SoSA District

[Pete]

See the article at the top of the page for a comprehensive summary of all the projects in SoSA and the surrounding area.

Almost 30 and about a dozen other lots have been cleared in the last few years, so more projects to come.

[Pete]

#24 in the article above is 626 NW 6th and they will be adding a rental unit constructed of shipping containers.

The main house is actually on the south end of the lot facing the alley and the rental will be on 6th.

[Pete]

Added #30 to the summary at the top of the page: the Town House Hotel.

[Pete]

My wife and I bought the subject lot to prevent someone sitting on it for "developmental control," and profit. We intended to resell immediately to an owner who intended to design and occupy a house soon. In the meantime someone wanted our existing house more than we did, so we sold it and decided to build on our new property. We spent several months designing our house. The design was approved by the UDC. Then life happened... we couldn't afford to build what we wanted, and we decided to buy an existing house and be done with it. We did just that, and sold the lot (VERY quickly) to an excited couple who intend to build their dream house. The lot was worth EXACTLY what the owner paid.

Because of their passion and love of the neighborhood, I bet their house will be much cooler than a profit-driven design.

An update on this property (809 NW 7th) which was bought for $67.5K in 2012, listed at $175K and sold in February 2104 for $140K.

It has now been sold again for $150K to a local LLC. What happened to the couple planning to build their dream home?

[kjones]

An update on this property (809 NW 7th) which was bought for $67.5K in 2012, listed at $175K and sold in February 2104 for $140K.

It has now been sold again for $150K to a local LLC. What happened to the couple planning to build their dream home?

I bought the lot from Dennis Wells. My wife and I had planned to build our dream home. Due to many factors (cost,time and finding another home we love we decided to sell the lot.)

With that, we sold the lot to someone whom we felt would build a single family home. Not a multiplex to make money off of

[Pete]

^

Thanks for the info. Sorry it didn't work out for you guys.

The buyer also recently bought a home in Mesta Park so I assume they will build and move to this new spot?

[Hawes Brothers C&D]

Hey OKCTalk! We are about to break ground on a project in SoSA and would like to post the renderings and some info. What is the best way to go about that?
https://www.facebook.com/HawesBrothe...03658976333702

[wsucougz]

Proposal for 607 NW 7 looks pretty nice:



http://www.okc.gov/AgendaPub/view.as...fileid=2602658

[AP]

I'm having a hard time understanding how this will be laid out.

[Spartan]

Hey OKCTalk! We are about to break ground on a project in SoSA and would like to post the renderings and some info. What is the best way to go about that?
https://www.facebook.com/HawesBrothe...03658976333702

Nice!




That Wichita Mountains view from NW OKC is stunning...

[Plutonic Panda]

2/12/2015





Skyline view from Sosa.

[Plutonic Panda]

I f#cking hate these powerlines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Screws up the whole vibe of the place for me. They are so obnoxious. An urban district that is trying to become modern and we have above ground powerlines like we live in the 1950's. This sucks. That and the roads are bad. They are redoing an alley and it seems they are going to do more. Hopefully they'll bury the utility lines, add sidewalks, and redo the roads in concrete.

[juicebox]

Does anybody know how much they are asking for the lot in the last picture?

[Motley]

PluPan, Oddly enough not everyone is in favor of replacing overhead lines, see this article in today's San Diego paper

Neighborhoods balk at undergrounding wires | UTSanDiego.com

[turnpup]

PluPan, I guess everybody's mileage varies on this. Our (historic) neighborhood has them. My house is on a corner, so we've got them running down the entire side *and* back of our property. If you sit and think about it, they do look ugly. But you get used to it and then you don't see them any more. I guess I kind of see it as part of the urban experience, unlike the completely-sanitized look of suburban/new neighborhoods. But I do see your point.

[bchris02]

The power lines in Midtown/SoSA don't bother me near as much as all the gravel parking, grassy lots, and dirt roads.

[Plutonic Panda]

PluPan, Oddly enough not everyone is in favor of replacing overhead lines, see this article in today's San Diego paper

Neighborhoods balk at undergrounding wires | UTSanDiego.com

Wow. Yeah I know SA had some ambitiously plans to bury a lot of them and they are proceeding. You also to remember, there are a lot of people out there who will complain about anything. For me though, it's just personal opinion of burying them.

[Plutonic Panda]

PluPan, I guess everybody's mileage varies on this. Our (historic) neighborhood has them. My house is on a corner, so we've got them running down the entire side *and* back of our property. If you sit and think about it, they do look ugly. But you get used to it and then you don't see them any more. I guess I kind of see it as part of the urban experience, unlike the completely-sanitized look of suburban/new neighborhoods. But I do see your point.

Farmers Market has them and I like them there because they add to the charm. I can definitely see your point though. I know several people who like them. I don't have a big as problem with them in historic neighborhoods, but in Edmond, they line every road. Plus it seems they wouldn't have proems with wind, ice, storms, and such.

[bluedogok]

I would prefer them buried but I think it is an unnecessary expense for the most part if they are fully functional being overhead. I guess that I just grew up with overhead wires and are so used to them that I don't really see them anymore.

[JDubOKC]

I agree that the neighborhood would look better with the lines buried. I can tell you, from personal experience, that OG&E has shown no interest in this happening. We are in the process of finishing up burying lines and removing 2 poles from one of the alleys and it was like pulling teeth to get that done. It took forever to get it done and was expensive.

[okatty]

About $1 mill a mile (depending on various factors) is what I have heard at corp commission. Very expensive.

[bchris02]

I think the above ground power lines is pretty far down the list of things that could be improved in SoSA/Midtown. The area needs infill, lighting, and placemaking. The roads need to be repaved as well. Many of the roads in that area are almost third-world bad.

[JDubOKC]

Just for perspective, it ended up being about $5k per pole + we footed significant additional costs including trenching.

bchris, I agree - but that's the remarkable thing about Midtown/SoSA. If you look at the list of projects at the top of this page or look at what's going on (and has gone on) in Midtown, you'd be hard pressed to find a better example of progress in infill, lighting or placemaking. These 2 areas don't bear any resemblance to what they looked like even 6 years ago when I moved back to the area. The city does have plans for at least redoing many of the alleys in the area (you can see the one already done between 7th and 8th west of Shartel). You have to have people living in the area before it makes any sense to redo the roads - but that's rapidly changing. Of course bad roads are a universal issue in the state for a variety of reasons.

[Spartan]

About $1 mill a mile (depending on various factors) is what I have heard at corp commission. Very expensive.

Thanks for that figure, very interesting. Do you think that's worth it?

I tend to look at the big picture and think we could do much, much better things with $1M/mile. Overhead wires aren't that ugly. In a city there should be visual clutter, as long as its not "litter on a stick" signage or anything really tacky. An interesting example of how these things evolve is 1) in streetcar cities like Portland or European cities, the streetcar wires are really beloved, and 2) Route 66-style neon blade signs used to be considered tacky and garish visual clutter, and now it's truly public art and I for one am glad we have a program in OKC to encourage more of that signage. Route 66 vintage really should be adopted as our identity, and a great way to stand out as a unique major city, through visual queues.

Also with buried wires it can add unexpected costs to things like streetscapes, streetcars, and even simple repavings. I'm not for it.

[okatty]

Thanks for that figure, very interesting. Do you think that's worth it?

I tend to look at the big picture and think we could do much, much better things with $1M/mile. Overhead wires aren't that ugly. In a city there should be visual clutter, as long as its not "litter on a stick" signage or anything really tacky. An interesting example of how these things evolve is 1) in streetcar cities like Portland or European cities, the streetcar wires are really beloved, and 2) Route 66-style neon blade signs used to be considered tacky and garish visual clutter, and now it's truly public art and I for one am glad we have a program in OKC to encourage more of that signage. Route 66 vintage really should be adopted as our identity, and a great way to stand out as a unique major city, through visual queues.

Also with buried wires it can add unexpected costs to things like streetscapes, streetcars, and even simple repavings. I'm not for it.

That figure got pitched out after that last big ice storm and people were complaining the lines need to be buried in the residential areas like NH, Crown H, etc. Think Bob Anthony mentioned that as the reason it isn't done as much as the public would expect. So those numbers might not apply exactly - but suffice it to say it's expensive.