Level Apartments

[Kerry]

They should do back-in-angled parking for the street.

[BG918]

Looks pretty good to me. It will be interesting to see what type of cladding material they use. There are some townhomes in Tulsa that appear to be a stucco/EIFS that look decent. Maybe it's a higher quality EIFS product.

[Spartan]

That could be real stucco. Find it hard to believe Brookside allowed EIFS construction when they throw a huge hissy fit at any potential dense residential development.

[Pete]

In the original proposal, the developers specified stucco & brick.

[betts]

They have broken ground at Level. I am hearing the backing up beeping of the graders as we speak.

[Kerry]

They have broken ground at Level. I am hearing the backing up beeping of the graders as we speak.

This place we be conceived, built, and lived in before the first shovel is turned at the Mercy site.

[metro]

Betts is right, I drove by tonight and indeed ground was broken today

[ljbab728]

Looks pretty good to me. It will be interesting to see what type of cladding material they use. There are some townhomes in Tulsa that appear to be a stucco/EIFS that look decent. Maybe it's a higher quality EIFS product.

I see nothing attractive about that at all.

[jbrown84]

WHAT IS UP with the name?? Sounds like it should be on a bumper sticker on the back of Tom Ward's Mercedes, not a residential development.

I like the logo though...


There are lots and lots of very similar apartment developments in LA, but they all have parking underneath. Why is that so hard for OKC developers to figure out?

[Kerry]

WHAT IS UP with the name?? Sounds like it should be on a bumper sticker on the back of Tom Ward's Mercedes, not a residential development.

I like the logo though...


There are lots and lots of very similar apartment developments in LA, but they all have parking underneath. Why is that so hard for OKC developers to figure out?

When we get LA land prices then we will get underground parking. I am just glad it had an interior garage and not a surface parking lot.

[BoulderSooner]

found out a few more things about this project last night at the urban neighbors event ...

it will be very nice ... the same black brick at classen curve on the first floor and then stucco on the rest 2,300 sqft for a grocery and a spot for a restraunt with 21 ft ceilings and outdoor seating on the south end. it will have angled parking all around and reserved retail spaces inside the parking garage.

a couple of notes on the apts ... granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms and they feel like it is a very effiecent design ...

the developer also said that he is already looking at locations for another downtown project after this one is completed

[bluedogok]

Underground garages are awfully expensive to build if the land costs don't justify the added expense. The expansive soils in Oklahoma make it an engineering exercise for anything below grade, the main reason why basements were abandoned a long time ago.

[jbrown84]

Is there that big of a difference in the soil between OKC and Dallas? I see a lot more underground residential parking there too.

[Spartan]

found out a few more things about this project last night at the urban neighbors event ...

it will be very nice ... the same black brick at classen curve on the first floor and then stucco on the rest 2,300 sqft for a grocery and a spot for a restraunt with 21 ft ceilings and outdoor seating on the south end. it will have angled parking all around and reserved retail spaces inside the parking garage.

a couple of notes on the apts ... granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms and they feel like it is a very effiecent design ...

the developer also said that he is already looking at locations for another downtown project after this one is completed

When I got a chance to meet McKowns recently, and again at a council mtg, he struck me as not only very ambitious, but extremely on the ball. I am starting to wonder how he even got involved with Ideal Homes. He was a resident artist in St. Etienne, France..studied at the KC Art Institute, and so on. His background is in sculpture. He is very keen on building quality lifestyles and he seems extremely excited about his opportunity to do that with this development. I think he's looking to get more involved downtown, too. I guess he was just waiting for the right time, and boy did he find it. His development is going to be insanely successful, I can just feel it.

As for underground parking, I don't know enough about soils in Dallas, but I don't think there's anything that should discourage it in OKC. We do have some issues downtown with a really high water table, but most downtowns are located near rivers and such is often the case in that instance. Soils being conducive to underground this or that is going to vary from block to block based on elevation changes however. This site at 2nd and Walnut sort of sits on top of a hill that is steeper than a lot of us realize, so if anything, it should be much more conducive to underground parking than where The Lofts at Maywood Park currently sit. Those have underground parking, for those who didn't know where I was going with that..

The Aloft across the street will have dedicated surface parking in the back, but who cares? The Aloft will be urban, the parking will be behind the hotel, and it can be developed later. I think that was done just to make the project as economical as possible, always a good thing.

So what it boils down to is just that the parking situation isn't what it is in Dallas where underground parking is becoming common with downtown-area apartments. If anything, I would imagine their soils are even more expansive than ours..somewhat more oppressive climate, more sun, more heat, less frequent humidity, more frequent thunderstorms, more flash flooding. Dallas flash flooding is legendary, and you know it if you've ever been in Dallas during a gully washer.

Personally I'm a fan of the structured parking INSIDE the block. It's worked well for Legacy, it will work well for LEVEL. Hell, the surface parking inside the block even worked well for Somerset.

[BoulderSooner]

just an fyi the aloft will have a 2 story parking garage behind the property build into the hill so it will seem more like a 1story ..

[Spartan]

Oh, I had no idea it was structured. In the first few articles I thought it said it would just be a simple surface lot? Not that it matters because I don't think it makes a big difference at this point.

[BoulderSooner]

spartan .. i put an update on that thread as well . the developers of both projects were at the Urban Neighbors meeting on thursday ..

[okclee]

1) Mckowns is Ideal Homes, meaning Gene Mckowns is his dad the founder of Ideal Homes. I know first hand that Ideal is making major changes in their building principals and I would expect many more of these type of projects in the immediate future.

2) Oklahoma City will contain a predominate amount of clay in the soil. Whereas Dallas has limestone as a foundation for it's soil.

[Spartan]

1) Mckowns is Ideal Homes, meaning Gene Mckowns is his dad the founder of Ideal Homes. I know first hand that Ideal is making major changes in their building principals and I would expect many more of these type of projects in the immediate future.

2) Oklahoma City will contain a predominate amount of clay in the soil. Whereas Dallas has limestone as a foundation for it's soil.

Dallas is actually predominantly clay-based with some loam-based regions (central and north Dallas are clay regions however, the further you get from the TRV), which would put Dallas just about squarely in the middle of the soil texture triangle..

[ljbab728]

When we get LA land prices then we will get underground parking. I am just glad it had an interior garage and not a surface parking lot.

Kerry, He didn't say underground parking, he said underneath. Most parking in similar construction in LA is not underground. It is on the ground level with the apartments or condos above starting on the second level.

[bluedogok]

Is there that big of a difference in the soil between OKC and Dallas? I see a lot more underground residential parking there too.

Dallas is actually predominantly clay-based with some loam-based regions (central and north Dallas are clay regions however, the further you get from the TRV), which would put Dallas just about squarely in the middle of the soil texture triangle..

The Dallas area soils are not as elastic as the predominant red clay soils around OKC. There are parts of OKC that aren't too bad but you have to remember most everything near downtown is also related to a river bottom area which creates its own kind of foundation challenges. OKC also tends to go through more drought/soak precipitation cycles which causes the soil to expand/contract a bit more.

You can build basements and underground facilities in OKC, it just costs more because of the soils you have to design/build for. Here in Austin where you have limestone just below the topsoil it is a different situation. You also have to deal with the Karst Limestone formations which can have a lot of porosity in the stone and sometimes you don't find that out until you start drilling piers. We had a 4 story projects with one drill that hit a cave, someone went down in it and looked around but it was just a void in the stone and never looked to be occupied. It caused the piers to have to be set deeper. Because of the stone here retaining/basement walls tend to be thinner than up there since the soil isn't very elastic.

[metro]

Don't question Spartan blue dog, your in the industry for a living, he's an expert college student.

[Spartan]

The Dallas area soils are not as elastic as the predominant red clay soils around OKC. There are parts of OKC that aren't too bad but you have to remember most everything near downtown is also related to a river bottom area which creates its own kind of foundation challenges. OKC also tends to go through more drought/soak precipitation cycles which causes the soil to expand/contract a bit more.

You can build basements and underground facilities in OKC, it just costs more because of the soils you have to design/build for. Here in Austin where you have limestone just below the topsoil it is a different situation. You also have to deal with the Karst Limestone formations which can have a lot of porosity in the stone and sometimes you don't find that out until you start drilling piers. We had a 4 story projects with one drill that hit a cave, someone went down in it and looked around but it was just a void in the stone and never looked to be occupied. It caused the piers to have to be set deeper. Because of the stone here retaining/basement walls tend to be thinner than up there since the soil isn't very elastic.

Wow, limestone sounds like a lot of fun. I still don't see where Dallas would be much different pedologically from OKC..similar topographically, similar climatologically, and so on..especially with the relation of the two downtowns to a riverbed that goes about a mile south of the downtowns.

I don't doubt you'd know a lot more, and I did initially defer to the knowledge expressed in this thread, but on looking up the chart myself it seems like the two are actually remarkably similar in ways I hadn't even expected. Perhaps further west, maybe as close as FW, you'd start running into more prevalent limestone beneath the topsoil. Would that be more likely the case?

And metro, why be so abrasive? Do you have a grudge against Steve and I or something? Well, I've noticed a grudge from you against Steve so that's undeniable, but surely I'm not worthy of being in that same honorable category as him, to also have a grudge from you..

[Kerry]

Kerry, He didn't say underground parking, he said underneath. Most parking in similar construction in LA is not underground. It is on the ground level with the apartments or condos above starting on the second level.

I got to thinking about that later in the day and realized that is what he meant. When I worked in downtown Tampa most of the newer office and residential buildings were built on top of structured parking. The first 10 floors of the building I worked in were all parking. The large podium is all parking (except for the first floor which housed a nice restaurant, post office, bank branch, and building lobby).

[okclee]

This developer is wasting no time!

I counted 5 or 6 heavy duty construction vehicles working early this morning. The entire building site has already been graded at least once, excess dirt is being piled up for haul off. Very exciting and has already given this area an improvement and is continuing the momentum of deep deuce.

Can someone say, "Construction Cam"??