OK Kids Korral

[Pete]

Information & Latest News

NE 8th & Laird
status=Complete
owner=Toby Keith Foundation
cost=$8.5 million
start=5/18/12
finish=October 2013
height=2 stories
sq. feet=28,000
acerage=2.0523
other=16 suites

5/19/12: Toby Keith breaks ground on OK Kids Koral

OK Kids Korral will provide a home for pediatric cancer patients and their families while they are receiving treatment at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center, Peggy & Charles Stephenson Cancer Center and other nearby facilities. OK Kids Korral will offer the warmth and security of home in a setting where the love and encouragement of others enlighten and inspire guests.
Links

Toby Keith Foundation
Downtown Hotel Summary
Urban Project Summary
County Assessor Record
Gallery

[Pete]

From www.todykeithfoundation.org:

"OK Kids Korral will provide a home for pediatric cancer patients and their families while they are receiving treatment at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center, Peggy & Charles Stephenson Cancer Center and other nearby facilities. OK Kids Korral will offer the warmth and security of home in a setting where the love and encouragement of others enlighten and inspire guests."

[kevinpate]

More related to the opening. TK seems quite pleased with this. Don't blame the man. Not one little bit. Tis a good thing for those who will use it.

Toby Keith celebrates the grand opening of the OK Kids Korral in Oklahoma City | News OK

[metro]

I was wondering where this was being built. TBK has a billboard up advertising it on I-40 eastbound, just before you hit downtown.

[Rover]

Fantastic venture. The kids need a place to be comfortable, safe and secure after frightening treatments. Good for Toby.

But I am sure we will get a great many complaints here that the building is too suburban, has parking, needs to butt up against the street, should be taller, shouldn't have grass or trees, should be more contemporary, mid-modern or brutalistic, needs LED lights, needs the light rail to go by, should be mixed use, and on, and on, just like the requirements for any other core development. (Sorry, just poking a little fun)

[Fantastic]

Fantastic venture. The kids need a place to be comfortable, safe and secure after frightening treatments. Good for Toby.

But I am sure we will get a great many complaints here that the building is too suburban, has parking, needs to butt up against the street, should be taller, shouldn't have grass or trees, should be more contemporary, mid-modern or brutalistic, needs LED lights, needs the light rail to go by, should be mixed use, and on, and on, just like the requirements for any other core development. (Sorry, just poking a little fun)

You're right, I really hope people don't complain about this, I think it's probably the most uplifting development I can remember happening in a long time. Alot of the things we talk about here are exciting, but this seems to go above excitement. Good causes are always something to smile about.

[soonerguru]

Fantastic venture. The kids need a place to be comfortable, safe and secure after frightening treatments. Good for Toby.

But I am sure we will get a great many complaints here that the building is too suburban, has parking, needs to butt up against the street, should be taller, shouldn't have grass or trees, should be more contemporary, mid-modern or brutalistic, needs LED lights, needs the light rail to go by, should be mixed use, and on, and on, just like the requirements for any other core development. (Sorry, just poking a little fun)

I laughed. I'll admit it.

[MDot]

I laughed. I'll admit it.

I didn't laugh but I smiled. LOL

[Doug Loudenback]

Thumbs up to Toby. This is an extraordinary contribution to the community.

[Just the facts]

Fantastic venture. The kids need a place to be comfortable, safe and secure after frightening treatments. Good for Toby.

But I am sure we will get a great many complaints here that the building is too suburban, has parking, needs to butt up against the street, should be taller, shouldn't have grass or trees, should be more contemporary, mid-modern or brutalistic, needs LED lights, needs the light rail to go by, should be mixed use, and on, and on, just like the requirements for any other core development. (Sorry, just poking a little fun)

I'll say it - great cause but the design is terrible. I understand the "special needs" angle but all joking aside, this should be held to the same design criteria as everything else.

However, I will chalk this up to an urbanism victory because everyone who looked at that proposal instantly thought "suburban design" and for some of you that is progress. At least everyone can now tell the difference between suburban and urban design when they see it.

[RadicalModerate]

I once read--and then borrowed, later, for "illustrative puposes"--a story/modern parable about a rich man (perhaps involved in "the oil industry"?) who donated millions and millions of dollars to a college building fund and had several campus structures named after him.

(This was all a long, long time before T.Boone Pickens, btw. =)

A few years later, situations and circumstances changed and the formerly "rich" man lost all of his [available financial resources].

One day, not too long after that, he was walking across the campus with a kindly student.
The student noticed the man's name on many of the buildings.

The student said: "I guess you sometimes wish you had all of that money back . . ."

The man replied (with a smile): "No, not really . . . All I have left is what I gave away."

Kudos to Toby Keith.
I think that maybe we can see him now. =)

(as if we couldn't previously . . .)

[Rover]

Years ago, I lost a baby brother who spent many days in Children's hospital here in OKC. Though we lived 100 miles away and means were very limited, Mom was here constantly and Dad would drive down after work. I know how much mercy and kindness meant...especially to my fatally ill brother. Toby being involved in this is very special and a mercy that will mean unbelievable things for the kids. This is God's work. Thanks Toby.

[PennyQuilts]

Years ago, I lost a baby brother who spent many days in Children's hospital here in OKC. Though we lived 100 miles away and means were very limited, Mom was here constantly and Dad would drive down after work. I know how much mercy and kindness meant...especially to my fatally ill brother. Toby being involved in this is very special and a mercy that will mean unbelievable things for the kids. This is God's work. Thanks Toby.

I'm very, very sorry about your brother.

[Soonerus]

Toby has been working on this for several years...

[ou48A]

Toby has been working on this for several years...

This is what I heard.^

I recently talked to someone who works at the OUHSC and knows some of the things that are planned.
In the coming months and years we should expect to be hearing more great things about the OU cancer center.
I expect to eventually see the OU cancer center to become regarded as a world class cancer research institution.

[Spartan]

I'm going to take the uncomfortable position and defend our ideal development standards. Compliance with good form in a highly-dense urban district as the OUHSC undeniably is isn't something that would devastate this project. It would make it better.

Nobody is saying that Toby Keith ever claimed to assert this design as the most pro-urban, so the issue isn't a matter of confrontation. It's a matter of applying a fair standard to all projects that fall within an urban district. For example, the OBI project should have also been held to a better standard.

I'm not complaining about how UGLY and bland the OBI building was (and this hotel actually has a kinda cool aesthetic), but instead pointing out the negative site layout. Parking can be just as functional in the back of a building. Fixing that should be cost neutral, and possibly even cheaper for moving automobile egress/ingress away from the main vantage point.

[Rover]

For once, we should be thinking of the occupant of the structure and the kind of layout that comforts them. Buildings are for people, not for themselves, not for ideologies, not for art, but for people. The only design elements essential here is that the kids feel good coming here and feel as normal as they can. Bricks and mortar be damned...flesh and blood be cherished.

[Soonerus]

For once, we should be thinking of the occupant of the structure and the kind of layout that comforts them. Buildings are for people, not for themselves, not for ideologies, not for art, but for people. The only design elements essential here is that the kids feel good coming here and feel as normal as they can. Bricks and mortar be damned...flesh and blood be cherished.

Great post...

[MikeOKC]

For once, we should be thinking of the occupant of the structure and the kind of layout that comforts them. Buildings are for people, not for themselves, not for ideologies, not for art, but for people. The only design elements essential here is that the kids feel good coming here and feel as normal as they can. Bricks and mortar be damned...flesh and blood be cherished.

Wow. Nicely said.

[Spartan]

For once, we should be thinking of the occupant of the structure and the kind of layout that comforts them. Buildings are for people, not for themselves, not for ideologies, not for art, but for people. The only design elements essential here is that the kids feel good coming here and feel as normal as they can. Bricks and mortar be damned...flesh and blood be cherished.

Not to disrupt your egalitarian pontificating, but what exactly has urban development done to harm grieving families? I'm not going to get into a contest with you to write the most touching poem about the building. It's a great undertaking, and I'm sure it will be an excellent addition. I like the way that we are creating community within the medical district, so that families of patients can be part of a community. That community benefits from having a quality environment, so let's also endeavor toward making this district better than our abysmally low building standards.

[Rover]

Not to disrupt your egalitarian pontificating, but what exactly has urban development done to harm grieving families? I'm not going to get into a contest with you to write the most touching poem about the building.

I actually expected more and better of you than mocking. You seemed like a better person than that.

[Spartan]

I actually expected more and better of you than mocking. You seemed like a better person than that.

Well and likewise, I am shocked that you would stoop so low in your latest argument against proper urban standards, by side-tracking from the real issue by such a wide margin and painting it as a moral issue rather than a planning one.

I propose that we leave the kids out of it, and then maybe get on with a respectable discussion over this project.

[kevinpate]

I propose that we leave the kids out of it, and then maybe get on with a respectable discussion over this project.

It's a project for kids and their families, where the children are cancer patients. Here's an idea. Leave the needs and comfort of the patients and their families front and center of this project rather than fretting over the building's skin, parking placement or set back from the street.

Leave the kids out of it? poppycock, hogwarsh and balderdash.

[Roadhawg]

For once, we should be thinking of the occupant of the structure and the kind of layout that comforts them. Buildings are for people, not for themselves, not for ideologies, not for art, but for people. The only design elements essential here is that the kids feel good coming here and feel as normal as they can. Bricks and mortar be damned...flesh and blood be cherished.

well said

[Just the facts]

For once, we should be thinking of the occupant of the structure and the kind of layout that comforts them. Buildings are for people, not for themselves, not for ideologies, not for art, but for people. The only design elements essential here is that the kids feel good coming here and feel as normal as they can. Bricks and mortar be damned...flesh and blood be cherished.

What a load of crap. Bad design even for that right reason is still bad design. Urban development is a far more "people" oriented design philosophy than parking lots and 6 foot fences.