So, I was thinking this morning. With the Chamber not building on the 4th and Broadway site. Maybe they could build in Midtown or in Automobile Alley.

I was thinking a 5 to 6 story structure with offices on the top floors and retail and restaurants on the ground floors.

They could have their offices on the top floors and have kind of an incubator for businesses on the other floors.

The restaurants/retail could be new ideas to the city and get discounted rates. They could be on two to three year leases that when expire could not be renewed forcing them to move to a site in the city. The incubator offices could be the same way.

I think this the best way to use the Chamber to develop new small start up companies. The companies would have an instant networking device being in the same building as the Chamber.

The Chamber already has close ties and associations with the UCO Small Business Development Center in the Santa Fe Parking Garage. They have business incubator space there, and Susan Urbach does a fantastic job with what resources she has.

It doesn't make a lot of sense for the Chamber to leave the core of the CBD..

I agree with OklahomaNick. The Chamber does 99% of the economic development for the metro area. It makes no sense for them to move out of the CBD. Small business have plenty of opportunities to network through the Chamber without even being a member. they just need to do it.

I agree with OklahomaNick. The Chamber does 99% of the economic development for the metro area. It makes no sense for them to move out of the CBD. Small business have plenty of opportunities to network through the Chamber without even being a member. they just need to do it.

I don't care where they are located. It was just an idea on what they could do. Downtown, Midtown, Uptown, as long as they keep doing what they are doing....

The Chamber desperately needs more space. And they need a facility that is much more accessible to visitors, which is going to require parking. The site selected on Broadway met both of those needs, and was only a short walk from the current site in the CBD on Park Ave. The Broadway location was well placed to link the CBD with a burgeoning Midtown. I don't know if they've abandoned that site altogether, as I'm not in the loop anymore, but I hope they are just reworking the design. The reason the plan was initially put on hold was a declining economy & lower fundraising projections.

I was talking to a guy tonight who was taking pictures for the chamber and he said they are moving to lincoln

They need a building that offers some ample meeting space, and the parking to support public meetings. It would reduce their costs considerably in the long term. Does that have to be a standalone building? Dunno. I'm sure smarter folks than me already have a newer, better plan.

I was talking to a guy tonight who was taking pictures for the chamber and he said they are moving to lincoln

I can definitively deny that rumor... keep in mind there is also the State Chamber based in OKC, but they're not moving either (they're small, don't need more space, and have a GREAT location across from DOC).

I am not committing to that, just saying what he told me!

Yeah, I understand. Keep in mind most of the people who work at the chamber aren't even privy to that kind of information, but I'm pretty sure they will stick with the 4th and Broadway site. I hope the Chamber makes another effort to dead-end EKG, but who knows. Perhaps the timeline of reviving this project will coincide with City Hall finally addressing EKG, and it will just seem like a common sense proposal to combine the two projects (and to listen to the chamber's requests to dead-end EKG).

I think the grass lot is a great spot. it would tie the core, deep deuce and auto alley all together with a nice mid-rise

It is perhaps the best site in all of downtown, so they might be interested in doing a land swap. Not to kiss and tell all, but they DO need to do some fundraising still, which is never a problem for them, but it could go a lot easier if they were open to a land swap with a potential donor.

However I'm not yet ready to buy the rumors of SandRidge's skyscraper going on that site. It makes no sense because first of all, I view other rumored towers as being a lot more certain at this point, and then they still have all that land along Broadway (which will be their priority).

Then there's the issues with EKG. Anyone who develops that land, whether it's the chamber or someone else, won't want their tenants or workers being ran over by cars at what is definitely a bad intersection. That was the chamber's main concern, and I think, one of the "real reasons" why the project didn't go into "just get it down at any cost" mode. And we all know that mode definitely exists, just look at other downtown deals LOL.