OU College of Medicine

[HangryHippo]

Do you mean they've torn up the existing parking lot?

There hasn't been any building permits issued for this project as of yet.

Yes, that parking lot is all ripped out and the heavy machinery is reworking the ground and there's framing up around the west side of the site.

[Pete]

Yes, that parking lot is all ripped out and the heavy machinery is reworking the ground and there's framing up around the west side of the site.

If you could get a photo at some point it would be greatly appreciated.

Can't find any building permits for this.

[HangryHippo]

If you could get a photo at some point it would be greatly appreciated.

Can't find any building permits for this.

Sure, I'll snap some this afternoon.

[Pete]

Sure, I'll snap some this afternoon.

Don't go too far out of your way as PluPan just sent me a few that I will post.

Looks like they are doing a lot of site work; perhaps they have a building permit and I just can't find it.

[LakeEffect]

Don't go too far out of your way as PluPan just sent me a few that I will post.

Looks like they are doing a lot of site work; perhaps they have a building permit and I just can't find it.

If it's state-owned land, do they technically need a building permit?

[Pete]

If it's state-owned land, do they technically need a building permit?

I honestly don't know... Didn't realize in that situation they may be exempted.


You would think they would at least have some sort of public ground breaking.

[Pete]

Okay, I have the scoop on this project.

Manhattan Construction has the contract and they are obviously already working on site and structural work. They have several sub-contractor bid packages out for the entire development.

There will be a 9-story building with a 5-story atrium and an attached 5-level parking garage. It will also have a skywalk connecting to the buildings to the north and east.

Will serve as a great entrance for the whole Health Science Center campus.

[Spartan]

Great except for the skywalk.

[Richard at Remax]

its ok not to have to walk outside sometimes, esp when weather is bad. this is a hospital complex, not a vibrant urban center

[Spartan]

Exactly. It's not a vibrant urban center.

[jccouger]

Patients will need to be transported, the skywalk is fine when its serves a logical & functional purpose to the operations of building.

[coov23]

Exactly. It's not a vibrant urban center.

Sick patients don't need to be out in the weather. Not everything has to have an urban feel to it. Even hospitals in the NE have skywalks. It's smart and keeps patients in confined environments.

[Rover]

Exactly. It's not a vibrant urban center.

Exactly. It is a vibrant MEDICAL center that happens to be in a city. It isn't intended to be a mixed use area. You don't go get cancer treatments, then go have a drink or 10, eat a taco or two, and then go walk the street window shopping til 10 at night.

[Just the facts]

Exactly. It is a vibrant MEDICAL center that happens to be in a city. It isn't intended to be a mixed use area. You don't go get cancer treatments, then go have a drink or 10, eat a taco or two, and then go walk the street window shopping til 10 at night.

The number of healthy employees/students/customers/vendors/visitors is orders of magnitude greater than the number of sick patients. Anyhow, I gave up on everything east of I-235 so they can build whatever the hell they want over there. The urbanist have St Anthony's where we can see a friend AND get a good burger - without having to own a car.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-citys-st....rticle/3737360

[LakeEffect]

Patients will need to be transported, the skywalk is fine when its serves a logical & functional purpose to the operations of building.

This is a college of medicine. I'm 99% sure there won't be any patient transfers via the skywalk.

[Pete]

There are several restaurants on the HSC campus that don't require a car to access.

[Pete]

Also, they closed off 2 full blocks of Stanton L. Young Boulevard and created a great park and campus setting:

[HangryHippo]

Work well underway:

[Spartan]

Exactly. It is a vibrant MEDICAL center that happens to be in a city. It isn't intended to be a mixed use area. You don't go get cancer treatments, then go have a drink or 10, eat a taco or two, and then go walk the street window shopping til 10 at night.

No, it's not a vibrant medical center. It's not a turquoise medical center either. We feel compelled to use a descriptive adjective but some don't make sense. At a certain point "medical" describes what kind of "center" it simply is. We need to stop trying to call everything vibrant or demand that it change if we can't.

I just made an understated comment to point out how we give this farcical gesture to wanting the OUHSC to be part of the city. We talk about scrutiny for development like the hotel project or a transit component linking it's jobs and more jobs at the Capitol to workforce housing downtown. We talk about a lot of things in these silos.

[Spartan]

The number of healthy employees/students/customers/vendors/visitors is orders of magnitude greater than the number of sick patients. Anyhow, I gave up on everything east of I-235 so they can build whatever the hell they want over there. The urbanist have St Anthony's where we can see a friend AND get a good burger - without having to own a car.

Oklahoma City's St. Anthony Hospital prepares to build $53 million expansion | News OK

This makes a lot of sense. Believe it or not, people who aren't in excruciating pain visit medical centers. Most who are there actually aren't in any pain, other than the emotional pain of trudging through bad urbanism to reach these places. ADA access is a very important component of urbanism, and it isn't served well by suburbanism. That is just to address the point of anti urbanity brought up.

That is all besides my point. I am talking about ideas out there, shared by many if not most people reading this, of what to do with the OUHSC. Some people talk about the hotel project being a waste and the streetcar needing to go deeper in along Lindsay to give it a neighborhood spine. When you tear down the silos and evaluate all of this in a single stream of consciousness it becomes patently obvious you serve the area with a simple stop or two on Lincoln en route up to the Capitol and be done with it.

[Just the facts]

I don't think we should serve the HSC at all with a streetcar. If they want to be suburban I don't want to waste a single dollar trying to urbanize it. That money would be better spent getting mass transit to places that are built to make mass transit succeed and who want to actively participate in place-making. In 10 years when they change their mind they can fund the streetcar expansion themselves.

[HangryHippo]

I don't think we should serve the HSC at all with a streetcar. If they want to be suburban I don't want to waste a single dollar trying to urbanize it. That money would be better spent getting mass transit to places that are built to make mass transit succeed and who want to actively participate in place-making. In 10 years when they change their mind they can fund the streetcar expansion themselves.

If you were going to try and urbanize this area, specifically the HSC campus, what would you do right now? What specific changes would you make?

[Pete]

I don't think we should serve the HSC at all with a streetcar. If they want to be suburban I don't want to waste a single dollar trying to urbanize it. That money would be better spent getting mass transit to places that are built to make mass transit succeed and who want to actively participate in place-making. In 10 years when they change their mind they can fund the streetcar expansion themselves.

It's way more dense and urban than OCU's campus. Are you against the streetcar going there?

[Rover]

I don't think we should serve the HSC at all with a streetcar. If they want to be suburban I don't want to waste a single dollar trying to urbanize it. That money would be better spent getting mass transit to places that are built to make mass transit succeed and who want to actively participate in place-making. In 10 years when they change their mind they can fund the streetcar expansion themselves.

Using a carrot is better than beating with a stick. Rather than punish, why not start making infrastructure that facilitates density instead of demanding density and THEN putting the infrastructure in. You seem to be saying "To heck with you. If you won't do it my way, I'll take my ball and go."

[catch22]

In a world with infinite money, Streetcar to the HSC is a definite.

But, right now, we have so many different areas that are ready for it (or will soon be when the funding is there).

Plaza and 23rd street come to mind. I particularly love the idea of going through ClassenTenPenn to get to the plaza. Dynamite idea.

If the option came up to go to OUHSC or the Plaza, it should be no contest. Perhaps some federal grant can get us to the OUHSC via a Capitol line. If we are spending our own money, several districts, for me, come at a higher priority than OUHSC.

Edit: In fact, a 10th street crosstown line would be awesome. Go right by GE into the HSC, and on the west side it goes through ClassenTenPenn on the way to Plaza. Let the state or feds pay for the east side line to the capitol/HSC, and MAPS pay to the CTp-Plaza.