As I mentioned on the Colcord thread, I stuck my head in there around 11AM on Friday and was quite impressed: Beautiful but small lobby, chic restaurant in Soleil, etc. I also noticed they had two black Cadillac Escalades with ‘Colcord Hotel’ discretely stenciled on the sides, no doubt for airport runs. Looked really sharp.
Cut through the Sheraton Century Center (is it still called that?) and that was extremely depressing. They have opened it up to where there is a huge two-story open area in the middle but I only saw one small gift shop in the entire complex. There has got to be a better use for that space.
Was glad to see all the progress at the Skirvin but it seems they still have a long way to go. Many windows still need to be installed, the fascia still has a ways to go, and the area north of the hotel is still completely torn up. Hopefully, they are making good progress inside.
It was great to see the progress in Automobile Alley and Midtown. Just a year ago, I thought that area was quite dead but now you really start to see signs of life with construction everywhere. And of course, they are just getting started. I also noticed that St. Anthony is lit up at night and that adds some energy and draw to the area. The Paseo looked pretty much fully occupied and busy.
I met a big group of people at the Bricktown Brewery on Friday night and the whole area was busy and fun. I can’t tell you how great it is to have a gathering spot in town, something we may be already starting to take for granted. Many of the people in our group were staying downtown and it really made the night fun because so many people could just walk back to their rooms. We ended up staying out until 2AM.
I also went to lunch on Friday at the North Fork Grill and for the first time felt the area around Quail Springs was starting to fill in. Yes, I know it’s mainly chain restaurants and mega-churches but there are now a significant number of office buildings out there and again, more energy.
I took a quick drive through Capitol Hill and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it’s mainly Latino businesses in that area but not that long ago it had been almost completely abandoned and it was nice to see life and activity. It looked pretty well leased-up and the streetscape looked really well-done.
And as a general observation, the entire city looked really beautiful with all the changing trees, particularly in the older areas. We all think of OKC as being a little barren – and there are parts that are – but that’s really not the case on the whole. Everywhere I drove I really enjoyed the rolling terrain and color.
One final irony… Most know that I have been pretty disappointed with the constant time overruns regarding airport construction. On Sunday AM when I was there to catch my flight home, there was a huge section in the Oklahoma celebrating the completion of the remodel/expansion. But the newest part wasn’t open! There was still a wall separating the new space on the terminal side, the new security check point wasn’t operating, nor was the new baggage area. However, I did walk past the ropes and take a look around and they are getting pretty close. Hopefully they’ll some of it open for the holiday traffic but I bet they’ll be doing finish work for a couple more months.
But here’s the thing that is most impressive for those of us looking for positive signs: Almost everyone I saw was really excited about what was happening in town: “Have you seen all the new condo projects under construction? We have two new hotels downtown and more on the way! People are so excited about the Hornets but the Sonics would be really cool, too. I’ve heard they’re opening a great new restaurant on Broadway. Hey, that new exit directly into Bricktown is open and boy does that make things easy.” Etc., etc.
The airport promotional section had the tagline: “Another reason for Oklahoma City to be proud.” And I thought it was very true. Everywhere you turn in town, there is something new and exciting that has just been completed, under construction or planned.
All this is very evident to a visitor but perhaps not so much to those that live in town and may be starting to take the constant change and improvements for granted.
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