Marriott Residence Inn

[Pete]

Information & Latest News

400 E. Reno
status=complete
owner=John Q Hammons
cost=$16,618,000 market value
finish=2006
height=6 floors
sq. feet=132,913
Links

County Assessor Record
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[Spartan]

Do the dormers in the back constitute a 7th floor?

[Urbanized]

Pretty sure a zero setback from Reno would have dictated another parking lot fronting the canal, which most here would also frown upon. Sortof a no-win situation in that particular instance.

[Urbanized]

Let me clarify that: it was a no-win situation with that building configuration and that budget. It could have been remedied with structured parking, but I'm sure that would have created budget pressure that might have made the deal unworkable for the developers. They likely needed surface rather than structured parking to make their deal work as-is. Which means if they had decided to utilize the land better, they might have had to change flags, or number of floors, etc.

Any of those changes might have been a good thing, perhaps some bad, but it also might have killed the deal altogether. Who knows?

[HangryHippo]

The forum appreciates being included in these discussions too.

[Just the facts]

The Residence Inn was one of the first structures in Lower Bricktown and honestly, no one in OKC at the time had any knowledge of new urbanism or urban design principles (and if they did they weren't in a position to voice it). We are much more knowledgeable now. One of the problems is the site itself. It has arterial frontage on the north and south with a canal running down the middle. This practially makes it impossible to have an east/west orientation for the buildings because it doesn't allow for a front and back of the buildings, but they did that anyhow.. Instead, they should have gone with a north/south orientation by creating a street grid that crossed the canal 3 or 4 times. This would have created much more street frontage and drawn people in off of Reno and what will be the new boulevard. Canal front dining would have then been available on the 'end caps' of each block between canal crossings.

Black are new streets, red are buildings (all 3 story or higher - with housing on the top two or more floors), yellow is concealed structured parking.

[Urbanized]

LOL I'm pretty sure I have no influence there or special insight to the process that landed the hotel. I did pay close attention to the reporting and other sources during the planning and build, for obvious reasons.

As someone who passes through Lower Bricktown on a very regular basis both on street AND canal level, and who is always thinking about the way the land there is used, I don't believe there is anything wrong in LB that can't be substantially fixed with infill. No question I'm not a big fan of EIFS or one-story structures being there, but it is so incredibly unlikely that they will be torn down and replaced that in my opinion spending time talking about it is an exercise in futility. I also think there can be a place - even a charming one - for the existing one-stories, with thoughtful development surrounding them. I don't think that strict adherence to the grid as shown in that drawing would have been the best for an entertainment center, anyway. The discussion regarding LB should instead center on getting the best possible infill, and in my long-held opinion should also focus on replacing surface parking with structured parking and new infill buildings.

For instance, I think the Sonic corporate parking lot (which is the most egregious canal-fronter) could be replaced with structured parking that has ground-floor retail fronting the canal. The new parking garage could house isolated parking for the Sonic HQ, plus public/valet parking for the hotel. If this were done the parking lot in front of the hotel could be redeveloped. A perfect redevelopment possibility could be doubling the footprint of the hotel, which is currently routinely at capacity. The lobby could be extended and reconfigured to serve both wings, and if the developer desired, the new wing could even be another flag, a la the two-flag hotel now coming out of the ground on Sheridan. All of this could be done without interruption to the current hotel business or to Sonic.

I also think that a large parking structure in the giant surface lot in front of Toby Keith's could serve ALL of LB, and allow the outlying parcels now devoted to surface to be redeveloped as commercial retail/restaurant/hotel/office/residential. I even believe TIF dollars could be brought into the mix on an effort like this. A large parking garage would allow for easy redevelopment of the tiny, nearly-unusable lot between the Sonic HC and the small building that currently houses the Sonic restaurant, Fuzzy's and House of Bedlam. Redevelopment of this parcel would go a long way toward making LB more dense, and would be a straight-up home run if it were multistory to include canal-level frontage (which would of course require excavation).

The parking structure could even be ringed with that type of space similar to what JTF showed in his drawing, keeping in mind that the south edge would face the boulevard.

[Urbanized]

One other thing I wanted to mention is directed at JTF. I take a bit of exception to the statement that "no one in OKC at the time had any knowledge of new urbanism or urban design principles (and if they did they weren't in a position to voice it)." I can tell you with certainty that this is untrue. Garner Stoll was planning director immediately prior to this development coming on line and was forced out in part because of his desire to bring urbanism and other fringe craziness more squarely into the conversation. Devery Youngblood, who was the president of Downtown Oklahoma City Incorporated at the time, was a longtime Main Street guy (Main Street was one of the earliest pro-urbanist organizations in the country), and also heavily involved in the International Downtown Association. When Devery left his first OKC-area position as the Executive Director of the Automobile Alley Main Street Program in '97 to become the MAPS Private Investment Coordinator for the Chamber (and then on to DOKC), he was replaced by Jay Swearingen, another longtime Main Street guy from Texas (he's now a state representative in Missouri), who was another staunch advocate of urbanism. Jay is the one who gave me my first copy of "The Death and Life.." among many other urbanist and new urbanist books we shared back and forth.

Others like Todd Scott in OKC's Planning Department (now in Oregon), Ron Franz, then Main Street architect for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and now affiliated with the OU Institute for Quality Communities, and even a few people who post from time-to-time on this board had many discussions in official meetings and over beers regarding how to mainstream urbanist ideals in OKC.

I personally had many of those conversations over lunch, dinner and beers with Russell Claus, who now serves as Planning Director for OKC, but who then was in charge of the Murrah District Revitalization Program for the City. Russell a strong believer in urbanism, and walkable urban neighborhoods, though I'm sure the political nature of his position requires that he keep the rhetoric a bit more in check or risk being shown the door like Garner was. There were a number of fine people who "got" urbanism, and who wanted it to take hold downtown and throughout the center of the city. I do believe you are correct, though, that overall the level of influence they wielded at the time was not enough to affect a conversation on a place like Lower Bricktown. Perhaps that has changed, perhaps it has not. I guess we will see.

[CaptDave]

Great info Urbanized. What do you think the likelihood of a parking structure being built between the U-Haul building and the BNSF viaduct, thereby making that huge expanse of asphalt available for redevelopment. This may not be the best location, but somewhere in that vicinity. Every time I see an aerial photo of that part of town, that parking lot stands out more than anything else to me.

[Just the facts]

One other thing I wanted to mention is directed at JTF. I take a bit of exception to the statement that "no one in OKC at the time had any knowledge of new urbanism or urban design principles (and if they did they weren't in a position to voice it)." I can tell you with certainty that this is untrue. .... I do believe you are correct, though, that overall the level of influence they wielded at the time was not enough to effect a conversation on a place like Lower Bricktown. Perhaps that has changed, perhaps it has not. I guess we will see.

That was the point I was trying to make, sorry it came out different. You identified several people that 'got' urbanism, yet we still ended up with Lower Bricktown. That is why I included the 'they weren't in a position to voice it' part, but I probably should have said they weren't in a position to influence it. Finally, my crude drawing was just an idea of how it should have been done the first time. Honestly, I think the way LB has been developed almost makes it impossible to be retro-fitted properly. It has almost no way to be integrated with upper bricktown except for the 25 feet of water in the canal. Only one through street is even possible and that is Oklahoma Ave. Bricktown/Deep Deuce is getting 6 new hotels and not a single one of them are going to Lower Bricktown.

Anyhow, once again we seemed to have strayed way off topic.