The Governor's Mansion has an Oklahoma-shaped pool. It's clearly visible on Google Maps.
Nice! I never noticed that.

https://blog.intheswim.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/state-shaped-pool-oklahoma.jpg
Governor’s Mansion in Oklahoma City, you'll find this pool in the shape of the state, the panhandle section is an attached spa that has a solar cover.

That second crane is pretty mighty looking.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni050920d.jpg

Is that sign along the pathway for the contractors who are doing the crane disassembly? It amuses me just a little, looks like it's set up purely for people to come along and take pictures. Good PR if so, TBH.

That second crane is pretty mighty looking.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni050920d.jpg

Is that sign along the pathway for the contractors who are doing the crane disassembly? It amuses me just a little, looks like it's set up purely for people to come along and take pictures. Good PR if so, TBH.

That sign is for the general contracting firm.

And yes, it seemed to placed there for photo ops. There were tons of people in the park.

That second crane is pretty mighty looking.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni050920d.jpg

Is that sign along the pathway for the contractors who are doing the crane disassembly? It amuses me just a little, looks like it's set up purely for people to come along and take pictures. Good PR if so, TBH.

The gcs sign was on the crane...

The gcs sign was on the crane...

Haha yes, that sign was actually mounted onto the crane during this project. You can see it here.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni121819a.jpg

I wish the east side was a bit more visually appealing. Looks like something from the russian block coming down WB OKC Boulevard

I wish the east side was a bit more visually appealing. Looks like something from the russian block coming down WB OKC Boulevard

A lot of it will be covered (visually) by the apartment building and parking garage. I think east facing windows are also somewhat undesirable as they brighten the room too early in the morning even with heavy curtains.

Has anyone noticed if any testing of exterior lighting has started?

This whole area is really looking nice!

https://media.giphy.com/media/Ve5LvsnQ4yUZlNsfmi/source.gif

Blessed be thy drone footage.

This whole area is really looking nice!

https://media.giphy.com/media/Ve5LvsnQ4yUZlNsfmi/source.gif

Amazing!

The lot between the parks is just screaming for some development.

Amazing!

The lot between the parks is just screaming for some development.

Yes! Right before all this business my family and I spent an afternoon in Scissortail and partway through migrated to Myriad. The lot was a sad bridge between the two.

I have always hoped for a ped only shopping/dining "street" --a place where crowds can gather before and after Thunder games or concerts. Kind of like a mini version of Disney Springs or Universal City Walk with retail and dining along the ped-only street and residential and/or office on the second and third floors above street level. Essentially an active passage between the two green spaces.

I have always hoped for a ped only shopping/dining "street" --a place where crowds can gather before and after Thunder games or concerts. Kind of like a mini version of Disney Springs or Universal City Walk with retail and dining along the ped-only street and residential and/or office on the second and third floors above street level. Essentially an active passage between the two green spaces.

Seen in New Orleans, Miami Beach, Denver, Boulder, Seattle, San Antino, Boston, New York, Philly among others and if we can't support the Bricktown canal and all the other downtown merchants, we really don't deserve a dedicated pedestrian mall, just saying

Something like East 4th in Cleveland would be amazing here. A small street lined with restaurants ad bars. All include patios and many have live music. https://www.east4thstreet.com/

I have always hoped for a ped only shopping/dining "street" --a place where crowds can gather before and after Thunder games or concerts. Kind of like a mini version of Disney Springs or Universal City Walk with retail and dining along the ped-only street and residential and/or office on the second and third floors above street level. Essentially an active passage between the two green spaces.

Your'e just describing decent urban design. It is sad that this is discussed as a wish-list dream when it should just be the standard for every urban street.

Seen in New Orleans, Miami Beach, Denver, Boulder, Seattle, San Antino, Boston, New York, Philly among others and if we can't support the Bricktown canal and all the other downtown merchants, we really don't deserve a dedicated pedestrian mall, just saying

But the set up along the canal in Bricktown does not allow for larger groups to walk--those walkways are too narrow and don't give good access to retail on the same level. I see a walkway between the parks as being a lot more popular because it would all be on one level and the walking space would be much much wider.

Your'e just describing decent urban design. It is sad that this is discussed as a wish-list dream when it should just be the standard for every urban street.

Well, it's not standard here at this point, so no use whining about what we DON'T have, we just need to be vocal about what we'd like to see! It should be standard for most urban streets (even though I have been to many cities where it also is not). I just think people on here think OKC sometimes does everything badly which is just not the case. Are there opportunities, sure, but the constant drum beat that everything sucks the way we do it, etc., etc., etc., is just tired. We have a lot to be grateful for. When I travel to other cities our size, we are doing a lot right. Remember, we are one of the youngest big cities in the U.S. Only Miami (1896) and Las Vegas (1911) are younger among big cities in the U.S., so therefore we have less old building stock and pre-war urban design to work with and revitalize--this puts us at a relative disadvantage in some ways with trends in urban design planning we are seeing these days. I often remember this when envying other urban landscapes across the country and it helps me understand why we have what we have to work with. We only can move forward and so if we need to CREATE decent urban design from scratch, hopefully we can make this known and the city and private developers will support it. I am with you with thinking this should be the standard!

Well, it's not standard here at this point, so no use whining about what we DON'T have, we just need to be vocal about what we'd like to see! It should be standard for most urban streets (even though I have been to many cities where it also is not). I just think people on here think OKC sometimes does everything badly which is just not the case. Are there opportunities, sure, but the constant drum beat that everything sucks the way we do it, etc., etc., etc., is just tired. We have a lot to be grateful for. When I travel to other cities our size, we are doing a lot right. Remember, we are one of the youngest big cities in the U.S. Only Miami (1896) and Las Vegas (1911) are younger among big cities in the U.S., so therefore we have less old building stock and urban design to work with and revitalize--this puts us at a relative disadvantage in some ways with trends in urban design planning we are seeing these days. I often remember this when envying other urban landscapes across the country and it helps me understand what we have to work with. We only can move forward and so if we need to CREATE decent urban design from scratch, hopefully we can make this known and the city and private developers will support it. I am with you with thinking this should be the standard!
Excellent post.

Something like East 4th in Cleveland would be amazing here. A small street lined with restaurants ad bars. All include patios and many have live music. https://www.east4thstreet.com/

Yes, that's great. You could probably make something like that in Bricktown elsewhere than the canal, probably. Otherwise, you would have to make a faux version of it on that old Ford dealership property, which could be done, it just wouldn't be as unique and a bit Disney-ish because it isn't original building stock. But I'd take it! It would be a great place to gather before and after Thunder games or other 'Peake events

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/local-companies/2020/07/08/omni-hotels-headed-by-billionaire-robert-rowling-haul-in-up-to-83-million-in-ppp-loans/

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/local-companies/2020/07/08/omni-hotels-headed-by-billionaire-robert-rowling-haul-in-up-to-83-million-in-ppp-loans/

good for them that is what PPP was for

good for them that is what PPP was for

Exactly. They make it sound like the billionaire made this money. The properties were likely shut down or losing money

This 84 million went to his employees mainly. They are really spinning these stories. Yes some places probably shouldn’t have taken it. But this is prime example of an industry hit hard that was able to pay their employees because of ppp

Wasn't passing judgement, just posting something relevant in the thread. Actually I have several others I've been meaning to post, just as an FYI.

I've been wondering if they are still doing the LED lights on the glass portion of the west elevation. I believe I found the answer in a strange way. I clicked the "snap map" (on Snapchat) in the Omni's location and one of the workers operating the window washing units posted a video. On the floor of the contraption there was a box with long strips of LED lights and wiring poking out from the building. I have noticed they've been going to every other floor and they began on the southern section of the glass first and have now moved to the northern section. Given this information and the two sets of renderings, I think that what we end up getting as far as lights is the LED's on the north and south portions (picture 2)

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Apologies for the low quality.

^

Very nice.

I've seen them up there working.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni081620a.jpg

Let's keep a close eye on when they turn on their led lighting!

I wonder if this pool will be open to non-guests like some in larger cities are. If so, I can see it being quite the hangout.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni092020ca.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni092020ba.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni092020aa.jpg

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They were testing the LED lights tonight.

Combined with the LED's and coming light installations at the convention center, this area will be a real knockout at night.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102020c.jpg


HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102020b.jpg

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This will look really good. Just imagine if the Omni was twice as tall and had residential units on the top.

I was holding out hope that Omni would surprise us & have LED elements on most of the windows. It looks good, but of all Omni properties I can think of the one we got is on the very bottom.

I like what we got, but I would have to admit it doesn't really compare to the design of the Dallas Omni.

DFW is the 4th largest metro area in the U.S.; OKC is 41st.

We really need to stop comparing ourselves to them.

For how much money the tax payers gave to Omni, the city should have pushed for some residential on top. I imagine units there would not really have any comparison to anywhere else in the city except for maybe First National Center. I would love to live in a location like that, you basically have a $140 million frontyard in Scissortail Park.

For how much money the tax payers gave to Omni, the city should have pushed for some residential on top. I imagine units there would not really have any comparison to anywhere else in the city except for maybe First National Center. I would love to live in a location like that, you basically have a $140 million frontyard in Scissortail Park.

I am sure lots of people might like to live there, but would you pay the cost? I don't think that people paying $1 million plus for a flat would want to be next to the convention center. More likely they would want to have a place on the west edge of the park away from the tourists.

I like the OKC design much better than the Dallas property. I’ve always thought the Dallas layout was strange being massively set back from the street with a large valet road in the front and parking garage behind. It has no street interaction and isn’t at all inviting for pedestrians. I’d love to see the okc Omni be a little taller and have some more LED lights but the Dallas location doesn’t blow this out of the water by any means imo.

For how much money the tax payers gave to Omni, the city should have pushed for some residential on top. I imagine units there would not really have any comparison to anywhere else in the city except for maybe First National Center. I would love to live in a location like that, you basically have a $140 million frontyard in Scissortail Park.

The Omni's in Fort Worth and Louisville included condos...agree this would've been a nice addition and would've made it taller/more skyline-defining
https://cf.bstatic.com/images/hotel/max1024x768/244/244941073.jpg

https://wfpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/omni-1.jpg

The Dallas Omni is way prettier for sure. It would be much nicer if this were taller and had more than exterior accent lighting.

Not everything is going to be skyline defining. Sometimes you just need things to fill in the gaps. With the Boulevard Place apartments going in right next door to the Omni, I think the whole Convention Center side of the park is going to be a big success. Could we have asked for bigger and taller? Sure, but that would require more tax money.

I feel quite certain that OKC will be able to keep this hotel really full. If you go adding on 10 more floors of condos and more hotel rooms, you bring on a lot more risk.

yes its not taller, doesn't have residential, it's not a LED disco ball like Dallas. I agree with Pete we really need to stop comparing to Dallas. I thought this morning driving to work with the LED lighting on it looked nice and visible on the highway from a good distance. looks great right on the park.

The Omni's in Fort Worth and Louisville included condos...agree this would've been a nice addition and would've made it taller/more skyline-defining

Condos may have helped with lower overhead and/or fixed costs. Not sure if condos were evaluated though as being feasible for the OKC project.

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too short to be seen IMO, unless you're right there at the park, cc, or arena.

Condos may have helped with lower overhead and/or fixed costs. Not sure if condos were evaluated though as being feasible for the OKC project.

I'm CERTAIN they weren't. Because if they were evaluated, they would have been included. OKC has a pent-up demand for downtown highrise living. The market may not be bulging out of the seams but it would have been there for 5-20 units - even with the NBA players and other successful URBAN youth moving to OKC from other cities. Along with that, the size of the hotel WILL come back to haunt us; should have been built at the consultant recommended 750 rooms given we gave them $85M+ in public funds but as always OKC overpromises/underperforms even what CONSULTANTS tell us.

If built to 750 rooms, the building would have been 20 floors on the same footprint (much more appropriate, 3 more floors). Add on the condos (3 floors) and you have a skyline-defining 23-floor (320 ft) building - same size as Valliance bank I think.

Now imagine THAT at this spot, along with the Boulevard apartments. 3-6 more floors is all it would have took. Should def have been 20 floors/750 rooms.

I'm CERTAIN they weren't. Because if they were evaluated, they would have been included. OKC has a pent-up demand for downtown highrise living. The market may not be bulging out of the seams but it would have been there for 5-20 units - even with the NBA players and other successful URBAN youth moving to OKC from other cities. Along with that, the size of the hotel WILL come back to haunt us; should have been built at the consultant recommended 750 rooms given we gave them $85M+ in public funds but as always OKC overpromises/underperforms even what CONSULTANTS tell us.

If built to 750 rooms, the building would have been 20 floors on the same footprint (much more appropriate, 3 more floors). Add on the condos (3 floors) and you have a skyline-defining 23-floor (320 ft) building - same size as Valliance bank I think.

Now imagine THAT at this spot, along with the Boulevard apartments. 3-6 more floors is all it would have took. Should def have been 20 floors/750 rooms.

while most what you said is true the optics of public money going to very high dollar condos was a non starter for several on the council and in the city govt

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520a.jpg

Looking across 4th from the convention center:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520k.jpg

Corner coffee shop:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520g.jpg

Inside coffee shop:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520c.jpg

The space for Bob's Steakhouse -- not sure if they are finishing the inside; maybe not:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520h.jpg

2-level corner sports bar with patio:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520f.jpg

Inside sports bar:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520e.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/omni102520d.jpg

while most what you said is true the optics of public money going to very high dollar condos was a non starter for several on the council and in the city govt
Please share with us the demand forecasts, price elasticity of the rooms, and the future budgets that show the need for additional rooms or the demand and return on condo sales at that location. Omni doesn’t pass on an opportunity to make more money and the city loves to add things that make the city look good... so what knowledge do you have they don’t?

Many of us would love to add a lot of tall buildings to the skyline for aesthetic or ego reasons, but the financial cases don’t exist to justify it and the real world runs on actual analysis of risk reward, supply and demand. Banks don’t loan on the height of a building or how cool it looks.

This Omni is an appropriate and very good addition to downtown. If it goes well over the next few years maybe we get that ego tower on the Cox site. But we have to prove it out first.

I can see myself spending a lot of time (and money) at the sports bar before and after Thunder games.

Does the artificial turf have a purpose or is it simply landscaping?

Does the artificial turf have a purpose or is it simply landscaping?

It's a putting green.

⬆⬆ I'm assuming it's artificial turn, I guess it could be real.

It's fake grass.

It's fake grass.
It's still nice to know they have some variance on the rooftop deck. What I would like to know is if it would be available to visitors as well as customers. Something like that would remind me of a club called RIO over in Austin, Texas.
If there was something similar to this here in OKC, the nightlife would change dramatically. It would bring out a younger crowd too.
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still maintain the pool should be in oklahoma shape

agreed