7 construction trailers built into one ? Never seen that many put together before.

I know someone said no implosions, but why else are they hanging covers unless that or there is an asbestos issue ?

I've heard from a very reliable source that there will be an implosion taking place in weeks down the road. They just have to gut the place and get things ready and then they will implode on a weekend.

^

Yeah, buildings as tall as Hotel Black and the Auto Hotel would be very hard and slow to demolish with a wrecking ball.


Anyone remember the last implosion downtown? It seems like it's been a long time.

https://twitter.com/jeninthe405/status/629033474482008064

https://twitter.com/WILLIAMCRUM/status/629039936755253248

I've heard from a very reliable source that there will be an implosion taking place in weeks down the road. They just have to gut the place and get things ready and then they will implode on a weekend.

I was questioning due to the info in post 1369 ?

...Anyone remember the last implosion downtown? It seems like it's been a long time.

As far as I know the last implosion was the remains of the Murrah Building. Before that the last one I can recall was the Biltmore Hotel.

There was also the implosion of the Belle Isle power plant in the late 90s, but that was not downtown.

I believe you are right Urbanized....and I would highly doubt the validity of a non-implosion policy. Doing it on the weekend would be normal practice anyway since it would mean less traffic in the area and the street closures would not be as impactful.

In reference to the coverings/sheathing they are laying on the buildings, I have heard there is an asbestos issue with brick and especially mortal used from a certain time period and this building is one of them. Mortar I hear at one point was commonly infused with asbestos to strengthen the mortal and bonding with the bricks. I also heard that with buildings up to 100-110 feet in height the preferred method is to use a "high reach excavator" to demolish the building.

My understanding is that both the old Motor Hotel and Hotel Black will be imploded on a Sunday about a month from now.

An implosion would be an interesting sight to see as I have never seen one before live. Though, with the dust cloud created by implosions and rumors of dangerous substances in the brick and mortar (if true), I wouldn't want to be downwind at all. I wonder what type of exclusion zone they might setup. If the winds are not out of the east, that would be a great view from the Sheridan-Walker garage.

Unless I can stand behind some really thick Plexiglas I'll pass.

ztP4cDdy83o

Somebody needs to film these from Vast

Can these buildings be seen from Vast?

Old Carpenter's Square building and all the others along Main are now pretty much gutted:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/499080615.jpg

Can these buildings be seen from Vast?

Nope... I had lunch there today and the closest you can see is about half the pond on the stage center block. I talked to some of the kitchen staff and they said there's a window in the kitchen you can see it from.

dang... devon parking garage it is then...

I think the OG & E building will be a plus for the skyline. At least their spending a little more money on the façade compared to 499.

Sure it's easy to forsake the street for the skyline when you've already lost the street. I'm just saying that with 60s-80s OCURA, their hallmark was basically land assembly for developments that never happened or finally went forward significantly reduced. They didn't even care enough about the landmarks they razed (like the Criterion) to get development assurances before moving forward with demo.

This is the exact same thing happening again. We got complacent and let a few people's hubris call the shots, and now promises are being broken. "As for those who question whether Rainey Williams is just a front, and question his capacity for doing this development, well, you don't know Rainey Williams."

CBD core expansion (in most every city) is seemingly always executed in this way: "Okay, now we've reached this block. Is it old or new? Old. Okay clear it. New project is new, right? Good, build it. Moving on..."

Pic I took of what remains of the building directly east of the 420 Main Street building today. Felt like jackhammers were coming through the wall at one point:

https://twitter.com/jeninthe405/status/629366274435477504

Heard from Bill at Coney Island that implosion of the Black Hotel and smaller building are imminent (as in this weekend, tonight, very soon), but that is very much a rumor. Not much change in the back parking lot other than more debris collected from the other Main Street building interiors.

Wow, thanks.

I bet the life of employees in 420 W. Main is going to be a bit loud and chaotic for a while.

I bet the life of employees in 420 W. Main is going to be a bit loud and chaotic for a while.

You can say that. We're on day two of the jack-hammering and demo of the building directly east of ours. It's headache central here. Feels like they're about to break through the walls, and our offices are on the second floor on the east side of 420, so several offices (not mine, thankfully) directly abut the exterior walls they are hammering away on. Noise is brutal and vibration is constant. Not a pleasant working environment for the time being, but we're remaining hopeful it will be over by the end of day today.

I didn't get a pic (sorry pete) but I drove by the Bus Station Friday and all the blue tiles had been removed. On the old carpenter square and Hotel Black, they had removed quite a bit of the detailed trim pieces.

On Friday, I drove around the block taking a good handful of pictures. When I get home tonight I'll upload them into a gallery and post them up here. I too noticed pretty much all of the blue glass tiles were gone from the bus station, and various trim pieces were stripped from the remaining buildings. Carpenter Square looks like it's totally gutted and the private residence just east of 420 W Main appeared from the street to be almost completely demolished.

From this morning:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/499081015.jpg

Pete:

Will this be a cam location for the construction process? And...for the implosion of the buildings? This will be a great view if so.

I doubt that Devon will allow a construction cam in their building.

Maybe we can talk Zach with the city into putting one in the city building?

If you look closely, you can see the sliver of a building that was immediately east of 420 W. Main is now almost completely gone.

It also looks like someone on a scaffold is taking down some of the detailed work from the top of the Motor Hotel.

Gutting and removing the interior of the bus station today. Big debris pile out back, which they're hosing down and moving into large dump trucks for removal.

Also work on the small building adjacent to the Black Hotel. Plastic sheeting is down, hole knocked in west wall and they are tossing interior debris out by the shovelful.

11311

11312

Thanks Fritter! Hope the worst of the jackhammering has stopped for you guys.


This was taken this AM... Bus station pretty much gone:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/4990801415.jpg

From jeepnokc:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/499081415b.jpg

I know a lot of people are happy that the bus station is gone but having worked next to it in the Black Hotel for the last 15 years, it was my favorite building in this block. I knew it was coming but I still have a feeling of sadness along with feeling that I am witnessing the end of an era that we will regret in later years. I am glad that we modeled our sign after the bus station sign

All but about 1/4 of the general debris from the Bus Station is gone now. Lot is practically scraped dry. Anticipate that all of it will be gone by end of day today.

Thanks Fritter! Hope the worst of the jackhammering has stopped for you guys.


This was taken this AM... Bus station pretty much gone:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/4990801415.jpg

Wow what a great block with the perfect place to stick a tower, as-is.

Urban Renewal part Deux.

Preftakes block, C2S park, Sandridge Commons & Stage Center.
Perfect time for a collapse in oil. History really does repeat itself.

The only thing that is in doubt is the Stage Center block and that has nothing to do with the price of oil.


This project has already been funded; I've seen the mortgage docs.

$328 million just for the construction.

America is littered with half-built structures that were fully funded at one time. Granted, many of them were residential, but not all.

At this point in the process there couldn't possibly be any more positive signs: They have all their approvals, have started work and are fully funded with anchor tenants.

It's silly to try and insert doubt when there is absolutely no justification for it.

America is littered with half-built structures that were fully funded at one time. Granted, many of them were residential, but not all.

Yeah...and most of those were during a once in a generation banking crisis.

Just take your sour grapes about anything and everything elsewhere. You're just pissy you didn't get your way on this project and are looking for reasons to inject doubt or negativity.

Slow your roll Gopoke88. I have no doubt this building will be completed. My point was that having funding in place doesn't equal a completed building. Heck, they haven't even started construction yet. For that matter, they aren't even as far along as the Clayco project was when it stopped cold in its tracks.

Clayco was never even close to being funded or even having a workable budget.

Huge difference.

Clayco was never even close to being funded or even having a workable budget.

Huge difference.


Agree...........night and day

Clayco was never even close to being funded or even having a workable budget.

Huge difference.

I'll take your word for it, but they have a cleared lot. 499 doesn't have that yet. Anyhow, I have no doubt 499 will get built.

From today:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/499081915.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6213/6249958557_b2034bf04c_b.jpg

From today:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/499081915.jpg

They're now about one story deep into the basement level of the area where the excavator is in Pete's photo above. Definitely making quick work of it. Lots of ground shaking today.

Holy smokes, they aren't fooling around with demolition, are they?

That western parking garage will go up soon and fast. They'll need the parking for the workers on the rest of the project.

Can't wait to see a PARKING GARAGE across from another PARKING GARAGE on a prime corner in Downtown. Way to get it done, OKC! We should build skyscrapers of parking garages!

Can't wait to see a PARKING GARAGE across from another PARKING GARAGE on a prime corner in Downtown. Way to get it done, OKC! We should build skyscrapers of parking garages!

Don't forget about the sea of surface parking we'll need to accomodate all the tourists who want to come visit our world famous parking garage skyscraper!

Don't forget about the sea of surface parking we'll need to accomodate all the tourists who want to come visit our world famous parking garage skyscraper!

You have it all wrong... There's going to be ANOTHER parking garage for said tourists.

In all seriousness, it has been mentioned many times, and even Pete confirmed: companies are needing parking and the lack of parking is impacting overall business growth downtown. As much as we hate to see so many parking garages go up... In time, this should lead to additional buildings and towers being built in the future as the infrastructure will already be in place.

Yes, that's an awfully optimistic approach to take.

One of the recruiting tools the companies in places like the Memorial corridor use is the offering of close and free parking. I know quite a few young working people who have changed jobs for this reason alone. The fact parking is an issue for companies wanting to locate downtown should hardly be a revelation. Expecting significant expansion of employment downtown without it is fantasy. The real question is how to integrate it into a live urban area without adverse effects. Those who are anti parking in the immediate area are pretty unrealistic and probably delusional.

Parking garages are a necessity in OKC right now. You've got ample free parking everywhere in the suburbs. While you can argue that that isn't a good thing (it's economically unsustainable, bad policy, etc), the fact is it exists right now. It is incredibly easy to park anywhere except downtown. So downtown OKC has to compete against that. There are a lot of advantages to being downtown, but they aren't enough for most people to outweigh having to take a bus there from Midwest City.

Now, these particular parking garages are of the lowest-common denominator variety (or they would be if not for Rick Dowell's garages). There's nothing interesting about them, they don't add anything to the urban fabric, etc. Downtown deserves better designs than this. But more garages are simply a fact of life.

How do we avoid having to build more and more garages? Build a lot more housing downtown and get a light rail system working. But that will take a while.

From today.

Note the bus station basement and also the pink material they've sprayed on the buildings soon to be imploded:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/499082015.jpg

Just took this during lunch. Tells the story of Oklahoma City in one shot.

11331

Just took this during lunch. Tells the story of Oklahoma City in one shot.

11331

Man that's a nice tower

Any word on an implosion date?

Just in case people didn't clue in, my disdain is not for parking garages per se, it's that we are going to have two parking garages across from each other on a prime corner in our city. That sucks and is stupid. They could have built a parking garage elsewhere.

In all seriousness, it has been mentioned many times, and even Pete confirmed: companies are needing parking and the lack of parking is impacting overall business growth downtown. As much as we hate to see so many parking garages go up... In time, this should lead to additional buildings and towers being built in the future as the infrastructure will already be in place.

Yes, that's an awfully optimistic approach to take.

The infrastructure from these parking garages won't lead to additional buildings and towers. They likely won't even take care of current demand for parking so they won't take care of additional buildings in the future.

Anybody know what the pink stuff they have sprayed on the is and what it's purpose is?

Parking garages are a necessity in OKC right now.

Yeah, but it also doesn't need city blocks where over half it is only parking garages and it certainly doesn't need to keep tearing down buildings to do that. It just makes no sense to me. Why even have a downtown if it we can't build it like one?

Thankfully, more and more, we have developers that understand this, but this one shows that the big money that wants to build downtown still doesn't care if OKC has a real urban option or not.

I agree. How about we build a garage where we already have surface lots. Just take the parking up 5-8 stories? The owner can still charge $20-$40 to park, or more during games. I'm guessing they just don't have the financial resources to make this happen.