Downtown housing: Is the dream dying or flying?

[HOT ROD]

As for Denver

I think it is also a great model for Oklahoma City. Quite a bit less developed than the Great Vancouver BC but still is experiencing a renaissance and have totally cleaned up their skid row and created LoDo.

In past years, there have been lots of adaptive reuse of existing buildings - converting them into lofts and restaurants. Today, there arent many left, so the city is letting developers build UP. new highrises are planned and a couple are under construction, as I think there are two or so Tower Cranes in the NW downtown area north of LoDo.

LoDo itself is similar to Bricktown but it is a bit more built up. However, Bricktown has more in it than lodo, as there are many lodo buildings with adaptive office and loft uses. Bricktown is also a much larger area but I think we can learn a lot from our most "kin" of neighbours. Oklahoma City compares very closely and favourably to Denver. In fact, Denver touts that they are the largest city for 600 miles. Guess who is 600 miles away? Yep, OKC.

Look at the layout and demographics of the two cities and metro areas and its very similar and conclusive. Both have large hispanic communities but OKC also has a large asian and black community (denver doesnt, it just has a very very very large hispanic). both have pretty successful commercial districts and entertainment districts. Both have historic inner city with sprawling suburbs. Both have university presence inner and outer. Both are state capitals and have large Federal governance and regional hq. Denver has more high tech and telecom and OKC has more biotech and energy.

the major difference, Denver has the Rocky Mountain chain less than 40 miles west and Denver got started with urban development 10 years ahead of OKC. denver also saw the promise of light rail 10 years ago (when I lived there) and currently they are expanding it.

Denver also recognized the importance of a downtown pedestrian mall (also see downtown Vancouver's Granville Mall district). the 16 street pedestrian mall is a great experience and I wish we could do something similar with Main Street, opening it up between Hudson and Robinson and bringing in the storefront retail!!!

Of course, we know Denver has changed the look of their presence in commercial aviation. They razed (and rebuilding) the old Stapleton Airport - a great american airport in its own right with 95 airline gates but too close to the inner city, and created the mother of all airports in DIA. Something else for OKC to look at, as the City of Denver paid for that airport and built it way ahead of the airlines in the hopes that "they will come." Even though Continental did scale back their hub that the originally had at Stapleton, other airlines have come in and made Denver the 5th busiest in the nation. With additional international flights, Denver should overtake #4 and has the capacity for well over 150 million pax per year (currently ATL has 88 mil pax).

So, I think we can learn from Denver, they have surely gathered much momentum on urban development in their Downtown and definitely have some great urban districts. They are much closer in their development age to us than the more established city of Vancouver and offer us a different perspective. (however, I think we should also look to Vancouver overall for the big picture/benchmark). Both cities provide us benchmarks for what to do, how to do it, and what to avoid/change, just different perspectives - established international coastal big city (Vancouver) or pretty established regional and national powerhouse (Denver).

[floater]

Hot Rod, I agree Denver is a much more appropriate model for OKC to follow (although I will have to visit Vancouver one of these days). Denver is an interesting case. Its vital signs -- education level, per capita personal income, employment, wages, GMP -- have skyrocketed the past two decades.

There has to be more to that than mountains. Sure, they had gold, but we had black gold. I think it's a combination of the scenic beauty, quality education (UC, Colorodo School of Mines, even the University of Denver), and a culture of youthful vigor. If OKC and OK would shore up some of those credentials, it could begin playing more confidently. It will take deep long-term investments (social, financial, political) in all three to be comparable to Denver. Still, it's good to see what's possible with some more money and a driving spirit.

Anyway, I think most people who have read the study know and appreciate that there must be more mixed-income offerings downtown. The trick is in striking a balance between the profitable high-end units and the lower-priced units -- which, who knows, may attract some federal tax credits. Building strictly lower-income housing would not be beneficial to anybody.

Even though retail is popping up in Bricktown, it's my hope that a serious concentration of stores will occur in the Triangle. That could be our pedestrial mall. We might not have the concentration of downtown residents, but in the OUHSC/PHFRP/State Capitol, we have a set of workers with high incomes. The Triangle could be their "campus corner", so to speak. Getting them to cross the I-235 bridge will be the key to making that work.

[ptwobjb]

But is the Triangle a reality?

I could easily see it following the same path as the Factory.

[fromdust]

But is the Triangle a reality?

I could easily see it following the same path as the Factory.

its seems to be a reality. check out thetriangleokc.com

[floater]

But is the Triangle a reality?

I could easily see it following the same path as the Factory.

I admit, at the present time it seems more concept than actual development. The renovated YMCA parking garage is the first project associated with it. The group owns the land, but does that mean developers will come? I would be interested in knowing how they're marketing the spot on top of that website. They would do well to link that housing study on the home page.