http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/hineswiki1.jpg
499 W. Sheridan
status=Under Construction
owner=Hines Development
architect=Pickard Chilton
start=2015
finish=2017
height=433 ft. / 27 floors
sq. feet=692,716
acreage=2.7
Information & Latest News
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County Assessor Record
Gallery

Top seems to have a crown hopefully they will have L.E.Ds. Like the inlets of Devon!

Have they said if the garages have the possibility for either expansion of the garage, or better, a building on top of the structure?

BTW, you can see the skybridges are going to look like the existing one that connects Devon's garden wing to the auditorium:


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/hinesnewest22.jpg

Looks like the plan is to have some basic lighting in the crown:


The tower will include a lighting strategy at the top two bays of the crown curtain wall module (approximately 28’) to highlight the presence of the tower during evening and early morning hours. The lighting is designed to have two levels of brightness. The brightest light will occur within the 1 foot 4 inch space between the primary vertical expression and the secondary vertical accent tube, creating slots of light that run the perimeter of the taller volume of the crown. A more subtle light will be cast from the remainder of the wall in the 28’-0” lighting zone. The lighting strategy will further enhance the experience of the nighttime skyline.

This area quickly becoming akin to Rosslyn in DC.

Have they said if the garages have the possibility for either expansion of the garage, or better, a building on top of the structure?

There is nothing to indicate the garages would be expandable.

In fact, in the John Pickard interview he said that the 9 story garages are as about as tall as you can make them and still be practical, otherwise you are 'driving to heaven".

True! no fun parking on the top floor. Some comments have said go down, but OKLAHOMA..........the land of clay and high water tables.

There is nothing to indicate the garages would be expandable.

In fact, in the John Pickard interview he said that the 9 story garages are as about as tall as you can make them and still be practical, otherwise you are 'driving to heaven".

That interview frustrates me more than the building itself, from it he makes it sound like three sides will be largely fronted by retail and be porous entrances for urban design. At least call a spade a spade, only two of the sides have even close to half the frontage being retail and even those are broken up by the grand (overly wide) pedestrian entrance/lobby out to the garden on one side and the garage entry/exit on the other. This building does not respect urban design as was tried to be indicated, not sure if it was a slip but he mentions something like paying tribute to Devon tower is the first priority (which I believe) , it also looks like the second priority is giving a good view of the gardens is the second (which ironically also should give it horrible glare/lighting in the mornings)

Regarding the garages, one way to deal with the number of levels is to put a good number below ground.

That way you enter and exit in the middle and can either go up or down.

Interestingly, there is zero below-grade parking in this project.

It looks like a box. Bleh.

Regarding the garages, one way to deal with the number of levels is to put a good number below ground.

That way you enter and exit in the middle and can either go up or down.

Interestingly, there is zero below-grade parking in this project.Agree, was really hoping to see underground parking for this project.

I don't mind the box. The parking garages will be ugly though.

It would be fairly easy to make this project into a total home run.

1) Eliminate the angle of the building so that you can keep the Hotel Black.
2) Take out the back half of the Motor Hotel and incorporate it into the new building. Sort of like the Braniff building. Kinda. Convert the original half to luxury housing with ground level retail.
3) On Main Street, recreate the original storefronts for your retail space. They're going to have to tear down those buildings to put in their parking garage, but there's no reason they can't make the corner of Main and Hudson look like the Carpenter Square Theater again. Much better than the sides of the Devon garage that currently lines Hudson.
4) Build the garages study enough so that in the future a few levels of housing can be placed on top. People don't want to drive up 9 levels to park, but that doesn't mean you can't put 4 or 5 levels of nice expensive apartments with a view of the Myriad Gardens on top. Don't even have to do it now. Just build it so you can do it later.
5) Incorporate some of your west parking garage into the base of your tower. This raises the tower up another 5 levels or so, so most of the offices will still have a great view of the park. That takes care of any lost parking spaces as a result of keeping the Hotel Black and the front of the Motor Hotel. The building will also be like 50 feet taller so that soondoc will shut the hell up.
6) Make the ground floor design of the garage on Sheridan look similar to the old bus station.
7) Make a space on Sheridan for the Lunch Box to come back.

If they did half of those things, it would go a long way towards making people happy. If they did all of them, people would be ecstatic. And some of them should actually be really easy and not that expensive.

Edit: These changes would also be something that would be worth allocating TIF funding to get.

Picture #2 above makes 499 look pretty small in comparison to Devon. The building doesn't look that impressive. Need to add some height or it will be hidden from several angles.

The retail spaces in the garages were clearly an afterthought. At 20' deep, they are barely large enough for pop-up shops.

WOW....a short glass box, how original and exciting!! An Architectural gem for sure, something to be proud to have.

It's bland and destroys so much of our city for parking and a glass box. How disappointing!

Once again, this isn't terrible it just isn't special. Most cities have a building or two that looks like this in their downtowns. Major cities like Dallas and Houston have plenty of these structures in their suburban areas. I would like this a lot better if it were ten floors higher so it would actually make an impact on the skyline. It is tall enough to be noticeable as is but it will be hidden from many angles.

I don't mind the box. The parking garages will be ugly though.

It would be fairly easy to make this project into a total home run.

1) Eliminate the angle of the building so that you can keep the Hotel Black.
2) Take out the back half of the Motor Hotel and incorporate it into the new building. Sort of like the Braniff building. Kinda. Convert the original half to luxury housing with ground level retail.
3) On Main Street, recreate the original storefronts for your retail space. They're going to have to tear down those buildings to put in their parking garage, but there's no reason they can't make the corner of Main and Hudson look like the Carpenter Square Theater again. Much better than the sides of the Devon garage that currently lines Hudson.
4) Build the garages study enough so that in the future a few levels of housing can be placed on top. People don't want to drive up 9 levels to park, but that doesn't mean you can't put 4 or 5 levels of nice expensive apartments with a view of the Myriad Gardens on top. Don't even have to do it now. Just build it so you can do it later.
5) Incorporate some of your west parking garage into the base of your tower. This raises the tower up another 5 levels or so, so most of the offices will still have a great view of the park. That takes care of any lost parking spaces as a result of keeping the Hotel Black and the front of the Motor Hotel. The building will also be like 50 feet taller so that soondoc will shut the hell up.
6) Make the ground floor design of the garage on Sheridan look similar to the old bus station.
7) Make a space on Sheridan for the Lunch Box to come back.

If they did half of those things, it would go a long way towards making people happy. If they did all of them, people would be ecstatic. And some of them should actually be really easy and not that expensive.

Edit: These changes would also be something that would be worth allocating TIF funding to get.

Quote of the day. Maybe it won't be a mid rise now.....

Shhh...he hasn't found this thread yet. Supports my theory that he's actually a bot.

I hate to be that guy, but I feel like all the guys trumpeting the "urban design" horn are ignoring the white elephant in the room.

Some of you may not remember but OKC experienced the worst terrorist attack in American history (at the time) with the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. I think from that time on, OKC has no choice but to build "away" from the street in at least some capacity with major projects. Safety has to be first, & I know for a fact this played a giant part in the designs of the Devon tower. Since the company who is designing this building, and the same company who will be occupying this building, are the ones who also were behind the Devon tower you have to expect similar design standards. I'll sacrifice a little street activity for an increase in security.

I don't have much to add, but looking at everything again just kind of makes me sad. If this were proposed for a currently empty block, I'd be beyond excited.

I see nothing here that merits razing some of the little historical stock we have left downtown.

I hate to be that guy, but I feel like all the guys trumpeting the "urban design" horn are ignoring the white elephant in the room.

Some of you may not remember but OKC experienced the worst terrorist attack in American history (at the time) with the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. I think from that time on, OKC has no choice but to build "away" from the street in at least some capacity with major projects. Safety has to be first, & I know for a fact this played a giant part in the designs of the Devon tower. Since the company who is designing this building, and the same company who will be occupying this building, are the ones who also were behind the Devon tower you have to expect similar design standards. I'll sacrifice a little street activity for an increase in security.

You definitely have a point. I think about that every time I see the new federal building in Midtown. It's deplorable in terms of urban design but I know it was built that way for security reasons.

Is everyone familiar with buildings 14 and 15 on the Chesapeake campus? I wish someone would building a parking garage with offices surrounding it so it didn't obviously look like a parking garage. I wouldn't think it would be that hard, but it would cut down on the amount of spaces.

Definitely disappointed that we're giving up history for a glass shoebox....but it's angled...ooooooo sarcasm.

Imagine that, a thread where everybody complains about something not being good enough for them.

Imagine that, a thread where everybody complains about something not being good enough for them.

I think it's more that they could have built it without tearing down a building that could be reused and instead we are getting a non-descript 27 story glass box. And two plain nine story parking garages. It's not something I can get excited about. The Clayco proposal was something most people on here were really excited about, but had issues with the amount of TIF funds they were requesting. Go back and look at that thread when it was announced and see what I am talking about.

I really does need to be taller. Looks really short next to Devon. If it was over by Chase it would look like a better fit.

has some issues but very nice overall

This new hotel in Plano looks so familiar...

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/12/17386-Renaissance-Rendering.jpg


EDIT: Not that I'm against the structural design...I don't mind the glass...but I do mind the unnecessarily large plaza, lobby, and 2nd floor restaurant...that would have had an awesome patio space in that large plaza area if located on the first floor...and of course the sky-bridges make me scream.

I realize nothing will probably change, but I really wanted to express how I imagine this project to be.

Street frontage with office/retail, about 11 to 12 floors of parking, and the 27-floor building on top. I made the garage narrower to fit among the buildings but I wanted to keep the tower's footprint relatively the same, so that resulted in overhangs! Really interesting and completely do-able. I didn't account for the other garage though.

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/9778d1418686287-preftakes-block-preftakes-block.jpg

Sorry to disappoint a couple of you guys on here but I found this thread- not a bot. :cool: Is it really a possibility for them to do something like this which would actually be better and of course add some height. Sorry if a couple of you just can't take it when that gets mentioned, but I promise you if that's the worst thing you have to endure in life is reading about someone wanting some taller buildings, you are going to be ok.

Also, I noticed that several others on this thread happen to agree. This project and location it does need to be a bit taller. Not saying it needs to be like Devon but it really needs to be in the 500 and above foot range. If some just can't see how awkward the Devon looks because it has nothing around it but smaller buildings, I don't know what to tell you. If we just had a couple more 550 to 600 foot buildings around there it would make a drastic difference in the skyline. Anyway, in regards to this, is it a slam dunk it is going to be built as proposed or could they build it on top of the garage and preserve a couple of buildings and increasing the height some- (which will make soondoc a happy camper)! :D

Dang. Adaptive algorithm.

I don't mind the box. The parking garages will be ugly though.

It would be fairly easy to make this project into a total home run.

1) Eliminate the angle of the building so that you can keep the Hotel Black.
2) Take out the back half of the Motor Hotel and incorporate it into the new building. Sort of like the Braniff building. Kinda. Convert the original half to luxury housing with ground level retail.
3) On Main Street, recreate the original storefronts for your retail space. They're going to have to tear down those buildings to put in their parking garage, but there's no reason they can't make the corner of Main and Hudson look like the Carpenter Square Theater again. Much better than the sides of the Devon garage that currently lines Hudson.
4) Build the garages study enough so that in the future a few levels of housing can be placed on top. People don't want to drive up 9 levels to park, but that doesn't mean you can't put 4 or 5 levels of nice expensive apartments with a view of the Myriad Gardens on top. Don't even have to do it now. Just build it so you can do it later.
5) Incorporate some of your west parking garage into the base of your tower. This raises the tower up another 5 levels or so, so most of the offices will still have a great view of the park. That takes care of any lost parking spaces as a result of keeping the Hotel Black and the front of the Motor Hotel. The building will also be like 50 feet taller so that soondoc will shut the hell up.
6) Make the ground floor design of the garage on Sheridan look similar to the old bus station.
7) Make a space on Sheridan for the Lunch Box to come back.

If they did half of those things, it would go a long way towards making people happy. If they did all of them, people would be ecstatic. And some of them should actually be really easy and not that expensive.

Edit: These changes would also be something that would be worth allocating TIF funding to get.

I actually agree with what you said except the extra feet, it needs to be 100 to 150. Just kidding, I would take the extra fifty if it takes it up to at least the height of what the title of the thread is 499. I really do think it would look great if they did tweak a few things and did as you mentioned and did some cool things to make it a win- win for all. I also think a 550- 600 foot tower would look amazing next to the Devon and that BOK at the top of the crown would sure look great on TV during those Thunder games. wink, wink!

Go ahead and attack, but it's not that bad, It's not a square, it's not a rectangle, kind of boxy but when built it'll tie in well. I think the angle is a nice twist as long as they incorporate the plaza. Yes they will tear down some buildings and it would be nice if One North Hudson would be saved and repurposed, but I can see they want total exposure to the MBG for this new tower.
The auto hotel looks so cool but it's pretty much functionally obsolete in this location.
If we're lucky, some of the issues (store fronts in the garages) can be modified or removed (skywalks) to become more acceptable.
As a positive, visually the lighting effects on the top of the tower should really look good.

The retail spaces in the garages were clearly an afterthought. At 20' deep, they are barely large enough for pop-up shops.

I'm sure most that space will be fitted with the fake window boxes ala the Devon garage along Hudson.

To my knowledge, they haven't made any real effort to find tenants for that Devon space; it's not listed anywhere as available.

I created a thread for this. I also plan on creating a small development summary for OKC and Tulsa. I will only include the bigger projects however.

Preftakes Tower - Oklahoma City - Oklahoma (OK) - City-Data Forum (http://www.city-data.com/forum/oklahoma-city/2257865-preftakes-tower.html)

Pickard Chilton are really revealing themselves to be a one trick pony. Did it really take them years to come up with this design because I could have done it in 20 minutes with some Lego blocks (of course, I would have been personally embarrassed to show it to anyone).

Oh some of these comments are just getting ridiculous.

I really hope they didn't pay Pickard Chilton a lot of money. It's the exact same facade as Devon.

They could also easily light more than just the crown and do it correctly on this building so that they could do impressive things with especially the east and west façades.

It is very clear this is nothing more than a Devon campus expansion.

If you view it in that light, it makes complete sense. There are already tons of amenities and bells and whistles in the rest of the campus; this is just extra office space and parking.

As John Pickard said, Devon Tower is The King and everything else is built to complement it.

Instead of the "podium" the devon center has I wish it was this building in its place. That would have been nice.

It is very clear this is nothing more than a Devon campus expansion.

If you view it in that light, it makes complete sense. There are already tons of amenities and bells and whistles in the rest of the campus; this is just extra office space and parking.

As John Pickard said, Devon Tower is The King and everything else is built to complement it.

Was this their plan from the beginning? Because I thought the whole idea of the Devon tower was to get all Devon employees in one building.

I think Devon got involved in helping Preftakes acquire this block when they started looking at their current site for their HQ. At that time, I don't think they had a specific plan other than wanting to control the block immediately west of where they planned to set up shop. Remember, they also bought the Colcord to the east.

Then, the plan evolved over time. I think they grew faster than anticipated and ran completely out of parking and office space.

My understanding is that BOK will take the top 5-6 floors and Devon most the rest. No doubt they have options to eventually take over as much space in the building as they may want/need.

I wonder if it's just not feasible to build new high rises in Oklahoma City without making rest of the block a parking garage? If it really isn't, we're going to have a really ugly downtown in 20 years.

This is somewhat of a situation of the chickens coming home to roost from our past.

Think about it; none of the big downtown office buildings have parking.

Leadership Square has a tiny bit below, same for BOK Plaza, and SandRidge Tower. Maybe accomodates 2% of their tenant needs. FNC, City Place, Oklahoma Tower (has some but not enough), Corporate Tower, Chase, Continental, Braniff, Parkside on and on.

Yes, there are parking garages but they are nowhere near adequate and are all operating well over 100%.

So, there isn't much choice for a developer: build your own parking or you'll never be able to lease the space.

Oh some of these comments are just getting ridiculous.

Think about it. For over 20 years there was very little construction downtown and nothing major for that matter. That would warrant complaints in my opinion. Pickard Chilton has a stellar record, take a look at their website. I'm pretty sure they were tasked to compliment the Devon HQ building with the 499 Sheridan Tower and that they did.

This is somewhat of a situation of the chickens coming home to roost from our past.

Think about it; none of the big downtown office buildings have parking.

Leadership Square has a tiny bit below, same for BOK Plaza, and SandRidge Tower. Maybe accomodates 2% of their tenant needs. FNC, City Place, Oklahoma Tower (has some but not enough), Corporate Tower, Chase, Continental, Braniff, Parkside on and on.

Yes, there are parking garages but they are nowhere near adequate and are all operating well over 100%.

So, there isn't much choice for a developer: build your own parking or you'll never be able to lease the space.

I was going to ask, has DT OKC ever had enough or even some surplus parking? Like you mention the city made an awful mistake in it past by not building enough parking structures and now that we HAVE to catch up people are bitching about it. HOPEFULLY all the parking at 499 and the Clayco properties will get us to where we need to be and maybe a little ahead so the cox site doesnt have to get saturated with garages. There is no doubt DT is moving west fairly quickly, why make the same mistakes of our past and ignore parking. I'd guess and its a total guess that to make a garage profitable it would only need to be about 70% full during the week. Wish we could keep the old buildings but looking forward to 499 starting to rise!

Think about it. For over 20 years there was very little construction downtown and nothing major for that matter. That would warrant complaints in my opinion. Pickard Chilton has a stellar record, take a look at their website. I'm pretty sure they were tasked to compliment the Devon HQ building with the 499 Sheridan Tower and that they did.

I reviewed their website, and for some odd reason, this project is not on there? Too early, maybe they just haven't uploaded it yet, or maybe they are ashamed? :sofa:

I took at at their website, and for some odd reason, this project is not on there? Too early, maybe they just haven't uploaded it yet, or maybe they are ashamed?:sofa:

Do they have a building permit issued yet ?

When I worked at Leadership Square in the dead 1980's, there was enough parking. But of course, we had the massive Galleria parking lot which is now the site of Devon; and office vacancy rates were high.

But even so, there were tons of surface lots everywhere. Because I had to pay for my own parking and spent tons of time out of the office, I'd usually just park on a side street or surface lot and walk a couple of blocks. That's not an option any more.

I really think this parking crunch is a pretty new development and the City did see it coming, as they commissioned a parking study several years ago. As it is, they put up the new Main Street Garage and the place was full they day they opened it.

The bottom line is that right now and for the foreseeable future, if you want to build new office space you have to build an ample garage as well, otherwise you will have no place for the new workers to park.

Since lets be honest, there is probably very little we can do, if anything, to get them to redesign the overall layout of the project. Is there anything we can do specifically to make sure they make the most out of the retail spaces?

How much pedestrian traffic did Hotel Black see before everyone's leases were terminated? Other than vehicular traffic, how much pedestrian interaction did we get from the motor hotel? I'm trying to think positively on this project with regard to what it will create for this city block as compared to what was there before, which I'd guess would be A LOT MORE. Also, everyone keeps talking about how Devon will overshadow this "27 foot midrise". Okay, what's there now, is plenty more short than what's being proposed so that point is nil. We all want tall to fill the gap between Devon and Chase but there may never be a need for it. I hate to see Motor Hotel and the old bus station go but ,other than sentimentalism, how can you be so negative about a project that is going to pay off for the CBD?

When I worked at Leadership Square in the dead 1980's, there was enough parking. But of course, we had the massive Galleria parking lot which is now the site of Devon; and office vacancy rates were high.

But even so, there were tons of surface lots everywhere. Because I had to pay for my own parking and spent tons of time out of the office, I'd usually just park on a side street or surface lot and walk a couple of blocks. That's not an option any more.

I really think this parking crunch is a pretty new development and the City did see it coming, as they commissioned a parking study several years ago. As it is, they put up the new Main Street Garage and the place was full they day they opened it.

The bottom line is that right now and for the foreseeable future, if you want to build new office space you have to build an ample garage as well, otherwise you will have no place for the new workers to park.

And that won't change until there are a lot more residential downtown and prices are affordable to the average corporate worker.

How much pedestrian traffic did Hotel Black see before everyone's leases were terminated? Other than vehicular traffic, how much pedestrian interaction did we get from the motor hotel? I'm trying to think positively on this project with regard to what it will create for this city block as compared to what was there before, which I'd guess would be A LOT MORE. Also, everyone keeps talking about how Devon will overshadow this "27 foot midrise". Okay, what's there now, is plenty more short than what's being proposed so that point is nil. We all want tall to fill the gap between Devon and Chase but there may never be a need for it. I hate to see Motor Hotel and the old bus station go but ,other than sentimentalism, how can you be so negative about a project that is going to pay off for the CBD?

Like.

I also would suggest that JTF visit Myriad Gardens the next time he is in town and to take note of how much activity there is even with it surrounded by nothingness in three sides and a corporate tower on the other side.

I've posted this building (Omni Hotel San Diego) in the CC hotel thread, but it seems appropriate to put it here considering the design submitted by PC. I think just by adding a bit of curvature and mixing in some texture other than glass 499 would be a much better project. And yes, I know this is a hotel....just try to translate this design to 499 in the commercial office space sense.

http://exp.cdn-hotels.com/hotels/1000000/990000/982500/982408/982408_94_z.jpg

If Omni ends up being the flagship of the convention hotel, the design may end up something like that. One will never know, though, bc as fast as Devon wants to start their project, they're not going to up and change their design now. Let's face reality guys!

If Omni ends up being the flagship of the convention hotel, the design may end up something like that. One will never know, though, bc as fast as Devon wants to start their project, they're not going to up and change their design now. Let's face reality guys!

Obviously.

Pete:

Impressive & extensive work you've done posting these models. Thanks!

When I worked at Leadership Square in the dead 1980's, there was enough parking. But of course, we had the massive Galleria parking lot which is now the site of Devon; and office vacancy rates were high.

But even so, there were tons of surface lots everywhere. Because I had to pay for my own parking and spent tons of time out of the office, I'd usually just park on a side street or surface lot and walk a couple of blocks. That's not an option any more.

I really think this parking crunch is a pretty new development and the City did see it coming, as they commissioned a parking study several years ago. As it is, they put up the new Main Street Garage and the place was full they day they opened it.

The bottom line is that right now and for the foreseeable future, if you want to build new office space you have to build an ample garage as well, otherwise you will have no place for the new workers to park.

I don't know much about the engineering involved, but is building at least a portion of these garages underground not an option? Is the soil/water table really the issue here, or is it primarily a cost thing?

If our convention center hotel ends up looking like that Omni people will complain about the mix of materials and try to campaign for them to add 5 more floors.