University Town Center

[soonermike81]

Anybody know what's up with La Madeleine's? I thought I saw a few weeks ago that their channel letters were up. Drove by recently and it's gone. Is this place still happening?

[Robert_M]

Destination Norman data is showing submitted application for permits for Carmax just North of Chuck E Cheeses.

Plans are out for the Carmax location in Norman. Address is listed as 2351 Interstate Drive which Google shows to be just West of Chuck E Cheeses however plans show it to be Just East of Interstate Drive off of Rock Creek. Satellite shows there is already a curb cut there for the entrance for anyone familiar with the area.

[bige4ou]

http://www.normantranscript.com/news...6c571a12c.html

[Dustin]

^^ Wow, that's really cool. Hope it turns out like what's pictured.

[HangryHippo]

My preference is to see it back on campus, but if that’s out, I think this proposal kicks ass!

[Pete]

My first reaction was completely negative.

BUT, LNC is completely disconnected from campus to the point you just drive in, go to the game, then leave.

UNP would allow people to go to restaurants and bars before and after, there would be adjacent hotels for visitors and other events and the whole thing is at least 15 minutes closer to most the people who attend, coming from OKC.

Would be a drag for the students, however.

OU actually owns the land for UNP and gets a cut from the entire development, and I suppose they would not have to come up with the money to build this facility, just likely pay a reasonable rent.

I'm starting to think this might be a brilliant idea.

[bige4ou]

http://www.oudaily.com/sports/oklaho...96c530d6d.html

The plan in great detail. This could be amazing!

[Pete]

[jccouger]

"multi prupose arena" kind of scares me because thats what makes the lloyd noble center such a bland environment for a basketball game.
OU needs an arena that is specifically built for Basketball games that puts the crowd right on top of the court.

Otherwise, this entire development is so freaking big league. If it plays out exactly as planned I can't think of a better area in the entire metro area.

[jccouger]

The same people behind this proposal are the people who will be doing the COOP area in downtown OKC correct? That gives me high hopes for that development as well.

[Roger S]

I love this idea but why only 10,000 seats if they want to host NCAA events?

LNC currently seats 11,652. Cheaspeake seats 18,203 for basketball.... This arena needs to seat a number somewhere between those two.... I would say 12,000 to 15,000 seats would be ideal.

[jn1780]

"multi prupose arena" kind of scares me because thats what makes the lloyd noble center such a bland environment for a basketball game.
OU needs an arena that is specifically built for Basketball games that puts the crowd right on top of the court.

Otherwise, this entire development is so freaking big league. If it plays out exactly as planned I can't think of a better area in the entire metro area.

Isn't most arenas multipurpose with basketball primarily in mind? The fact that this one is smaller already suggests its better suited for basketball.

[Pete]

The same people behind this proposal are the people who will be doing the COOP area in downtown OKC correct? That gives me high hopes for that development as well.

Yes. Sooner Investments.

They do first quality work.

[Jersey Boss]

The seating for this proposed facility is woefully inadequate. When comparing Big 12 schools, one finds that only one school has 10,000 or less capacity , that being TCU with a paltry 8,500. Looking at the other schools they range from a high of 16,734 for Texas, 16,300-KU, 15,020- TT, 14,384-ISU, 14,000-WVU, 13,611-OSU, 12,528-KSU, 11,528-OU, 10,284-BU, and 8,500 TCU. OU needs and deserves a BB facility that is designed for BB and not as another poster noted, a multi-purpose facility like the LNC is presently. Basing my opinion on seating and removing it from campus, I find it lacking .

[Pete]

I suppose that before OU would seriously consider the move they would insist on upping the capacity to around 12,000.

Without that, no way you get NCAA tourney games and some other events.

[Jersey Boss]

Even at 12K it would still be in the lower 33% of the league. 15k should be the bare minimum for the flag ship state university.

[HangryHippo]

Even at 12K it would still be in the lower 33% of the league. 15k should be the bare minimum for the flag ship state university.

You need to realistically look at actual attendance for OU basketball events. The capacity you’re wanting would be way too much.

[BG918]

Not a fan of having this so far-removed from campus. Leave UNP for apartments and strip malls.

[riflesforwatie]

You need to realistically look at actual attendance for OU basketball events. The capacity you’re wanting would be way too much.

Agreed.

Look at OSU's problems since the Thunder came to Oklahoma. Their arena is full maybe once a season. Maybe. At OU, we did okay in attendance the Final Four year but outside that, the athletic department has basically been begging students to attend games. (Those free pizza promotions were a pretty good deal as a struggling grad student, though.)

This development is cool but I'd rather see an intimate on-campus basketball arena.

[dankrutka]

If OU is building a new arena that will primarily be used for OU basketball games then it should be at about 8,000 seats... maybe even 7,000 or 7,500. The Lloyd Noble Center has had a depressing number of vacant seats for the last 10 years. For the overall experience, it's always better to build a slighly too small rather than too big. If OU wants to compete with the Thunder and better experiences watching games at home then they need to create an intimate environment with some energy. Honestly, if I was choosing, I'd go with a 7,000 seat arena.

On the whole, I really dislike the entire University Town Center area. It's just a poorly designed sprawled out shopping center. If this area had been built as promised then I could see this being attractive, but what's there now is disappointing and may not age well. I'd far rather OU work with private developers to find land near campus (e.g., research campus area, parking lot east of the football stadium, Lloyd Noble site) for such a development.

[dankrutka]

You need to realistically look at actual attendance for OU basketball events. The capacity you’re wanting would be way too much.

+1

A 12,000 seat venue for OU basketball games would be really terrible. OU regularly draws 5,000 fans for nonconference games. It would feel completely empty in a 12,000 seat arena.

[riflesforwatie]

On the whole, I really dislike the entire University Town Center area. It's just a poorly designed sprawled out shopping center. If this area had been built as promised then I could see this being attractive, but what's there now is disappointing and may not age well. I'd far rather OU work with private developers to find land near campus (e.g., research campus area, parking lot east of the football stadium, Lloyd Noble site) for such a development.

Exactly this. Even if the northern half is built *exactly as promised*, it won't age well, because it will always be next to a bunch of suburban garbage. Plus, this fake urban center nonsense will never be able to achieve critical mass on its own because development in one direction will be restricted by the airport and in the other direction by I-35, which means that this will always be a car centric development. It doesn't fully appeal to the urbanism/walkability diehards and it doesn't appeal to the exurban 1.5 acre types either.

[onthestrip]

Agree with the seating capacity, college basketball isnt much of a draw. 10,000 is probably the right number. Plus, taking this even further off campus will draw even less students to games than now at Lloyd Noble.

Its interesting that OU and Norman is looking at this as a catalyst for development rather than from a basketball program standpoint. Just like the pros, money rules in college sports so who cares if this helps the program or more students attend more games as long as you can make more money off amateur athletes.

[jn1780]

I don't really see OU wanting to have basketball this far away from campus. Its the opposite of what colleges have been trying to accomplish. Its not really an intimate atmosphere or student friendly. Students who don't have a vehicle have to be provided transportation to the games.

And larger NCAA events would have a more greater chance of being hosted hosted in OKC. I don't see University Town Center ever being that great of an atmosphere even with a larger arena.

[Richard at Remax]

College basketball landscape has been changing for a while. Esp here with the Thunder. I personally think 10,000 is too much. I would really like something like the Reynolds Center at Tulsa which is around 8,300. That was a great place to watch basketball when I went there my freshman year.