Wow. I remember when I toured these two years ago. They look fantastic now.

What an improvement!

I can already say it's nice to be getting the complex back to normal. With the noise, dirt & general construction items, it's looking good.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/avanabeforeafter1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/avanabeforeafter2.jpg

We got notice today we have new ownership with a new (but similar) name to come. No longer a Greystar Property

The buyer is Weidner Apartment Homes. They are the same people that bought the Metropolitan. Their website shows Aviare Arts District as the new name.

Heard that when the place was initially built; there was very poor insulation inside the walls, ceilings--resulting in high electric bills (Heat & Air). A friend of mine complained about the energy costs, eventually moved out.

While visiting my brother who lives just west in Sycamore Square I could see the renovation work in that complex taking place. Redo looks nice.

I lived in these for a couple of years both before and during portions of the renovation. Very nice parking garage setup and great downtown views. The businesses at ground level were super convenient. I lived there before the boom in development west of Walker started taking off but there are a ton of new amenities nearby now. This is a pretty decent and often overlooked complex imo. Hope the new owners have success here.

I lived in these for a couple of years both before and during portions of the renovation. Very nice parking garage setup and great downtown views. The businesses at ground level were super convenient. I lived there before the boom in development west of Walker started taking off but there are a ton of new amenities nearby now. This is a pretty decent and often overlooked complex imo. Hope the new owners have success here.

We lived there briefly during a home remodel. It was really a great value and a fun place to live. This and Regency are in the best locations with the best value.

I loved having the Hobby's Hoagies and Patrono downstairs, cleaners, etc. And when I lived there the streetcar wasn't open. Now that it is this would be an outstanding place to live.

Anyone know if the rents are still affordable?

This was a great place to live.

Not sure how accurate it is but according to this (https://www.apartmentratings.com/ok/oklahoma-city/avana-arts-district-apartments_405605278773102/), rents start at $1,100. That would be too much for me, personally, given that there are plenty of decent options in the Plaza, Uptown, Paseo area that are renting for much less.

Some changes here now. No Facebook page, almost no if any social media. Office now closed on Sundays. Biggest disappoinment is they no longer accept packages, too labor intensive. But we get free coffee now. The new company seems very sterile, little interaction, it feels like. Not sure what else they have in store for us.

$1,100 seems reasonable to me for this location, which potentially can allow for a lot less car trips. You’re within walking distance of a lot of jobs, entertainment, etc. That can add up to car wear/gas savings if that’s the lifestyle you want to live. Just my opinion. I overpay for location, but also got rid of my car.

$1,100 seems reasonable to me for this location, which potentially can allow for a lot less car trips. You’re within walking distance of a lot of jobs, entertainment, etc. That can add up to car wear/gas savings if that’s the lifestyle you want to live. Just my opinion. I overpay for location, but also got rid of my car.

One of the worst quality places downtown though. I have a friend moving out in March (after 4 years) because it's not worth the amount rent is being raised for the quality. For what they'd have to pay may as well go to a nicer place.

Agree, I know I pay to live here, hopefully rent doesn't start going up too much. But hey, it's free coffee though! LOL

I have lived at the Avana (Aviare) for almost 3 years now and I really like it. It is less expensive than other places we looked at downtown and the floor plan of my apartment is so much better. The location is great. I am about to get my lease renewal and I am eager to see if the price increases much with the sale.

They started some resident activity for March. Now they can fun stuff instead of signing for packages or posting on Facebook. Wednesday was wine Wednesday with wacky socks. The 1st Saturday breakfast is still going on as well.

Adding new colors, trying to further break up the sea of gray EIFS.

This complex has been renamed -- again -- and is now Aviare.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/avana052321a.jpg

Adding new colors, trying to further break up the sea of gray EIFS.

This complex has been renamed -- again -- and is now Aviare.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/avana052321a.jpg

They just completed the exterior paint job, from tan and brown to this new scheme.
Those colors are slowly growing on me. I think the gray makes it darker at night, like the buildings need to be lit more. Also a lot of white paint inside the complex, may be difficult to keep that clean and fresh looking. They also re-plastered the pool. The Aviare name has been a year this past January, but the new signage has been completed all around.

I just moved from this complex. I was a little concerned when Weidner took over and started to make a lot of changes but all in all I was pleased. There are a lot of things I will miss about living here and still think it is the best value downtown. BTW, there is a killer 2 bed apartment available June 10th overlooking the civic center and the pool.

I just moved from this complex. I was a little concerned when Weidner took over and started to make a lot of changes but all in all I was pleased. There are a lot of things I will miss about living here and still think it is the best value downtown. BTW, there is a killer 2 bed apartment available June 10th overlooking the civic center and the pool.

I moved over here nearly two months ago after being affected by the fire at The Haven complex across the street. While it was under unfortunate circumstances that I moved here, I've really enjoyed my time here so far.

^^ Glad all that worked out for you, circumstances from the fire, etc. Welcome to the complex

^^ Glad all that worked out for you, circumstances from the fire, etc. Welcome to the complex

Thanks, neighbor!

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aviare062021a.jpg

Compared to when it was first built:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aviare062021b.jpg

Wow!!!

They do look nice, inside the complex too.
That corner (nor the whole intersection) has no street lights, even after the P180 project. As much pedestrian traffic that area gets, with the Civic Center, MOA, etc. The city says the landlords overruled it, last time I asked.

They do look nice, inside the complex too.
That corner (nor the whole intersection) has no street lights, even after the P180 project. As much pedestrian traffic that area gets, with the Civic Center, MOA, etc. The city says the landlords overruled it, last time I asked.

There's streetlights along Walker, and there's lighting outside the Aviare building itself. It's not a terribly dark area with all that.

I'm sure what happened was the owners of this complex at the time of Project 180 took the same approach as Rick Dowell who owns all those renovated buildings just to the north (which he has tried to brand Midtown Plaza district): they had already done a bunch of work and didn't want it torn up and redone.

So, these areas were skipped over.

You can see in the photo I posted today, the pavers and street lighting are different from the Project 180 areas and all the newer construction downtown where design guidelines require choices to be made from a kit of parts that were designated as a part of P180. For example, the pavers, lighting, benches, trash cans at the convention center and Omni are directly from the P180 guidelines. Even the stuff along the street at BancFirst.

The streetlights in front of Aviare are the same black antique-ish model that Dowell used to the north. Apart from being a different design, they are probably spaced farther apart and probably not as bright.


Truthfully, the city knew early on they were not going to be able to redo all the streets they had promised at the outset due to massive cost overruns -- in the end, they did less than half. So they were probably happy to just leave those areas out.

Good to know, thanks Pete.

Speaking of streetscapes and Dowell's "Midtown Plaza", someone (I don't know if it's the City or Dowell) is doing some kind of work on the retaining wall that runs along the north side of NW 5 between N Walker Ave and N Dewey Ave. For years now, the wall has been literally crumbling onto a very narrow sidewalk. I don't know if this is an emergency repair to just fix the wall or if they'll actually move forward with a new streetscape à la P180 or Midtown Plaza.

I was going to mention this as I saw them working on it yesterday. I would guess it's city because they have been doing sidewalk repair all over downtown and that area's sidewalks were atrocious, along with the retaining wall falling over almost onto the sidewalk in spots. I suspect they couldn't fix the sidewalks without also fixing the wall. I doubt it's anything grander than sidewalk repair, which is both fortunate and unfortunate.

A reference to this work...

https://twitter.com/dtOKCbuilds/status/1418284788423794693

A reference to this work...

https://twitter.com/dtOKCbuilds/status/1418284788423794693

Couple of interesting things in that. 1) Project 180-style street sign on the SW corner of NW 5 and Walker. I can't remember if that was there before. 2) I haven't been over here in a couple of weeks but it will be interesting to see what they did with the sidewalk *behind* (i.e., west of) the point where that 2nd picture was taken. Hopefully this Google Street View link works, but that's the part with the sidewalk that's only a couple feet wide and that had broken pieces of retaining wall frequently falling out onto it. https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4731049,-97.5218839,3a,75y,325.68h,79.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sBfRHvHn-R7LcWFPTXV1WuA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I don't believe that P180 style sign was there. I use that intersection frequently and would like to think I would have noticed. The sidewalk behind the second picture looks good.

The city also just repaved Walker Ave along this stretch. It actually was not too bad to begin with. I can't wait until they get 4th St done, it needs it bad.