height= 10 stories
1,200 to 2,000 parking spaces + office

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/karch1wiki1.jpg
Information & Latest News
5/15/13: Garage may interfere with rail plans (http://newsok.com/new-garage-underground-pedestrian-tunnel-extension-planned-for-bricktown/article/3808161)
5/10/13: Garage and offices proposed (http://newsok.com/new-garage-underground-pedestrian-tunnel-extension-planned-for-bricktown/article/3808161)
Links
County Assessor Record (http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/AN-R.asp?ACCOUNTNO=R020024995)
Gallery

That is pretty massive.

That is pretty massive.

Must. Have. Strength. To. Not. Quote. Michael. Scott......

I'm hopeful that they will restructure their site layout to allow the eventual addition of the rail line spur. No reason why we can't have both, as both would be tremendous developments for the city.

So, has the location of this parking garage just been moved to the south a little bit? Maybe the rail line can go behind it?

I believe they are re-sizing the footprint to accommodate the rail line.

I know this is still an active project.

I also hope they move the south entrance to the parking garage (fronting Main) to the alley right next to it. That's a curb cut that can be avoided.

I believe they are re-sizing the footprint to accommodate the rail line.

Let's hope so. I heard the rail transit consultant that is now involved didn't seem to have a good grasp of all the rail transit plans for that area.

I know I must be missing something here. This parking garage was proposed at least a year or more ago. It just seems the simple answer would be to build it a little smaller or x number of feet from the track. Has it taken this long to come up with that solution?

I like it, and it's needed. I park in that lot daily, and in the past month some new office must have come online because the front 2/3 of the lot is full by 7:45. A year ago, I could park near the front if I got to work at any point before 8:00.

There has been additional valet parking here too. I don't know if its Aloft, but they have a different uniform than the Skirvin valets. Once Tapstone moves in, parking here will need to be increased (or, the city could invest in bus system enough to convince people like me to leave the car at home. I'd be easy to convince.)

That lot is definitely approaching critical mass.

Holiday Inn Express will also have a non-trivial impact on the parking there.

I know I must be missing something here. This parking garage was proposed at least a year or more ago. It just seems the simple answer would be to build it a little smaller or x number of feet from the track. Has it taken this long to come up with that solution?

My thoughts exactly.

Very true. And the throngs of families that will no doubt plan their family vacations around Brickopolis.

I know I must be missing something here. This parking garage was proposed at least a year or more ago. It just seems the simple answer would be to build it a little smaller or x number of feet from the track. Has it taken this long to come up with that solution?

Not as simple as "build x feet away from the track". It's important to protect a curved path from the north bound line to the east bound line to allow trains departing or arriving from Santa Fe Station can access the line going to Tulsa, NE side, and Midwest City.

Also, I've heard Karchmer has decided to build another parking structure in Bricktown first; one the land he owns on the SW corner of Oklahoma and Sheridan.

We should get definitely plans on that one soon, and then this project would follow.

Also, I've heard Karchmer has decided to build another parking structure in Bricktown first; one the land he owns on the SW corner of Oklahoma and Sheridan.

We should get definitely plans on that one soon, and then this project would follow.

Just parking or might there be offices on top, retail on the bottom or both?

Parking structure with retail on ground floor.

Also, I've heard Karchmer has decided to build another parking structure in Bricktown first; one the land he owns on the SW corner of Oklahoma and Sheridan.

We should get definitely plans on that one soon, and then this project would follow.

Interesting. This would be the Karchmer #2 lot from the Bricktown Shakeup thread?

As an aside, I hope the garage is designed well and aesthetically pleasing.

Interesting. This would be the Karchmer #2 lot from the Bricktown Shakeup thread?

Yes.

When could we hear something official about it?

When could we hear something official about it?

It would first have to go through design review.

I suspect the reason it got moved up on the priority list is due to the Andy Burnett purchases of the Karchmer properties ( Bricktown Shakeup ) to the east. Those properties should close this month and then the dominos will probably start to fall.

My understanding is that a developer wants to construct a mid-rise hotel directly east (parcel 5 below) and this garage would serve that property and address parking needs in the middle of Bricktown.

The garage depicted in this thread was primarily to serve the CBD, as Karchmer was looking to sell blocks of spaces to Continental and other downtown employers.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/karchmer2.jpg

I know it didn't work on Main street, but to me this seems like a great location (Karchmer 2) to do ground floor retail and upper floor residential and/or office, given how hot the Bricktown office market has gotten of late.

That is such a prime spot! I hope they do it right.
Needs to be "family friendly" though. :wink:

Pete, any word on what brand of hotel is being looked at for #5?

Pete, any word on what brand of hotel is being looked at for #5?

Higher-end and modern Marriott of some type.

Higher-end and modern Marriott of some type.

I could see it being BVLGARI or Edition but it will most likely be a Springhill Suites. We can't have nice things...

Random Googlings
8124
8125
8126

It would first have to go through design review.

I suspect the reason it got moved up on the priority list is due to the Andy Burnett purchases of the Karchmer properties ( Bricktown Shakeup ) to the east. Those properties should close this month and then the dominos will probably start to fall.

My understanding is that a developer wants to construct a mid-rise hotel directly east (parcel 5 below) and this garage would serve that property and address parking needs in the middle of Bricktown.

The garage depicted in this thread was primarily to serve the CBD, as Karchmer was looking to sell blocks of spaces to Continental and other downtown employers.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/karchmer2.jpg

Everyone always brings it up, but at what point do you think we will be somewhat close to overbuilding hotels in the downtown area? They are always packed during thunder games, but what are they like the rest of the time? With several announced and unannounced hotels in the pipe, it seems like we're going to have more than enough rooms downtown soon. Downtown will obviously continue growing but I wonder at what point new hotels will start seriously impacting others in the area?

Also, I wonder if this will impact Chris Johnson's potential canal hotel development?

Everyone always brings it up, but at what point do you think we will be somewhat close to overbuilding hotels in the downtown area? They are always packed during thunder games, but what are they like the rest of the time? With several announced and unannounced hotels in the pipe, it seems like we're going to have more than enough rooms downtown soon. Downtown will obviously continue growing but I wonder at what point new hotels will start seriously impacting others in the area?

Also, I wonder if this will impact Chris Johnson's potential canal hotel development?

I think Steve said recently hotel occupancy in DT/BT was at 66% which is very good by those standards and a thousand rooms could be added in different areas with that percentage not going down much.

Everyone always brings it up, but at what point do you think we will be somewhat close to overbuilding hotels in the downtown area? They are always packed during thunder games, but what are they like the rest of the time? With several announced and unannounced hotels in the pipe, it seems like we're going to have more than enough rooms downtown soon. Downtown will obviously continue growing but I wonder at what point new hotels will start seriously impacting others in the area?

Also, I wonder if this will impact Chris Johnson's potential canal hotel development?


If it is going to impact anything it will be first be the hotels out on NW Expressway, and somewhat also the Meridian Hotel corridor (although these will presumably continue to fine due to a lower price point).

Metro-wide, the occupancy rates have been running over 75%, which is near the very top of all cities. And Downtown has been faring better than anywhere else.

And I bet the newly-opened Aloft and Hilton Garden Inn are doing very well.

It's very easy to finance these projects because of the strong local track record.

I think Steve said recently hotel occupancy in DT/BT was at 66% which is very good by those standards and a thousand rooms could be added in different areas with that percentage not going down much.

Actually, I think Urbanized said in reply to a post I asked that it is around 75%-EDIT Pete beat me to it.

I can't speak for the rest of the city, but I know hotel motel tax grew about 9% last year. Both of these are very solid figures.

Every hotel submarket has its niche. Downtown for obvious reasons...lots of horse show attendees and trainees at the FAA stay at the hotels off Meridian. Norman/Moore/S OKC has OU traffic. Northwest Expressway is OKC's secondary white collar employment center so there's business travellers. Can't really say what Memorial Road's niche is. I think that area is most at risk for overbuilding and there hasn't been a lot of announcements lately. But overall given the small number of rooms these properties are adding, I think OKC can absorb them.

Wanted to point out that even though we've added thousands of rooms in the last several years, the occupancy rates have still gone up.

Part of this is the recovery of the national economy, where people are simply traveling more. The hospitality industry came to a pretty big halt in the 00's due to 9/11 and then the recession.

It also helps we now have several large companies that are blowing and going, bringing in lots of traveling business.

Actually, I think Urbanized said in reply to a post I asked that it is around 75%-EDIT Pete beat me to it.

I can't speak for the rest of the city, but I know hotel motel tax grew about 9% last year. Both of these are very solid figures.

Every hotel submarket has its niche. Downtown for obvious reasons...lots of horse show attendees and trainees at the FAA stay at the hotels off Meridian. Norman/Moore/S OKC has OU traffic. Northwest Expressway is OKC's secondary white collar employment center so there's business travellers. Can't really say what Memorial Road's niche is. I think that area is most at risk for overbuilding and there hasn't been a lot of announcements lately. But overall given the small number of rooms these properties are adding, I think OKC can absorb them.

Good, then what I saw was lower than I thought. The 66% figure stands out to me for some reason and maybe it is as simple as the low occupancy rate was 66% during the slower months, I do know why my brain retains some info and not others.

It's extremely solid city-wide but especially downtown; far from saturation. We could definitely use a true luxury property on a national reservation system.

It's extremely solid city-wide but especially downtown; far from saturation. We could definitely use a true luxury property on a national reservation system.

Which hopefully we will see with the Convention Center hotel. I am pulling for an Omni, Hyatt Regency, JW or an upscale Fairmont.

Which hopefully we will see with the Convention Center hotel. I am pulling for an Omni, Hyatt Regency, JW or an upscale Fairmont.

I would second the idea for a Fairmont. I stayed in four different Fairmont hotels last week and they were all wonderful.

From Steve's article today:


Karchmer, meanwhile, said he is by no means exiting real estate development in Bricktown. He is hoping to finalize plans soon for a garage with possible housing on top along Main Street just east of the BNSF Railway Viaduct.

He also bought out a partnership with the Brewer family for the Melting Pot building, 4 E Sheridan Ave. and the adjoining parking lot to the east and is negotiating a deal that would renovate the empty top three floors into office space.

Previously, Karchmer had talked about office space above the garage; now it sounds like it will be housing.

From Steve's article today:



Previously, Karchmer had talked about office space above the garage; now it sounds like it will be housing.

That's good news.

I'm still hearing the garage on the SW corner of Sheridan & Oklahoma will come first.

It's extremely solid city-wide but especially downtown; far from saturation. We could definitely use a true luxury property on a national reservation system.

I agree. OKC needs another full service, luxury hotel downtown.

What's the latest on this?

It'd be really cool to see a train going through the garage as part of the spur.

It's still in the works, just moving slowly.

Is the Underground connection still part of it? Cause if the EKG P180 work is happening before the garage (seems likely), they should go ahead and run the tunnel underneath it while they've got the ground torn up... unless I misunderstand how much of EKG is getting done (very likely). Would be dumb to P180 EKG, then tear it up and fix it for the tunnel, then tear it up and fix it for the streetcar tracks.

This may be one of the most exciting projects in OKC to me....I really have no idea why. If executed like the render with the garage and the residential this'll be a huge step up for bricktown i'm more excited about this then i am 499 (Although thats not saying much)

Is the Underground connection still part of it? Cause if the EKG P180 work is happening before the garage (seems likely), they should go ahead and run the tunnel underneath it while they've got the ground torn up... unless I misunderstand how much of EKG is getting done (very likely). Would be dumb to P180 EKG, then tear it up and fix it for the tunnel, then tear it up and fix it for the streetcar tracks.

No p180 work is currently planned or scheduled or funded for this area

Is the Underground connection still part of it? Cause if the EKG P180 work is happening before the garage (seems likely), they should go ahead and run the tunnel underneath it while they've got the ground torn up... unless I misunderstand how much of EKG is getting done (very likely). Would be dumb to P180 EKG, then tear it up and fix it for the tunnel, then tear it up and fix it for the streetcar tracks.

No p180 work is currently planned or scheduled or funded for this area

Is the Underground connection still part of it? Cause if the EKG P180 work is happening before the garage (seems likely), they should go ahead and run the tunnel underneath it while they've got the ground torn up... unless I misunderstand how much of EKG is getting done (very likely). Would be dumb to P180 EKG, then tear it up and fix it for the tunnel, then tear it up and fix it for the streetcar tracks.

I hope not. I see no reason for a tunnel, just like I see no reason for overhead walkways. Didn't Karchmer want the city to pay for all/part of the underground walkway? That would be a terrible waste of public funds. There is nothing in the CBD that is not within easy walking distance, and once the streetcar is done, all of downtown will be readily accessible.

I hope not. I see no reason for a tunnel, just like I see no reason for overhead walkways. Didn't Karchmer want the city to pay for all/part of the underground walkway? That would be a terrible waste of public funds. There is nothing in the CBD that is not within easy walking distance, and once the streetcar is done, all of downtown will be readily accessible.

Connecting. Any parking to the underground/sky system makes total sense if we want to keep attracting businesses down town

I disagree. We have reasonable weather - we're not Minneapolis. I seriously doubt the absence of an above or below-ground connection to a generic parking garage keeps businesses from locating downtown.

Um, I thought P180 got some outside funding to do EKG? Different part?

Is this still in the works?

Yes, but not for a while and it will likely look quite different than last proposed.

What happened with this proposal? Karchmer proposed this and the garage next to the Melting Pot and now neither are going anywhere.

Don Karchmer seems to have Rick Dowell disease.

No matter what, the Sheridan and Oklahoma project would come first and I'm sure it will still happen in some form.

Don Karchmer seems to have Rick Dowell disease.
lulz. It's an epidemic.

If you have been diagnosed with Dowell's Disease and can't get relief call Karr and Karr :smile:

Karchmer's plans have slowed because of commodities prices. Those plans were based on assumptions and assurances that there would be more parking demand from the other side of the tracks. If prices had rebounded he would be under construction at this point. I believe that you will ultimately see good development out of him; only the timeline has changed.

Completely different than Dowell. I have heard that Dowell's main issue is that he likes to pay cash and only scales up to the next thing when something he has done previously has positive cash flow. It's a nice system for flipping houses but not very scalable for high rise development.

^

That 'Dowell pays cash' thing is a myth.

I've talked to him about this several times and he said he always borrows for his projects, but perhaps less than many other developers.


But good to hear you are hopeful about Karchmer. The many guests and staff at the new Marriott Renaissance will need spaces, as does the entire heart of the district.