Preftakes Block

[HOT ROD]

now shakes head. Couldn't this have been built elsewhere in downtown?

Couldn't there been a nod to maximizing floorspace creating a taller massing?

I'm honestly a little worried about the comment, "close to 690,000 gross square feet" in that he's developing the whole block, so is the whole block 690K sq feet or is just the tower? Seems impossible that this building will be 25,000 sq ft floor plates.

Trying real hard not to be a negative Nancy (or Bob) but this is completely underwhelming and not worthy of tearing down ONH or the Motor Hotel. Why couldn't it fit along Main/Hudson - adding floors to 35, save those two buildings at Sheridan/Hudson, and build the parking along Sheridan? Seems like a nice compromise and totally paying respect to OKC's architecture and history vs. what was presented. ... No?

[Dustin]

now shakes head. Couldn't this have been built elsewhere in downtown?

If it was built elsewhere, they wouldn't be able to attach a sky bridge to the Devon Tower! Duh!

[gurantula35]

From the renderings, it looks like the OGE building is slightly taller than this building

[Spartan]

So don't address the questions and change the argument.

As far as preservation There are 3 camps. 1. Those that don't care. 2. Those that oppose historic demo no matter what and 3. Those that think higher use means demo is fine for all but exceptional buildings.


Now how about answering the other questions

I'm confused as to how you actually answered the question, besides actually stating what camps people fall in. I don't disagree with the argument that we need more parking downtown, which we do. However it's very nuanced, we shouldn't (and probably won't) accept exactly what is proposed without slight improvements, and the extreme concentration of parking garages already in the "Arts District" requires more attention be paid to design.

There is always some design review back-and-forth, but the question is if the public will get any meaningful changes that could actually make this a decent project. All for higher and best use reuse or demo, as well. To argue for historic preservation isn't to insist that history remain unchanged on the site. They can make use of the Auto Hotel for one.

[BoulderSooner]

From the renderings. This is equalalent to a 30 story building.

Should be close to 450 ft tall. Can't wait for them to break ground

[Pete]

Noticed they rendered a Crate and Barrel sign... Are they going to locate in this building?

Pretty sure that what you'll see along the street -- and what appears to be depicted in the renderings -- are the fake window boxes like you currently see along Hudson on the ground floor of the Devon parking garage.

I believe that is the plan unless/until they sign tenants.

[Pete]

BTW, there won't be much commercial space on the ground floor; just the areas shown in yellow below:

[G.Walker]

Overall, looks like a neat project, expected a little bit more though from Pickard Chilton re the design, its nothing special, just a glass rectangle. However, it will bring much needed life to that corner, and if they use the same floor heights as they did for Devon, we are looking at about 460FT, which is decent. Excited to see five 400FT+ going up around the same time, nice!

[Pete]

They did say there would be a restaurant on the second level similar to Nebu and I believe it will have a patio along Sheridan. This is what you see with the umbrellas on the 2nd level in the renderings.

Also said the glass would be the same as Devon.

[G.Walker]

I am not too caught up on the height, if you look at other office projects across the county, the trend is most new office towers are being built between 25-35 stories, unless if you are in Chicago or NYC. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the floor count gets bumped up before they break ground, if the tenant interest heats up.

[Urbanized]

The height of the tower is 443, according to Steve.

[Bellaboo]

I am not too caught up on the height, if you look at other office projects across the county, the trend is most new office towers are being built between 25-35 stories, unless if you are in Chicago or NYC. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the floor count gets bumped up before they break ground, if the tenant interest heats up.

I kind of agree with the floor count here. Also, in one of the renderings, it looks as if it could be the second tallest. It's obvious the intent was to compliment Devon as it's the centerpiece tower downtown. I can remember Cathy O'Conner during an interview about the Clayco announcement that all of the new buildings would progressively 'step up' towards Devon. I think she was talking about the Preftakes project also.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^^
Pickard directly acknowledges this approach in the quotes in the article.

[Pete]

Here is the updated list of OKC's tallest buildings.

I know the Clayco office towers will be 405 feet because that was in the submission package, but I'm guessing on the residential towers. They would be 26 floors vs. 25 for the office, but residential/hotel floors are almost always less tall and the all the Clayco renderings show them as slightly shorter.

[Pete]

Also, we're working on a new 3D model we can drop into Google Earth and show the skyline from various angles.

[Snowman]

The height of the tower is 443, according to Steve.

So at that it is just edging out City Place Tower for the 4th tallest in the city & 8th tallest in the state

[Pete]

Ironically, this is Gateway Plaza in Richmond; a Clayco development they featured in their presentation to OCURA:

[s00nr1]

I don't even know where to start with this. I am quite unhappy right now so I will wait to cool down a bit before I throw out my full commentary.

[pickles]

I am quite pleased.

[s00nr1]

Empty unused building do not = urban fabric

And by all means stop caring

Unfortunately for your argument these buildings were occupied until the tenants were forced out in favor of demolition.

[UnFrSaKn]

They could match the "499" address with that height. Right I know, pipedream.

[Eddie1]

I'm generally unimpressed.

[kevin lee]

I'm in the camp of tearing down the older buildings if need be but why do new buildings need to compliment each other these days? Thats the beauty of cities like NYC. Each new skyscraper has its own identity. This new everything in OKC needs to compliment each other sucks in so many ways. It might look nice but it lacks the wow factor.

[Laramie]

The height of the tower is 443, according to Steve.

The equivalent height of City Place Tower:


City Place Tower, height: 440 ft. - 499 W Sheridan Tower, height: 443 ft.
This will be a nice notable addition to the Oklahoma City skyline.

[catch22]

itd a fact that we can't stop the demolitions. OKC does not work that way -- the people building this are likely very close to the people approving this. The OCURA meeting will be a formality approval. They most likely have already received the nod from the people who make up the boards.

So, we should focus our energy on making sure this is done correctly. The main thing I hate about the design is that the building is angled at the corner. It needs to sit square on the corner and define that intersection.

We won't be able to do anything about the parking garages, and we won't be able to do anything about the Skybridge.

OKC champions "small government", but you can't have a small government if it is ran by the power brokers of large corporations. As it is now.

This will likely be approved as shown, but we need to focus our energy on making positive, realistic changes to the design. Arguing against demolition will fall on deaf ears unfortunately. The demolition has already been spoken for in closed doors.

I'm extremely frustrated with OKC. The recent announced towers (Clayco and this one) have revealed how entrenched the good ole boy network of dealings is.