BOK Park Plaza

[Pete]

That western parking garage will go up soon and fast. They'll need the parking for the workers on the rest of the project.

[soonerguru]

Can't wait to see a PARKING GARAGE across from another PARKING GARAGE on a prime corner in Downtown. Way to get it done, OKC! We should build skyscrapers of parking garages!

[DoctorTaco]

Can't wait to see a PARKING GARAGE across from another PARKING GARAGE on a prime corner in Downtown. Way to get it done, OKC! We should build skyscrapers of parking garages!

Don't forget about the sea of surface parking we'll need to accomodate all the tourists who want to come visit our world famous parking garage skyscraper!

[TU 'cane]

Don't forget about the sea of surface parking we'll need to accomodate all the tourists who want to come visit our world famous parking garage skyscraper!

You have it all wrong... There's going to be ANOTHER parking garage for said tourists.

In all seriousness, it has been mentioned many times, and even Pete confirmed: companies are needing parking and the lack of parking is impacting overall business growth downtown. As much as we hate to see so many parking garages go up... In time, this should lead to additional buildings and towers being built in the future as the infrastructure will already be in place.

Yes, that's an awfully optimistic approach to take.

[Rover]

One of the recruiting tools the companies in places like the Memorial corridor use is the offering of close and free parking. I know quite a few young working people who have changed jobs for this reason alone. The fact parking is an issue for companies wanting to locate downtown should hardly be a revelation. Expecting significant expansion of employment downtown without it is fantasy. The real question is how to integrate it into a live urban area without adverse effects. Those who are anti parking in the immediate area are pretty unrealistic and probably delusional.

[hoya]

Parking garages are a necessity in OKC right now. You've got ample free parking everywhere in the suburbs. While you can argue that that isn't a good thing (it's economically unsustainable, bad policy, etc), the fact is it exists right now. It is incredibly easy to park anywhere except downtown. So downtown OKC has to compete against that. There are a lot of advantages to being downtown, but they aren't enough for most people to outweigh having to take a bus there from Midwest City.

Now, these particular parking garages are of the lowest-common denominator variety (or they would be if not for Rick Dowell's garages). There's nothing interesting about them, they don't add anything to the urban fabric, etc. Downtown deserves better designs than this. But more garages are simply a fact of life.

How do we avoid having to build more and more garages? Build a lot more housing downtown and get a light rail system working. But that will take a while.

[Pete]

From today.

Note the bus station basement and also the pink material they've sprayed on the buildings soon to be imploded:

[OkieBerto]

Just took this during lunch. Tells the story of Oklahoma City in one shot.

[gopokes88]

Just took this during lunch. Tells the story of Oklahoma City in one shot.

Man that's a nice tower

[ChrisHayes]

Any word on an implosion date?

[soonerguru]

Just in case people didn't clue in, my disdain is not for parking garages per se, it's that we are going to have two parking garages across from each other on a prime corner in our city. That sucks and is stupid. They could have built a parking garage elsewhere.

[ljbab728]

In all seriousness, it has been mentioned many times, and even Pete confirmed: companies are needing parking and the lack of parking is impacting overall business growth downtown. As much as we hate to see so many parking garages go up... In time, this should lead to additional buildings and towers being built in the future as the infrastructure will already be in place.

Yes, that's an awfully optimistic approach to take.

The infrastructure from these parking garages won't lead to additional buildings and towers. They likely won't even take care of current demand for parking so they won't take care of additional buildings in the future.

[Jeepnokc]

Anybody know what the pink stuff they have sprayed on the is and what it's purpose is?

[BDP]

Parking garages are a necessity in OKC right now.

Yeah, but it also doesn't need city blocks where over half it is only parking garages and it certainly doesn't need to keep tearing down buildings to do that. It just makes no sense to me. Why even have a downtown if it we can't build it like one?

Thankfully, more and more, we have developers that understand this, but this one shows that the big money that wants to build downtown still doesn't care if OKC has a real urban option or not.

[_Cramer_]

I agree. How about we build a garage where we already have surface lots. Just take the parking up 5-8 stories? The owner can still charge $20-$40 to park, or more during games. I'm guessing they just don't have the financial resources to make this happen.

[FritterGirl]

Anybody know what the pink stuff they have sprayed on the is and what it's purpose is?

No, but I've wondered the same.

[yukong]

Anybody know what the pink stuff they have sprayed on the is and what it's purpose is?

My guess is that they found asbestos in the mortar and the spray is some sort of encapsulating substance to reduce vaporization of the asbestos. But that is just my guess. Asbestos was regularly used in mortar prior to the 1980s because it greatly increased the tensile strength greatly. I have seen such stuff used before in asbestos remediation but not exactly like this.

[jn1780]

My guess is that they found asbestos in the mortar and the spray is some sort of encapsulating substance to reduce vaporization of the asbestos. But that is just my guess. Asbestos was regularly used in mortar prior to the 1980s because it greatly increased the tensile strength greatly. I have seen such stuff used before in asbestos remediation but not exactly like this.

Probably a good idea to not be downwind of the dust cloud when the building is imploded.

[kevin lee]

I'm not for sure what the pink stuff is, but I don't think it is anything asbestos related. I've been on the post-demo end of these projects a few times. One thing I've learned is if asbestos in a building this size is found, then everything inside is halted until there is a wet or heated removal by hand. But I could be wrong so I will ask a demo friend this weekend.

[Snowman]

Probably a good idea to not be downwind of the dust cloud when the building is imploded.

That goes for buildings without Asbestos as well though.

[Laramie]

Parking availability will define what you build in the Central Business District. You want new skyscrapers (high rise mix-use developments) to reflect a progressive building environment?

End result: You better have room for patrons to park or it's not going to occur.

[yukong]

I'm not for sure what the pink stuff is, but I don't think it is anything asbestos related. I've been on the post-demo end of these projects a few times. One thing I've learned is if asbestos in a building this size is found, then everything inside is halted until there is a wet or heated removal by hand. But I could be wrong so I will ask a demo friend this weekend.

If asbestos is in the building, it has to be removed/remediated first. But, if its in the mortar of the bricks, (which was fairly common before 1980) then you cannot remove it before demolition. My guess is that this spray is some sort of encapsulant to reduce the release of airborne asbestos particles when the building is imploded.

[Paseofreak]

Nope, absolutely not. Imploding asbestos containing veneer mortar (which has never been mentioned in my nine asbestos inspector training courses) would never be allowed because it would be reduced to dust and spread over the adjacent areas and be a huge health hazard. A surface treatment would simply not be effective as mitigation. It just wouldn't work. It would result in a huge release. I'll check with my contacts doing the work to see what the pink stuff is. I drove by there tonight and it looked to simply be paint. Perhaps to just identify the extent of the cast of the materials imploded. I.e., if no pink painted particles are found in close proximity to your damaged structure, then it wasn't caused by us.

[bombermwc]

From today.

Note the bus station basement and also the pink material they've sprayed on the buildings soon to be imploded:

There are a couple of things I find interesting from this view. 1 is that the city offices are next door to where all this activity is happening. So it's somewhat funny that they can look out their window and see everything going on in an area that's been discussed so heavily....and is within throwing distance of the failed Clayco area. 2 is that you can see the arts district garage across the street. I mention this one because so many people have gritched about these garages needing ground retail and how they're so close to the walking areas (with Devon so close too) that there's no way they wouldn't get filled. Well boys and girls, see that arts district garage? Guess what, it's retail space on the ground floor is still pretty much empty. It's a nice garage as far as garages go, and the retail space has a nice frontage...but just because we tell people to build it...it doesn't mean we have demand to fill it. And its not like we're talking a large distance away, we're talking one block. And that block is even more desirable because there's surface parking avialble right out front of the arts garage, across from a large grassy plaza, so it's got a view and calmer car traffic. And it's actually closer to more workers (ie courthouses, etc).

I totally 100% agree about the comments on the parking for employees of the buildings going in. I've worked with countless people over the years, that complained about their second commutes each day in downtown OKC. And they've all left downtown because of it. Commute 20 minutes, then walk 10, then ride the elevator another 10. If you can offer an employee a way to make parking easier, they're much happier about working there. Counter to that, still in the CBD, companies that offer free parking to their employees have people that can park in their spot, know it's theirs or at least that there's a pool for only their people, and get over to their desk in half the time. It really is a big deal to people, especially the younger, about wanting to spend as little time on the commute as possible.

[DoctorTaco]

There are a couple of things I find interesting from this view. 1 is that the city offices are next door to where all this activity is happening. So it's somewhat funny that they can look out their window and see everything going on in an area that's been discussed so heavily....and is within throwing distance of the failed Clayco area. 2 is that you can see the arts district garage across the street. I mention this one because so many people have gritched about these garages needing ground retail and how they're so close to the walking areas (with Devon so close too) that there's no way they wouldn't get filled. Well boys and girls, see that arts district garage? Guess what, it's retail space on the ground floor is still pretty much empty. It's a nice garage as far as garages go, and the retail space has a nice frontage...but just because we tell people to build it...it doesn't mean we have demand to fill it. And its not like we're talking a large distance away, we're talking one block. And that block is even more desirable because there's surface parking avialble right out front of the arts garage, across from a large grassy plaza, so it's got a view and calmer car traffic. And it's actually closer to more workers (ie courthouses, etc).

There is a ton wrong here, but I'll stick with he fact that the Arts District Garage retail is only empty because they are not done building it yet. Every day there are workers in that space finishing it out. It is 100% rented I believe. First tenants move in in September. Notably Clarity Coffee.

I don't know you Bomber, but your post borders on the willfully ignorant.