Has anybody noticed active work on the Tower Theater?
A building permit was issued a few weeks ago.
None I've seen
Same, I went by there tonight, same old crap.
Ironically, if they would just leave the doors open with a jackhammer and receptacle bins inside, many of us would probably just get them started just to see some progress that we're all yearning for on this project. Paradoxically, that would be a disaster with the waning-but-still-present homeless problem...
Hopefully the start of something very cool for Uptown 23rd street.
websitehttp://uptown23rd.com/
twitterhttps://twitter.com/#!/Uptown23rd
Uptown 23rd creating their own website and twitter for online marketing. Much needed and overdue for 23rd street. This could quickly and very easily become something like the Plaza District is doing.
Thanks for the links, Skyline! I live in the Uptown area and am excited to see all the new development.
On a related note: I've been thinking about how to create better public transit along the NW 23rd corridor, and have wondered what it would be like to have one lane of traffic set aside for buses, taxis, and bicycles only. It would require MetroTransit to increase the buses running along the route to come every 10-15 minutes, but I think it could get more people to choose public transit in the area and help increase visitors to all the new businesses going in. San Francisco has a lot of bus only lanes on big business corridors to help make bus travel more efficient. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Agree
No offense to the Plaza, but I feel like 23rd is already quite a ways ahead of the Plaza. They're both very different, if for nothing else than location...but 23rd could easily become one of the best entertainment/night-life strips in the city. Just needs a couple bars, some music, some late night restaurants, and maybe some apartments/condos on the strip (I'm looking at you, Hotel/Motel Liquidation).
Once the Tower gets cranking that strip will pretty much have turned the corner and I bet several more pieces will quickly fall into place.
Jefferson Park may end up being the best bang-for-your-buck neighborhood in OKC.
just ate a the Chinese Buffet restaurant on the corner of 23rd & Classen, right in the misdt of Sun Moon Plaza. After I finished eating, I was able to walk across the street to Chase Bank, and walk back across the street to T-Mobile. Many people were on the street walking, people waiting at bus stops, cars were bumper to bumper on 23rd, and city buses rolling by, I felt URBAN!
very nice. and yes, very urban sounding.
what time of day (and what day) was this?
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
Don't knock Plaza, they have huge street crowds.
Not that I am biased or anything, but the Plaza District is arguably the coolest neighborhood in OKC at the moment and still a fantastic bargain for your housing dollars.
I am at this intersection (23rd & Classen) nearly everyday and can tell you that this "urban" experience is almost non stop. Pick any time or any day and 23rd & Classen is crowded with cars, buses, and pedestrians. I really wish that 23rd could incorporate the bicycle lanes and adding more crosswalks that are being seen downtown.
Also I think the streetcar would be an instant success traveling along the Uptown 23rd corridor.
very good to hear, Skyline!!
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
I don't think there's any doubt that OCU would be huge, to be able to connect a university with kind of liberal arts composition to downtown. I also understand that according to data collected by the transit subcommittee, a bus route following NW 23rd all the way across is by far the city's busiest bus route. And also, supposedly the area around OCU has the highest proportion of non-car users in the city.
So if you want to talk about viable mass transit in OKC, look no further than 23rd.
If the street car could make it to OCU and make a trip to downtown a 20 minute or less proposition for OCU students, then that would be awesome. I know several people who didn't have cars while I was there, and if they could have caught a ride, that would have helped them be able to find good jobs.
I would agree that tying in 23rd along with the Capital/Health Sciences Center through the streetcar would be a complete game-changer for the urban core.
By doing so, you'd be connecting the main concentration of students along with key amenities, employers and housing areas. Let's face it, if you live in Mesta Park or HH or further south you can just walk downtown pretty easily. But not so much from OCU, Jefferson Park, the Capital and HSC.
I would think it's obvious that the Street Car Route goes from Broadway to 23rd to Classen to Reno. Downtown obviously you can go up and down the streets that make sense.
Then "Metro Transit" can focus on 23rd & Classen/Western outward. And even 23rd & Broadway to the capital. I think it would be huge if there was continual traffic to Belle Isle and the Chesapeake area from 23rd. Metro Transit just doesn't make it happen quite yet.
After being a business owner for several years in this area, having an office at the corner of 18th/Classen, I traveled 23rd daily. With my past experience and now, I would say that 23rd from Sante Fe all the way to Penn is one of the busiest and urban corridors in the city. Most of the businesses are pushed to the street on 23rd, and you see not only cars, but buses and many pedestrians all the time. They also have an urban school Dove Science Academy right off 23rd.
I live in Moore, but I work in Oklahoma City, and when I am there, 99.9% of my time is spent in the 23rd/Classen/Asian District area, and I love it. There is even a mom/pop deli I love going to on the corner of 23rd/Western called Someplace Else, been there for years, best sandwiches in the metro!
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