Canal Extension website debuts...

[warreng88]

I got this from Steve's blog:

Canal Connection

[OKCisOK4me]

Wow, that's an exciting website...

[Midtowner]

That would be truly awesome.

What a great place to live/own a business that area would be.

[Architect2010]

I also like how it purposely runs along or through open parking lots to help fuel new businesses and buildings on those parking lots.

They are using the Northern Canal extension to help sell that area of Bricktown and revive it, it looks like. There's really no other reason for that canal extension. But that's okay. I'd love to see the Coca Cola Parking lot to be infilled, or at least partially along that canal extension because that street could be a true extension of Bricktown.

[Pete]

[bbhill]

Looks like the north extension would be a good boost for new development along the parking lots as architect mentioned. Very exciting. The West expansion looks pretty ambitious to me, however.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Poorly thought out and unnecessarily ambitious for starters. Nice graphics, tho.

[Patrick]

This is a little extensive. What is this, like the plan over the next 75 years?

[warreng88]

I liked the original idea to extend it from Harkins across that parking lot, hug the train wall, then replace Reno to the Myriad Gardens. The cost of the original canal was $23 million in 1999. I could see this part of the project easily topping $75 million.

I hope anyone that wants to build near the canal can also do underground parking because I could see a lot of it being eliminated due to the canal running through it and development popping up on either side.

[Thunder]

That area where it says Future Development. Is that where those rundowm mills and that Oklahoma's 100th Birthday graphic painted on an old building reside? I sure can't wait for those buildings to be demolished.

[Pete]

Yes, Thunder, that's the site of the current co-op which has been for sale for about a year now.

[Thunder]

Yes, Thunder, that's the site of the current co-op which has been for sale for about a year now.

It's a miracle!!!

[TaurusNYC]

The co-op is beautiful. It adds interest to the city, acknowledges the state's agriculture industry, and doesn't look like the rest of the city. The new boathouse row on the river, with its shiny metal buildings, echo the co-op's materials and shapes. I think there is almost no chance that anything that replaces the co-op will be as interesting or beautiful. More likely it will look like the schlock that is lower Bricktown. Does anyone agree with me? Can't anyone else appreciate that old industrial buildings have their own aesthetic beauty and interest?

[Pete]

Taurus, I've opened my mind to what you are saying and can see that point of view. I used to think more like Thunder on those buildings.

But I agree, it's one of the very few things that are unique about OKC and I think we should look hard at adaptive use for at least some of them.

Otherwise, until I see some evidence to the contrary, I would expect whatever replaces it to be quite unremarkable.

[Midtowner]

The co-op is beautiful. It adds interest to the city, acknowledges the state's agriculture industry, and doesn't look like the rest of the city. The new boathouse row on the river, with its shiny metal buildings, echo the co-op's materials and shapes. I think there is almost no chance that anything that replaces the co-op will be as interesting or beautiful. More likely it will look like the schlock that is lower Bricktown. Does anyone agree with me? Can't anyone else appreciate that old industrial buildings have their own aesthetic beauty and interest?

I feel the same way about hubcap alley. The run down buildings and open fields where the old buildings have either burned or been condemned make me think of the simpler times and the automotive part and salvage yard history of that part of the city.

I also particularly enjoy the abandoned homeless shelter.

[Architect2010]

I find the Co-op interesting, but not beautiful by any means.

If it were up to me, I would demolish most of it. But I do see the beauty that some people find in it. I think part of it should remain, maybe one of the larger mills or whatever that thing entails and adapt it to something else, retail or whatever. But I do not wish to see that behemoth stand untouched for any second longer. Most of it should go for something much more aesthetically and purpose pleasing. I'm sorry I don't see eye to eye with you.

[TaurusNYC]

Taurus, I've opened my mind to what you are saying and can see that point of view. I used to think more like Thunder on those buildings.

But I agree, it's one of the very few things that are unique about OKC and I think we should look hard at adaptive use for at least some of them.

Otherwise, until I see some evidence to the contrary, I would expect whatever replaces it to be quite unremarkable.

I appreciate your sarcasm, Midtowner. But the co-op is not burned out, condemned, or abandoned. It is a place that actually employs people and produces something of value. Of course, if the co-op moves, it may be condemned and abandoned. Or perhaps it will just be torn down like most of downtown Oklahoma City in the 1980s and remain a blank space for the next 25 years. Now that's progress.

[Pete]

I saw a video on that Producer's Co-op on the Oklahoman website about a year ago when they expanded their operations a bit.

Those huge metal structures are seed silos... Just big open spaces where they pile the cotton seeds (and now other types of seeds as well) before they are crushed and turned into oil.

Because they are so big and open, it would be very interesting to see what the creative mind could come up with for adaptive use.

Looking at aerials, the appears to be about ten of these silos of varying size. keeping 2 or 3 of the large ones might be a cool exercise in design.

[Patrick]

The Co-Op is better than what would probably replace it....another Randy Hogan suburban style office complex.

[Pete]

Here's the inside of one of those silos... They are obviously filled from the top through the openings in the cupolas that sit on the highest ridge. And they are clear-span inside:

[kevinpate]

That's some serious expansion. One question though. Is there enough EFIS stockpiled somewhere to adequately cover the new Lower BT, and Lower BT West?

[Decious]

It doesn't look too ambitious to me. The translucent parts of the expansion probably wouldn't be built, but rather the easements would be obtained via Maps3. I think that the plan looks good. Looks like development sans destruction. I hope it's included on the Maps3 ballot.

[Architect2010]

You guys are so sure of what future development where the Co-op currently stands will become. You do not know.

Yes. Lower Bricktown was a flop. But our city leaders know that now. We know that. We aren't going to let it happen again. What makes that area south of LB any different than Bricktown proper? It's a chance to redeem that area and according to these plans, this is also a chance to make Lower Bricktown what it was supposed to be. I see infill where it's most crucial. I see that this new canal extension could potentially give room to fix what is so wrong.

If you're so worried of a some **** of a development taking over a nasty looking mill, then you are the ones that need to make sure it's not tore down for nothing. You need to be the ones that are vocal about it's reuse when it is demolished or adapted to a new use.

[ssandedoc]

You guys are so sure of what future development where the Co-op currently stands will become. You do not know.

Yes. Lower Bricktown was a flop. But our city leaders know that now. We know that. We aren't going to let it happen again. What makes that area south of LB any different than Bricktown proper? It's a chance to redeem that area and according to these plans, this is also a chance to make Lower Bricktown what it was supposed to be. I see infill where it's most crucial. I see that this new canal extension could potentially give room to fix what is so wrong.

If you're so worried of a some **** of a development taking over a nasty looking mill, then you are the ones that need to make sure it's not tore down for nothing. You need to be the ones that are vocal about it's reuse when it is demolished or adapted to a new use.

Lower Bricktown was not a flop. Over a decade ago, this area was nothing but abandoned warehouses with homeless people running around. At least there's a reason to go downtown now. Development could of been quicker and better, but at least there is a need for the entertainment district - it's not going away anytime soon.

My beef with the city is the desire for another convention center. I'll support it if there is a serious design in place for people movers.

[kbsooner]

You have to throw in the old steel fab buildings in East Bricktown before going after the Co-op. Interestingly enough, they did demo a small structure recently off of sheridan, probably more so that it looked like it could collapse soon...