Union Bus Station

[hoya]

I can't wrap my head around why we're focusing on the damn Union Bus Station. If we're arguing over losing historic buildings in place of the parking garage, then I'd be all over Carpenter Square and Main Street. Not an awkwardly postioned, small bus station with minimal street frontage, a parking lot, and limited adaptive reuse.

A restaurant would be cool. Thousands of jobs, more retail/office and parking is of a higher and better use to me. Ehh. To each their own.

Although, the small footprint of the building should allow them to come up with a compromise on the West parking garage. Make it a little taller and less wide and you'd think there would be room for the UBS to stay. Although, there will go the retail bays in the parking garage as there won't be much street frontage left for ingress/egress AND retail frontage. It could happen but I don't have that sort of faith in the developers.

Not thousands of jobs. Dozens of parking spaces. That's what is taking the place of the bus station. It is being destroyed to moderately lower the cost of more structured parking.

[Spartan]

You have a good point. However, I think the focus is on the bus station because that is viewed as the most likely thing to be saved if anything is possible at all. One North Hudson and the Motor Hotel are pretty much lost causes. If it were up to me, I would squeeze in the tower in the empty lot between the bus station and One North Hudson. If I HAD to demolish something, it would be the bus station and I would keep the buildings fronting Hudson. That isn't possible though because doing so would defeat Devon's ambitions to turn that area into a corporate campus.

Huh? One North Hudson was Class A office space not long ago. Full of law firms. The Motor Hotel was also operating as a parking garage in my lifetime (I'm not very old for those who don't know).

This is about doing the cheapest possible development on this site. Devon is feeling the hurt from low oil prices just like everyone else.

[Spartan]

You make a good case Dan.

We could probably attribute much success to the 50-story Devon Energy Tower. My memories of the bus station's PPPs was right before they moved it to the present location. The area was becoming a 'hub' for undesirables.

More like the 4ps (Punks, Pimps, Panhandlers & Prostitutes); the prostitution wasn't as heavy near the bus station which possessed women/men/it who couldn't give-it-away.

Maybe they could bring the bus station back to the CBD at a later date. My last memories of that place was creepy; especially when called upon to pick up relatives from that area. I recall the night I transported my daughter who arrived from Dallas to OKC being approached by an old snaggletooth women who asked me would I like a date? Politely said to her, NO THANK YOU! She couldn't have hog-tied me to stoop that low...

Just think of what was planned for the old Gary Dales' BBQ site; there were other alternatives:

The New Greyhound Station or a Strip Club Across from the Future American Indian Cultural Center | News OK

Why do you describe less fortunate people this way?

[bombermwc]

Did you really just say that if a restaurant went into the bus station and failed that we lost the opportunity to demo it? And unless you work at Devon, I'm not sure why anyone in their right mind would prefer a giant concrete parking garage over a cool rehabbed old building that has been brought back to life.

Yes, yes I did. Much like Architect said, I just don't feel like this place qualifies for the things so many people want it to. Look at how it's built. it's a building surrounded by parking lot on all sides. It's very small, and as far as being an "example of a style", I don't buy into that. That's just my opinion, but there it is. For me, the parking garage is part of a larger development project and I'm willing to let this blasé building go to make room for something else. I'd rather be able to keep one north Hudson and the motor hotel, but there seems to be less fight on those than this crappy little 1 story waiting room (which is what it is).

What I meant by the lost chance is that if republic failed a year or two from now, would we have lost the opportunity for a new development to come into the area because the real estate possibilities have changed. Timing can be everything on the financial side. Waiting to see if a restaurant rehab of a building MIGHT (and let's not stretch too much by giving it a pass since others in the VERY near area don't just do hot) work isn't a gamble I'm personally willing to take.

So yes, for me i'll hop in the bulldozer and run the place over myself....even if it's a parking garage.

[Stickman]

Yes, yes I did. Much like Architect said, I just don't feel like this place qualifies for the things so many people want it to. Look at how it's built. it's a building surrounded by parking lot on all sides. It's very small, and as far as being an "example of a style", I don't buy into that. That's just my opinion, but there it is. For me, the parking garage is part of a larger development project and I'm willing to let this blasé building go to make room for something else. I'd rather be able to keep one north Hudson and the motor hotel, but there seems to be less fight on those than this crappy little 1 story waiting room (which is what it is).

What I meant by the lost chance is that if republic failed a year or two from now, would we have lost the opportunity for a new development to come into the area because the real estate possibilities have changed. Timing can be everything on the financial side. Waiting to see if a restaurant rehab of a building MIGHT (and let's not stretch too much by giving it a pass since others in the VERY near area don't just do hot) work isn't a gamble I'm personally willing to take.

So yes, for me i'll hop in the bulldozer and run the place over myself....even if it's a parking garage.

Over time; came to same conclusion. Lets get some dirt moving already.

[Roger S]

Snapped this pic walking back from lunch today.... Thought it was kind of cool and since both of these signs will probably be gone soon. Thought I would archive it here.

[Urbanized]

Makes me think of apple pie. And cigarettes.

[C. B.]

I worked on some images for Nick Preftakes, he asked us to show the Bus Station as a restaurant with outdoor seating, along with retail & dining in the existing building to the east. It was to be called Lunch Box Plaza.

[Bellaboo]

I worked on some images for Nick Preftakes, he asked us to show the Bus Station as a restaurant with outdoor seating, along with retail & dining in the existing building to the east. It was to be called Lunch Box Plaza.

If you can say, how long ago was this ? Thanks

[C. B.]

That was done in 2011.

[Urbanized]

Did Nick pay you for that work? If so (or even if not), do you think it was appropriate to release it here?

[Pete]

What's interesting is the plans show the Lunch Box building demolished with only the sign remaining.

[bombermwc]

What was the point of that anyway? Just to dress up a surface lot? Seems like a lot of wasted work for the space....especially knowing he wanted to take out the whole block.

[jccouger]

What was the point of that anyway? Just to dress up a surface lot? Seems like a lot of wasted work for the space....especially knowing he wanted to take out the whole block.

It was probably just a stop gap to make a little money before the demos started. Small investment for a revenue stream. Similar to the bricktown mini golf course, or blue garten.

[Just the facts]

Is the objective to save the bus station, or to stop 499?

[jccouger]

Restaurants of the Year: 2015 Winners | Food & Wine

thegreyrestaurant.com

[Just the facts]

Restaurants of the Year: 2015 Winners | Food & Wine

thegreyrestaurant.com

It's funny, OKC political leaders say they want walkability, but when faced with the decisions to actually do it they fold up like cheap lawn chairs. OKC can't hold Savannah's walking shoes.

[bombermwc]

Savannah is also microscopic compared to OKC. It's a lot easier to push walkability when you aren't spread out across 1K miles.

[Urbanized]

Comparing OKC to Savannah in any way, shape or form is ridiculous. Savannah's very culture is based on humanistic planning; Oglethorpe's squares are nearly 300 years old. When we decided in the 50s to start gutting our downtown of historic structures, at the same time Savannah was embarking on an aggressive plan to preserve theirs.

They have a prominent university downtown dedicated to the arts - including the building arts - and when SCAD needs more space instead of building new they take a historic structure and renovate it. The entire downtown acts as a college campus, with SCAD buildings spread randomly throughout and students and faculty walking between them. It's an apples-to-bicycles comparison.

[bchris02]

I don't think size of the city, be it population or actual city limits, is the predominant factor. Walkability and urbanity is determined primarily by how a city was built and how much of its original building stock has been preserved. Unfortunately for OKC most of the old city was destroyed. If OKC still had its building stock that it had in the 1950s, it would be a very, very different place today.

Savannah, like Charleston, is a 300+ year old city mostly still intact today.

[Rover]

In all fairness, a history that is 400 years old vs. a pioneer history of barely 100 makes a huge difference in sense of preservation of history. Harbor, three rivers and natural beauty also help. Comparing Charleston to OKC is silly.

[BDP]

Savannah is also microscopic compared to OKC. It's a lot easier to push walkability when you aren't spread out across 1K miles.

Savannah's historic district, i.e., the walkable part, is 2 square miles. Very comparable in size to the area of OKC where walkability matters. I don't think anyone is suggesting that OKC can make 600 square miles walkable, but making walkability a priority in .0034 % of that shouldn't be all that difficult.

[BDP]

I worked on some images for Nick Preftakes, he asked us to show the Bus Station as a restaurant with outdoor seating, along with retail & dining in the existing building to the east. It was to be called Lunch Box Plaza.

lol. I can't think of anything more emblematic of the misguided OKC development strategies than the concept of tearing down the Lunch Box to build a surface parking lot in an urban area named after it.

[bchris02]

Savannah and OKC were settled very differently and thus can't be directly compared, but that doesn't change that one city preserved its history and the other destroyed it. Imagine OKC today if the old city would have been preserved.

[BDP]

Savannah and OKC were settled very differently and thus can't be directly compared, but that doesn't change that one city preserved its history and the other destroyed it. Imagine OKC today if the old city would have been preserved.

I really don't think anyone is suggesting that OKC be savannah. That would actually take a complete do over (and a time machine)

However, there is one important takeaway from Savannah that just about any city can learn from: Planning. Savannah is often referred to as America's first planned city. Whether the "first" part of it is true or not, it was Savannah's structured plan that made that part of the city worth preserving in the first place. We really have no plan, or, at least, we are unwilling to enforce it.