Massive parking lot on the canal

[Luke]

I was riding my bike downtown yesterday and noticed they had just put down asphalt on a humongous parking lot next to the theater on the canal.

I must say I was saddened that it was so big and so close to the canal. I'm sure there's enough room for new buildings between the lot and the actual canal, but it just seems like a poor use of prime land that close to the canal. That whole area could have been a large retail/commercial/residential development village stemming off the canal. Or at least something more useful than a parking lot. Not anymore.

I know the new theater and Bricktown needs more parking. A little more creativity would have been nice though.

Luke

[floater]

I don't know if it's like Bass Pro's lot, where a garage will be built atop it once success and acceptable development proposals come online?

[okcstylez]

Exactly, Maybe a Parking Garage somewhere. Ive seen parking Garages that have stores on top I even saw a parking garage in Houston where a Movie Theater was on top. Theres other ways of fixing the problem Just seems they are going for the cheapest way with jus a plain big ol' Lot.

[Patrick]

Hey guys, no need to worry about the parking lot. It's only temporary until more development occurs later in phases. Phase I is just about complete (will be completed with the Hammons Hotel, Toby Keith theater, and two buildings housing Sonic, Jamba Juice, Nothing but Noodles, Stabucks, and Marble Slab), and Phase II will include filling in all othe remaining empty spaces like the one with the parking lot.

I've talked to Jim Couch several times about this, and he's reassured me that surface lots in Bricktown are only temporary and will heopfully be replaced by development, as the need arises.

Take the Redhawks lot, just south of the Bricktown Events Center for instance. It's a nice asphalt lot, but the Redhawks currently have three proposals for the development, two of which include mix use concepts (residential, retail, restaurants), and one of which would include a 5 or 6 level parking garage for Hammons Embasy Suites Hotel, the theater, etc.

Another good example is the parking lot between the Bass Pro lot and the Sonic lot....it will be filled by Hammon's Embasy Suites Hotel.

Anyways, no need to worry about the surface lot. Just like many of the other surface lots that used to line the canal, it will be replaced.

[Patrick]

By the way, okcstylez, your idea of mixing something with a parknig garage sounds interesting. Actually, the Moshe Tal/David Cordish plan for the site included a multi screen theater that would've sat on top of a four story garage, that would've been attached to a Galleria style shopping mall. I always thought that was a neat concept.

[okcstylez]

The Moshe Tal/David Cordish plan would have been so awesome for Bricktown. Something Not only Bricktown is missing but Oklahoma City Itself hopefully in the Future the City will take some type of Developement like this more seriously.

[downtownguy]

Before gushing about Moshe Tal, let's remember he's never developed, never built, never contributed anything to downtown, and did much to damage it. His talk was just talk. Anyone can promise big development - it's another thing to get it done. I still don't see any hotel being built over the Bricktown Canal, as was proposed two years ago by Jim Brewer, and I never saw Harry McMullen build a 10-story hotel across from the JDM Building.
Talk is talk. Hogan's development may not be ideal, but at least it's real.
-The Downtown Guy
www.downtownguy.blogspot.com

[okcstylez]

Ya i understand that but i was speaking about how it would be Awesome if Ever a plan should come up again in The future Maybe Not by Moshe Tal but another Developer. Hopefully one as Truthful as Hogans.

[Luke]

Its good to know that those surface lots are temporary. In that case, that's a pretty good idea to use the land for parking at least temporarily.

[Patrick]

Hey downtownguy, I fully agree with you. I wasn't praising Moshe Tal in anyway, I just thought an idea he had was a good one. By all means, it proved out that Urban Renewal made the right choice in Randy Hogan. I don't consider Moshe anymore a developer than any of us. I think the city saw that, and thus voted for Hogan.
Although Moshe Tal was all talk and would've never been able to pull off a development in Bricktown, he did have some good ideas for the Bricktown canal, a few that Randy Hogan has even capitalized on....for example, the Toby Keith complex.
Also, we do have Moshe Tal to thank for getting the south canal raised so that the entire canal was all the same level....original plans called for the north and south canals to be separated by a waterfall, due to elevational differences. This would've menat very short boat rides. Moshe paid an engineering firm to show the city that the elevation of the south canal could be raised to meet the north canal.

In regards to Harry McMullen, well his proposal was real, but when the opportunity came to by an Aloe Vera Plant (and manufacturing plant, not the real plant!!! LOL) in South America, he decided to put all of his money into that, and put the Bricktown property up for sale. The land is still up for sale to this day. I called his firm recently, and they haven't even come close to finding a buyer for that site. It's sad to see.