It looks much shorter than I originally thought. How much higher will it be over the parking garage? Will the hotel be visible from I-40?

But at least this hotel is truly urban, with a small footprint in a tight space. It's not like Hogan's suburban hotel on the canal. I think it's about the same height as the parking garage from what I could tell when I took the pics. Yes, it will be visible for the indefinite future from the current I-40. The ballpark is behind it and this is much taller than the outfield walls, although unless they have a sign on the south side of the hotel, then drivers might not know exactly what the building is for.

You can see it from 235 and 40, for the time being. I don't think you'll be able to see anything from the new I-40.

While I would have liked to see something more ambitious, too, (along with the tower feature they took out to get a floor of brick on it), the best part about it is that it completely obstruct the east side of the parking garage. That thing is nasty.

I'm sure there will be signs identifying it as a Hampton on all sides.

exept the west side, which is butted against the parking garage

you're probably right about that one...

This is supposed to be a 10 story hotel, and the parking garage is 6 stories. So it should be getting bigger as construction continues, correct?

depends on the height of their stories. buildings fluctuate with the height of each floor. if you go back on page 5 where i posted pics from yesterday, you will count 10 floors. again, this is just what I could tell by taking the pics and counting in the photo. as you will see, the top floor is about 1/2 a story taller than the parking garage.

Yeah, the "floors" of the parking garage are just taller than each hotel floor. That's as tall as it will be.

that's pretty lame. I was excited about a new edition to the skyline. sad that OKC is getting all its real estate close to downtown taken up by short buildings.

10 stories is not short. It's the tallest building in Bricktown.

I know it's going to be "10 stories", but if its pretty much the same height as the parking garage, then OKC is not expanding its skyline. I live in the DFW area and really tall buildings shoot up left and right all the time, so it I have a different look on things.

Tall buildings do not an urban district make.

^ I agree Yoda. This building is merely a basic infill project. In years to come, you'll be glad that the "Hampton" is not a distinguishing feature in Bricktown. Who wants to claim that as one of their iconic district buildings.

No one expects a Hampton Inn to add to the skyline. This is a very good project. Taller buildings will come.

Here's a photo I took on Friday, 3-7:

http://images31.fotki.com/v1086/photos/1/1131078/5988524/IMG_0086-vi.jpg

It looks as if they are adding one more floor? You can see the framing for what looks like another floor.

It looks as if they are adding one more floor? You can see the framing for what looks like another floor.

I belive it's just a facade to either hide some HVAC component or just allow room to display the Hampton name...

Look at the rendering on page one of this thread.

Oh ok... I see what your talking about.

I know it's going to be "10 stories", but if its pretty much the same height as the parking garage, then OKC is not expanding its skyline. I live in the DFW area and really tall buildings shoot up left and right all the time, so it I have a different look on things.

Ok dude, let's compare the population of Dallas & its suburbs to the whole state population of Oklahoma. It's no wonder you have tallies shooting up left & right. OKC isn't on the level of Dallas.

I know it's going to be "10 stories", but if its pretty much the same height as the parking garage, then OKC is not expanding its skyline. I live in the DFW area and really tall buildings shoot up left and right all the time, so it I have a different look on things.

This isn't Dallas, thank God!

Tall buildings do not an urban district make.

Exactly. This thing could have been 5 stories and it would still have been more urban than the Residence Inn.

Oklahoma City is not less urban because of its lack of 50 story buildings. It is not urban because of its vast amount of real estate dedicated to surface parking lots and, in many cases, empty voids between developments.

I think the City should require the owners of the parking garage to install a brick covering over the hideous brick-colored paint! It sticks out like a sore thumb!

I think the red paint was actually a compromise.

I think the red paint was actually a compromise.
Who owns that parking garage? I've heard it was Kirk.

Nope. Marsh Pitman is the owner. Humphreys was a partner in buying the property, but he sold his share when he ran for mayor - before the garage was built.

Weather was nice so I did a bike around downtown OKC today (I later learned this was not a good idea to do why your sick). I took tons of pics I'll put in other threads, but I got some pics from unique angles of the Hampton Inn I could not have got by car.

Enjoy!

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_1.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_2.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_3.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_4.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_5.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_6.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_7.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_8.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_9.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_10.JPG

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Hampton_Inn_11.JPG

Would be awesome if they would have built balconies on the side facing the ballpark!

Would be awesome if they would have built balconies on the side facing the ballpark!

Great idea! Has anyone seen architectural renderings of the ballpark side of the hotel?

Would be awesome if they would have built balconies on the side facing the ballpark!

I'm not sure the Redhawks would like people getting to see games for free. However, people who live around Wrigley Field in Chicago build seating decks on their roofs, so it wouldn't be unprecedented.

You see those pictures and the side that faces the ballpark just begs for balconies for every room. It's obviously not the plans, as there are no doorway cutouts.

Something should have been worked out. What a huge missed opportunity.

You see those pictures and the side that faces the ballpark just begs for balconies for every room. It's obviously not the plans, as there are no doorway cutouts.

Something should have been worked out. What a huge missed opportunity.

More than a missed opportunity...That would just be plain ignorant to not have balconies at least on the top two floors...Sure something could be worked out with the Hawks for the special event nights and college games

Franchise architecture. Designed by someone far, far away who doesn't have a clue about the nearby ballpark.

Just include the price of a ticket in the room rate on game day or night and turn it over to the Redhawks. Seems pretty simple to me. Total missed opportunity!

I imagine they didn't want balconies because they don't want people throwing stuff onto the field. They already have a big problem with that with the garage.

Does anyone have an updated planned opening date for the Hampton?

Does anyone know when they might start taking reservations?

Does anyone have an updated planned opening date for the Hampton?

Does anyone know when they might start taking reservations?

i talked to the head of the bricktown as. last week ..and he said the are now working 7 days a week .. and plan to be open in dec at the latest .. they are now taking goup reservations for next jan

If they are projecting January, then they need to remove the Opening Summer 2008 signs. If they stay on task, I don't see why they couldn't be open by end of Sept. (summer).

nice pics metro. the one thing that is odd about this hotel is that only half the rooms in the building actually have a view. the rest are directly facing a parking garage, and the bottom half of the backside is looking into outfield wall signs.

That's just how it is with urban hotels. I stayed at a hotel in San Francisco last week near Union Square. Outside our window there was a cinderblock wall 4 or 5 feet away.

any new construction photos, updates?

I've posted photos at OKC Central — All about downtown OKC (http://www.okccentral.com).
-Steve

I drove by today and this thing is already 10 times better than that Residence Inn piece. Just the fact that it isn't surrounded by surface parking and that it's nestled right into the district makes it a nice little addition to the area.

I was serving coffee at the Ballpark a few weeks ago and was noticing that some of those rooms are going to have a great few over the park.

I also like the idea of not having a place to eat in the hotel - rather, sending folks to local places of interest in Bricktown.

I drove by today and this thing is already 10 times better than that Residence Inn piece. Just the fact that it isn't surrounded by surface parking and that it's nestled right into the district makes it a nice little addition to the area.

I agree completely. This is an urban hotel, Residence Inn is suburban in what's supposed to be an urban area. I wish we could make Reno more of an urban street like Sheridan but the recent developments have not been very complimentary.

Drove by last night, brick is rapidly coming up on the building, it's almost all the way up on the south side (facing ballpark) and the north side has 4-5 floors of brickwork up now. Hopefully this will be open in July.

Any pics?

I'm going out today...just got my liscense so Im going drive crazy. =P Imma go downtown and take some pics.

I'm going out today...just got my liscense so Im going drive crazy. =P Imma go downtown and take some pics.

Thanks for the warning in advance. Just remember: be kind to pedestrians.

It's really a bummer they're only bricking the first 7 floors and not the whole thing... We gave up two stories of brick and we still don't get the cool tower that lights up at night that was originally planned! :fighting2

I'm going out today...just got my liscense so Im going drive crazy. =P Imma go downtown and take some pics.

please don't take those pics while driving!:)

^^ lol. Of course not.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb89/Classof20101992/Downtown018.jpg

Are those AC units?

are what A/C units? I don't see any in the pics. I also drove around downtown and snapped pics last night, I'll post them when I can.

The rectangular openings below the windows are for the HVAC units (air conditioning).

yes, that's what i was asking. I didn't know it was going to have the same window units like the new bricktown holiday inn .

We gave up two stories of brick and we still don't get the cool tower that lights up at night that was originally planned!

Yeah that was weak. They should have said "all brick" or "partial brick with cool tower that lights up at night". Instead, they said "give us more brick at any cost, even the signature feature".

I think the opening summer 2008 sign is cute, overly optimistic, but cute

You don't think it could be done by August 21st? =[

Actually Summer technically ends September 21st, so they have plenty of time.