BOK Park Plaza

[shawnw]

I asked Eric Wenger about this once at a public meeting and he said (paraphrasing of course) P180 wasn't about never ripping up the streets again as much as it was to make it easier/quicker/cheaper to do so when work needed to be done without impacting as much stuff.

[s00nr1]

No words...

[traxx]

No words...

[HangryHippo]

That beige garage really detracts from the tower. Also, a 27 story tower surrounded by 10 story parking garages sure makes for a short, sh*tty looking tower.

[Sancho]

That beige garage really detracts from the tower. Also, a 27 story tower surrounded by 10 story parking garages sure makes for a short, sh*tty looking tower.

Looks fine.

[Bellaboo]

That beige garage really detracts from the tower. Also, a 27 story tower surrounded by 10 story parking garages sure makes for a short, sh*tty looking tower.

I can see it from miles away and I don't even notice the parking garages.

[HangryHippo]

Looks fine.

No, it actually doesn't.

[dankrutka]

Hopefully there's something else coming because those garages are awful... Looking at this development in relation to its surroundings just reminds me how terrible this parking garage district is...

[Spartan]

Sure beats those janky old buildings with weird design features. Where else is someone supposed to park? Besides the EK Gaylord parking garage district... or the 4th Street parking garage district...

[Anonymous.]

We as a community and this board specifically need to push especially hard for high and best use on the Stage Center site. It is literally the only parcel left that has the ability to attempt any linking of the heart of CBD and Film Row.

[ABCOKC]

Where else is someone supposed to park? Besides the EK Gaylord parking garage district... or the 4th Street parking garage district...

This is the most bizarre and frustrating aspect of the whole thing. Parking garages are at best placeholders which sustain the urban fabric just well enough not to be a pain (Arts District Garage), and at worst create dead blocks (Sante Fe, Sheridan-Walker, Metro Parking, etc.), break up the street grid (Devon and Sante Fe), and are generally just massive eyesores (pick one).

Honestly, if we could just sacrifice one part of downtown and make it the parking garage district, that'd be fine. But since the norm - no, the expectation - here is that people always be able to park adjacent (or very close) to their destinations, we end up with a nice clump of garages in every reasonably dense part of downtown.

This doesn't mean these two garages in particular don't need to exist - they do, as long as +95% of the people who work here are commuting by car. The answer to the parking garage problem isn't to just slap a Dunkin Donuts at the bottom of all of them and pretend they aren't there, it's to (1) have more people living downtown (i.e. within walking and biking distance of their destinations) and (2) have a usable public transportation system so people can get to their destination without having to park a car anywhere.

Whatever, though. With self-driving cars just a few decades from ubiquity, the problem will solve itself at some point and we can get to tearing all the garages down.

[Anonymous.]

The issue is [lack of] money and developers with the balls to make parking garages mixed-use. If these garages all had 10 stories of residential on top, I would actually encourage them as a whole. The fact they are just concrete monoliths in prime real estate just shows how spineless the standards are here. Hell, throw a retail spot at the bottom of one that could eventually be an urban grocery store, magically the parking is already in place!

OKC allows developers to come in with scrape-by designs so some investors can rake in off concrete blocks with little overhead. It's hard to blame the developers when the design standards make it so easy.

[OKCRT]

Drove by the BOK Tower a while ago and it just doesn't seem that tall. I guess maybe because it is close to the Giant Devon Tower but BOK seems pretty short. I understand it prob. has another 40-50 feet to go with the Crown and all but still. Another 100 foot would do the trick. I think they missed the mark on what the skyline could have been.

[Bellaboo]

Drove by the BOK Tower a while ago and it just doesn't seem that tall. I guess maybe because it is close to the Giant Devon Tower but BOK seems pretty short. I understand it prob. has another 40-50 feet to go with the Crown and all but still. Another 100 foot would do the trick. I think they missed the mark on what the skyline could have been.

I don't think they had the 'skyline' in mind when their business needs were evaluated. It is (height wise) what it is.

I think when we see the 3 story crown lit up at night it will have a lot of appeal.

[OKCRT]

I don't think they had the 'skyline' in mind when their business needs were evaluated. It is (height wise) what it is.

I think when we see the 3 story crown lit up at night it will have a lot of appeal.

They should have had the skyline in mind when planning this IMO. The City should have urged them to go a little taller to help balance out the skyline. Lets hope a 550-600 footer is built next door at the stage site.

[Sancho]

We as a community and this board specifically need to push especially hard for high and best use on the Stage Center site. It is literally the only parcel left that has the ability to attempt any linking of the heart of CBD and Film Row.

Is that a priority somehow? Film row exists... there is a street running from the CBD to/through Film Row... in what way would a building "link" them?

[Ross MacLochness]

Is that a priority somehow? Film row exists... there is a street running from the CBD to/through Film Row... in what way would a building "link" them?

He probably means in terms of people walking. It is less likely for a family to walk down a street lined with lifeless and potentially dangerous parking garages than it is for them to walk past shops, restaurants, parks, etc..

[TU 'cane]

He probably means in terms of people walking. It is less likely for a family to walk down a street lined with lifeless and potentially dangerous parking garages than it is for them to walk past shops, restaurants, parks, etc..

Yep. The original meaning of Anon's post is that it's a calling for true urbanism to help connect the flow from Film Row into downtown. Thus increasing walkability, viability, etc.

It's going to be jarring walking from a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood into a street lined with hideous parking garages.

[Pete]

Hopefully they can get some ground level retail in there and help break that up a bit.

[stratosphere]

What they really need to do is build a 40 story parking garage, that would solve all of the problems; parking, lack of sky scrapers, and save film row.

[OKCRT]

What they really need to do is build a 40 story parking garage, that would solve all of the problems; parking, lack of sky scrapers, and save film row.

I think your on to something. Flying cars would also help.

[Spartan]

This is the most bizarre and frustrating aspect of the whole thing. Parking garages are at best placeholders which sustain the urban fabric just well enough not to be a pain (Arts District Garage), and at worst create dead blocks (Sante Fe, Sheridan-Walker, Metro Parking, etc.), break up the street grid (Devon and Sante Fe), and are generally just massive eyesores (pick one).

Honestly, if we could just sacrifice one part of downtown and make it the parking garage district, that'd be fine. But since the norm - no, the expectation - here is that people always be able to park adjacent (or very close) to their destinations, we end up with a nice clump of garages in every reasonably dense part of downtown.

This doesn't mean these two garages in particular don't need to exist - they do, as long as +95% of the people who work here are commuting by car. The answer to the parking garage problem isn't to just slap a Dunkin Donuts at the bottom of all of them and pretend they aren't there, it's to (1) have more people living downtown (i.e. within walking and biking distance of their destinations) and (2) have a usable public transportation system so people can get to their destination without having to park a car anywhere.

Whatever, though. With self-driving cars just a few decades from ubiquity, the problem will solve itself at some point and we can get to tearing all the garages down.

We will need to see if MAPS 4 will leave some money left over from the next convention and horse race money grab for mass transit matching funds. Mass transit is the only thing that will meaningfully connect our the revitalization happening in the neighborhoods to increased activity downtown.

The flip side of that is the recent Brookings report that showed OKC as one of the worst cities in the nation for job sprawl, with our CBD actually losing share of metro jobs relative to suburban locations. We incentivize this when we give Paycom some awesome tax incentives to expand on memorial road, along w most other economic development deals we make.

As for this site, what I find to be incredibly sad is that before Devon, we could have easily reconnected Main Street and had solid historic storefronts all the way from Bricktown to Film Row. Instead we have a parking garage district that we have to thank them for every time their name is mentioned.

As if they're gonna be treated like oil royalty by any other major city... luckily letting SandRidge demolish the north side of downtown including the Braniff/KerrMac and India Temple bldg's definitely panned out for us. Look at the thousands of jobs they created and how that beautiful green space is the talk of the design world with crowds flocking to be seen in SandRidge Commons or whatever it's called at this point (Foreclosure Forest? Credit Downgrade Commons? Poorhouse Park?)

[soonerwilliam]

Sure is a lot of doom and gloom being talked about........

[Rover]

Fortunately we still have local investors and developers who aren't as negative. It is easy to be critical on a board. It takes courage to put up real money and take real risks.

[Eddie1]

Fortunately we still have local investors and developers who aren't as negative. It is easy to be critical on a board. It takes courage to put up real money and take real risks.

Thought this for years while reading this site, you said it perfectly.