I read of a future project at 3 intersections of I-35 and Covell. Plans for they some hotels and a convention center. Look like they currently clearing off some land. Wonder if this is the same project.
Participating Member
I-35 and Covell
I read of a future project at 3 intersections of I-35 and Covell. Plans for they some hotels and a convention center. Look like they currently clearing off some land. Wonder if this is the same project.
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
This project has been rumored for YEARS. I don't think it's happening anymore.
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
Looks like this project may not be a rumor anymore.
http://www.edmondsun.com/local/x1168...dmond-facility
The francis tuttle expansion is new to me.
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
Great news!
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
That's great. Went from a possible shooping center or theater to a trade school for Guthrie and Luther.
Re: I-35 and Covell
I wonder what Edmond is going to do for its convention center. Is a new Francis Tuttle really needed??
Here's the rendering:
Re: I-35 and Covell
UCO's facilities are cheap and fairly nice.Originally Posted by Spartan
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
I recently heard about the new Francis Tuttle campus and I think it's fantastic! I'd much prefer that over another high-end shopping center as Edmond likes to do things...
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
I noticed that there is dirt movement at the southwest corner of Covell and I-35. Is this where the Francis Tuttle campus is going? How does this mesh with any kind of proposed retail? Anyone have a proposed site plan?
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
^^^Regarding the article posted above, to answer your first question, YES. Other questions, I can't help you with.
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Re: I-35 and Covell
I thought Francis Tuttle was going on the northeast corner.
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
Francis Tutlle is going in the Cross Timbers Office Park on the NE corner. Anyone know what is going in on the SW corner of I-35 and Covell?
Re: I-35 and Covell
Edmond doesn't have any high-end shopping centers...
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Re: I-35 and Covell
http://www.edmondsun.com/local/x1376...ut-25M-project
The Edmond Sun
May 17, 2011
Hotel developer lays out $25M project
Group says it needs city commitment soon
James Coburn The Edmond Sun
GUTHRIE — Development is proposed to open a new front door to Edmond along Interstate 35 at the Covell intersection.
John Weeman of Partners In Development gave a market, feasibility and business plan presentation to the Edmond Economic Development Authority Tuesday morning for a proposed upscale regional hotel and conference center.
A Hilton Hotel and conference center project is proposed for the northwest corner of Covell and Interstate 35, Weeman said.
Currently referenced as the Town Center of Edmond, Weeman hopes the hotel will be named the Summit of Edmond.
The $25 million project development would have four hotels, 166,000 square feet of athletic facilities, a 40,000-square-foot movie theater, 520,000 square feet of retail and a 150,000-square-foot corporate office, all on 94 acres.
“The vision I have for this is the highest quality suburban retail in the Oklahoma City marketplace,” Weeman said.
A 20,000-square-foot conference center and meeting space offers the potential of accommodating 2,000 people, Weeman said.
“When we accommodate 1,000 people in the ballrooms, it doesn’t take a mathematician to know that we have 165 guest rooms,” he said. “Even if groups are doubling up, we’re only going to be accommodating one-third of the people.”
The overflow of convention business would go to Edmond’s high-quality, limited service hotels, boosting their business, he added. Weeman would like to see the Edmond Convention & Visitors Bureau moved to the site. Downtown Edmond also would benefit economically by the Hilton Hotel and conference center enhancing awareness of the community, he added.
Eighty percent of the Oklahoma Society of Executives and the Society of Government Leaders live in Edmond, Weeman said.
“What do most association executives want to do? They want to showcase their hometown,” he explained.
This hotel would compete with the nine first-class hotels in the metro areas such as the Skirvin, Marriott and Waterford, Weeman said.
“I hate to tell you this, folks, but they are currently hosting your meetings because you don’t have the facilities here,” Weeman said of the leakage to Edmond’s tax base. A high-quality cinema experience for people to spend money should be available in Edmond, he said.
“Why should people drive to Moore?” he said.
The east and west corridor of Covell and I-35 is key to Edmond’s economic development, Weeman said. A blank palette, the northwest corner can project the appropriate level of quality to state Edmond’s quality of life, he said.
“I don’t think that 15th Street or 33rd Street represent the opportunity of Edmond to a person driving 70 mph down that road,” he said. “I think the Summit will.”
Weeman said Bayer Properties has told him they would like to establish retail at the site. And the city’s endorsement of the project is crucial, he said.
“We’re going to be at ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) next week hoping to solidify those things. I’ve asked (Mayor) Patrice Douglas to give them a call and tell them the city has endorsed this site,” Weeman said. “Patrice is a little reticent to endorse this site because she doesn’t want to limit your opportunities.”
“… If you keep all of your opportunities open and don’t focus on the opportunity to get the ball across the line, we are not going to have the retail we need to support this hotel alignment at this site when we need to,” Weeman said.
Douglas told The Sun Tuesday afternoon that she is not able to commit the City Council to any decision it has not considered or voted on.
“Secondly, I think it’s our job to support all the developments that want to come to Edmond as long as they’re quality and not to pick one over the other,” Douglas said. “What we’ve always said when I was chair at the EEDA is that we would let private development drive that effort.”
Todd McKinnis, attorney for Partners in Development, said the private side has chosen Covell and there is no other competitive site in Edmond for the hotel and conference center. Fox Lake Plaza owner Jim Tapp on 15th and I-35 has said his development is not for hospitality, said McKinnis, who also represents Tapp.
“We ask you to pick this site as the future conference center for Edmond,” McKinnis said. “If it doesn’t happen — it doesn’t happen — but picking a site finally after 15 years of due diligence I think is appropriate.”
Weeman said a gap of $6 million in additional money would need to be subsidized to make the project work. The value of such an investment return has already been proven when hotels have sold. A $6 million investment gain was made by Apple Real Estate when a similarly designed product managed by Partners in Development sold within six months of opening, he added.
“The second thing that needs to happen is we need to sit down with city leaders and say, ‘Here’s the gap. How do we close it?’” Weeman said.
Weeman told EEDA member Nick Massey the ownership of the facility has not been determined. It could include the existing Covell 35 partnership, he said. The City of Lawton is about to close a deal with Partners in Development for a hotel and conference center. This includes a $1.5 million grant to the project, Weeman said, as well as a $3.5 million eight-year term loan at a 4.5 percent rate. Lawton is also giving Partners in Development a rebate of the hotel occupancy tax.
“Over the period of time we hope to refinance the hotel much the same way we did in (Louisville),” Weeman said.
Bayer is made up of different partners than four years ago when efforts were made to focus the development on I-35 and 15th Street just north of Walmart, Weeman said.
“Bayer has told us ‘all we need is a reason to go back to the retailers and tell them why we changed our mind from 15th Street,’” Weeman said with mention of Dillards.
EEDA Executive Director Janet Yowell said she met again Monday with Bayer principal David Silverstein. And City Councilman David Miller said he values the merits of the project but it would be impossible for the city to endorse the project by Monday. A simple gesture by the city saying it is forming a committee to figure out the financing for the project would be sufficient for Bayer’s commitment for the project, Weeman said.
“I’m not asking them to give me the answer,” Weeman said. “I’m asking them to focus on the conversation so we can develop the answer.”
jcoburn@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 114
Participating Member
Re: I-35 and Covell
I'll believe it when I see it built. I don't think the Edmond City Council will do anything to help this project along. Heck I think they take pleasure in stopping most everything in this town.
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Re: I-35 and Covell
You're thinking correctly. The City Council still has the same mindset as the one sitting when they denied the mall proposal that later became Quail Springs. They'll be content letting "Downtown" be the city's "business" and the rest becoming neighborhoods. All the while driving the city downhill due to the lack of sales tax to properly fund services.
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Re: I-35 and Covell
I appreciate the city council trying to protect our property values by not letting in a bunch of cheap strip malls, but they are absolutely strangling commercial growth in this town. I would hate to own commercial property in Edmond. I would be afraid I could never do anything with it. Every time I drive into OKC to shop, which any time I want more that Walmart or Target has to offer, I just think, "why can't I spend this money in my own town?"
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Re: I-35 and Covell
What stores are you referring to? Edmond does have Spring Creek Plaza that has many stores found in the mall as well as some good stores across the street at Spring Creek Village. There are also all the main large discount department stores in Edmond.
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Re: I-35 and Covell
I do go occasionally to the Spring Creek stores, but some of the stores I have recently shopped at in OKC are Dillards, JCPenney, Macys, Williams Sonoma, Apple, Pottery Barn, J Crew, Best Buy.... the list goes on. I am not a fan of Quail Springs for anything at all. I almost always go to Penn Square if I'm going to a mall. It is so much nicer than Quail Springs and the stores are bigger with more selection.
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Re: I-35 and Covell
Sounds like these guys are really familiar with Edmond <sarcasm>Town Center of Edmond
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