Omni Hotel

[Laramie]

Pete's 250 ft., height should be about right. Nashville's 23 story Omni has accommodations for 800 well-appointed guest rooms and 54 luxurious suites.

Despite the fact that it's not as tall as the Nashville J. W. Marriott (35 story/385 ft.,); the Marriott boasts just 600 luxury hotel rooms.



Omni Hotel (600 rooms) and apartment tower - 480 ft., structure will be the 3rd tallest building in Louisville.

200 or so apartments where added to the top floor of the Louisville Omni between the first and last proposals. You never know it might get a little more height before it's all over.

Not an impossibility . . .

Anxious to see what Omni has proposed for the OKC's new convention center site; it could get better. The convention center complex combined might exceed the $475 million.

[catch22]

Excited to see the renderings. Sounds like this will be more of a wider footprint building than a tall one. Which is fine. This will be our only skyscraper south of Reno.

[UnFrSaKn]

https://twitter.com/slackscom/status/779702319591981057

[Pete]

I know these are only preliminary renderings but the design is very uninspired.

Basically a glass 19-story box.

The 2-story base looks like it could be interesting, but compared to other Omni's, this looks very plain.


This isn't just a case of liking / not liking a private development. Taxpayers will be chipping in at least $85 million for this.

[Laramie]

Recall how disappointed we were with the BOK Park Plaza under construction--a glass box; until we found out that OG&E's project had fallen through the cracks. Seems as though its (BOKPP) construction has generated a lot of interest of late.

Sure it's nothing fancy. OKC has always been a plain Jane; above a second-hand Rose. Now we should see all the pieces to this puzzle fall in place which includes the parking piece. Looks about OKC's speed, nothing fancy or overly impressive.

Will reserve comment until the final draft is complete.

[TU 'cane]

Well... if those are indeed preliminary, one may argue the final design and height may not stray *too much*. I recall trying to tell people not to expect something massive and that it'd probably be on the shorter/smaller end and had my wrists slapped earlier in this thread.

Now, I will await any further critical judgment until final renderings, but we're probably getting a glimpse of what's to come. I could still stand corrected by the end of this phase if they throw on another 10 floors. We'll see.

Thanks for the updates everyone.

[G.Walker]

I mean its not that bad, I wasn't expecting anything more that 20 stories, final designs might change it completely, but it has my stamp of approval, lol.
Does it state who is the design architect?

[David]

That is disappointing, at the very least I was hoping for something like the Omni down in Dallas.

[OKCRT]

That is disappointing, at the very least I was hoping for something like the Omni down in Dallas.

At least if it's going to be a boring glass box I wish it were a tall glass box. Or something like the Clayco pipe dream would be nice.

[Laramie]

That is disappointing, at the very least I was hoping for something like the Omni down in Dallas.

Dallas Omni is a 1,001 room hotel, cost $500 million

Dallas is a tier I level convention city ranks 9th among U.S. cities.

OKC's Omni will cost a total of $235 million; Oklahoma City ranks as high as a tier III, IV level convention city; hopefully, with a new convention center-hotel complex we could move up. OKC geography (central location) will be attractive for some major tier II level future conventions.

[skanaly]

Just thought this was a funny coincidence...this is just my place holder I rendered before final rendering were released. Pretty similar. I try to be as realistic as I can with OKC...and a 300 ft. tower just didn't seem like was realistic at all.

[UnFrSaKn]

http://m.newsok.com/rooms-to-grow-ci...9?rotator=true

[HOT ROD]

my thoughts: I am very disappointed at the proposed height of this civic funded hotel. Given the footprint I thought there is no way a 750 room convention headquarters hotel would not be at least 25 floors/300 feet tall. Here we're underwhelmed with "preliminary" designs that say 19 floors with a HUGE podium and JUST LIKE the 4th and Broadway modern residential 'tower' of 17 floors that was prelim and is now final - I too expect this Omni preliminary to be the final.

Look. Just because OKC is a Tier II or III or whatever city doesn't mean that OKC can't have Tier I facilities. Dallas is a top tier city not because of the Omni Dallas hotel but because of all of its facilities put together and likely those also in FtW - OMNI Dallas just being the Headquarters hotel for the main convention center of the market.

I get so sick of people saying OKC isn't a Tier I city so we should settle for 2nd best/2nd rate venues. Even given OKC is not Dallas, that shouldn't stop OKC from having one or two facilities to COMPETE with Dallas on some level or attract overflow from Dallas. Milwaukee is a great example, Chicago is truly a Tier I world class city and MKE is less than 100 miles away yet MKE has a few great venues and facilities that attract events on their own and compete with Chicago at some level (cost, availability, accessibility, etc).

Portland another example; Seattle being a prime Tier II market has competition from Vancouver and SF (both Tier I world class cities/facilities); yet all three NW cities have great facilities and compete with each other; Seattle didn't give up to Vancouver and SF, and Portland didn't give up to Seattle. In fact, Vancouver was already #1 but expanded its convention center prior to 2010 (supposed to be a model for OKC) and Seattle is now expanding their cc; and I'd argue that Portland's cc is better situated than Seattle's and far better connected (by rail) like Vancouver's is.

Just like our very own Tulsa doesn't just settle and competes very well against the much larger and connected OKC; there's countless of these examples yet its OKC so we need to always play second fiddle and can't have/support a top tier hotel tower.

BTW: I'd argue that Dallas is a prime Tier II city and that only NY, Chicago, LA, Vegas, and Orlando (and maybe SF) are Tier I Convention cities in this country.

[dankrutka]

The Dallas Omni is 282 feet. I don't think height matters near as much as the room count and street level interaction next to the park.

[ljbab728]

The Dallas Omni is 282 feet. I don't think height matters near as much as the room count and street level interaction next to the park.

I agree. While I would have liked a hotel with more height, there are a number of factors that are much more important than that. This is typical OKC Talk. It really doesn't matter what is proposed. It will immediately come under fire for not being good enough.

[Laramie]

The Devon Energy Tower set the bar high for any mid-rise or high-rise proposed for the city. It increased our appetite for quality & quantity combined.



People don't understand what's involved in operating a convention center anchored with an adjacent convention hotel to make it more attractive for convention room blocks of 300-500. OKC went for what they thought they could achieve through a 2009 December MAPS III vote; which happened to be the most financially viable route. Remember, the convention center was the least publicly popular yet most expensive project among those proposed for MAPS III; so, what you pay for is what you get.

Hot Rod, like you said:

Even given OKC is not Dallas, that shouldn't stop OKC from having one or two facilities to COMPETE with Dallas on some level or attract overflow from Dallas.

There's hope for future growth. The site selected does have room for future expansion which could include an expanded convention center and second hotel (if needed) on site. The convention center if successful could 'jump start' OKC into a whole new era where we won't have to depend on MAPS funds for the convention center--much like the new arena proposed for the fairgrounds.

[ChrisHayes]

I remember everyone hating BOK Park Plaza's design when it came out, but now a lot of people love watching it take shape. I don't mind the design of the hotel too much. I think there's maybe some stuff they could do to give it a bit more flare. I don't know what, as I'm not an architect but we'll see. The design doesn't matter as much as the operation. Convention holders aren't going to be like "the hotel isn't as nice looking as the one in Dallas, so we'll go there." It's an Omni Hotel, so that alone says something. At least it's a Super 8!

[G.Walker]

The original study suggested at least 650 rooms, but it's only 600. The more rooms, the better so I think we have a chance for this project to expand to at least 20 floors, adding the additional 50 rooms. At least, we are not getting the design from the other hotelier, look liked something from the 70's!

[Pete]

A report to be delivered to the city council lists an array of options for funding the subsidy that include property, hotel and sales tax increment financing, a ground lease and revenues from the city's mortgage and lease with Marcus Hotels for the Skirvin Hilton.

Those sources, along with potential funding from the city's economic development bonds are estimated to total at least $72.9 million.

“The majority of the subsidy will come from taxes generated by the hotel itself,” O'Connor said. “That will be the first thing we will look at.”

My understanding is the public funds will come from yet another TIF created just from the hotel, taking money from existing TIF(s), redirecting the sales tax generated by the hotel (another form of TIF), redirecting part of the hotel/motel tax generated by the hotel (effectively another part of TIF), GOLT Bond money, some of the Skirvin proceeds, and that they will actually seek a vote of the people (required) to raise the overall hotel/motel tax and rental car tax.

And still, that is only about $70 million, so they'll be well short.

AND, this does not include the City buying the land for millions then leasing it back to them (not sure of cost but likely favorable or very favorable) and also building a $37 MM parking garage and leasing it to them for next to nothing.

I will soon total up the total public costs for the convention center and hotel as this is getting to be staggering sums.

[Pete]

Also very interesting that Cathy O'Connor gives this report to the Oklahoman before it is given to the City Council who is to vote on this on Tuesday.

[TU 'cane]

Looking at Laramie's post at the top of the page for Louisville's Omni, they're including apartments which adds signifcantly to the scope.

Omni is quoted as saying they want their hotel in downtown OKC as being integrated with the rest of downtown and what's to come (central park). Queue the glass box?

One question: what is a "headquarters hotel?"

[ChrisHayes]

From what I can tell, a headquarters hotel is just another name for a convention center hotel; hotel next to or attached to a convention center.

[Laramie]

Headquarters hotel?

Place to accommodate convention and trade show business visitors. The hotel will facilitate a vibrant, authentic and walkable urban experience.

[OKCRT]

The original study suggested at least 650 rooms, but it's only 600. The more rooms, the better so I think we have a chance for this project to expand to at least 20 floors, adding the additional 50 rooms. At least, we are not getting the design from the other hotelier, look liked something from the 70's!

At least 650 rooms according to the study so ideally 700-750 would be on the mark. But we get less that the study suggested. People should demand better. 700 rooms and 25 stories should prob. be the minimum accepted.

[Pete]

This hotel will be 600 rooms.