Trying to fall in love with the design, but the more I look at it, the more I hate it. With the release of the detailed plans, the hotel really looks cheap, with too much pre-cast concrete. There is also way to much emphasis of the base of the hotel & not the hotel tower itself. Not really liking this project, not a good look. Hopefully the DDRC will tell them to come with a better design.

Agree.

I dont know if it's just me, but this is really uninspired design. You can appreciate that there's park-facing frontage, but there's absolutely nothing engaging about any of the exterior architecture/finishes/facade. It feels like they barely tried...and that it got less interesting since the last renderings. We should demand more of a project of this scale, this feels like one of those where they slip a half-assed design past us because OKC rarely demands for more.

I dunno guys, it doesn't look that bad to me... it's one of the nicer looking modern developments that have been proposed here imo.. It's not going to be talked about in architectural circles as being amazing or anything but it certainly isn't hate worthy... If we are gonna play the comparison game, I was just in San Diego and walked past their Omni.. It's bland, with weird grey panels and no street interaction. Ours will be much more inviting and interesting.

Agree.

I dont know if it's just me, but this is really uninspired design. You can appreciate that there's park-facing frontage, but there's absolutely nothing engaging about any of the exterior architecture/finishes/facade. It feels like they barely tried...and that it got less interesting since the last renderings. We should demand more of a project of this scale, this feels like one of those where they slip a half-assed design past us because OKC rarely demands for more.

I don't think OKC has any bargaining power with a brand like Omni. Or any luxury hotelier, for that matter. So we almost have to take what is given to us. Unless we want to increase the budget for it.

With this design, it looks like the plan is for OKC to preserve current convention traffic without really offering much new, while giving away business to a hotel chain which heretofore has not been interested in our market at the expense of hotel chains which built here mostly under their own steam who deemed OKC to be a good business bet. I'm not in love with any of this.

I'm not wild about the design. It's okay, but not brilliant. I don't think it's bad, it's just not one of the cooler Omnis out there.

As far as the skywalk goes, I think that's a necessity. You're going to have convention goers who are bringing computer equipment, and projectors, and other stuff like that back and forth between their rooms and the convention center. It is way more convenient for them to be able to take a carpeted ramp the whole way, rather than go outside (even if our extreme weather has been exaggerated -- most of the time it's very nice here). A lot of the equipment will already be set up, but you're always going to have some speaker who needs to bring his own thing to give his presentation.

I don't like how this is being handled.

If it is indeed such a necessity, than it should be included in the convention center budget. If it's so important, make the necessary cuts to the project just like we did at the whitewater facility, transit hub, trails, sidewalks, and fairgrounds.

Yet when it's the convention center, they just pull money from elsewhere as they have with the hotel, garage and other things.

Jump on Lackmeyer's chat tomorrow and ask him questions, see where he goes with it.... Get it publicized, let people outside of OKCTalk know about this...

I actually like the design.

It will be a nice addition for sure. There will be people who will find something wrong with any project, especially people on here.

It will be a nice addition for sure. There will be people who will find something wrong with any project, especially people on here.

For the price tag OKC is getting jipped IMO. Looks like something nice for a metro under a Million in pop. 3 tier for sure.

Actually for the price tag, OKC isn't getting jipped any more than any other city at least. This is about the norm for an Omni hotel. Sure you can go the the Dallas or Louisville route but everyone is failing to remember how much those cities put up for those hotels. For $700 million we could've built a Dallas type Omni and bene in debt too for the next 50 years.

Louisville only paid $139 million which included a parking garage. If you include our parking garage, OKC is paying $125 million. Those figures are laying aside all the borrowing costs because I don't have full info on both projects in order to compare.

The number of hotel rooms, size of meeting space and other things are essentially the same.

However, the Louisville project is 30 floors with 225 luxury apartments. OKC's is 17 floors and no apartments.

AND OKC already knew the Louisville deal before we negotiated ours.

Louisville only paid $139 million which included a parking garage. If you include our parking garage, OKC is paying $125 million. Those figures are laying aside all the borrowing costs because I don't have full info on both projects in order to compare.

The number of hotel rooms, size of meeting space and other things are essentially the same.

However, the Louisville project is 30 floors with 225 luxury apartments. OKC's is 17 floors and no apartments.

AND OKC already knew the Louisville deal before we negotiated ours.

That is the one I was comparing with. Louisville is what OKC should be getting and something like that would def. make a statement. The one we are getting makes a statement also but in the other direction. If I had any voice in this the breaks would be put on right now. Somebody would have some splainin to do.

^^ I had forgotten what the Louisville Omni looked like, that is a pretty sharp design. It would really look great in OKC and make a statement.

Louisville is a little bit different story because the city had already owned the land and Cordish put up $30 million of his own dollars towards the over all budget. If you were to add the land acquisition cost and subtract the $30 million from Cordish, you would probably end up with a project similar to the one we have.

Louisville is a little bit different story because the city had already owned the land and Cordish put up $30 million of his own dollars towards the over all budget. If you were to add the land acquisition cost and subtract the $30 million from Cordish, you would probably end up with a project similar to the one we have.

What do you mean 'subtract the $30 million from Cordish'?

Where Omni got their side of the Louisville investment -- and Cordish exited the deal before the hotel even started -- doesn't change the public contribution to the project, which was very similar to what OKC will pay while Louisville got far more.

By the way, as a part of the Louisville deal Omni stipulated no financial incentives could be provided to any other hotel with more than 400 rooms and within a mile of their Omni.

OKC's deal says no TIF for any hotel project anywhere in town. And a reminder that OKC doesn't have a single hotel that has 400 rooms or more, doesn't have any planned and likely won't have any for the foreseeable future.

OKC has already provided hefty TIF dollars for the Skirvin, 21c and Ambassador hotels. And I just reported today, the Spaghetti Warehouse project is considering a hotel use for it's top 5 floors.

If we are to believe the Alliance's single argument for TIF -- that these projects would not happen otherwise -- than it stands to reason OKC will now miss out on future desirable hotel projects due to this Omni limitation. Whereas if we had merely had the agreed to the same terms as Louisville, there would be virtually no opportunity cost to OKC.


I will also point out that the Alliance and the City never did any sort of comparison to the deals that Omni had cut elsewhere, at least that information was never presented in a public forum before City Council was told by O'Connor what a good deal this was.

Perhaps it is... But how on earth would we know one way or another?

Upon high-level examination it does not appear that OKC got as good a deal as Louisville.

You may be right but I think the final numbers didn't come out exactly like people think. As of 2018 the total debt on the Louisville Omni came up to be around $320 million. Omni was obligated to $105 million. So the other $215 million was made up from city, state and private funds. The actual land value was $17 million so you can subtract that from the final cost. These numbers change all the time so I'll go back and recheck myself so I don't give out wrong info without a correction.

I'm sorry, but.... this Omni is nice. It's just like the one in Ft. Worth, minus the 20 extra floors of million dollar condos on top. I stayed in that Omni and it was very nice. I mean, what else do you need?

By the way, as a part of the Louisville deal Omni stipulated no financial incentives could be provided to any other hotel with more than 400 rooms and within a mile of their Omni.

OKC's deal says no TIF for any hotel project anywhere in town. And a reminder that OKC doesn't have a single hotel that has 400 rooms or more, doesn't have any planned and likely won't have any for the foreseeable future.

OKC has already provided hefty TIF dollars for the Skirvin, 21c and Ambassador hotels. And I just reported today, the Spaghetti Warehouse project is considering a hotel use for it's top 5 floors.

If we are to believe the Alliance's single argument for TIF -- that these projects would not happen otherwise -- than it stands to reason OKC will now miss out on future desirable hotel projects due to this Omni limitation. Whereas if we had merely had the agreed to the same terms as Louisville, there would be virtually no opportunity cost to OKC.


I will also point out that the Alliance and the City never did any sort of comparison to the deals that Omni had cut elsewhere, at least that information was never presented in a public forum before City Council was told by O'Connor what a good deal this was.

Perhaps it is... But how on earth would we know one way or another?

Upon high-level examination it does not appear that OKC got as good a deal as Louisville.

Maybe Louisville hadn't had 3000 other hotel rooms built within a mile like in OKC. I have lived in several cities where a new convention center was being built. In all cases a linked convention hotel was considered a necessity. All the cities provided huge amounts of subsidy. Dallas,
and Denver provided far more $ than OKC (albeit for bigger hotels). The point is, it's normal. If the OMNI is successful enough to warrant a new major hotel, a TIF shouldn't be necessary.

Maybe Louisville hadn't had 3000 other hotel rooms built within a mile like in OKC. I have lived in several cities where a new convention center was being built. In all cases a linked convention hotel was considered a necessity. All the cities provided huge amounts of subsidy. Dallas,
and Denver provided far more $ than OKC (albeit for bigger hotels). The point is, it's normal. If the OMNI is successful enough to warrant a new major hotel, a TIF shouldn't be necessary.

If you look at this article then compare it to what OKC has and has planned, you'll see Lousville has more hotel rooms within walking distance of their convention center -- 4,700 -- than OKC has planned for all of its metro core, 4,500.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/marketplace/2016/04/30/louisville-hotel-building-boom-rushes-fill-local-need/82890312/

Article is also 2-years old so I'm sure that 4,700 # has risen.

You may be right but I think the final numbers didn't come out exactly like people think. As of 2018 the total debt on the Louisville Omni came up to be around $320 million. Omni was obligated to $105 million. So the other $215 million was made up from city, state and private funds. The actual land value was $17 million so you can subtract that from the final cost. These numbers change all the time so I'll go back and recheck myself so I don't give out wrong info without a correction.

Not sure where you are getting your numbers.

This article shows the Louisville Omni at $289 million, with the Omni putting up $150 million and the city paying $139 million.

https://www.omnihotels.com/blog/omni-hotels-breaks-ground-in-louisville/

Yeah that might just be a blog from 2016 and they haven't updated the new numbers. This is the Calhoun site with the construction cost as of March 2017 and they're in charge of construction. I can't pinpoint the exact construction cost right now for each side, but when I was in Louisville on Derby weekend it was on the news about how much this thing was costing them. I will dig a little bit to get some overall numbers since I believe it's finished or close.

http://calhounconstructs.com/tag/omni-louisville/

^

Reminder that the Louisville property is almost ready to open and ours has yet to even have the land cleared.

For a point of comparison, I think it's only fair to go with their original deal at the same stage of OKC's. You can bet our costs will go up as this project actually goes to bid and starts construction.

For example, the addition of the skywalks have yet to be quantified but will add millions to the project total.

I'm sorry, but.... this Omni is nice. It's just like the one in Ft. Worth, minus the 20 extra floors of million dollar condos on top. I stayed in that Omni and it was very nice. I mean, what else do you need?

agreed.. baffled by the strong hate. I like the design of ours better than most of the other omnis I've seen. The open air cafe/restaurant spaces, pool that faces the park, the fact that there will be some brick rather than just eifs... One could argue about the city and financing and what not, I'm but the building/hotel itself looks like it will be very nice.

agreed.. baffled by the strong hate. I like the design of ours better than most of the other omnis I've seen. The open air cafe/restaurant spaces, pool that faces the park, the fact that there will be some brick rather than just eifs... One could argue about the city and financing and what not, I'm but the building/hotel itself looks like it will be very nice.

I like the hotel and general design, I think the issue is more about what we are getting for our tax dollars, and that's more than fair.

^
Your 100% correct in many of your points, but Louisville paid way more for their hotel and it's not as close as it seems. The total construction cost for L'ville was $320 million. They already owned the land and their parking garage was gifted to them from River city for $17 million. So basically L'ville has an actual $300 million dollar building. That's not including the garage or nothing else, that's the actual building.

Curious.
Has Architect, or someone else, posted a 3D model of the CBD (viewed from a few angles) incorporating the Omni as currently designed?
If it's been posted, I missed it somehow. Would love to see it.

https://cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/w640-dbd1ce98a3a13c3f26fc10d48251bb2d.jpg

Designs for the 17-story Omni 605 room Omni to be built next to the city's new convention center shows the hotel will front the future downtown boulevard with restaurants and bars designed also to draw visitors at the future Scissortail Park.

The new $235.5 million convention center hotel agreement requires OKC to subsidize $85.4 million; while Omni invests $150.1 million.

https://cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/lead630_blur-165a37b3bd8ed5725fce150929fa403d.jpg
Proposed Fairfield Inn & Suites will be a 5-story, 133-room hotel on the southwest corner of SW 4th and Shields.

Total room count on the new convention center complex site south of the Chesapeake Energy Arena will offer 738 rooms.

That is the old design for the Fairfield Inn and Suites
https://cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/lead630_blur-165a37b3bd8ed5725fce150929fa403d.jpg
Proposed Fairfield Inn & Suites will be a 5-story, 133-room hotel on the southwest corner of SW 4th and Shields.[/QUOTE]

Oops! Thanks for calling this to my attention.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/fairfieldwiki1.jpg
Proposed Fairfield Inn & Suites will be a 5-story, 130-room hotel on the southwest corner of SW 4th and Shields.
735 rooms will be on the convention center complex site.

Omni Hotels submits final plans for approval (http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=490-Omni-Hotels-submits-final-plans-for-approval)

Omni has submitted design plans for their proposed 605-room convention hotel which will be reviewed by the Downtown Design Review Committee on May 17th.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918i.jpg


The group had previously won the right to develop the city-owned site through an RFP process that was overseen by the Alliance for Economic Development as part of the MAPS 3 convention center project.

The plans for the 18-story hotel show 2 large restaurants on the ground floor as well as a bar and coffee shop, all located on the ground floor.

The 2nd level will contain convention space including grand and junior ballrooms, meeting rooms, concierge and a business center. The 3rd will feature a fitness center, spa area, outdoor amenity bar and large deck with a pool overlooking Scissortail Park which should finish later this year.

The convention center will also connect directly to the hotel via a 2nd level skywalk and a similar temperature-controlled elevated walkway is planned between the convention center and proposed parking structure.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918x.jpg


Among the 605 rooms, several are designated as 'NBA Compatible' with special allowances for ceiling, door and shower head height as well as larger beds. The hotel will be located directly south of Chesapeake Arena.

Omni will receive $85.4 million in financial incentives from the city and will also have use of a new parking garage to be built on a soon to be relocated OG&E data center site, which is immediately to the east. It is estimated that the city will also incur approximately $50 million in interest costs as the arrangement with Omni requires all the incentives to be paid before they start construction.

The convention center is currently out for bid and it's expected construction will start later this year.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918m.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918l.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918k.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918j.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918h.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918d.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918e.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918f.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918g.jpg

By the way, the total height shown on the plans is 214 feet 4 inches.

I’m very excited for this!

Assuming 70% occupancy on your average night and a (my guess) average reservation size of 1.5 people, this should provide about 600-650 people on that block any given night. These are people who will be going to the park, riding the streetcar, going to Bricktown etc.. like it or not this is a great anchor for the park and Core 2 Shore.

Can mere mortals who aren't even that tall but are just sick of having to duck under most hotel shower heads request one of the NBA rooms? Assuming there's not a game and the actual NBA isn't currently using them of course. I don't seem to have a problem with beds, and it isn't all hotels, but I've been in too darn many that designed the bathroom very poorly. "Put the shower head at 5 feet." "What about people who are six feet tall?" "Eh, that's their problem!"

Looks fantastic!

I'm excited about the possibility of having an elaborate sports bar directly across from CHK.

Also, it means that nice southwestern entrance to the arena will finally highly visible.


Will be really fun to watch the the streetcar and Scisscortail Park come together later this year, then have the convention center and Omni moving fast along the east side of the park. The whole area will be completely transformed in just a couple of years.

Pool not in the shape of Oklahoma, boo

14586

What are the circled buildings? The one on the left I guess could be the renaissance, but I don't think the alignment is right. Is it all just bogus?

None of those buildings exist or are planned. Not sure why they even made the rendering. It’s possible at that angle that you might see some of the Riversport stuff, but mostly in that direction is a whole lot of nothing.

That's what I thought. Was like hey, are we getting a sneak peak at something someone knows about or what?

now that I think about it, since ours is similar to some other Omnis, probably they did a copy/paste of the file and made appropriate changes, forgetting to remove the background from another city.

None of those buildings exist or are planned. Not sure why they even made the rendering. It’s possible at that angle that you might see some of the Riversport stuff, but mostly in that direction is a whole lot of nothing.

I'm calling BS and starting a new mystery tower thread based from this rendering. :Smiley122

Rabble rouser

don't forget about the new Fairmont Oklahoma City Downtown hotel, which is first to the local market and appears to be built nicely for an urban environment along S Shields. I just hope they design the parking garage to allow for human interaction along shields to create a pedestrian corridor to/from the Fairmont.

We shouldn't ONLY build everything for Omni, there's somebody else in the neighborhood and they happen to be there before anyone. ..

14586

What are the circled buildings? The one on the left I guess could be the renaissance, but I don't think the alignment is right. Is it all just bogus?

It's all bogus but here is a close-up:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918s.jpg

Also, this is the basement parking. Will be 178 spaces.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918t.jpg

I like it a lot. can't wait to see it all start coming together. I am really curious as to what the lighting of the building will look like at night.

That's what I thought. Was like hey, are we getting a sneak peak at something someone knows about or what?

we are getting a sneak peak that devon is rebranding to their old logo and moving back into the continental building :tongue:

This, and the park, will look fantastic on national TV as exterior shots of the arena are shown coming out of timeouts for Thunder games.

Definitely looks great, didn't know a Fairfield was going in right next door. I can imagine the skyline in the next few years...

Hello all! Long time lurker -- first time poster. I love the knowledge base on this site. Thank you.

This looks strikingly similar to the Dallas Star Omni. I love it there. Great restaurants and bars all around. Hopefully the blvd frontage mirrors the rest of the star area.

http://realtybiznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/dalfsc-omni-frisco-hotel-west-view-composite-a.jpg

^^^
Wow, that is very similar.

I spent some time at the downtown Dallas Omni for the first time recently and it's really well done. It's just too bad the Dallas Convention Center is so dated and disconnected from the rest of downtown Dallas. As a DFW resident, I wish Dallas could upgrade their convention center situation so a few conferences I attend might locate there.

Hello all! Long time lurker -- first time poster. I love the knowledge base on this site. Thank you.

This looks strikingly similar to the Dallas Star Omni. I love it there. Great restaurants and bars all around. Hopefully the blvd frontage mirrors the rest of the star area.

http://realtybiznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/dalfsc-omni-frisco-hotel-west-view-composite-a.jpg



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni041918h.jpg

http://realtybiznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/dalfsc-omni-frisco-hotel-west-view-composite-a.jpg
300-room luxurious Omni Frisco Hotel
THE STAR IN FRISCO
11 Cowboys Way
Frisco, Texas 75034

Very similar to our proposed conference hotel -300 rooms. The two hotels are strikingly similar. Thanks for sharing DallasOkie086--good 1st post, continue to join the conservation.

Hello all! Long time lurker -- first time poster. I love the knowledge base on this site. Thank you.

This looks strikingly similar to the Dallas Star Omni. I love it there. Great restaurants and bars all around. Hopefully the blvd frontage mirrors the rest of the star area.

http://realtybiznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/dalfsc-omni-frisco-hotel-west-view-composite-a.jpg

Hey, thanks for posting!

Just to compare, the Frisco Omni is 300 rooms compared to 605 proposed for OKC.

But I'm sure many of the design elements will be same and Omni does a really nice job.

Has the floor plan changed since last time by any chance? I either read it wrong or the vast majority (if not all) of the rooms are joined with another. I'd really like to see at least one floor (maybe the one with the NBA rooms?) have single rooms.

Has the floor plan changed since last time by any chance? I either read it wrong or the vast majority (if not all) of the rooms are joined with another. I'd really like to see at least one floor (maybe the one with the NBA rooms?) have single rooms.

Yes, the plans changed slightly before this final application.

I like it, personally.

I love it but would have liked to see an Oklahoma pool like others have mentioned