Chase Bank

[Teo9969]

Bumpity Bump.

Would like to make more of an impact than just one single question. Can we compile a list here in the next 12 hours?

[catch22]

Have they taken into account the future consequences of completely ignoring the building standards? Precedence will be set by this approval which further erodes the guidelines into recommendations, not enforcing structure.

[Plutonic Panda]

Simple question: why even have the rules?

[HOT ROD]

bumped

[metro]

dislike

[Teo9969]

No takers on assembling some questions?

[catch22]

Reply 76.

There's really not much to say here.

There are guidelines.

There does not seem to be too much consistent effort in applying them. WHY?

Not really any other questions other than rephrasing the same question -- WHY ARE WE NOT ENFORCING OUR GUIDELINES?

[Teo9969]

The Downtown Design Review Committees are open to the public.

In the case of this application, a special meeting has been called just for them.

It will be held Wed, Oct 1 at 9:30AM in the City County chambers.


City Planning staff will present the case with their recommendation; it would be helpful if someone would ask them pointed questions.

This meeting was held on the 9th floor of 420 W. Main @ 9;00 AM. I was unable to ask any questions.

[CuatrodeMayo]

I'm assuming it was approved.

From reading the agenda, it appears there is still one last hurdle they have to overcome. They have to get variances from the Board of Adjustment for the height and setback. I doubt that will be much more than a formality and the BoA will rubberstamp what he DDRC has approved. However, it is another opportunity for public input.

[Pete]

Demolition has begun:

[Urbanized]

Crud.

[Chadanth]

Tearing down one ugly building to replace it with another. At least the city breaks even on this one.

[hoya]

Nah, the old ugly building was at least retro.

[Just the facts]

The city really missed an opportunity here. Driving south on Broadway this building is front and center, and in the background is the back side of a parking garage. It sums up everything wrong in one view. You can tell previous generations tried to at least conceal this by using the tried and true OKC favorite - planting trees on a berm.

[bchris02]

It's hard to believe the city let this sail through. Why have standards at all? The fact that this made it though is evidence that the DDRC will pretty much grant a variance to anybody who asks for it. This goes against everything that OKC is trying to do downtown. This is sad.

[Spartan]

This is like asking out the fat girl without a prom date on the night before prom.

Except that because we have had some success enforcing urban design standards in the past, this latest pattern is really shocking. What is going on in the Planning Department?

[Dubya61]

Well, when land becomes valuable enough, it'll be easy to tear down (again).

[Village]

The demolition continues, I saw at least 4 workers taking measurements around the front of it.

[UnFrSaKn]

Demolition begins at former Liberty Bank drive-thru | News OK

[Stickman]

Years ago Jamie Dimon flew to OKC on the company jet and had a meeting. he was cussing out the City for not letting Chase tear down the Gold Dome on 23rd. I'm glad he lost or they gave up then.

[Spartan]

Years ago Jamie Dimon flew to OKC on the company jet and had a meeting. he was cussing out the City for not letting Chase tear down the Gold Dome on 23rd. I'm glad he lost or they gave up then.

He is such a loose cannon. I have been routinely shocked that Chase has him. He flies to Columbus frequently where they have their second largest corporate operation and always seems down for some "real talk." The out-of-state property interests should just be told what to do. That astounds me because the banks generally need to kiss ass to major cities for CRA credit, although Chase's probs with that are well-documented...

And therein lies the problem with OKC. We have never been smart about leveraging relationships with business interests. I don't have to explain that a planner (or anyone) should treat Devon (and any local company) differently than an entity that just needs retail locations within the geography we happen to occupy.

[cagoklahoma]

As excited as I am to see a 9 lane bank drive thru in the CBD being torn down, I can help my disappointment with its replacement.

[John]

This is one instance where I wouldn't have minded them tearing down something in the CBD and putting up a parking garage...

[Pete]

Took this over the weekend and now that the small building is removed, you can see the huge underground space below which will remain after the new structure is built:

[shawnw]

what is it for?