Preftakes Block

[Skyline]

Anyone seen a study done on the subject of skybridges? Would be interested in reading one. Personally, I feel that skybridges are necessarily only when the pedestrian context below has failed. A well designed urban street doesn't require pedestrian shortcuts - it is one by nature.

I don't recall seeing a bunch of these bridges in places where "shortcuts" could be seen as immensely valuable like Manhattan. People simply use the crosswalk.

Minneapolis comes to mind. One of the largest skybridge systems in the U.S.

It is interesting that Okc has the skybridges and underground tunnels. At least we should have stuck with one or the other. lol.

[BoulderSooner]

Anyone seen a study done on the subject of skybridges? Would be interested in reading one. Personally, I feel that skybridges are necessarily only when the pedestrian context below has failed. A well designed urban street doesn't require pedestrian shortcuts - it is one by nature.

I don't recall seeing a bunch of these bridges in places where "shortcuts" could be seen as immensely valuable like Manhattan. People simply use the crosswalk.

so how do the crosswalks .. keep you dry or warm or cool??

[Just the facts]

While in Philly during the winter the vents along sidewalk were very warm and when it rained I walked under the canopies of all the retail outlets. If I was cold I walked on the sunny side of the street and if I was hot I walked on the shaded side of the street.

[bombermwc]

There are other benefits to skybridges and tunnels besides just walking across the street. If you are carting equipment, or a lot of boxes of stuff between buildings, there's an obvious advantage to not going outside...up and down curb ramps. You've also got a fairly busy thuroughfair right there. They do make sense in some situations. I dont feel like there's any reason to put them on every building to connect all of downtown or anything though.

In order for them to make sense, you really need to have a BUSINESS reason for pedestrian traffic to need to flow between the buildings on a regular basis. Just crossing to connect to get somewhere for lunch doesn't cut it. I'm sure if you went back far enough, you'd see a connection between most of the structures with a skybridge. The underground is a whole other animal....but also a MUCH more expensive one. I think we've seen how they're very prone to falling by the wayside and getting forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind. And with limited commercial presense in it, it's hard to keep it up until it gets so bad the city has to coordinate the revitalization.

So having said all that, unless you see some structures put in that are for energy companies directly related to Devon, ie drilling, fracing, etc. then it really wouldn't make a lot of sense to connect to the tower...at least in my humble opinion.

[SharkSandwich]

Here's a more current aerial (Pretakes properties shown in yellow):

This weekend I heard from a solid source that a local architectural firm is working on a medical clinic for Devon. The source did not know exactly where it would be, but he said they are still evaluating whether to build a new structure or renovate an existing one.

My instincts say it will replace a demolished Carpenter Square.

[Spartan]

This weekend I heard from a solid source that a local architectural firm is working on a medical clinic for Devon. The source did not know exactly where it would be, but he said they are still evaluating whether to build a new structure or renovate an existing one.

My instincts say it will replace a demolished Carpenter Square.

I believe you are right.

[metro]

I believe you are right.

Why is that? Do you have evidence other than a gut feeling?

[catch22]

Accela Citizen Access

Building permit for "Dental Depot". Address says 420 W MAIN ST UNIT 8TH FLR.

The parcel information says current use is Vacant land and this will be new 2 story construction?

I'm a little confused, but Google maps places the address on the Preftakes block.

[Pete]

Accela Citizen Access

Building permit for "Dental Depot". Address says 420 W MAIN ST UNIT 8TH FLR.

The parcel information says current use is Vacant land and this will be new 2 story construction?

I'm a little confused, but Google maps places the address on the Preftakes block.

I called the architect that filed this permit and he said the on-line information is a typo.

This is for a Dental Depot at NW 145th & Penn.

420 W. Main, 8th floor is the city permit office, which somehow got entered as the project location.

[catch22]

I called the architect that filed this permit and he said the on-line information is a typo.

This is for a Dental Depot at NW 145th & Penn.

420 W. Main, 8th floor is the city permit office, which somehow got entered as the project location.

Ah ok! Phew! Was hoping the pent up excitement for this block wasn't a 2 story dental office all along!

[CuatrodeMayo]

I called the architect that filed this permit and he said the on-line information is a typo.

I'll bet he got a kick out of that phone call...

[Pete]

I'll bet he got a kick out of that phone call...

He was very nice about it and was happy to straighten things out.


I often call when I see an interesting permit and about half the time the architect or engineer on the application won't even talk to me.

Just recently I requested more information from The Village about the Love's new corporate HQ building and you would have thought I was asking to see their private medical records. I reminded them it's all public record and I still couldn't get anyone to answer a direct and simple request.

Also, I recently went up to the City permit office and asked to see some construction drawings (again part of public record) and the lady behind the counter freaked out when I started to take pictures. She insisted I pay them to make copies and it took me forever and the intervention of her boss before she understood it was completely fine and much more expedient for everyone involved.

It's funny how many people work with public domain information every day that have simply never been approached for it and how suspicious they become.

[Pete]

BTW, the group that was most suspicious and even obstructionist in my requests was the old OCURA.

For a while, they were the only City agency that never put out their agendas and minutes in electronic form (this was just a year ago!) and when I'd call and ask for the minutes, they seemed very put out and even unsure how to go about it. They told me the could only send the minutes after they were officially approved, which meant you had to wait until after the NEXT meeting for them to even finish them and physically put them in the mail. They charged a fair amount for this and the end result is that you could only see what had happened about 6 weeks after the fact -- and that's only if they met every month.

Some here may remember that I continued to stay on them and used to scan the minutes and post them on OKCTalk.


It was clear to me that their entire setup was to discourage and avoid public input and interaction. Thank goodness their organization has been completely changed and their operations are now pretty transparent.

[kevinpate]

Never dealt with OCURA in my life. All the same, a decision to not provide minutes of a meeting prior to the minutes actually being approved doesn't strike me as obstructionist. Not much of anything ever goes out someone's door in draft form, and a draft is all the unapproved minutes are.

[Praedura]

The Preftakes area is not the most lovely cityscape at the moment, especially from this view:



But perhaps this will all change radically in the near future?

[Pete]

Based on what I've been hearing, I'm beginning to think we are going to see a new Devon office building on this block and it may be announced before the end of the year.

So, making that assumption, how would you like to see this block redeveloped?

Most likely, blocks 30-38 will be for an approximately 40-story tower with retail on the bottom. The city offices (25-29) aren't going anywhere but I could see where Devon could acquire 44 & 62 from them as long as they provide parking.

What about the historic auto hotel (39-41)? Seems like that would be difficult to integrate into a modern complex.

I think everyone would like to see the old bus station renovated into a diner of some sort (12-17) and One Hudson (1-3) likely won't be touched, but what about the rest of the block?

It would seem they could spruce up the one corner property at Walker & Main and leave Coney Island and the pizza place alone.

[Just the facts]

The only thing I don't want to see is landscaping between the sidewalk and the building. City zoning requires a certain percentage to be adjacent to the sidewalk and it should be enforced - with gusto. If I had to pick a second thing I don't want to see - a glass curtain wall.

I have no doubt I will be disappointed on both.

[Bellaboo]

Todays DOK said they currently have 1,700 employees downtown. How many parking spaces does their new 10 story garage have ? They may not need much parking if their new garage is adequate for both buildings. They could easily put a sky bridge from their Garden Building or parking garage over to the new tower.

[Pete]

I've been told that their office space is almost full... Just a few cubes available per floor and they expect to fill most those soon, as they have over 50 open positions for OKC. They also need space for their interns.

Similarly, the garage seems to be nearing capacity as well.

If they build on this block I'm sure they will put a skybridge over Hudson, as they went to great lengths to tie their existing complex to Oklahoma Tower and the rest of the Underground system by building an elevated walkway to the City City East Garage and then a climate controlled walkway through the 3rd level of that structure. In fact, that should almost be complete, if not already.

[Just the facts]

Todays DOK said they currently have 1,700 employees downtown. How many parking spaces does their new 10 story garage have ? They may not need much parking if their new garage is adequate for both buildings. They could easily put a sky bridge from their Garden Building or parking garage over to the new tower.

ooops - make that 3 things I don't want to see.

3) More skybridges.

[Bellaboo]

I've been told that their office space is almost full... Just a few cubes available per floor and they expect to fill most those soon, as they have over 50 open positions for OKC. They also need space for their interns.

Similarly, the garage seems to be nearing capacity as well.

If they build on this block I'm sure they will put a skybridge over Hudson, as they went to great lengths to tie their existing complex to Oklahoma Tower and the rest of the Underground system by building an elevated walkway to the City City East Garage and then a climate controlled walkway through the 3rd level of that structure. In fact, that should almost be complete, if not already.

You might call this a somewhat confirmation that we are on the right track here, I have a co-worker who has a nephew who is in management at Devon and he told them that it's going around the office that they are looking at building a new tower. And that they are almost at full capacity.

[Pete]

You might call this a somewhat confirmation that we are on the right track here, I have a co-worker who has a nephew who is in management at Devon and he told them that it's going around the office that they are looking at building a new tower. And that they are almost at full capacity.

I've heard this now several times from Devon employees. It seems a new tower has been discussed somewhat openly starting a month or two ago.

Seems like their only option is to continue leasing some of the space they had hoped to vacate while they work to build more capacity. If they are almost out without all these new Houston people, you have to think they've been working behind the scenes on a new tower.

[Bellaboo]

I've heard this now several times from Devon employees. It seems a new tower has been discussed somewhat openly starting a month or two ago.

Seems like their only option is to continue leasing some of the space they had hoped to vacate while they work to build more capacity. If they are almost out without all these new Houston people, you have to think they've been working behind the scenes on a new tower.

You would think that Pickard Chilton, Holder/Flintco and Hines would already be involved. If you remember correctly, this was being discussed by the crane operators about another large tower being built.

[Pete]

True, I'm sure that this has always been a considered option for Devon, which is why they (allegedly) acquired all these properties to the west.

And just recently someone posted about them building a possible medical clinic on Main & Hudson, which I bet will be part of this larger structure.

I don't think it's a coincidence that none of the properties on these blocks have even been slightly cleaned up, let alone renovated. One has already been torn down (west of the old Lunch Box) and LB has been chased out. The auto hotel has been closed for some time. This sure smells like something big is going to be happening there in the near future which would require the consolidation of several of these properties.


Also, the City is moving very fast on this new Main Street parking garage, which is telling. And in their site analysis for more parking structures, they showed a couple of very large ones in this general area.

[Bellaboo]

ooops - make that 3 things I don't want to see.

3) More skybridges.

They may not fit the urbanism rule, but as far as a corporate amenity, tieing these facilities together is probably a good thing in this case.