW.

IMO we should have more NBA floors than just the top, more than just the opposing team's players travel with the team (who are significantly tall). Anyway - hopefully we'll get another hotel and do the high-rise part of it correctly. Imagine the JW Marriott (with taller floors) on one of the Ford blocks across the street - now that's BIG CITY!

It's hard to compare based on cities. Indianapolis is 50% bigger than OKC and has WAY more population within 200 miles. Lots more visitors to Indy to support larger luxury full service hotels. .

Actually that raises an interesting question - who are our peer cities that OKC can realistically compare itself to? ABQ and Omaha have a half million less people in its MSA.

Memphis and Louisville meet the population requirement and are in similarly-red areas.

The CC and park look amazing. Someone just needs to put in a Power Block on the west offset to Scissortail. Feel like Mid-Rise Residential would work.

Actually that raises an interesting question - who are our peer cities that OKC can realistically compare itself to? ABQ and Omaha have a half million less people in its MSA.

Memphis and Louisville meet the population requirement and are in similarly-red areas.
Jacksonville, Richmond, Providence, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Raleigh

Looks great. Will it be open to the public much like the Cox was? I remember you could walk around in it for the most part (except for conference rooms)

Looks amazing! Not a fan of the wall tile Urban Farmhouse look but that's just me.

LOL, what is the name of that HGTV couple from Waco? ;)

LOL, what is the name of that HGTV couple from Waco? ;)

Chip and Joanna Gaines Convention Hall.

Has a ring to it. We need more shiplap!

That’s not tile, and it’s not a farmhouse aesthetic. It appears to be formed concrete, or at least made to look that way (I haven’t been inside the cc yet). The woodgrain you see was historically imparted by the boards used in the building of the forms. Not certain of the exact technique used here; may have been very straightforward or it might be stamped or stimulated in some other way.

It’s a pretty old building technique, and can often be found in turn of the twentieth century warehouse buildings like those that once stood in the immediate vicinity, or in nearby Bricktown, etc. Most often seen in ceilings of these buildings, where planks were used to form the concrete for the floor above, then stripped away once the concrete cured. A really good local example off the top of my head is in the home of Antioch Energy on the Bricktown Canal.

In the case of the convention center this gives it an urban/industrial look which is pretty appropriate for the location in my opinion.

^

The elevator banks were the only place I saw this treatment.

That’s not tile, and it’s not a farmhouse aesthetic. It appears to be formed concrete, or at least made to look that way (I haven’t been inside the cc yet). The woodgrain you see was historically imparted by the boards used in the building of the forms. Not certain of the exact technique used here; may have been very straightforward or it might be stamped or stimulated in some other way.

It’s a pretty old building technique, and can often be found in turn of the twentieth century warehouse buildings like those that once stood in the immediate vicinity, or in nearby Bricktown, etc. Most often seen in ceilings of these buildings, where planks were used to form the concrete for the floor above, then stripped away once the concrete cured. A really good local example off the top of my head is in the home of Antioch Energy on the Bricktown Canal.

In the case of the convention center this gives it an urban/industrial look which is pretty appropriate for the location in my opinion.

Agreed, this is a rather old, and in my opinion classic, aesthetic. I like it.

It's hard to compare based on cities. Indianapolis is 50% bigger than OKC and has WAY more population within 200 miles. Lots more visitors to Indy to support larger luxury full service hotels. .
And even more importantly Indianapolis has a more well-established and more active convention and meetings industry (though ours has certainly gained ground on everyone and should go to another level with this facility and the attached Omni).

There is without question a “build it and they will come” aspect to the cc and the Omni, BUT - as I’ve mentioned before in both threads - the size of the hotel was driven by realities and hard math, not speculation.

Here’s how it works (during non-pandemic times): the Omni on its own is expected to draw X number of business and leisure guests per night on average simply drawn to that flag. This number is based on a number of factors, including market size and demographics, documented industry and business travel, interstate proximity and other elements.

I don’t have specific inside knowledge about what that number was for OKC, but suspect it’s likely to have been around 150-300. Meaning if Omni was simply going to build a non-convention-center-adjacent hotel, that’s how many rooms would be profitable.

Any rooms over that amount exist solely to support the convention center. And even during non-pandemic times they would very often be empty. It would be bad business on the part of Omni to build those excess rooms. This is where the City’s subsidy comes in.

The City (and more specifically the City-affiliated convention and visitors bureau) HAS to have an adjacent HQ hotel to make the publicly-funded CC viable. Beyond that, they HAVE to be able to offer blocks of rooms at a set rate (generally below market) and bundle those rooms to attract the conventions the CC is designed to host. And they have to be able to do so without asking the hotel’s permission to do so every time, negotiating rate, or finding out that the rooms were booked out from under them.

In other words, those rooms are “bad” business for the hotel. They theoretically lose the hotel money, the hotel can’t sell them at a market rate (unless the CVB doesn’t have them blocked) and yet they still have upkeep, housekeeping, utilities, HVAC, personnel on site at larger scale, whether the rooms or booked or not, etc, etc.

So, as long as the extra rooms are (intentionally) not profitable, the number of those rooms HAS to be driven by a single factor: how many below market blockable rooms must be available to support a convention center of that size. It’s simple math. If the convention center is expanded at some point, that will drive more adjacent hotel rooms. But that could be a decade or more from now.

The simple fact is that if the hotel was overbuilt speculatively those extra rooms would almost NEVER be utilized, period. And taxpayers would be on the hook for massive subsidy that benefitted literally nobody. At that point the hotel would be a guaranteed boondoggle, and instead of wistfully fantasizing about more rooms and a taller hotel, posters here would be grumbling about what a failure the project was.

I totally get that it’s appealing to have even bigger and shinier things, but we have to keep in mind that there are actual math and economics involved here. We now have a tremendous, first-rate CC and incredible hotel property attached. Once we (hopefully) get to the other side of the pandemic, we should be dramatically more competitive for meetings and conventions, which should have a dramatic impact on our city economically and otherwise.

Our hope should be that the CC is such a runaway success that a few years from now we are working on an expansion to the CC, and more nearby rooms to support it.

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I guess Oklahomans can’t handle multi lane roundabouts.

^

A big design consideration was the big semi-trailers that will be coming and going from the convention center.

It looks ready to open any time now.

IIRC the roundabout is supposed to be landscaped, which is great. However, wouldn’t a sculpture or art piece or statue of some kind look pretty great here? It’s big enough that you could do both. Have a centerpiece surrounded by beautiful landscaping. Just a thought.

Does anyone know if the self-guided tours are over and done with? I dropped by when I was at the park in the middle of the day on Saturday and it was locked up tight.

Does anyone know if the self-guided tours are over and done with? I dropped by when I was at the park in the middle of the day on Saturday and it was locked up tight.

I believe it was just that day/weekend, not an on-going thing.

I guess Oklahomans can’t handle multi lane roundabouts.

Not a question of if Oklahomans could handle multi lanes. This calls for a single lane given its small circumference and only 3 entrances/exits. This is not a Place de l'Étoile.

Roundabout is open. Does that mean Robinson is fully open now?

https://twitter.com/cityofokc/status/1374784665672953858

Just checked. The road is fully open now.

Sweet, been wanting to ride it

They did a great job it looks super slick.

Not a question of if Oklahomans could handle multi lanes. This calls for a single lane given its small circumference and only 3 entrances/exits. This is not a Place de l'Étoile.

Robinson is 4 lanes going into the roundabout on either side, which means since the roundabout is 1 lane, it creates a pinch point on either side where traffic will have to merge into 1 lane. If the roundabout had 2 lanes, this wouldn't be necessary:
https://i.imgur.com/umwzNzZ.png

However, I don't know what the traffic on Robinson is like, so it's possible that the lane drops won't cause a problem. I do think it's possible that increased traffic due to the convention center could cause this roundabout to be reworked in the future, however.

^^^ thank you for posting that. That’s what I was talking about.

Robinson is 4 lanes going into the roundabout on either side, which means since the roundabout is 1 lane, it creates a pinch point on either side where traffic will have to merge into 1 lane. If the roundabout had 2 lanes, this wouldn't be necessary:
https://i.imgur.com/umwzNzZ.png

However, I don't know what the traffic on Robinson is like, so it's possible that the lane drops won't cause a problem. I do think it's possible that increased traffic due to the convention center could cause this roundabout to be reworked in the future, however.

Look at Pete’s photos. Robinson is already reduced to one lane when it enters the round about.

Look at Pete’s photos. Robinson is already reduced to one lane when it enters the round about.

While true, it's very all the sudden, and you just know folks are going to have issues before they even get to the roundabout.... and then throw a roundabout into that...

While true, it's very all the sudden, and you just know folks are going to have issues before they even get to the roundabout.... and then throw a roundabout into that...

I think we'll manage somehow.

Look at Pete’s photos. Robinson is already reduced to one lane when it enters the round about.

I know. I'm saying I don't think dropping it to one lane to make the roundabout simpler was a good idea.

It's the same situation for the round about at 10th & Walker, with much higher usage. I haven't heard any complaints there.

I think the obvious answer is to just make Robinson 2 lane from SW 29th to the boulevard. Do we really need a 4 lane street bordering our brand new city park to move 6,000 cars a day? Hopefully this was part of the reasoning for building the roundabout the way it is.

The city converted S. Walker to two lanes with bike lanes in this area with absolutely zero issues. Walker handles more traffic per day than Robinson. Robinson being 4 lanes makes zero sense.

I think the obvious answer is to just make Robinson 2 lane from SW 29th to the boulevard. Do we really need a 4 lane street bordering our brand new city park to move 6,000 cars a day? Hopefully this was part of the reasoning for building the roundabout the way it is.

The city converted S. Walker to two lanes with bike lanes in this area with absolutely zero issues. Walker handles more traffic per day than Robinson. Robinson being 4 lanes makes zero sense.

Totally agree.

I think the obvious answer is to just make Robinson 2 lane from SW 29th to the boulevard. Do we really need a 4 lane street bordering our brand new city park to move 6,000 cars a day? Hopefully this was part of the reasoning for building the roundabout the way it is.

The city converted S. Walker to two lanes with bike lanes in this area with absolutely zero issues. Walker handles more traffic per day than Robinson. Robinson being 4 lanes makes zero sense.

agree

I believe the width of Robinson -- as well as the roundabout itself -- is all about accommodating the huge trucks that will be coming in and out of the convention center docks on a regular basis.

which ironically will mostly be coming down Shields from I-40 and then turning to the cc docks at the revised Broadway, NOT on or via Robinson at all ....

weird?

which ironically will mostly be coming down Shields from I-40 and then turning to the cc docks at the revised Broadway, NOT on or via Robinson at all ....

weird?

They may be guiding those trucks to Robinson precisely because there is more room to maneuver.

I think using older traffic counts doesn’t make sense here as traffic will surely increase on this road and especially on days with multiple events the four lanes will be needed. But all that is moot if a bottleneck exists at the roundabout which is does so having four lanes doesn’t do much good anyways.

Honestly it’s not a big deal and the road could be narrowed with little impact. They might as well expand the sidewalk more and add protected cycle lanes.

I still can't see long haul trucks coming down Robinson to enter/depart from the CC. Shields provides the direct connection to I-40 and is very wide - so makes the most sense. And given that the loading docs of the cc are facing Shields and accessed via the new Broadway "Avenue" strip, I'd have to guess that Long Haul Trucks would not route to Robinson which has NO access to I-40.

Now Buses and Tour Vans - yes, they likely will use Robinson and therefore needed a revised roundabout. but as others have noted, there's no reason why OKC couldn't have put in a dual lane roundabout on Robinson other than they didn't want to interfere too much with the park in doing so.

I also hope/argue that the roundabout needs a monument of some sort for OKC - something special and not just landscaping, especially not the half baked landscaping that we see on the other downtown roundabouts. ... We need a statue or a fountain or even a large plaque or SOMETHING creating a gateway to the Union District at this roundabout.

An Oil Derrick, a giant ScissorTail bird, a large fountain (my pref), even an OKC. Something GRAND is needed there.

I still can't see long haul trucks coming down Robinson to enter/depart from the CC. Shields provides the direct connection to I-40 and is very wide - so makes the most sense. And given that the loading docs of the cc are facing Shields and accessed via the new Broadway "Avenue" strip, I'd have to guess that Long Haul Trucks would not route to Robinson which has NO access to I-40.

https://i.imgur.com/w2EOvJO.png

https://i.imgur.com/w2EOvJO.png
Now do one coming from the other direction.

https://i.imgur.com/w2EOvJO.png
I thought about this as well but the new boulevard could fill this movement.

I thought about this as well but the new boulevard could fill this movement.

i mean i literally thought that was what the new boulevard was for, since they didn't want to actually make it useable for business development, pedestrian movement, ect...

The reworking of Robinson and the addition of the roundabout was done to accommodate large trucks in and out of the convention center.

That was specifically mentioned in plans that were presented before this project ever commenced.

The reworking of Robinson and the addition of the roundabout was done to accommodate large trucks in and out of the convention center.

I'm sure this is true, but I've been told the main reason for the round about is for vehicles coming from downtown to be able to turn around and make pick ups/drop offs for the CC.

Drove Robinson from Capitol Hill, really surprised when I found my vehicle on the roundabout (Glare from sunlight). Hope they can expand this road because if someone gets stuck or vehicle stalls on this road it will present some real problems during run hour.

https://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/convention032121b.jpg

Great view of the park when you get in front of the convention center past the roundabout. The Convention Center and Omni can be seen the minute you reach the top of Robinson--the area looks massive. BTW: There weren't any barriers from Robinson into the convention center area.

A real 'big city' feel...

Drove Robinson from Capitol Hill, really surprised when I found my vehicle on the roundabout (Glare from sunlight). Hope they can expand this road because if someone gets stuck or vehicle stalls on this road it will present some real problems during run hour.

I think the bigger problem will be people using the roundabout as a drop off for scissortail/skating rink, you know it will happen.

Now do one coming from the other direction.guys my apologies. You can see I'm not in OKC and I recall (prob from long ago) that Sheilds was the exit. IMO it should be but I see robinson is indeed the exit.Thanks!!Now with all this in mind it begs the question why even have a round-about there in the first place? And second, why was shields overbuilt with so much capacity yet not the main entry into the city from I-40??I just dont get building a roundabout in a forced narrow three-way interchange where long haul trucks are going to have to overshoot onto the roundabout to make the turn into and from the cc. ... A traffic light would have been a much better approach and the round-about should be at OKC BLVD a few places. ...Head-scratcher on the engineering planning in OKC. .....