Architect Hans Butzer's Student's "Re-envisioning the Cox CC Site" Model + Plan

[Urban Pioneer]

So... Another OU architectural team has re-envisioned downtown, without the Cox Convention Center. Conceptual plans demonstrate what it would be like to have the grid restored.

Come see the model for yourself tonight at the Urban Neighbor's (Downtown's Neighborhood Association) monthly social.

It will be held on the roof garden where our office is, Steve Mason's building (Coffee Slingers) 1015 N. Broadway tonight 5:30-7:30. Free appetizers and a cash bar.

Essentially, the roof garden is on top of Rawhide and accessible through the Main 1015 Building. There is also a stairwell down to the sidewalk between the two buildings.

[Urban Pioneer]

Here is the UN newsletter:

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Campai...fea6afa5e19fec

[Kerry]

UP - can you (or someone else) take pictures of it for us?

[Urban Pioneer]

Sure. I will try to do so. However, if any bloggers want to come, the beautiful weather should make for a very pleasant experience on the roof.

[Spartan]

Oh my goodness, I am so jealous right now. That rooftop space that Steve Mason has recently done is amazing.

[UnFrSaKn]

I'm almost thinking of going but it starts in 20 min. Thought of doing video but I'm out of time.

[BDK]

I'd love to be there if I didn't have my last final tomorrow morning; seconding the request for pictures.

[Urban Pioneer]

[Urban Pioneer]

[Urban Pioneer]

I will try to post more technical detailed photo's when I have a chance to edit them and "lighten" them up for easy reading- Jeff.

[mcca7596]

Thanks!

Interesting idea on that last one to just extend the Myriad Gardens south to the Boulevard.

[jarrington00]

Thanks!

Interesting idea on that last one to just extend the Myriad Gardens south to the Boulevard.

Tailgating in the gardens sounds fun.

[Kerry]

It looks a lot better with the Cox Center gone. BTW - that roof top party makes me want to move to downtown OKC even more.

[bombermwc]

And what exactlly do we get with that? Forgive me for being a downer here (like you're surprised), but as we clear out C2S, we're going to have mega-blocks of empty space waiting for private development to take off. Unless I see some 40-50 floor building go in place of the Myriad, I don't see that it serves any benefit.

You talk about restoring the grid, again, what does that give you? You can't go east/west because of the tracks and the gardens...1 block restored doesn't mean much. Same goes north/south with the Ford Center there. If the sole benefit is to get a few blocks of street-side real estate, i don't see the point. Now, if our current street-side retail or whatever was full, that would be one thing. But we already have a ton of empty street-side space around downtown...why add to it?

Without hearing what this particular student's plan for the block is, it's hard to comment on those specifics, but just judging by the images, we replaced it with several 1-2 floor buildings....which don't belong in a central core.

[Kerry]

Bomber - this might sound weird but you are missing the small picture because you are trying to see the big picture. Restoring the four block grid is not going to improve traffic because there are still 3 obstructions in the way (railroad viaduct, OKC Arena, and Myriad Gardens). However, it is going to create nearly 6,000 linear feet of street frontage that can be used for retail and other pedestrian functions. That is over one mile of potential shopping in the heart of downtown.

If they make it multi-story then that increases to 12,000 to 18,000 linear feet. By comparison, Penn Square has about 5,500 linear feet or retail frontage. The beauty of the Cox site is that it has all that land under a single owner which will make luring retail possible. National retailers don't want to deal with 20 different property owners - they want to deal with the same management company everyone else in the shopping district deals with.

Finally, if you look at pictures with the diagrams on the wall you will see that the buildings are actually 3 to 8 stories.

[BG918]

Very cool, and great to see Hans' urban design studio continue to come up with interesting ideas for downtown OKC. I like the idea of the restored grid and mixed-use retail on the Cox site. With the current underground parking garage you could expand that and offer a large amount of underground parking which could benefit retail. I would hope the towers fronting Robinson would be taller though.

This model shows the Myriad Gardens on the convention center site...

[David Pollard]

Unless my eyes deceive me, they have also increased the height of the Sheraton. Not a bad idea, if technically possible, but I would hope they would give it a total new look as well.

Also like the canopy over the 'Santa Fe Transit Hub': logical and elegant solution. The park extension though is a non-starter. That real-estate is too valuable for a park, particularly when there are other parks north and south of it.

[Kerry]

The park extension though is a non-starter. That real-estate is too valuable for a park, particularly when there are other parks north and south of it.

LOL - that is the underground convention center.

[David Pollard]

Better yet, let's just put gigantic anchors on the Cox and sink the sucker!

[Urban Pioneer]

Interestingly awesome glass expansion of Santa Fe into a larger train station.

[David Pollard]

LOL - that is the underground convention center.

You know, I wrote back in jest, but I wonder if putting the whole new CC underground COULD be an option? When you look at Google Maps, it might make more sense to concentrate retail/office/housing development along the sides of a larger park instead of breaking it up with a block... even a disected block. It would be more of a NYC central park effect then, which also grew organically with developments gradually progressing up the sides as demand dictated. There are probably enough access points in adjoining properties for a 'regal' entry, and loading docks etc. Huge skylights could still allow daylight access as well. Of-course there is the water-table problem to deal with. One thing is for sure; with that space being utilized as a park/underground CC it would send the adjoining property values into orbit and spurn growth. THEN we sink the Cox!

Oh, forgot to mention. There could be some wonderful solutions for the boulevard going through the park that would not effect its overall continuity. I am thinking about a series of pavilions etc. that are within the park but still interact well with the boulevard.

[Urban Pioneer]

And what exactly do we get with that? Forgive me for being a downer here (like you're surprised), but as we clear out C2S, we're going to have mega-blocks of empty space waiting for private development to take off. Unless I see some 40-50 floor building go in place of the Myriad, I don't see that it serves any benefit.

You talk about restoring the grid, again, what does that give you?

I my opinion, it is a way to "extend" Bricktown into the core and connect the new Convention Center, Santa Fe Hub, and parks with multiple pedestrian corridors that could be filled with new high density development. The blocks need to be "porous" to sustain activity in Bricktown by fostering pedestrian connectivity.

Everybody has been talking about how valuable the Bob Howard parking lots are. I think this may actually be just as valuable for redevelopment. I totally get the "keeping the arena argument" and used to think that way too. Now, because of where things seem to be positioned "right or wrong" the Cox super block needs to go.

[Pete]

I've said for a long time the Cox Center needs to go, at least after we get another five years or so out of the somewhat recent improvements.

It's a concrete monolith and 98% of the time it's nothing but a dead hole right in the middle of downtown.

The massive, blank concrete walls are bad enough but the side that faces the Myriad Gardens is a particular disgrace. What a waste of that frontage and the Robinson corridor.

[Of Sound Mind]

It's a concrete monolith and 98% of the time it's nothing but a dead hole right in the middle of downtown.

98% of the time? Really? Ever tried to book meeting space? Seems to be in use more than 2% of the time. And that doesn't count the 40 games of the AHL and other events in the arena. That's a lot of activity crammed into 2% of the time.

[Kerry]

Even when used - it is still a dead hole. You can tell by the complete absence of anything built next to it for the better part of 50 years. The Myriad is one of the reason MAPS was necessary in the first place. It failed to attract any development for most of its life, which is why I am concerned when I hear people say a new convention center will be a development magnet. Show me where that has ever happened.