OG&E Tower

[OKCisOK4me]

I tell people all the time, OKC would be just like Austin if we had our capitol district, medical district and OU all downtown.

Political party affiliation aside...yes.

[Rover]

Why are we now obsessed with Austin on a Stage Center Tower thread? Who cares about Austin?

[Rover]

Yes, warped.

Sorry we have so many cheap apartments and places to get drunk, I guess it's that pesky free market thing. Nobody can afford what you'd consider to be not a cheap apartment.

OKC's best development site needs to see a major mixed-use development like the kind we sorely lack, it's that simple. Not another energy corporation. As for this project, as far as I'm concerned we don't have a proposal yet, so your attempts to pigeon hole urbanists in a corner are premature. I don't know if I like this tower or not because I know nothing about it and nor does anyone else.

I'm just saying that I wish we weren't surrounding these beautiful parks with nothing but energy corporations. Your attempt to frame a land use and urban design debate on pro vs anti JOBS is absurd and smacks of trolling.

Thats the best insulting you can do?

You are actually agreeing with me that it is way too early to condemn this use when we have no actual plans yet. To throw a tantrum that if it doesn't have housing it isn't a good use for the site is terribly myopic and rigid. Putting mixed use all along a major park will be an option. This isn't the only parkside space to be available. We will have a great deal of available space near the new park and at a better price for the developers. Throwing a fit and insulting people you don't agree with is just uncalled for. I guess trolling is anyone who doesn't agree huh?

[OKCisOK4me]

Why are we now obsessed with Austin on a Stage Center Tower thread? Who cares about Austin?

Sorry thread police... please don't take me to jail lol.

[Spartan]

Yeah, this thread is only for Rover and I kvetching at eachother and nothing else, get on topic!

Thats the best insulting you can do?

You are actually agreeing with me that it is way too early to condemn this use when we have no actual plans yet. To throw a tantrum that if it doesn't have housing it isn't a good use for the site is terribly myopic and rigid. Putting mixed use all along a major park will be an option. This isn't the only parkside space to be available. We will have a great deal of available space near the new park and at a better price for the developers. Throwing a fit and insulting people you don't agree with is just uncalled for. I guess trolling is anyone who doesn't agree huh?

All I know is this is the era where the best development sites and historic buildings get eaten up buy energy corporation HQ campuses and beautiful, verdant parks get split up by convention centers. And you, Rover, argue on behalf of it all more than anyone.

You can disagree but it becomes trolling when you unfairly characterize anyone who disagrees with you as anti-jobs. I'm obv so anti-job I moved to rust belt America to get one. As for more land, why can't the energy corporations go elsewhere? Why is everything else expected to go on the scraps surrounding the energy metropolis? This park will be surrounded by Enable, a new convention center, an old convention, and Devon. Honestly, Devon is awesome, but as a part of that awful mix even Devon sucks.

I am so annoyed as well at everyone saying to stop complaining about the Myriad Gardens land use because not to worry, we'll do it right with the next one. Which we clearly aren't by separating it with a CC and tearing down every historic building that is EVEN JUST visible from the park. And what happens when an energy corporation wants to build ere, too? It never ends. OKC's economy is growing and energy is booming and Enable, just like Devon was, is far from the last new energy campus we'll add to downtown. We will be dealing with this issue over and over and setting lower and lower precedents the whole way unless we reaffirm and build on the high standard set by Devon.

So yes I am annoyed and want real mixed use that we all know isn't going to happen. That's why the CBD core is still completely dead. And that's what we're enveloping the Myriad Gardens with.

[Rover]

Feel better now.

For your info, I have never supported the Ford site for the cc. Ive never advocated tearing down significant and historical buildings that can be suitably repurposed. I do support good urban development. I just don't hate energy companies like seem to set you off. I do support waiting to see the designs before getting all hysterical. I do happen to think there are many many suitable areas downtown for mixed use. So, I don't think a (God forbid) energy related company occupying part of a building at this site to be evil.

[kwhey]

Some people are actually saying that Oklahoma City needs stop building skyscappers because of the fact that we have so many tornadoes

If we are scared to build in places that has tornadoes, just bulldoze all of Moore and leave it bare.

[soonerguru]

I hope we could do better than Austin - but I know what you mean. I would prefer Madison, WI (which will blow your mind if you aren't familiar with it).

LOVE that city. Madison is amazing.

[circuitboard]

My 2 cents on this will be a little biased on Austin, because my job in OKC is relocating me to Austin. I am going to miss OKC, but the time I have spent in Austin, only reaffirmed to me just how much further OKC needs to go before its a culturally diverse rich city. I think OKC is great for family life, but for a single gay professional like myself it just falls short. Austin is a great city. I am not sure why we would think we are too good for mention of Austin. The city has like 4 or 5 high rises under construction right now and many high end apartment/condo buildings under construction throughout the city. The city is very green friendly, and I love that they banned plastic bags at the grocery stores and require all restaurants to compost trash in the back. Also it helps when you have 11 whole foods to choose from instead of just one. Granted I work in the technology industry, and well Austin is a known hub for that industry, so it makes sense that I will fit right in. I will still be a Thunder and OU fan of course!

[Spartan]

Feel better now.

For your info, I have never supported the Ford site for the cc. Ive never advocated tearing down significant and historical buildings that can be suitably repurposed. I do support good urban development. I just don't hate energy companies like seem to set you off. I do support waiting to see the designs before getting all hysterical. I do happen to think there are many many suitable areas downtown for mixed use. So, I don't think a (God forbid) energy related company occupying part of a building at this site to be evil.

Again you're re-framing the debate as being pro or anti-jobs. I'm not calling you a troll but this isn't a referendum on whether we like energy companies or not - to suggest that I don't because I wish to see legitimate mixed-use around the Myriad Gardens is an individual act of trolling.

[progressiveboy]

My 2 cents on this will be a little biased on Austin, because my job in OKC is relocating me to Austin. I am going to miss OKC, but the time I have spent in Austin, only reaffirmed to me just how much further OKC needs to go before its a culturally diverse rich city. I think OKC is great for family life, but for a single gay professional like myself it just falls short. Austin is a great city. I am not sure why we would think we are too good for mention of Austin. The city has like 4 or 5 high rises under construction right now and many high end apartment/condo buildings under construction throughout the city. The city is very green friendly, and I love that they banned plastic bags at the grocery stores and require all restaurants to compost trash in the back. Also it helps when you have 11 whole foods to choose from instead of just one. Granted I work in the technology industry, and well Austin is a known hub for that industry, so it makes sense that I will fit right in. I will still be a Thunder and OU fan of course!

Best of luck to you in Austin! I love that town! Living currently in Dallas, I thought of relocating to Austin. Very forward thinking town!

[bchris02]

My 2 cents on this will be a little biased on Austin, because my job in OKC is relocating me to Austin. I am going to miss OKC, but the time I have spent in Austin, only reaffirmed to me just how much further OKC needs to go before its a culturally diverse rich city. I think OKC is great for family life, but for a single gay professional like myself it just falls short. Austin is a great city. I am not sure why we would think we are too good for mention of Austin. The city has like 4 or 5 high rises under construction right now and many high end apartment/condo buildings under construction throughout the city. The city is very green friendly, and I love that they banned plastic bags at the grocery stores and require all restaurants to compost trash in the back. Also it helps when you have 11 whole foods to choose from instead of just one. Granted I work in the technology industry, and well Austin is a known hub for that industry, so it makes sense that I will fit right in. I will still be a Thunder and OU fan of course!

Having lived elsewhere, I agree with this for the most part. However, Austin and Portland are probably two of the best cities in the country to be in your twenties. The cultural amenities those cities offer for young people are far above and beyond even much larger cities (like Houston for instance). I don't see OKC ever being like Austin nor should it. OKC will be more of a Charlotte or an Indianapolis. OKC is still a ways off from that but it is definitely achievable.

[Spartan]

I was in Cbus last weekend which I think is a brilliant model for OKC if you can get past the lack of a 70,000-student university campus a mile north of downtown.

[bchris02]

I was in Cbus last weekend which I think is a brilliant model for OKC if you can get past the lack of a 70,000-student university campus a mile north of downtown.

I have heard multiple people say that Columbus is becoming a very happening, 'hip' place to be. Louisville as well.

[adaniel]

I was in Cbus last weekend which I think is a brilliant model for OKC if you can get past the lack of a 70,000-student university campus a mile north of downtown.

Tend to agree. Whereas Austin is tech based, Columbus actually has a very diversified employment base. It also isn't trying to be "weird" but still has a great cultural scene.

I frankly find Austin to be quite overrated.

[Mississippi Blues]

Since this is a thread about a skyscraper, I will say I like Austin's skyline more than I like Columbus', but I like Columbus quite a bit more as a city than I do Austin.

[Spartan]

Up here in Cleveland we joke that Columbus, Ohio is becoming a great, bustling city - even the largest city in West Virginia. When someone says Cowtown everyone understands that as a Cbus reference.

That said, their urban development is very respectable and I'd say more mature than Austin just due to age, but the city is more laid-back, accessible, newer (than most), sprawly, and youthful. It's one of the few growth spots in the Midwest.

[soonerguru]

Up here in Cleveland we joke that Columbus, Ohio is becoming a great, bustling city - even the largest city in West Virginia. When someone says Cowtown everyone understands that as a Cbus reference.

That said, their urban development is very respectable and I'd say more mature than Austin just due to age, but the city is more laid-back, accessible, newer (than most), sprawly, and youthful. It's one of the few growth spots in the Midwest.

Why would it be considered a cowtown? Wouldn't "university center" be more apropos? Does it have a big stockyards or something?

[Spartan]

In the 80s or 90s they used to have propaganda calendars with images of the skyline behind a field of cows. It was strikingly weird misinterpreted messaging that they went all out on at the time.

And because Columbus is not as dense, old, and urban as Cleveland and Cincinnati.

[Bellaboo]

after seeing the page jump,I thought I was going to read something new about the SC, but it isn't so.....dang

[bluedogok]

Also it helps when you have 11 whole foods to choose from instead of just one.

There were only two Whole Foods open in Austin (6th & Lamar and Gateway) when we moved to Denver from there in the fall of 2011/winter 2012. They had just started the one by the Costco in South Austin so we went to Central Market at Westgate or Sunflower at Manchaca (pronounced Man-shack) & WM Cannon. We rarely went to to WF since the downtown location was the closest and a nightmare to get in/out of most of the time. It was about time they expanded in their home city.

I will still be a Thunder and OU fan of course!

There is a large contingent of OU people there and pretty much people from schools all over the country, the city is not as UT centric as it once was. One thing that I found was the UT fans were not as obnoxious there as they were when I lived in Dallas, I think they get worse the further away from Austin they get.

I lived there nine years, my wife was there for over twenty years. While we like Austin there were things we were just tired of, the heat/humidity being high on that list and tolerating it gets harder as I get older. I told my wife the beach (Port Aransas) or the mountains but I knew what her choice would be. I think Austin is a great place for an active single person in their late 20's to early 30's, probably one of the best places to be, in some ways I wish I would have moved there many years prior like some friends did. For those of us near 50 and married, it was just another place. Other than Port A or Austin I have no desire to live in Texas anymore, had a chance to move back to Dallas at one time and figured out after a week I had no desire to do that.

[okcsince1987]

Has anyone heard anything yet?

[maestro6]

Well, at least we've made it through the first 30 days. Sure would like to get some sort of update!

[Pete]

All I've heard is it's still on track and will be at least 33 floors.

I know the developers are talking to some companies looking to move some operations here; not a headquarters but perhaps a division.

[PhiAlpha]

All I've heard is it's still on track and will be at least 33 floors.

I know the developers are talking to some companies looking to move some operations here; not a headquarters but perhaps a division.

What type of company? Energy related?