First National Center

[dcsooner]

They get good reviews in most places. Will be popular with national visitors. Locals will still go to the better local steak houses as they do most places. All in all, it enhances outsiders view of downtown OKC.

Agree

[HOT ROD]

As other expats have said regarding Rover's wonderful take on Ruth Chris bringing national clout to downtown, I also agree.

Personally, I would rather a McCormick and Schmick or Morton's of Chicago for national clout that offers better than RC and have RC go into NHP but i'm sure it will do well along with the other steakhouses in the steak capital of America.

[Pete]

[soonermike81]

I guess everybody differs in their tastes of steakhouses. It’s been years but we always had good to great experiences at Ruth’s Chris. Only been to Morton’s once but was not a fan of how much they char the steaks. And went to Bobs not that long ago but wasn’t really blown away; maybe the people we were with hyped it up too much. Capital Grille definitely gets my vote as a good chain. As far as some of our local steakhouses being that much better then RC, I guess I differ in opinion here as well. Won’t name them bc don’t want to ruffle any feathers but there’s at least one named above that I don’t even understand how they have such a good following. 3 trips there for me and 3 ok to bad experiences.

[gopokes88]

Dang, I forgot about Broadway 10 and didn't even realize another one was going into the Omni.

There's no way that all 6 of these survive. Of course, if there's anywhere 6 steakhouses could survive within a 1 mile radius, it's Oklahoma City.

All 6 will survive.

[Teo9969]

All 6 will survive.

I know that two of the locals will for sure. 2 of the others are going to have their work cut out for them...they will have to go hard in the paint to keep it going.

[HOT ROD]

I agree that all will survive and move OKC's cache up a level among business travelers and elite.

[warreng88]

I don't know if all of them could survive right now, but once they are open, we will have a new park, convention center and other added tourist destinations that will add to the traffic. I don't love Ruth's Chris, but having a well known chain like that downtown will be a good addition. I think Mahogany, Mickey Mantle's, Red Prime and Broadway 10 and Vast will all do fine. I am worried about smaller places like The Mantle and how they will pan out. just my two cents.

[Pete]

And remember, FNC will have its own residents and hotel guests.

[kevin lee]

Bob's Steak & Chop House will have their hotel guests also.

[Pete]

Steel starting to be removed piece by piece in the east section.

[mdeand]

Slowly but surely the floors are coming down. (From this afternoon).

[bombermwc]

It's so weird to see the place actually coming down piece by piece like this.

[bucktalk]

The volume of debris from this job site must be tremendous. I wonder where they are hauling all this debris to?

[Pete]

The volume of debris from this job site must be tremendous. I wonder where they are hauling all this debris to?

I know Gary Brooks has made a big commitment to recycling as much as possible.

[mugofbeer]

I'm curious, was the building slated to be a parking garage originally a garage? I know nothing of engineering but it seems a parking garage would have to be built to hold heavier loads than a regular office building.

[PhiAlpha]

I'm curious, was the building slated to be a parking garage originally a garage? I know nothing of engineering but it seems a parking garage would have to be built to hold heavier loads than a regular office building.

I remember reading somewhere in regard to this project that because office floors usually account for furniture, file cabinets, old large computers and various other heavy equipment that the loads are actually similar to what would be needed for vehicles in a garage.

[Pete]

^

Yes, I asked Gary Brooks about this specifically.

Office floors are actually engineered to carry more weight than a corresponding level in a parking garage.

So in the case of FNC, they will merely convert what was office space in the center of the buildings to parking.

[LordGerald]

The weight of the pool will be tremendous.

[Pete]

The weight of the pool will be tremendous.

It will likely be pretty shallow, like the pool on the roof of West Village.

But you are right, it will still be heavy.

[Bullbear]

Which weighs more, A ton of cars or a ton of Office equipment

[SOONER8693]

Which weighs more, A ton of cars or a ton of Office equipment

A ton of feathers.

[jn1780]

Which weighs more, A ton of cars or a ton of Office equipment

Which planet?

Are office floors shorter or taller than parking garage floors? I am guessing taller since you have drop-down ceilings in HVAC duct work.

[Pete]

^

Yes, office floors are generally taller.

If you look at the taller garages downtown you'll see they are significantly shorter than the same # of floors in an office building.

[Pete]

Developers are now asking the city for a $25MM loan.

This would be in addition to all the TIF money and other incentives.

City would have to go borrow the money then charge them about 1% more.


I suspect they are running into serious budget overruns.