Level Apartments

[Skyline]

Why is it unprecedented? The Deep Deuce Apartments have been in existence for years, and in many ways are more visually appropriate to the neighborhood.

I think LEVEL will end up looking fine, once they get the balconies done, but it's really just an apartment building, and a fairly bare bones one at that. In fact, I'm asking myself why the Edge was required to come back with a design showing more brick on the facade, and LEVEL got away with very little.

Betts,

Your last few posts are lacking your usual excitement toward your neighborhood, and specifically the Brownstones of Maywood park. Being that this is your neighborhood and you are the only Okctalk that regularly represents Deep Deuce,,,what is the overall feel of the neighborhood, now that this project is further along?

The brownstones are such high quality are you and other neighbors worried about property values or is it something else?

[Rover]

You know, one thing that is a little strange to me is when developers pitch "near the Thunder basketball arena" because you never hear that in other cities. Including Calgary where the Flames are so enshrined in the identity. I guess in Green Bay...

I know it's a great pitch, not detracting from it. Maybe it's more about an "all-America" feel than a matter of size.

Right now it is the only really big volume draw downtown. We can't tout shopping or a mature night life....yes there are places to go get drunk, but not yet a quality and variety of entertainment spots. Myriad Gardens helps. More restaurants help, and certainly the theaters help. I go to Calgary from time to time. Seems more diversity of interests downtown.

[Just the facts]

As more units are built downtown competition will eventually kick in. Just like the condos started on the high side so too will the apartments. Of course, there will also be a greater verity of apartments (and condos) on the market that will allow people to move up and down the rent ladder as their life and economic situation changes, all without have to move out of the area. That is the beauty of an urban environment - just because you make more or less money, kids come/kids go, spouses come/spouses go - you don't have to change the neighborhood you live in.

[adaniel]

Well I'm in the targeted demographic (20's no kids, downtown professional) and I would strongly consider LEVEL and am in fact thinking of getting an application. The light fixture could be better but I would imagine most would be using the groovy hanging lights anyway. White, clean and simple are in, just go to an IKEA store. Plus my current place has stainless steel and can tell you its vastly overrated.

I certainly am not going to look at one pic and blast the interior as cheap. But at the end of the day it is an apartment, so you have to take it for what its worth.

I know we do this comparison often, but I can not resist. In Dallas I can easily rent an apartment in downtown or uptown with much nicer interior for around 1,000 a month.

In the suburbs, yes. In downtown/uptown, not at all. A comparably sized apartment of really upscale quality is going to start at $1200-$1300/month, if not more.

Here's an example of a place in Dallas with pretty similar price points. Its a bit older but you get an idea looking at the picture. Nice but not blowing anything away.

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm...typlace/17008/

[Just the facts]

For a $100 you can always go to Lowes and buy fixtures that fit your taste and take them with you from apartment to apartment. It would actually be a cool idea if the apartments let you pick a style from a preselected package and charge you a one-time fee for switching out things like light covers, drawer handles, ceiling fans, towel racks, door knobs, and faucet handles. Most of that stuff can be changed in minutes.

For example:
Entry Level Package - Free
Modern Package - $200
Old World - $300

What isn't being used by an apartment can go to storage and replacement parts. I would probably pay the price difference to upgrade the fixtures.

[Rover]

$100. Hmmmm. Certainly wouldn't be a quality upgrade.

[catch22]

Actually, JTF. That is not true as a lot of leases/rent do not allow you to remove improvements once installed. For example...I put my own toilet in there and pull it out when I leave.... carpet, wall paper, etc. It is assumed in a lot of lease and rent agreements that tenant made permanent improvements (attached, installed to the infrastructure) stay with the structure and do not go with the tenant.

[metro]

For a $100 you can always go to Lowes and buy fixtures that fit your taste and take them with you from apartment to apartment. It would actually be a cool idea if the apartments let you pick a style from a preselected package and charge you a one-time fee for switching out things like light covers, drawer handles, ceiling fans, towel racks, door knobs, and faucet handles. Most of that stuff can be changed in minutes.

For example:
Entry Level Package - Free
Modern Package - $200
Old World - $300

What isn't being used by an apartment can go to storage and replacement parts. I would probably pay the price difference to upgrade the fixtures.

Prices are too low for anything quality.

[Spartan]

Right now it is the only really big volume draw downtown. We can't tout shopping or a mature night life....yes there are places to go get drunk, but not yet a quality and variety of entertainment spots. Myriad Gardens helps. More restaurants help, and certainly the theaters help. I go to Calgary from time to time. Seems more diversity of interests downtown.

I think Calgary is remarkable in how it developed exactly as OKC developed. There was a cheesy entertainment district that pitched its proximity to 70s-era superblock-style facilities (Eau Claire Market). CBD core is truly corporation-dominated. Rent gap made the far-flung edge of downtown a jungle of residential construction cranes. Now most of downtown's vitality seems to be shifting away from the corporations, away from the "traditional draws" of the Stampede grounds and the riverfront and whatnot, and down to the south of the LRT tracks in what is known as the Beltline, if you've ever seen that region. I think that is very similar to how mixed-use development activity has clearly shifted to the north of the abandoned Rock Island tracks in OKC and other neighborhoods outside the CBD and Bricktown.

The rent gap is a classic real estate scenario that has every major city looking for the next big opportunity, but I think bad planning has exacerbated it in OKC whereas it really just shouldn't be as prevalent.

[circuitboard]

Well I'm in the targeted demographic (20's no kids, downtown professional) and I would strongly consider LEVEL and am in fact thinking of getting an application. The light fixture could be better but I would imagine most would be using the groovy hanging lights anyway. White, clean and simple are in, just go to an IKEA store. Plus my current place has stainless steel and can tell you its vastly overrated.

I certainly am not going to look at one pic and blast the interior as cheap. But at the end of the day it is an apartment, so you have to take it for what its worth.



In the suburbs, yes. In downtown/uptown, not at all. A comparably sized apartment of really upscale quality is going to start at $1200-$1300/month, if not more.

Here's an example of a place in Dallas with pretty similar price points. Its a bit older but you get an idea looking at the picture. Nice but not blowing anything away.

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm...typlace/17008/

I call BS... I am in Dallas frequently, as I have several friends that live in downtown/uptown Dallas and I know how much they pay in rent...

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm...Ambrose/80558/

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm.../Mosaic/59242/

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm...s/BLVD/177616/

The list goes on and on..... these are not in the suburbs.... in plano... you can easily live in a really nice apartment for 800 a month.....

[Just the facts]

Actually, JTF. That is not true as a lot of leases/rent do not allow you to remove improvements once installed. For example...I put my own toilet in there and pull it out when I leave.... carpet, wall paper, etc. It is assumed in a lot of lease and rent agreements that tenant made permanent improvements (attached, installed to the infrastructure) stay with the structure and do not go with the tenant.

I guess it depends on what kind of changes you want to make. While changing out a toilet is easy work, you have to store the orginal toilet so you can put it back. Door knobs and light covers could be stored in box at the top of a closet. I couldn't even imagine hanging wallpaper or putting my own carpet in an apartment.

Metro - I made those prices up. Use whatever price you want.

[adaniel]

I call BS... I am in Dallas frequently, as I have several friends that live in downtown/uptown Dallas and I know how much they pay in rent...

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm...Ambrose/80558/

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm.../Mosaic/59242/

http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm...s/BLVD/177616/

The list goes on and on..... these are not in the suburbs.... in plano... you can easily live in a really nice apartment for 800 a month.....

Call BS if you want. I lived there for 8 years and have several friends in downtown/uptown as well. I've never heard anyone paying less the the mid 900s, unless they had a roommate or moved outside the general downtown/uptown boundaries. $800/month may get you a studio in uptown, but for a 1 BR? You'll be looking at a shag carpet special in Oak Lawn probably underneath the Love Field flight path.

FYI only the second link you posted is located in the downtown/uptown area. The first is in a so-so part of Deep Ellum and the third is practically in Highland Park. The place off Akard in downtown is about 200/month more than anything you'd pay at LEVEL.

Semantics aside, we can certainly argue the quality of LEVEL. But I think it is priced right given the location of it and the access to stores, restaurants, etc. And the level of pre leasing seams to indicate this.

[Pete]

Again, we need to wait for a model unit to be finished before judging.

Those "cheap" cabinets appear to be lacquer and we already know they are using granite counter tops. I'm sure the white microwave was chosen to help create the white/black look not necessarily to cheap out.

As far as rent, the beautiful thing is that the market is self-regulating. If people don't want to pay them or there are better options for the money, they will come down. If they get the posted prices, it will make it that much easier for more complexes to be built.


BTW, I noticed on the floor plan that the only retail/restaurant space for rent is a 2,700 square foot space with a patio on 2nd street. Besides Native Roots on the corner, there will be a leasing office and small gym on the ground floor -- the rest will be apartments.

[dankrutka]

Yeah. That's what I remember from the initial plans. I think they initially pitched it as a grocery and BBQ sports bar or something just to create a vision.

[UnFrSaKn]

From today.

[Fantastic]

Not as interesting as some of the pictures I've seen on here, but my wife and I took a whole bunch of pictures yesterday.

[skanaly]

Who's the architect?

[mcca7596]

Who's the architect?

ALLFORD HALL MONAGHAN MORRIS, from the UK.

http://www.ahmm.co.uk/

[Urbanized]

ALLFORD HALL MONAGHAN MORRIS, from the UK.

http://www.ahmm.co.uk/

The OKC connection is Wade Scaramucci, who is from here. And before you ask, yes, it's the same Scaramucci.

[SOONER8693]

The OKC connection is Wade Scaramucci, who is from here. And before you ask, yes, it's the same Scaramucci.

Wade is a Westmoore High School graduate. I believe from the class of '90.

[Fantastic]

The OKC connection is Wade Scaramucci, who is from here. And before you ask, yes, it's the same Scaramucci.

*facepalm*

[MDot]

*facepalm*

*facepalm*

[Doug Loudenback]

Excellent photos, Fantastic, some of the best posted here in my opinion.

[Fantastic]

Excellent photos, Fantastic, some of the best posted here in my opinion.

Thank you Doug, coming from you that is quite a compiment... unfortunately our camera broke this morning durring an illfated attempt to do something remarkable involving cupcakes. (don't ask, I was not here for the incident)

[Pete]

Interesting update from Steve's 2/11 article:

Developer Richard McKown confirms construction is on schedule for an opening of the $24 million complex this spring. Build-out of the Native Roots Market grocery is about to begin within the next few weeks, and McKown reports negotiations are under way with “a very exciting operator” for restaurant space next to the grocery on the complex's first floor along NE 2. McKown reports he has a waiting list of 150 people and he expects his development efforts in the area will continue after Level is completed.

Read more: http://newsok.com/downtown-oklahoma-...#ixzz1m5rO9Uze