I looked at the renders and this looks very very Chinese. Like some of the random mixed use mall / apartment / office buildings near suburban subway stations. They do serve a purpose and it's actually decent urban planning because it has everything you need in one small area as well as it adds to density along with plenty of retail.

Chinese? I see that type of building all over the world.

Looks more like something you’d see out in LA in a new development, to me.

Innovation District

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/07/12/NOKL/e84e1e00-8c47-46d7-a1bb-25c63bfb5981-wheeler_bio.jpg?width=660&height=371&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

Would be great if we could get something under construction within the next three years.

Proposed $71 million (uncollected) for connecting neighborhoods and economic growth in recently passed MAPS 4 initiative. If a project of this magnitude would qualify, offer $10 million from that budget to kick-start the development on the condition that the rest could be raised thru grants and private funds.

MAPS 4 sales tax collections started April 2020. Estimate 12-13 months at this time. Have no idea where we are with MAPS 4 sales tax collections.

Can they please!!! stop trying to combine with Automobile Alley and Oklahoma Health Center!!!

It's a HUGE copout in my opinion for them to keep trying to combine the three areas - doing so then they wouldn't need to densify the Innovation District lands but could claim to be walkable (because AAlley already has density. ...)

I think the Innovation District can survive on its own making it's own imprint BETWEEN Automobile Alley and OHC. Make that dense, walkable and then it would "naturally" connect to the already dense/expanding AAlley and could help bring density to OHC. Plenty of opportunity for dense development already in the Innovation district area between the two established districts. Innovation District should be it's own neighborhood or subdistrict without leaching onto AAlley (especially).

I griped about this on Twitter in response to their post including auto alley and no response

https://twitter.com/shawn_dubs/status/1415163050022342659

Can they please!!! stop trying to combine with Automobile Alley and Oklahoma Health Center!!!

It's a HUGE copout in my opinion for them to keep trying to combine the three areas - doing so then they wouldn't need to densify the Innovation District lands but could claim to be walkable (because AAlley already has density. ...)

I think the Innovation District can survive on its own making it's own imprint BETWEEN Automobile Alley and OHC. Make that dense, walkable and then it would "naturally" connect to the already dense/expanding AAlley and could help bring density to OHC. Plenty of opportunity for dense development already in the Innovation district area between the two established districts. Innovation District should be it's own neighborhood or subdistrict without leaching onto AAlley (especially).

Not totally sure it matters whether they are connected or not. Bigger key is making sure that the new urbanist principles are closely followed. And, the city already has too many “districts.” This isn’t Manhattan, lol.

They are trying desperately to create a district out of an endless sea of disjointed office parks, ridiculously wide street voids, and medical facilities with massive set-backs.

And attempting to appropriate the relative density and success of Auto Alley.

They aren't fooling anyone.

Not totally sure it matters whether they are connected or not. Bigger key is making sure that the new urbanist principles are closely followed. And, the city already has too many “districts.” This isn’t Manhattan, lol.

they wont need to follow urbanist principles if they can simply "add" AAlley to the ""Innovation District"" boundaries, thereby eliminating the need for retail and residential connectivity to which AAlley already has and arguably is the strongest in all of downtown.

We've seen this story before where an OKC booster/insider has a great idea but half steps and leaches off what already exists creating a suburban or even rural model inside of the central city (looking at you Hogan/Lowe Bricktown). However, if they're forced to work with the boundaries between OHC and AAlley that has more or less arisen due to the destruction of deep deuce and the implementation of I-235; then they will be forced to implement a walkable district - filling in that gap - without leaching onto AAlley to claim urbanism but instead would complement it if not complete that side of downtown.

Nothing wrong with OKC having many districts downtown, which should enable dense urban development within their boundaries. it isn't Manhattan but downtown is the most dense area of urban development of the state of Oklahoma and should therefore strive to be manhattan-like or at least pro-urbanist within every development District. ..

The Oklahoma Health Center has already decided what it wants to be. They want the glow of being a part of the downtown core without putting any of the work in to actually make that reality. As long as that is strictly for marketing purposes and the Oklahoman's business pages I'm not sure it's worth worrying about; it's not like anyone actually driving (or walking, lol) through is going to get Automobile Alley confused with OHC's Anytown Suburban Office Park.

On the other hand, if they start mixing AA and the OHC together for the purposes of reporting various statistics (# of households, % of activity that is retail or foodservice, etc.) that becomes more of a concern. The proposal to cap any part of I-235 was and is a pie-in-the-sky effort, but if it somehow gained momentum and sucked potential public resources away from redevelopment in areas like JFK, Culbertson East Highland, or the area immediately east of Bricktown, that would be very troubling.

im sure they'll market it that way, stealing from AAlley.

Building permit applications have been filed for the hotel, office and parking structure.

Innovation Hall would be built later.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/innovation091622a.jpg


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Nice ! Let it happen.

who is the developer??

who is the developer??

Robinson Park (Mark Beffort's group) and Gardner Tanenbaum.

This is going to look amazing from I-235.

Excited for this!

This is going to look amazing from I-235.

The GE Global Research center was an impressive build.

This will be 10 X more.

This is going to look amazing from I-235.

Are there any renderings from that perspective? Maybe one of our resident artists can whip one up.

Are there any renderings from that perspective? Maybe one of our resident artists can whip one up.

This one is close:

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/innovationplaza15.jpg

This hotel and specifically the penthouse on top will easily have the best view of the skyline in the entire city. Sunsets from there will be amazing.


So excited this is actually happening! :Smiley173

A++++++++++++++

wow, that is going to be impressive... i used to work just south of that but we moved our offices last year. i miss working up there but we save a ton of money on our current lease. i'm really surprised that they're closing off stiles... but honestly, i think it's the only way to make the land between the existing traffic circle and the harrison exit off ramp viable for any development.

This hotel and specifically the penthouse on top will easily have the best view of the skyline in the entire city. Sunsets from there will be amazing.

agreed... i think harrison and walnut is pretty much the best view of the skyline around... and this should be on that same angle.

Wow. I didn't expect anything this soon. Nice surprise.

What the chamber wants, the chamber gets

So is this going to completely get rid of Stiles Circle and Stiles Avenue south of 9th St? Trying to figure out the changes to the local street layout.

Nice, they are not wasting time.

So I'm guessing the 2nd office building is going to happen with the Innovation Hall in a later phase or on demand?

Why does this offramp need to exist anyways? There is sufficient ramps at 4th street and 10th street that both meet this need. Let's just double-exit-lane the 10th street exit with an easy widen plan. Then all of this space can be developed, and hell even spur the capping of I-235 here.


https://i.imgur.com/0caLreQ.png

why does this offramp need to exist anyways? There is sufficient ramps at 4th street and 10th street that both meet this need. Let's just double-exit-lane the 10th street exit with an easy widen plan. Then all of this space can be developed, and hell even spur the capping of i-235 here.


https://i.imgur.com/0calreq.png
preach!!

I have said this about these ramps for some time. As pro car as I am there are about 2-3 different off ramps they could remove that would benefit the area so much. This is one of them.

Why does this offramp need to exist anyways? There is sufficient ramps at 4th street and 10th street that both meet this need. Let's just double-exit-lane the 10th street exit with an easy widen plan. Then all of this space can be developed, and hell even spur the capping of I-235 here.

i dunno... that cloverleaf provides good access to the west of the highway and south of 10th. going northbound and exiting at lincoln, you aren't able to turn left (west) at 4th street. if you get off on 10th, then you'd have to backtrack south on oklahoma... but that (imo) should remain a neighborhood street instead of becoming an artery.

i dunno... that cloverleaf provides good access to the west of the highway and south of 10th. going northbound and exiting at lincoln, you aren't able to turn left (west) at 4th street. if you get off on 10th, then you'd have to backtrack south on oklahoma... but that (imo) should remain a neighborhood street instead of becoming an artery.I don’t disagree but gaining the land in this case is worth the extra time drivers will spend. I think ODOT needs to at least study the potential pros/cons. Again, I’m about as pro car as it gets but downtown needs to prioritize other modes than driving.

using the setback from 235 of the westernmost building in the ou research park... that would be about 350ft of added frontage to harrison/8th that could support development... not an insignificant amount.

i guess i just see it the opposite way... to me, there is plenty of opportunity to create density on the east side of 235 without disrupting much needed connections to the west.

There’s certainly valid points on both sides ends. I’d like to see it at least studied.

We should remove 235 all together! replace w/ an at grade blvd. and canal. It's simply not needed south of i44 :)

We should remove 235 all together! replace w/ an at grade blvd. and canal. It's simply not needed south of i44 :)

Tell that to people who work in North okc who live in South okc.

We should remove 235 all together! replace w/ an at grade blvd. and canal. It's simply not needed south of i44 :)
I’ve used to think that but the traffic counts justify it being a freeway. Ideally 235 would be an eight lane tunnel but nooooooo tunnels are too expensive and hard to build in the US. I’m not firmly against expanding I-35 in downtown Austin because TxDOT threw out the tunnel alternative.

i dunno... that cloverleaf provides good access to the west of the highway and south of 10th. going northbound and exiting at lincoln, you aren't able to turn left (west) at 4th street. if you get off on 10th, then you'd have to backtrack south on oklahoma... but that (imo) should remain a neighborhood street instead of becoming an artery.

This is a solid point, but after looking at the 4th street exit more, that entire offramp/intersection looks like it could be redone to allow sufficient merging onto Lincoln way before the current location [the intersection]. This would allow utilization of double left turns for those exiting to go west. To me, there is no point in the barrier existing so far on northbound Lincoln. It seems you could bring the offramp to at-grade earlier and do without separation.

Why does this offramp need to exist anyways? There is sufficient ramps at 4th street and 10th street that both meet this need. Let's just double-exit-lane the 10th street exit with an easy widen plan. Then all of this space can be developed, and hell even spur the capping of I-235 here.


https://i.imgur.com/0caLreQ.png

IIRC, this was a result for St Anthony Hospital, for better access. I think a deal was made years ago to keep them from relocating from downtown.

I seem to remember this.

I’ve used to think that but the traffic counts justify it being a freeway. Ideally 235 would be an eight lane tunnel but nooooooo tunnels are too expensive and hard to build in the US. I’m not firmly against expanding I-35 in downtown Austin because TxDOT threw out the tunnel alternative.

Tunnels are expensive mainly because you'd have to bore into the earth. Lids are a less expensive but still costly alternative on the account that you would have to ensure that clearance is optimal for larger vehicles carrying heavy freight items that require a police escort. But if that's not the case, then you'd have to consider the fact that you'd be reconstructing the entire freeway for that section anyway. That's not only a large amount of concrete and reinforcement taking place for what's essentially a large land bridge, but also a huge traffic redirection effort that would congest that corridor even further. If anything, it would require the skeleton to be built over the interstate first before they move into the construction phase. You could also make that area more capable of housing buildings on top of it as well, but that takes massive amounts of reinforcement measures to ensure that the ground would be stable enough to maintain that building's weight, whether it's a 5-story infill or a 20 floor high-rise. Leadership at ODOT wouldn't be as ambitious to make this happen, as we've seen them opt for the cheap moreso than take the truly beautifying ones that could have a greater generational impact.

Now lets say that the ODOT grew a wild hair up it's crack and opted to do a lid. The cost of that could reach north of $200 million dollars (tossing a cheap number out there). If granted, it would expand the reach of the Innovation District to touch parts of Bricktown and the city core and give extra land to developers looking to make a statement in the downtown area. And the amount of greenspace implemented would become even greater investments towards connecting the now-distant communities across the corridor. I know it's a hell of a reach for comparison, but I'm going to go east and nab a project that would be the best blueprint for something like this, especially given the Innovation District and what it could become. Let's go to Atlanta.

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The I-75/85 corridor is the stuff of nightmares during the morning commute. Another thing it is during the day... UGLY. Slabs of concrete walls on either side, bridges spanning the width in their attempt to branch the separated communities, the immensely increasing unpopularity for the divide remaining in place (sounds familiar?), these are the things that commuters and residents have to wrestle with on the daily. But the difference is that they do have a project in the works. They call it 'THE STITCH', a project valued at around 200-300 million dollars to completion with projected value creation of 1.2 billion dollars added to the city.
Here's the site (https://www.atlantadowntown.com/initiatives/the-stitch). Here's the latest update (https://urbanize.city/atlanta/post/stich-downtown-highway-capping-park-project-midtown).
Here's the preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGJQ-4ht1DU&t=2s

I know that the markets are vastly different in both size and budget, but this is what I would like for OKC to implement if they were to go with a lidded approach. Now you don't have to have another two or three skyscrapers on top of the damn thing, but some infill would be nice to stretch between the empty space. And it would also be a great way to add more spaces for people to interact with one another by adding bustling avenues of leisurely activities, commercial shops, and even residential complexes with affordable living prices. If you wanted to do a tunnel like Boston's Big Dig or Seattle's Alaskan Way, you'd be breaking the billion dollar moniker. This would achieve the same result but with a fraction of the cost and with just as much of a value increase.

The Innovation District is probably the boldest thing that came around since the skyline-changing Devon Tower. I would say the residences at the Uhaul lot would be of this pinnacle, but much of that is in the drafting phase and will be subject to change and downsizing (which is more common than thunderstorms around here).

IIRC, this was a result for St Anthony Hospital, for better access. I think a deal was made years ago to keep them from relocating from downtown.

I seem to remember this.

The sixth street clover leaf has always existed. It was the 10th street part of that exit that was added a few years ago for StA.

The sixth street clover leaf has always existed. It was the 10th street part of that exit that was added a few years ago for StA.

And for what was first the GE Global Research center.

I know OSU now owns it but don't even know the current name; the Baker Hughes signs are still up.

And for what was first the GE Global Research center.

I know OSU now owns it but don't even know the current name; the Baker Hughes signs are still up.

OSU Discovery

And for what was first the GE Global Research center.

I know OSU now owns it but don't even know the current name; the Baker Hughes signs are still up.

IIRC a 10th street exit was a deal made with St anthony when the stayed and expanded in Midtown ..


that was delayed several years and then fully reconfigured because of the GE deal ..

This is now being referred to as "Convergence".

I have this whole 15 page booklet with details (not sure how much of the info is new) acquired at the NE OKC Town Hall this evening (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neokc-town-hall-with-councilwoman-nikki-nice-tickets-189976714467) that I'll try to get scanned in soon.

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Booklet says groundbreaking 1Q 2022, and during the presentation completion by March 2024 was stated.

That would be a lot of new construction in the core of the city all at once if this starts going up at the same time that OKANA does.

This is now being referred to as "Convergence".

I have this whole 15 page booklet with details (not sure how much of the info is new) acquired at the NE OKC Town Hall this evening (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neokc-town-hall-with-councilwoman-nikki-nice-tickets-189976714467) that I'll try to get scanned in soon.

17180

Booklet says groundbreaking 1Q 2022, and during the presentation completion by March 2024 was stated.

I'd love to see the booklet if you can get it uploaded. Thanks!

I'll break this up into images later, but for now, here's the fully scanned booklet.

http://nitnoi.io/convergence

I'll break this up into images later, but for now, here's the fully scanned booklet.

http://nitnoi.io/convergence

Thank you!

Mark Beffort told the Planning Commission on Nov. 18th that they plan to start construction on March 15, 2022.

This is going be one of the most highly visible projects in a long time; will be fun to watch it come together.

noice, this and OKANA starting at the same time and having very similar impact/growth to Downtown!

OKC is on the move in a serious way! Again!

^

And the Dream Hotel project, Broadway Place and Alley's End will also be starting in 2022.

There are going to be cranes all over downtown within the next 3-6 months!

^

And the Dream Hotel project, Broadway Place and Alley's End will also be starting in 2022.

I've been wondering when Dream Hotel is going to be starting. Considering we have yet to see any detailed renderings of the complex, I thought it might be years away. Hopefully some other stuff gets going around the city next year as well. Make it a boom year.

;)

As excited as I am about the Dream lot and the OKANA (and I am quite excited about both), I believe Convergence to be the most exciting of the three.

Hotels, recreation and downtown living options are all great and needed. But it is Convergence and OKC staking a position in the "innovation economy" that will go the farthest towards strengthening the city's hand in coming years and decades.

I've been wondering when Dream Hotel is going to be starting. Considering we have yet to see any detailed renderings of the complex, I thought it might be years away. Hopefully some other stuff gets going around the city next year as well. Make it a boom year.

Dream deal is inked, they will be starting soon as Pete pointed out in that thread.

Dream deal is inked, they will be starting soon as Pete pointed out in that thread.

I know. I'm just anxious to seen renderings.

With nothing being a certainty until it is, what are the odds all these various projects kick off? It seems like OKC has had some terrible luck with timing of big projects and with Omicron revving up, it got me thinking.

With nothing being a certainty until it is, what are the odds all these various projects kick off? It seems like OKC has had some terrible luck with timing of big projects and with Omicron revving up, it got me thinking.

What big OKC projects have had terrible luck? I can name 20 that have finished or are in the process of finishing in just the last few years.


OKANA is going to kick off in March; so will Convergence.

700 West is already underway. Alley's End is almost certain to start in early 2022. The only real question is the Dream Hotel project but they have announced they want to be finished in 2024 which means they have to get going next year.

Nothing is ever guaranteed, but all these projects have accomplished, experienced developers behind them.