BOK Park Plaza

[Pete]

Thanks!! Yes, it's a drone shot from about 320' above the Dewey & California Ave area. Looking forward to posting more of these in the future, of this project and others.

Yes, please do!

Thanks.

[HOT ROD]

And we look forward to viewing your wonderful work.

Is it possible to do a drone pan-scan near the location of the tower at the final height of the building (430 feet). Also, while the drone is up there, could you take a pic of the drone just so we could see how high that will be, what it will look like from the ground nearby, and what it would look like from the top of the 'completed' tower.

I know this is a lot to ask, but this would be fascinating if you could do it.

[TU 'cane]

Thanks!! Yes, it's a drone shot from about 320' above the Dewey & California Ave area. Looking forward to posting more of these in the future, of this project and others.

We will all be looking forward to it!
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One thing I'm noticing that I never really took in before with the renderings is the footprint of this building. Is anyone else seeing that this appears to be larger than perhaps was originally anticipated? Obviously the perspective and distance need to be taken into account, but this looks to be just as wide if not more so than Oklahoma Tower? So maybe after all even an extra floor or two would have been pushing the amount of space available to levels truly unnecessary.

I always thought this was going to be a relatively skinny tower, but I'm not so sure now.

[Pete]

[Pete]

[Pete]

First level almost completed and 2nd level going up...

[baralheia]

I am very glad that this building is progressing as quickly as it is... As much as I hated to see the old buildings go away, at least the land is being used again, unlike OG&E Springs/Lake Rainey Williams. The north parking garage is going up quite quickly too, which is good to see. Please remind me, do they plan to have any ground-floor shell space in either of the two garages? This thread is so huge now I'm not quite sure where to look for that info.

[Pete]

In about another month or so, I should be able to see the top of the building appear above the trees in the view from my place.

The cranes are already visible and frame exactly where it will rise, and it will be fun to watch it grow.

[edcrunk]

[Pete]

[Richard at Remax]

I just put this pic on Skyscraperpage.com. That thread hadn't been updated since December

[Teo9969]

They clearly need that parking pretty bad (somewhat surprising after all the oil layoffs the last year). They are absolutely trucking on that garage. We should take forum bets as to how many floors they get constructed before Garage 1 opens and Garage 2.

[Bellaboo]

Walking by to the game a couple of nights ago and they still had a full crew at work a little after 6:00 pm.

[HOT ROD]

are you serious about the parking need? I see two existing parking garages that are not being utilized. ....

Does EVERY new skyscraper need to have an attached garage to be viable in Oklahoma City? Is it not possible that office workers could park elsewhere and walk to their office tower?

Eventually, OKC has a plan for Regional Mass Transit (Commuter Rail) and local transit (Streetcar/Tram, Local and Express Bus) - with office workers having these options in the next 5 years; I hope there is a plan to repurpose these garages. I wish many could be built with the idea of vertical expansion at a later date - so a highrise (office, hotel, residential or a mix) could be built on top without tearing down the garage. Vancouver actually built an office tower this way; half was built initially but it was designed to always be expanded with more floors (which did eventually happen). Could we do this so not to have to tear down garages?

[ourulz2000]

Nice pic from last week.

[Montreal]

are you serious about the parking need? I see two existing parking garages that are not being utilized. ....

Does EVERY new skyscraper need to have an attached garage to be viable in Oklahoma City? Is it not possible that office workers could park elsewhere and walk to their office tower?

Eventually, OKC has a plan for Regional Mass Transit (Commuter Rail) and local transit (Streetcar/Tram, Local and Express Bus) - with office workers having these options in the next 5 years; I hope there is a plan to repurpose these garages. I wish many could be built with the idea of vertical expansion at a later date - so a highrise (office, hotel, residential or a mix) could be built on top without tearing down the garage. Vancouver actually built an office tower this way; half was built initially but it was designed to always be expanded with more floors (which did eventually happen). Could we do this so not to have to tear down garages?

It'd be nice if at some point the city could require parking garages to be built so they could be converted to other uses in the future. I'm not sure on the engineering or cost specifics, but certain style parking garages can be converted to residential/commercial space.

We Need to Design Parking Garages With a Car-less Future in Mind - CityLab
"three key elements to an adaptable garage design are flat floors, comfortable floor-to-ceiling heights, and enough loading capacity (in other words, strength) to support another structural use. Those types of changes may cost a tiny bit more up front but will provide enormous savings down the line."

At the very least, the city could require that all public garages in the urban core meet these specifications.

[Bellaboo]

Walked by again on the way to the game Saturday evening. I noticed that on the north end of the tower they were already forming for the next floor. This thing will move up pretty fast now.

[HOT ROD]

here, here Montreal!

[Laramie]

It will be a sight to see about this time next year once the 27 story BOK Plaza, 433 ft., structure begins to rise as it shoulders can be seen as part of the skyline.

Now, the yet to be determined specs for the 600 room or more convention center conference hotel will add an additional structure to the skyline--something probably no less than 440 feet--similar to the 614 room 447 ft., downtown Fort Worth Omni.

OG&E Springs will probably become OG&E headquarters' reality as the energy sector starts to rebound. They will probably build one or two 400-425 ft., structures that will impact the skyline. Who knows, they could come up with a new design concept--roll out one 500-600 ft., structure.

Our skyline will make a dramatic change around 2020. Let's hope our local economy rebound and becomes stable; quality job creation and expansion will make OKC a well-rounded place where OKC can attract & retain young professionals, bring back many individuals who can return home and take over their parents existing homes.

[jccouger]

It will be a sight to see about this time next year once the 27 story BOK Plaza, 433 ft., structure begins to rise as it shoulders can be seen as part of the skyline.

Now, the yet to be determined specs for the 600 room or more convention center conference hotel will add an additional structure to the skyline--something probably no less than 440 feet--similar to the 614 room 447 ft., downtown Fort Worth Omni.

OG&E Springs will probably become OG&E headquarters' reality as the energy sector starts to rebound. They will probably build one or two 400-425 ft., structures that will impact the skyline. Who knows, they could come up with a new design concept--roll out one 500-600 ft., structure.

Our skyline will make a dramatic change around 2020. Let's hope our local economy rebound and becomes stable; quality job creation and expansion will make OKC a well-rounded place where OKC can attract & retain young professionals, bring back many individuals who can return home and take over their parents existing homes.

You were getting we fired up until you brought up OGE lol Not sure why you are characterizing that as "probably" still.

This project, BOK Park Plaza, is pretty underrated around here though. Easy to get bummed about what's not getting built but this will change our skyline quite a bit. This thing will be vertical in no time.

[hoya]

I'm excited about this skyscraper, and very hopeful about the conference hotel. I've kind of given up on anything happening with Lake Rainey Williams.

It's important that this city capitalize on skyscraper development. The opportunities for these kinds of buildings don't come along every day. However, I think one of the best things for this city is all the development in the 3-4 story height. OKC has an enormous amount of vacant land downtown. Now, in the last 10 years, a lot of that has been filled up (maybe half of it?). But there's still a whole lot left. As these big open spaces fill up with housing and restaurants and other things (like the Criterion that just opened), every one of those is taking up previously vacant or under-used land. Every one of those pushes property values downtown a little higher. They add people, they add excitement, they add activity. That's great. But the other thing they do, is they gradually make skyscrapers more economical.

I think this city needs about another 10 to 15 years of solid growth, adding apartments like the Metropolitan, adding townhouses like all that stuff south of St Anthony. And then as land becomes a lot more scarce, we're going to start seeing a lot more 10-20 story buildings popping up. We've got to get there organically. Like I said, another 10 to 15 years of growth like that, and then we just wait for the next oil boom. And THAT is when this city will see half a dozen skyscrapers under construction at once.

[HOT ROD]

i like the organic approach, but we don't need to wait on JUST the next oil boom for our next new skyscraper. Hopefully the city is working internationally (and nationally) for companies to relocate OR open an office in Oklahoma City. The more of those we get the easier it is to justify AND FILL UP a spec skyscraper or two.

We need to get out at all of the conventions and what not worldwide with the OKC banner, promote OKC as business friendly and a place where you can have a US presence for not much expense; and where your employees could enjoy a full 100% quality of life. Just think United woke us up about QOL 20 years ago, now OKC arguably has the best QoL compared to peer and even larger cities and it's only going to get better as more projects complete and even more announced.

I am so proud of Oklahoma City and like was mentioned, we can't rest but continue this renaissance and that means OKC needs to get out and make itself known. We have a lot to offer now, we just need to capitalize on what we've become and take it to the next level. How about in the next 10 years we have another skyscraper boom with OIL/GAS and other industries. .... I also don't understand why OKC doesn't court ENERGY companies, you know the green energy. Also, why doesn't Devon and those guys get into it.

Anyway - hopefully these ideas find good heads in the city to run with it. I'm looking forward to the results and patronizing my home town!!

[Laramie]

So the OG&E project is completely DEAD; like DOA.

If so, OG&E should surrender that parcel of land or put it on the market.

OG&E use to be one of OKC's strongest Fortune 500 companies; they are among the Fortune 1000 companies now. Completely dropped off the radar.

[OKCisOK4me]

Again, you must remember that the Omni in Fort Worth is only 15 or so stories tall. The rest of the floors are million(s) dollar condos for sale. So take about a third of that building and you have the hotel.

[Pete]

The base of the 3rd floor is going in. After this level is complete, each subsequent floor will be uniform and things should start to move at the pace of about 1 floor per week.