Aloft Hotel

[Kerry]

The saving grace for the surface parking issue is that when the property becomes more valuable/desireable for actual development, it's no big matter to build on it.

Unless it's Bricktown - then the surface parking never ends.

[BDP]

I'm happy to read that it would be on the back of the hotel, so thanks for posting the above article.

What will be the back of this hotel? Will the front face bricktown and the back will be towards the park or vice versa? Or is the front on Walnut?

[jbrown84]

Looks like it fronts Walnut.

[Richard at Remax]

in that rendering the cars are on 2nd street. you can see deep deuce down the steet. this vantage point is from the nw corner of oklahoma and 2nd looking southeast

[SoonerLakers]

in that rendering the cars are on 2nd street. you can see deep deuce down the steet. this vantage point is from the nw corner of oklahoma and 2nd looking southeast

I was thinking that was the orientation as well. Looks like it fronts 2nd. And if this is actually how it is built perhaps that building in the far left of rendering is the Finley building. Maybe it will be kept for the 12,000 sq ft of retail.

[OKC@heart]

I was thinking that was the orientation as well. Looks like it fronts 2nd. And if this is actually how it is built perhaps that building in the far left of rendering is the Finley building. Maybe it will be kept for the 12,000 sq ft of retail.

If that is the case, although structured parking would be far better, the parking would be between the hotel and the rail line that runs behind the property.

That said I have to admit that based on the rendering it is hard to orient its location relative to the bridge and knowing that the Finley building is on the SW corner of 2nd and Walnut with the long side facing 2nd street. It seems to make most sense that we are looking at the South side of 2nd Street and the intersection of Walnut is at the far side. Although if I were the developer I would want to make the most of the Corner of the hotel and define that corner with my Hotel for greatest presence and visibility.

[OKC@heart]

yup I think you nailed it the intersection is to the left side of the hotel with Walnut between the hotel and the Deep Deuce apts.

[Spartan]

The parking situation is kind of reminiscent of NoDo in Omaha where they've built a mixed-use neighborhood like Maywood Park around the new Qwest Center but they have huge surface parking lots still because they've decided to address parking garages later.

[SkyWestOKC]

It seems like there is always something negative brought out and made a big deal of when something positive and good happens for this city. I swear, the constant negativity is what will do this city in...nothing will ever be good enough for our beloved citizens.

Take a step back, forget the parking, and enjoy the positive news.

[benman]

It seems like there is always something negative brought out and made a big deal of when something positive and good happens for this city. I swear, the constant negativity is what will do this city in...nothing will ever be good enough for our beloved citizens.

Take a step back, forget the parking, and enjoy the positive news.

Exactly! i can just hear the debate a year ago... "wow why dont we have an aloft hotel or something similar. We are never going to get anywhere until we start really developing deep deuce and making it more dense. Dallas has an aloft... we need to get one too.. blah, blah, blah."
Now we get a new hotel that isnt a generic red roof inn or something, and of course people are going to bitch about it. Pretty sad.

[betts]

If you look at the tree wells adjacent to the sidewalks, aside from the fact that two of them seem to be missing trees for some reason in the rendering, it looks to me as if the hotel faces north and is sited on the south side of second, with Walnut to your left in the drawing. Also, the fact that the building is rectangular and knowing where the property line is (new stick with pink flag on it in place), it's most logical that it is oriented that way.

[OKC@heart]

I don't know who stepped on your nerves but no one on here has "b#@ched" about the Aloft, rather a constructive discussion on how great it is and their approach to parking strategy is all.

I think that you are being overly sensitive and that anyone who has a design background has been trained to critique all aspects of a design solution as a way to guage the merits and success of that design. That is what designers do with their own designs as well as others.

It is not to offend anyone but rather to constantly keep ourselves sharp and cognizant of what is best for a given area.

I think I can safely say that most on this forum are thrilled for not only the brand, its location, and its design as articulated thus far.

I have not found any comments that are negative but just observational. We are not going to go and get our pitchforks out of the shed and light our torches over something so trivial.

It is a fact that surface parking lots all over bricktown, deep deuce and the rest of the city are everywhere contribute to the "urban wasteland" viewpoint that one can take. I applaud any well done development that is going to increase density and contribute to the vitality of our urban areas.

In this case the surface parking is less of an issue because it is behind the building and not visible from the streetscape and is backed up by the train tracks.

Would structured parking been a better in my opinion? Sure. Am I complaining? No. It was just a comment for discussion as our goal should be to increase the infill projects and replace the surface lots with structured parking that can be shrouded with street facing retail and or residential buildings so that the parking needs of the area are still met but the unsightly and damaging surface lots will be replaced by something far more effective.

[jbrown84]

While I agree that often negativity creeps in on anything positive (see the Mayor's Convention thread), the criticism here of the parking has been very mild and far outweighed by the excitement about this project.

[metro]

I'm pretty confident the front of the hotel faces Walnut and the back of it faces the CBD

[soonerguru]

It seems like there is always something negative brought out and made a big deal of when something positive and good happens for this city. I swear, the constant negativity is what will do this city in...nothing will ever be good enough for our beloved citizens.

Take a step back, forget the parking, and enjoy the positive news.

Wrong. This city has always worked exactly as you suggest, and it's brought generations of failure.

This is not Losertown anymore. This is a happening, up and coming city. In cities like that we don't settle for the lowest common denominator. We demand as much as we can to improve the livability, walkability, aesthetics, functionality, etc. as we can.

Before, we were told: "Shut up. At least Bass Pro is getting retail downtown," and "Shut up: at least we're getting a canal, whether or not it's going to be a functioning retail district." Etc. Etc.

This city is a crazyquilt of bad planning decisions that represent wholesale acquiescences to developers and property owners. We don't do things like that anymore.

And by the way, 1) It's an awesome development, and 2) It's entirely appropriate to discuss the addition of another massive surface parking area in a dense (or something we wish were dense) urban area. It's certainly something that the Urban Design Committee will be discussing with the developer.

[soonerguru]

I'm pretty confident the front of the hotel faces Walnut and the back of it faces the CBD

It fronts Second Street, as it should.

[Spartan]

The most negative posts (by far) in this thread so far have been....

It seems like there is always something negative brought out and made a big deal of when something positive and good happens for this city. I swear, the constant negativity is what will do this city in...nothing will ever be good enough for our beloved citizens.

Exactly! i can just hear the debate a year ago... "wow why dont we have an aloft hotel or something similar. We are never going to get anywhere until we start really developing deep deuce and making it more dense. Dallas has an aloft... we need to get one too.. blah, blah, blah."
Now we get a new hotel that isnt a generic red roof inn or something, and of course people are going to bitch about it. Pretty sad.

[benman]

eh, just give it a few months.. haha im sure the final design will be too suburbia, or not tall enough, etc. I have faith that everyone on here will find something wrong with it.

[Spartan]

eh, just give it a few months.. haha im sure the final design will be too suburbia, or not tall enough, etc. I have faith that everyone on here will find something wrong with it.

You seem to be counting on it, so that you will have a point..some day. Don't count on it, but good luck anyway.

The rest of us will be rooting for this to be a good project.

[benman]

You seem to be counting on it, so that you will have a point..some day. Don't count on it, but good luck anyway.

The rest of us will be rooting for this to be a good project.

Just as I will too. obviously.

[Steve]

I'm pretty confident the front of the hotel faces Walnut and the back of it faces the CBD

That's not right. I'll post the site plan later today. The front faces NE 2

[BDP]

eh, just give it a few months.. haha im sure the final design will be too suburbia, or not tall enough, etc. I have faith that everyone on here will find something wrong with it.

Well, if the final design is too suburban, why shouldn't it be pointed it out?

As it is now, I personally think it is a great fit and a great concept. I actually wouldn't want it any taller based on where it is going. While there will be surface parking, it actually sounds like the developers are cognizant of the negative effect surface parking can have and are going to try and mitigate those negative effects.

The reality is that, as it is now, this may be the first urban minded hotel development outside of the core. Of course, the developer may change their mind and OCURA may not really care how it's built, but at least this is actually a brand that doesn't want to project a suburban image, so our best hope is that there will actually be pressure from the brand affiliate to NOT change it going forward.

[Spartan]

Hampton Inn?

[ljbab728]

You'd be surprised. People (even coming from the coasts) often whine about having to park across the street from the Colcord.

Do you think the people from the coasts whine about that when they're staying in a hotel in Manhatten or San Francisco? It's all a matter of expectations, I suspect.

[Spartan]

Well, it's not really possible to avoid using a car to get to a downtown hotel from out of town, unless you use the floo network. Either you gotta ride in from the airport or from an interstate, unless you're taking the Heartland Flier. That's not exactly "business class," although it is very cool for some regular joes with a weekend to waste on something different.