What Developers are making the most positive impact on OKC?

[trison]

I was having a philosophical discussion this morning with a friend on how OKC was progressing. We both agreed that real estate developers have the greatest impact on what our city looks like. I would like peoples opinions of what developers are helping or hindering OKC. I think it's great that Marv Ellard took on the Sieber Hotel renovation and Dick Tannenbaum tackled the converion of the Montgomery and Park Harvey. I just think it would be interesting to get everyone's view on today's developers and who is really contributing to OKC future and he will be remind in years to come.

[Misty]

Grant Humphreys for building the first LEED certified housing community in Oklahoma (Block 42).

[metro]

I think Grant Humphreys will be one of the best developers OKC has seen so far. Marva Ellard as trison mentioned is also starting to make a mark and hopefully will announce a MidTown hotel soon. I was having a philosophical conversation last night about Humphrey's Block 42 project. While LEED certified (which we need more of), overall, the project isn't really spectacular or that much of a showpiece, especially if you see it from I-235, it doesn't stand out too much. We need more developers to design something to look nice for decades and design ICONS, not trends. Just some thoughts.

[glennp]

I would not say its a hinder, however, I feel many of our new buildings and housing are missing the character and charm of decades before. Art Deco period left the largest impact on Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

My dream is one day I would wake up to see housing and buildings with the individual character which makes you stare in amazement. However, this dream might not ever come true because the cost to achieve these details is substantial. Which means that a developer would not make 10K to 20K per house but instead 5K to 8K. That is not a true statistic just how I feel about it.

[trison]

I like the fact the Dick Tanenbaum took existing buildings that we basically non-functioning office buildings and readapted them to another use. Also Randy Hogan took a chance in Bricktown and spent a lot of money in the area to help it become what it is today (good or bad).

[Pete]

Greg Banta and Anthony McDermid get my vote.

[trison]

Midtown is definitely making progress!

[onthestrip]

Aren't there more developers than just the downtown housing people? So a couple guys are building a few housing complexes, which any success is yet to be seen, so what else are they doing?