Centennial (Lower BT condos & retail) breaks ground today

[Pete]

Condo construction: Groundbreaking for The Centennial on the Canal set for today
by Kevan Goff-Parker
The Journal Record
8/9/2006


Journal Record Photo
OKLAHOMA CITY – When developer Randy Hogan envisions the completion of the highly anticipated The Centennial on the Canal, a $15 million exclusive residential loft and retail project in Bricktown, he said he sees people framed by a “true urban setting.”

“What drives me is the ability to see that big vacant piece of land a year from now, with people framed by the Centennial Plaza to the right, the Harkins Theatre as a backdrop, Sonic and the (John Q.) Hammons hotel on the east and with the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark to the north,” Hogan said. “It will make for a better atmosphere, and every direction you look, that will be our site plan come to life.”

He said following the groundbreaking at 10 a.m. today at the future location of the 80,000-square-foot The Centennial, on the corner of Reno Avenue and Mickey Mantle Drive, he anticipates the first two floors to be complete about this time next year, followed by the three stories of residential lofts that he hopes will be finished by mid-fall next year.

Hogan said key tenants of The Centennial’s retail space already include the Kingpin Bowling Lounge and Starbucks and he has received interest from other retailers for the remaining street-level 12,000 square feet of retail space. The one- to two-bedroom condos are for sale at $305,000 to about $600,000.

“We feel they will go pretty quick,” Hogan said. “We typically start marketing our projects a couple of months into getting the project started.”

He said there are 2,400 free parking spaces for people who frequent Lower Bricktown’s retailers, and residents of The Centennial will enjoy underground parking and elevator access to their condos. As for a much-needed full-scale grocery store, Hogan said he believes a “really cool hybrid deli market” concept could be successful in the area.

“For a full-blown operational grocery store, I believe that has a three- to five-year window, but a hybrid deli market could happen much quicker,” he said.

Hogan, president of Hogan Property Company Investments LLC and a principal in Stonegate-Hogan, said The Centennial on the Canal has already sold close to $8.5 million of its property in recent months.

Gary Gregory, senior adviser at Sperry Van Ness, said The Centennial has already sold 20 of its 30 loft units.

“We only have four of the two-bedroom units and six one-bedroom units left,” Gregory said. “As far as presales go, I’ve been in the real estate business 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it. This property has the best location in the downtown Oklahoma City area for high-end residential.”

He said high-income individuals are buying the condos.

“Based on our location, we’ll have people who have downtown interests not just in entertainment, but people who work in downtown who are moving from exclusive homes and whose children have gone on to college – people who are not subject to living near their children’s school and who want to be in an entertainment district with all the restaurants and fun,” Gregory said.

He said The Centennial’s future exercise facility and rooftop entertainment area have both received warm receptions from prospective buyers.

“People are attracted to water and to people,” Gregory said. “This development is going to be a historic event for the Oklahoma City area. It signals a rebirth of the central core of Oklahoma City as a residential venue, and it is the perfect year for this to happen considering Oklahoma’s upcoming centennial celebration. Now we plan on having a perfect venue to watch the fireworks to celebrate the state’s centennial in 2007.”

[metro]

I saw that, it's about time! Hogan is a joke, but at least his filling vacant land and a void in the marketplace for more entertainment options (with the KingPin Bowling Alley).

[John]

If Hogan was smart (which he's not) you would think they would try to push up the opening of the lower levels to, say, March so the crowds in town for the basketball tournament could make him some money.

It's about time something has happened with this development, though.

[BDP]

Holy Crap! News 9 and the Oklahoman have actually called this development a "high-rise"! WTF??

http://www.newsok.com/video/26445

I don't have anything against this development (that is, until Hogan screws it up), but a "high rise"?

This is a high rise:



This is even a high rise:



Hogan's deal isn't even going to be the highest building in bricktown, and there sure aren't any high rises in bricktown. It's only going to have 30 units. They'd have to be stacked just 3 on top of each other just to get into high rise range. :tweeted:

Sorry, that just struck me as very misleading and naive to call it a high rise.

[keving]

True, but I guess it depends on who you talk to. Just look at the Wiki article for high rise. Even they can't come up with a concrete definition.

It's either a building with many floors; a building that requires an elevator; any structure where the height can have a serious impact on evacuation; or a building that is over 75 feet.

[BDP]

...or a building that is over 75 feet.

Looks like this one might get close to that if you count the canal level, right?

I guess I am just thinking about the "high rise" condos that are going up in many cities these days that are at least 15 stories high.

[keving]

Yah, I agree. I think I've also heard somewhere else that high-rise means over 5 or 6 floors.

[Pete]

http://www.thecentennialonthecanal.com/

[metro]

In either one of those cases, the centennial wouldn't qualify as a high-rise

[keving]

http://www.thecentennialonthecanal.com/

The video on the website states "And you don't see this in Oklahoma, a pool on the roof!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Regency Towers (333 NW 5th) have a pool on their roof?

<sarcasm>And boy does that stucco look great!</sarcasm>

[Patrick]

Just remember, we, the citizens paid for this land, and Hogan is making millions off of us.

[Pete]

There's got to be huge profits for him as they've pre-sold most the units, which average $400K for a bunch of simple apartments in a square building with very little brick.

[BDP]

Haha. Newsok now lists it as a "mid-rise" on their home page headline. The News9 piece it links to obviously still calls it a high rise, but funny that they changed the headline. Someone with some sense and perspective must have notice how silly it looked and sounded.

Again, it's not horrible, imo, at least not any worse than anything else down there, but the News 9 piece makes it sound like it's a world class place or something. It may be nice, but it's really just 30 units on top of a strip mall, right? Someday, I'd like to know who Hogan slept with to get all this unwarranted attention and hand outs.

In the end, I guess we have to start somewhere. I just hope that the media isn't still gushing over stuff like this in 5-10 years. Maybe it will work and the much cooler factory development will be resurrected.

[keving]

Now, I'm not known for bagging on people's looks but he seriously needs to get a haircut.

[metro]

Yes, I'm wondering if someone tipped them off to change it to mid-rise. Perhaps one of their writers reading the forum here? Either way, I'm glad it got corrected. I drove by last night, they took out quite a chunk of dirt already at the canal level.

[jbrown84]

That website is very well done. I only wish it was advertising something with a few more floors and much more brick. Oh well. I do agree with what he said about having solid buildings all around you at Centennial Plaza. That will be good. Really I don't mind the height. I think it fits the area, but the lack of brick is disgusting and CHEAP on his part. He clearly can afford it.

[John]

"But the brick wouldn't match what is currently in Bricktown..."

Isn't that the excuse we get from Hogan on why Lower Reno is the stucco capital of Oklahoma?

[BDP]

Well, it is kind of true. The Ballpark, The Ford Center, and the Sonic Building's brick don't match old brikctown. They match IDM Place's brick. However, those places obviously are better looking than Harkins, Bass Pro, and Toby Keith's. I don't think things need to have brick to look good and I don't even think Lower Bricktown needs to be brick (but, if not, it really should drop the bricktown from its name. I think Lower Reno or SoRo, or even just the Reno district would be better). Also, brick doesn't automatically look good, either. The Firefly/Sonic/BBQ/Marble Slab strip isn't a particularly inspiring development, even with its brick. So, it's not that Hogan didn't use brick, it's that he built a lot of crap. He was given special treatment and got some of the best publicly enhanced land in the city and in return he ahs built nothing that is any better than any new suburban complex, most of which did not get the public gift the he got.

In the end, brick probably would have been a relatively cheap way for him to make these buildings look better. Like jbrown said, he obviously wasn't making an aesthetic choice when he has left off the brick, he was just being cheap.

[Patrick]

Really, the warehouses in Bricktown don't look all that appealing, it's the brick theme that makes them special, and the fact that they were all warehouses. Even though the ballpark and JDM Place have brick that doesn't completely match the warehouses, at least they're close. The stucco buildings aren't even close.

And by the way, kudos to John Q. Hammons for using brick on the Residence Inn.

[jbrown84]

Of course the newer buildings' brick doesn't match, because its brand new brick. In a hundred years it will match. At least it's brick and not ugly biege stucco.

[John]

Of course the newer buildings' brick doesn't match, because its brand new brick. In a hundred years it will match. At least it's brick and not ugly biege stucco.

...which won't be around in 100 years. :spin:

[BDP]

And by the way, kudos to John Q. Hammons for using brick on the Residence Inn.

But isn't it mostly stucco, too? I think only the bottom two floors, maybe, use any brick. I think this centennial thing will have brick on its lower floors, making it have more brick as a percentage. It has arches (sort of) and no goofy green pitched roof. So, if kudos are to be had for the Residence, we’d have to give props to this place too. That is, to be fair…