This area would be perfect for a development similar to West 7th Street in Fort Worth. West 7th Property | Fort Worth, Texas (http://www.west-7th.com)

Google West DT Fort Worth or West 7th Street. Pretty great stuff they have going on.

All the apartment include parking but none of it is on the street front. All is wedged between the development. DT Fort Worth is one of my favorite places and has a TON our leadership can learn from. Basically if we hasn't destroyed 80% of our DT over the year our street life/retail/development could be on par with DT Fort Worth. If you haven't been I highly recommend you visiting.

This area would be perfect for a development similar to West 7th Street in Fort Worth. West 7th Property | Fort Worth, Texas (http://www.west-7th.com)

Google West DT Fort Worth or West 7th Street. Pretty great stuff they have going on.

All the apartment include parking but none of it is on the street front. All is wedged between the development. DT Fort Worth is one of my favorite places and has a TON our leadership can learn from. Basically if we hasn't destroyed 80% of our DT over the year our street life/retail/development could be on par with DT Fort Worth. If you haven't been I highly recommend you visiting.

The best difference is that film row and the CBD are connected and not separated by a river like DT FTW and West 7th. It should make for some great continuity that is much more difficult for FTW.

West 7th is really large and well done. I've been over there a bunch of times. My one complaint is that the development feels too sterile, too clean. It just goes to show that some old building stock and grit complement new developments like West 7th. Having said that, it'd be great to get something like it.

West 7th is really large and well done. I've been over there a bunch of times. My one complaint is that the development feels too sterile, too clean. It just goes to show that some old building stock and grit complement new developments like West 7th. Having said that, it'd be great to get something like it.

I agree with the sentiment that it feels too sterile and clean, but hey you've gotta start somewhere!...it would be great if those new construction buildings were mixed-in right next to the Montgomery Ward redevelopment....that would be a great mix of new/old.

Steve's update on this area.

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/5425280&headline=West%20downtown%20Oklahoma%20City%20devel opment%20details%20emerge


New plans being submitted this week to the Downtown Design Review Committee indicate developers are moving forward with efforts to build a dense mix of housing and retail surrounding the historic Fred Jones Assembly Plant.
The newest plans show the facades of two decades-old brick warehouses at Classen and Sheridan also will be retained as the base for some of the apartments and garage parking.

OKCTalk - Detailed plans revealed for Residences at 21c on Film Row (http://www.okctalk.com/content/176-residences-21c-film-row.html)

Fantastic

Posting this link again since it got cut off by the page break.

Flipping cool project:

OKCTalk - Detailed plans revealed for Residences at 21c on Film Row (http://www.okctalk.com/content/176-residences-21c-film-row.html)

Wow, really excited to see all of these projects popping up! Can't wait to see what this area looks like over the next few years.

Game changer!

This area needs a future streetcar spur, or whatever they call it.

This area needs a future streetcar spur, or whatever they call it.

Meh…they can walk to/from the street-car.

Yassssss!!!!

Pete, do you know if there are any plans to redo the alley between the development and the 21c? I would think something like what the did in midtown between Packards and The Garage would work well.

Pete, do you know if there are any plans to redo the alley between the development and the 21c? I would think something like what the did in midtown between Packards and The Garage would work well.

Yes, they are planning to rehab the metal canopies in that alley, add outdoor dining to the hotel restaurant, and use the whole area to link the hotel to the surrounding development:

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/8324d1403625735-21c-museum-hotel-21coutdoor.jpg

A blog post from Steve on this: Amazing Changes Ahead for Film Row? | News OK (http://newsok.com/article/5427321)

Assuming it all comes to pass as planned this should be really quite transformative. Makes me wonder what the condos in Building B will run.

Better than porn.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Simply amazing. The only project in OKC that can compete with this is the steelyard, and that is already in an established district. The ROI on this project for the surrounding area will be through the roof. This by itself makes me believe the county jail can be transformed in to something we wouldn't believe just because of its close proximity.

A blog post from Steve on this: Amazing Changes Ahead for Film Row? | News OK (http://newsok.com/article/5427321)

Assuming it all comes to pass as planned this should be really quite transformative. Makes me wonder what the condos in Building B will run.

Someone should build a condo high rise in this area, maybe on Classen where that gas station is (that OCPS live at). That western edge has THE BEST skyline views, and will continue as such while the skyline extends westward and southward. In the 60s they truly talked about downtown bridging Penn to Lincoln. They were just a little ahead of their time (hence the exuberant urban renewal) but you can really see it when you drive down West Main or Linwood or even NW 10th (which is now developing).

I could see something like a better-connected version of Dallas' Design District..

Looks like we also get a glimpse of what may be built on Lot 2, as labeled on Pete's map above, from one of the renderings of Building B. Another 5-story apartment/condo building with retail/mixed use on the bottom?

With this scale of development being proposed, Film Row is about to be gettin' it!

Is any of this being funded by what would effectively be oil money? Mainly I'm just wondering if oil & gas prices going questionable places might derail it.

Similar question, is there any chance it'll eventually come with a TIF request without which it'll be economically unfeasible?

This is an awesome project and I am not saying this to be negative but what is to come of the county jail being 2 blocks away? Anyone else see this as a huge detractor?...maybe by the time this all gets built out it'll be moved or repurposed?

Pete, I can now understand why you would think this would be the project that would make Dallas and KC jealous.

This is an awesome project and I am not saying this to be negative but what is to come of the county jail being 2 blocks away? Anyone else see this as a huge detractor?...maybe by the time this all gets built out it'll be moved or repurposed?

If we didn't have a corrupt county government there's a chance we could fund a new jail. It would be wise to wait until after corruption has died down (at least ten years) and probably after some petty offenses get somewhat decriminalized. The OK County Jail situation is just too big of a mess to really touch right now sadly.

Looks like we also get a glimpse of what may be built on Lot 2, as labeled on Pete's map above, from one of the renderings of Building B. Another 5-story apartment/condo building with retail/mixed use on the bottom?

With this scale of development being proposed, Film Row is about to be gettin' it!

Yes, the two lots on the north side of Main will get similar development in terms of height and mix, with residences, structured parking and some retail/commercial space.

Not sure of the time of those properties but I suspect they'll need them for staging. Right now staging for 21c is on the site of Building B

One thing I don't like about this proposal is the location of the dog park as a part of the C block.

It fronts Classen and I had seen earlier drawings that showed commercial space there instead.

Boy oh boy, is FlashBack RetroPub well positioned.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/res21c.jpg

What is the order of construction for all of this and the estimated completion dates? This is VERY cool.

I believe this will all happen in conjunction with the work on the music venue (officially named Jones Assembly) and the 21c.

I believe the lots on the north side of Main will come later.

They've already submitted applications to demolish on the buildings on Lots B, C and D and the property on the north side of Main.

WOW! That Taco Bell and Sonic are about to get alot busier...Now with all the development on all four corners of downtown. A downtown grocery store I can see being announced any day.

This looks really awesome, but... am I just looking at the plans wrong? Building B's "retail" on the first floor looks like it's about 3 feet deep.

The restaurant and clubhouse in Building D also look cramped.

On that map, which lots are the police owned?

I am very pleased with what we know about this development so far. I think in the near term, Film Row has the most potential in OKC to get to critical mass and to be something truly special. With the recent announcements I think it will be there within 5 years. Unlike Midtown, Film Row already has great bones and placemaking, it just needs infill and activity to activate it.

On that map, which lots are the police owned?

Pretty much everything shown in pink is owned by the Police.

This looks really awesome, but... am I just looking at the plans wrong? Building B's "retail" on the first floor looks like it's about 3 feet deep.

The restaurant and clubhouse in Building D also look cramped.

Yea - those retail space are 10' deep. That isn't a lot of room. I guess they moved the parking to the corner to save the facades of the existing buildings but that isn't a good trade. I would rather see the living units moved down to the corner and put the parking garage mid-block. Parking should never be at the corner.

Yea - those retail space are 10' deep. That isn't a lot of room. I guess they moved the parking to the corner to save the facades of the existing buildings but that isn't a good trade. I would rather see the living units moved down to the corner and put the parking garage mid-block. Parking should never be at the corner.

How deep are the retail spaces at Devon? It seems like it would be hard to do a lot with 10'. That being said, I don't think you could ask for better developers / equity partners than what this project has. I have 100% faith in their plans and know that this has been strategically planned out for a (relatively) long time.

And as long as Flashback can last the 2-3 years for this project to be completed (which I don't think they will have a problem doing), I think that was a much smarter business move vs midtown.

The retail spaces in Building B are part of live/work units on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

I believe the the idea is to have the 2nd level be either live or work; with 3rd floor being live.

The idea being the 2nd level could also be incorporated into the retail/commercial space if desired.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/res21b3.jpg

Can someone explain to me what "Executive Suites" are? Is it basically large office space?

Also, Pete, do you think the in future we could see a parking garage built behind Building B and more units built on the north and south side of the lot?

The property to the east of Building B is owned by someone else. Hall Capital owns the lots on the north side of Main and those will be developed in a similar fashion to this project; multi-story residential with structured parking and some commercial space.

Executive Suites usually means a cluster of offices that are rented individually and share a common receptionist, conference room, etc.

Is any of this being funded by what would effectively be oil money? Mainly I'm just wondering if oil & gas prices going questionable places might derail it...

Assuming that the Hall family are the primary investors, while they do have energy investments that is not where most of their financial resources originated from. They are descendants of Fred Jones, who built an empire of automobile dealerships and manufacturing (specifically heavy in re-manufacturing of auto parts such as engines and transmissions).

The current generation continued to build on this, and in the nineties were substantially invested in an experimental auto group that encompassed the entire metro, before selling their interest to Ford Motor Company at a substantial profit. The company is and/or has been involved in many other aspects of the automobile industry, including insurance, financial services to dealerships, and a massive parts distribution network. They are also heavily (though generally quietly) involved in real estate and venture capital.

In other words, they are very diversified and extremely well-funded. Not sure about the overall investor makeup or the lending circumstances for this project, but I wouldn't worry too much about fluctuations in oil prices changing the Hall family's plans.

One thing I don't like about this proposal is the location of the dog park as a part of the C block.

It fronts Classen and I had seen earlier drawings that showed commercial space there instead.

Are you sure it's not on the rooftop, like at The Edge?

^ Right, fronting Classen with a dog park doesn't make a lot of sense..

The dog park is definitely ground level.

They could always add commercial there later but right now there is no street parking on Classen. Maybe they are hoping that will change.

It does if you're going to put your parking on the west-side of the development. Maybe there were some utility issues that made putting the parking in the middle unmanageable.

If the Dog Park is active it's actually a great way to fake interaction with the street, because people interact with people.

That being said, I grow more concerned everyday that the greatest corridor in Oklahoma City (Classen) is never going to come together in my lifetime.

The plans for 21c show just a big courtyard facing Classen and adjoining the space that will be occupied by ADG Architecture.

They could easily put angled parking there as well as the where the dog park is going, but doesn't seem to be the plan:

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/8319d1403624802-21c-museum-hotel-21csite.jpg

It does if you're going to put your parking on the west-side of the development. Maybe there were some utility issues that made putting the parking in the middle unmanageable.

If the Dog Park is active it's actually a great way to fake interaction with the street, because people interact with people.

That being said, I grow more concerned everyday that the greatest corridor in Oklahoma City (Classen) is never going to come together in my lifetime.

I agree that Classen development is elusive. It seems like downtown to 23rd is finally happening, as long as the currently announced developments transpire in the next 5 years. North of Classen though is a separate story that continues to get worse after a false start with some badly executed development in the 2000s.

I agree that Classen development is elusive. It seems like downtown to 23rd is finally happening, as long as the currently announced developments transpire in the next 5 years. North of Classen though is a separate story that continues to get worse after a false start with some badly executed development in the 2000s.

It's not that I'm worried so much about it being elusive…but that the street is being ignored for what it should be: A >5 mile stretch that should be *the* street in OKC 25 to 35 years from now. A street that can be walked from Reno all the way to 63rd/Western, built with solid urban principals. The street toward which the urban massing increases from the areas that are developed more like a suburb (think 39th/Penn slowly increasing in density toward 39th/Classen), and the connection from Downtown to One of the most important commercial areas in the city.

There's no doubt that things will develop along Classen. It's a question of whether or not it advances in a walkable, urban form or maintains its auto-centric nature. It's one of those big picture items, like the Cox site, that will be the difference in OKC being a Tier II and Tier III city. Can't front it with bad development now, or instead of being a 30 year timeline, it becomes a 50 year timeline.

I think the problem is that Classen is not a district…so nobody really owns it. But it effectively connects more districts than any other street in the city. That's why it should be our world-class street.

Assuming that the Hall family are the primary investors, while they do have energy investments that is not where most of their financial resources originated from. They are descendants of Fred Jones, who built an empire of automobile dealerships and manufacturing (specifically heavy in re-manufacturing of auto parts such as engines and transmissions).

The current generation continued to build on this, and in the nineties were substantially invested in an experimental auto group that encompassed the entire metro, before selling their interest to Ford Motor Company at a substantial profit. The company is and/or has been involved in many other aspects of the automobile industry, including insurance, financial services to dealerships, and a massive parts distribution network. They are also heavily (though generally quietly) involved in real estate and venture capital.

In other words, they are very diversified and extremely well-funded. Not sure about the overall investor makeup or the lending circumstances for this project, but I wouldn't worry too much about fluctuations in oil prices changing the Hall family's plans.

Awesome, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear.

It's not that I'm worried so much about it being elusive…but that the street is being ignored for what it should be: A >5 mile stretch that should be *the* street in OKC 25 to 35 years from now. A street that can be walked from Reno all the way to 63rd/Western, built with solid urban principals. The street toward which the urban massing increases from the areas that are developed more like a suburb (think 39th/Penn slowly increasing in density toward 39th/Classen), and the connection from Downtown to One of the most important commercial areas in the city.

There's no doubt that things will develop along Classen. It's a question of whether or not it advances in a walkable, urban form or maintains its auto-centric nature. It's one of those big picture items, like the Cox site, that will be the difference in OKC being a Tier II and Tier III city. Can't front it with bad development now, or instead of being a 30 year timeline, it becomes a 50 year timeline.

I think the problem is that Classen is not a district…so nobody really owns it. But it effectively connects more districts than any other street in the city. That's why it should be our world-class street.

I agree, and what's funny is we've already seen how bad development can stymie this vision with some of the crap that got built in the Asian District circa 2006ish. Also the arson fire with that whole block on 30th.. But it's okay we're all holding our breaths still for the replacement.

I agree that creating community ownership of Classen itself would help a lot, so it's not seen as the edge of all those districts but rather where they come together. Classen and Western should be viewed together in my mind, and I'm glad Western is getting some attention, but hopefully that effort can be extended to Classen in short order. A corridor design review would be the minimum that the city could do here.

It's not that I'm worried so much about it being elusive…but that the street is being ignored for what it should be: A >5 mile stretch that should be *the* street in OKC 25 to 35 years from now. A street that can be walked from Reno all the way to 63rd/Western, built with solid urban principals. The street toward which the urban massing increases from the areas that are developed more like a suburb (think 39th/Penn slowly increasing in density toward 39th/Classen), and the connection from Downtown to One of the most important commercial areas in the city.

There's no doubt that things will develop along Classen. It's a question of whether or not it advances in a walkable, urban form or maintains its auto-centric nature. It's one of those big picture items, like the Cox site, that will be the difference in OKC being a Tier II and Tier III city. Can't front it with bad development now, or instead of being a 30 year timeline, it becomes a 50 year timeline.

I think Classen has the potential to be a cool, unique thoroughfare but from a pedestrian-oriented standpoint, there are few roads in the urban core of OKC that I can think of that have farther to go. There is currently very little pedestrian-oriented development along the entire thoroughfare. It also doesn't seem like there is a lot of development or even potential development happening oriented towards it. It mostly serves as a way to get people from the inner-suburbs into downtown. What would you propose to help push Classen towards the kind of street you envision?

ULI Oklahoma: A Better Classen Public Presentation - ULI Oklahoma (http://oklahoma.uli.org/event/uli-oklahoma-better-classen-public-presentation/)

I think Classen has the potential to be a cool, unique thoroughfare but from a pedestrian-oriented standpoint, there are few roads in the urban core of OKC that I can think of that have farther to go. There is currently very little pedestrian-oriented development along the entire thoroughfare. It also doesn't seem like there is a lot of development or even potential development happening oriented towards it. It mostly serves as a way to get people from the inner-suburbs into downtown. What would you propose to help push Classen towards the kind of street you envision?

Classen is a proposed light rail corridor under the OK GO! regional transit plan. Classen actually has seen a lot of development in the past fifteen years that you may not be aware of, and most of it is Asian businesses (including the awesome Super Cao Nguyen supermarket. When Prohibition Room was in the Gold Dome at was the place to be. That awful green belt that replaced Classen Circle is also a recent mistake that was made. That McD's at Sheridan is also new, built at the end of Old I-40's lifetime.

Revitalizing Classen would be easy. Not only do we need to just follow existing plans, we also need to stop inflicting unforced errors on ourselves.

Along with Classen, I hope this development ignites development up Shartel, past the police department and sheriff's office. There's a LOT of buildings that could either be retrofitted or tore down for something much better. It's a shame the sheriffs office won't be moving anytime soon, that building is butt ugly.

Oh boy..... :Smiley171

https://twitter.com/stevelackmeyer/status/610647557484589056

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Oh boy..... :Smiley171

https://twitter.com/stevelackmeyer/status/610647557484589056

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What did KOCO report that was wrong?

I believe they might have referenced the story as being new developments for the 21c hotel specifically, and not surrounding properties.

Here we go...

Per Steve's twitter, it looks like KOCO reported the Hall Capital project as being the 21c Hotel itself, not a development that would surround the hotel.

If you subscribe to the idea that the Oklahoman is worthless, then it's that much worse for Local Broadcast News. At least with the Paper you get more detail and an occasional story that has not surfaced on the internet at a prior time. With Local TV, all they do is pretty much regurgitate what was recently read in the paper or online.

The Oklahoman sucks, but it is important for us to have actual journalists employed to keep a check on government. However, after observing the paper closely for many years, they rarely report on the casual corruption of our government, display a decidedly partisan bent to their coverage, and NEVER do any enterprise reporting on major local companies that is negative, unless it is reported elsewhere first. For all of their power and resources, they actually do a pretty crappy job. It is far more likely to see a story in the OK about a lowly state employee getting a DUI or cheating on a travel claim than it is to see a story about financial malfeasance at Chesapeake. It is a good ole boy paper with a dying audience. Their lack of coverage on the imbroglio at TEEMCO is very enlightening. Honestly, if they aren't willing to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, what good are they?

Oh boy..... :Smiley171

https://twitter.com/stevelackmeyer/status/610647557484589056

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I've been calling out his cry-baby-ism and unprofessional behavior for a few years now. Glad to see he continues proving me right. There is a reason he has been with the Oklahoman his entire career...