Plaza District

[warreng88]

Chiltepe's, the redo of the excellent Guatemalan cafe on the SW corner of 16th & Indiana, is the oldest restaurant in the Plaza District as well as the most localized families of the neighborhood. In my opinion they have always had the best menu in the Plaza District. With their remodel, full bar, waiting staff, additional Mexican food along side their already incredible rural Guatemalan menu...holy cow, this will be amazing. I can't wait. Their food speaks for itself and I hope that they legitimately attract the well deserved attention and patrons for what they have been providing us in the district and even better, what they will be giving us. They just have a few more inspections to get passed. They have had a food truck open while they've been remodeling with their Mexican food items. Check it out if you can.

Agreed. I talked to the owner at the state of the plaza meeting at the beginning of the month and he was really excited about what is to come in the Plaza District. This will be a really good cleanup of that corner. Now if we can just get the Plaza Discount store out and Auto garage area across from The Mule redeveloped, we will have quite an urban district going.

[bchris02]

https://www.facebook.com/plazadistri...type=1&theater

That's some authentic, fine dining. The Plaza is really going places!

[Mississippi Blues]

That's some authentic, fine dining. The Plaza is really going places!

Happy April Fools!

[Just the facts]

With regard to parking in the Plaza District, I think they should focus on on-street parking and developing 2 and 3 story residential which will provide a local customer base. At the same time an extension of the streetcar system would be in order. The goal of tent-pole density shouldn't be to make driving there easy - it should be to make living there easy. If you enjoy the Plaza District you should look to living there, not driving there.

Here in Jax I frequent several "Plaza District" type areas, and I don't expect them to make parking easy for me and understand I might have to walk 3 or 4 blocks (which isn't a big deal because the walk itself is enjoyable). These areas exist for the people who live there and I am a merely a visitor to their neighborhood.

[Pete]

District House just posted on Facebook they will open April 7th (Monday).

Hours will be 6:30AM to 10:30PM.

[lasomeday]

With regard to parking in the Plaza District, I think they should focus on on-street parking and developing 2 and 3 story residential which will provide a local customer base. At the same time an extension of the streetcar system would be in order. The goal of tent-pole density shouldn't be to make driving there easy - it should be to make living there easy. If you enjoy the Plaza District you should look to living there, not driving there.

Here in Jax I frequent several "Plaza District" type areas, and I don't expect them to make parking easy for me and understand I might have to walk 3 or 4 blocks (which isn't a big deal because the walk itself is enjoyable). These areas exist for the people who live there and I am a merely a visitor to their neighborhood.

JTF, There are 2 story apartments to the north and to the south. This area is odd because of the roughness of the neighborhood to the south. I don't see developers building something new and nice to the south. The only way for new developers to come in is for them to slowly migrate from the east along 16th street. Connecting the Plaza to Classen and those businesses/residential in the future is key.

I also don't see new buildings being part of the local scene. I feel that restoring the apartments to the north and individual houses to the south are the key for this area to thrive. The hipsters don't want shiny new buildings. They want a quirky and unique sense of place.

[Pete]

There are a few infill developments but they are all to the north:

18th Street Studios (plus future expansion)
Renovation and new units at NW 22nd & Blackwelder
Proposed units at 17th & Klein

[bchris02]

In Charlotte, they have managed to make new and old exist together in cohesion in the NoDa district. Multiple 3-4 story residential developments have been built and they don't look out of place at all and in fact actually add to the district. If done right, new development can and should happen in the Plaza, but standards must be very strict.

[Urbanized]

I still maintain that the houses along 16th between the Plaza's established commercial district and Classen would be perfect for conversion a la Nob Hill in Portland:

[Just the facts]

That is why I am saying, the Plaza District should concentrate on creating more housing and less on parking garages. An area I frequent is called Avondale and recently a Mellow Mushroom Pizza restaurant opened. They tore down an old gas station and built a new building - and get this - that looks 75 years old so it matches the existing building stock, and no it isn't made out molded plastic like Disneyland - they used real materials just like they would have used back then. Why does everything in Oklahoma always have to start with reinventing the wheel as if the rest of the world doesn't already exist as a model? When did we decided that every urban cluster should exist for the rest of time in a state of suspended development - never to be reborn with new buildings and new construction?

Before:


After:

[PhiAlpha]

I still maintain that the houses along 16th between the Plaza's established commercial district and Classen would be perfect for conversion a la Nob Hill in Portland:

That would be awesome. It's similar to what they did with houses used for bubba's BBQ, cuppies and joe,etc, but on a much larger scale.


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[ljbab728]

If you enjoy the Plaza District you should look to living there, not driving there.

Kerry, you make some good points but that's just silly. You can't live in every area you enjoy visiting.

[Just the facts]

Kerry, you make some good points but that's just silly. You can't live in every area you enjoy visiting.

Well, that's not exactly what I was implying. I just meant that if a person liked to visit urban places they might like living in urban places even more, and that urban places should make living there a priority over visiting there.

[Just the facts]

I still maintain that the houses along 16th between the Plaza's established commercial district and Classen would be perfect for conversion a la Nob Hill in Portland:

This is a subject I have been giving a lot of thought to recently after walking my dog past an area of semi-occupied office and retail space and then seeing all of the homes converted to various businesses. I came to the conclusion that the conversion of living space to business space was a bad trade off. It deprives commercial property owners or tenants and deprives businesses of customers within walking distance.

[ljbab728]

Well, that's not exactly what I was implying. I just meant that if a person liked to visit urban places they might like living in urban places even more, and that urban places should make living there a priority over visiting there.

Well that certainly makes more sense that what you said originally.

[Urbanized]

In general I agree with you, but this is essentially a commercial corridor and is surrounded by (literally) the largest historic neighborhood in OKC with another massive neighborhood on the other side. In this narrow instance it works, and it works well.

[CuatrodeMayo]

The Plaza district is a likely candidate for a future extension of the streetcar system. With the addition of a streetcar line, 16^th Street has the potential to be a vibrant transit corridor. This could be accomplished with low-cost modification to the relatively new, existing streetscape. Obviously the roadbed would need to be reconstructed to accommodate the weight of the streetcar, but that could be confined to between the curbs. By relocating the sidewalk to between the houses and the front yard trees, the existing sidewalk could be repurposed as a protected bike lane. This setup would minimize the impact to the extensive streetlight system in-place and protect the existing tree canopy. With the sidewalk pushed up closer to the houses, there would be a great opportunity for commercial purposes, like Urbanized has illustrated above. Many of these houses are large enough to accommodate both commercial and residential use. Much of the current Plaza businesses are live-work setup with the business owners actually living at the rear of the commercial spaces, so converting the homes along 16^th would be compatible with the neighborhood. In short, this would be both awesome and achievable in the near future.

Here is a streetmix showing how that would look:



This is really a topic for another thread, but I would love to extend these bike lanes across Classen to connect with Classen Drive and create a bicycle/pedestrian only corridor between the Plaza and Midtown.

[Urbanized]

This is a subject I have been giving a lot of thought to recently after walking my dog past an area of semi-occupied office and retail space and then seeing all of the homes converted to various businesses. I came to the conclusion that the conversion of living space to business space was a bad trade off. It deprives commercial property owners or tenants and deprives businesses of customers within walking distance.

My previous post was a response to this one, but ljbab728 snuck in between us so it might not make as much sense if you don't know that. But one other point I want to make is that depriving commercial property owners of tenants is also a non-issue in Plaza as they are bursting at the seams with commercial tenants. Truly, Plaza's existing commercial stock is a bit undersized compared to the interest/activity in the district. At some point soon there will literally be zero commercial stock left.

But also, you have to keep in mind where Plaza is located. It is surrounded on all sides by some if the most dense housing stock in the city, for a great distance in all directions. It is not like downtown in that regard. Turning the homes along 16th into commercial or live/work as Cuatro suggests will not appreciably deprive Plaza of residents within close proximity; they are already there in droves. Instead, it gives the existing residential neighborhoods more nearby, walkable commercial to further encourage gentrification (I mean this in a positive sense), but without demolishing great old houses to build mundane strips of storefronts. In this case it would be excellent adaptive re-use.

[sroberts24]

I would freak out if I had the streetcar a block from my house! My value would sky rocket!!!! Bring it on!

The only thing I would need a car for is to go to work! (and the grocery store)

[Just the facts]

The Plaza district is a likely candidate for a future extension of the streetcar system. With the addition of a streetcar line, 16^th Street has the potential to be a vibrant transit corridor. This could be accomplished with low-cost modification to the relatively new, existing streetscape. Obviously the roadbed would need to be reconstructed to accommodate the weight of the streetcar, but that could be confined to between the curbs. By relocating the sidewalk to between the houses and the front yard trees, the existing sidewalk could be repurposed as a protected bike lane. This setup would minimize the impact to the extensive streetlight system in-place and protect the existing tree canopy. With the sidewalk pushed up closer to the houses, there would be a great opportunity for commercial purposes, like Urbanized has illustrated above. Many of these houses are large enough to accommodate both commercial and residential use. Much of the current Plaza businesses are live-work setup with the business owners actually living at the rear of the commercial spaces, so converting the homes along 16^th would be compatible with the neighborhood. In short, this would be both awesome and achievable in the near future.

Here is a streetmix showing how that would look:



This is really a topic for another thread, but I would love to extend these bike lanes across Classen to connect with Classen Drive and create a bicycle/pedestrian only corridor between the Plaza and Midtown.

Me likey.

What I would love to be able to do is build commercial space and then trade the new commercial space for the homes, convert them back to residential, and sell at a huge profit. The original intent of converting these homes to businesses was to be a cost effective approach at revitalizing these areas. Many place are now mature enough to move to the next step. We can't let these place live on milk, they need to start eating meat (a little biblical reference).

[Plutonic Panda]

The Plaza district is a likely candidate for a future extension of the streetcar system. With the addition of a streetcar line, 16^th Street has the potential to be a vibrant transit corridor. This could be accomplished with low-cost modification to the relatively new, existing streetscape. Obviously the roadbed would need to be reconstructed to accommodate the weight of the streetcar, but that could be confined to between the curbs. By relocating the sidewalk to between the houses and the front yard trees, the existing sidewalk could be repurposed as a protected bike lane. This setup would minimize the impact to the extensive streetlight system in-place and protect the existing tree canopy. With the sidewalk pushed up closer to the houses, there would be a great opportunity for commercial purposes, like Urbanized has illustrated above. Many of these houses are large enough to accommodate both commercial and residential use. Much of the current Plaza businesses are live-work setup with the business owners actually living at the rear of the commercial spaces, so converting the homes along 16^th would be compatible with the neighborhood. In short, this would be both awesome and achievable in the near future.

Here is a streetmix showing how that would look:



This is really a topic for another thread, but I would love to extend these bike lanes across Classen to connect with Classen Drive and create a bicycle/pedestrian only corridor between the Plaza and Midtown.

that's awesome. Something I wish downtown Edmond would do between it and UCO. Is there a site that lists all the layouts for different Street uses or did you Google that one?

[CuatrodeMayo]

Here ya go, PP. have fun!

Streetmix

[BoulderSooner]

How does the on street parking fit into that

[CuatrodeMayo]

How does the on street parking fit into that

It doesn't, nor does it have to.

There is no current on-street parking on 16th between Blackwelder and Classen.

If you want to drive to this area, you either park on 15th or 17th and walk. Or if the owners of the houses want patron parking, they can add a few spaces in the backyard accessible via existing driveways.

[bchris02]

How about this?