The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

It just dawned on me this morning that I haven't seen a post about this on here.

SandRidge Energy, the same group that bought Tulsa-based Arena Resources, is planning a downtown OKC campus and if their plans are approved, will result in the destruction of six of Oklahoma City's oldest structures, including the India Temple, the oldest building still standing in downtown. Five of the six buildings will be razed not for new buildings (and not because they are structurally unsound) but for landscaped plazas.

Preserve Oklahoma and scores of dedicated citizens and groups like Keep Downtown Urban (www.keepdowntownurban.com (http://www.keepdowntownurban.com)) have made appeals to the Downtown Design Review Committee’s approval of plans by SandRidge Energy to raze the six buildings. Yes, that's right--the plans have already been rubber-stamped. That's where we come in: we all need to take a moment and write a letter to the Oklahoma City Board of Adjustment in opposition of this project.

Early on in the process, the plans called for renovation of buildings instead of demolition, and the lead architect for the project made several statements touting how "green" the project was:



Folks, we can't let this happen. I'm probably the last person to ever defend Oklahoma City (especially given the many ways the State Legislature has found to "stick it" to Tulsa over the last 103 year) but this is an entirely different matter. We would be throwing a fit, raising hell and demanding action if this were in our city, and I hope we do the same for our cousin down the road.

The Board of Adjustment has the choice of affirming, reversing or modifying the design committee’s decision. All three actions could then be appealed by either side through district court. The Board of Adjustment can also send the matter back for more deliberation by the design committee.

Write a letter in support of the reversal of the design committee's decision:

Board of Adjustment
c/o Kathe Casula
420 W. Main Street
Ste. 9210
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

email: kathe.casula@okc.gov

This has already happened.  They just haven't moved in the bulldozers yet.

We (Tulsa) have never thrown a fit when some big company wanted to bulldoze an old building and build something new.  Even as recently as the old Shrine Temple downtown, which was sold to build condo's.  (Yuck!)

The Shriner's know best whether to continue to use it or not, and that is most definitely their choice, but maybe the city should have looked at buying it from them instead of letting some developer dig it up.  That was a beautiful building.  Now look at what is there.

I'm just waiting for someone to throw around "jobs", "development", and maybe "progress" so we can get rid of that old Brady theater.  And let's throw in Cain's for good measure.

Yes, the project was given a green light by the Design Review Committee, but the decision is still being appealed as far as I know.

Honestly, I'm a bit torn.

This certainly isn't good for historic preservation or the urbanization of OKC. For that aspect, I am very opposed to this development.

However, the other side of me is okay with it, because it gives Tulsa another advantage in which we ARE preserving (or at least starting to preserve) our buildings and ARE offering (or at least starting to offer) a more urban environment.

Is that weird?

Yes, it is. I understand where you're coming from, but I think this situation is above any kind of inter-city competition and shouldn't be viewed as Tulsa gaining the upper-leg because of destruction of some of Oklahoma City's oldest structures...

Some fascinating developments last night:


Read the rest:

http://www.newsok.com/sandridge-issues-warning/article/3469383

This doesn't have anything directly to do with Tulsa, but it's fascinating to watch this struggle play out.  Many of us have argued for the same kind of demolition restrictions as exist in OKC.  Now we're going to see whether such restrictions/review committees actually have their intended effect, or whether they fold when pushed by people with money and differing interest and are thus fairly worthless.

Also--when are these "plazas" going to go out of style???  They are just blank spaces that no one uses and that contribute to a feeling of emptiness in an urban area.

There is plenty of space in the Warren Place towers where Citgo/SemGroup had large amounts of office space for Sandridge to move.  No one will care what they do there.   ;)

Truthfully I hope the buildings are preserved and Sandridge remains in downtown OKC.  I wish this same amount of ferver had existed when they demolished the Skelly building in 2004, or the many buildings during urban renewal in the 60's and 70's.

Well what's fascinating to me is that OKC's Downtown Design Review Committee, the board charged with reviewing proposed demolition, unanimously approved Sandridge's proposal.  It's their Board of Adjustment that's holding things up.

So my question is, what's the point of a Downtown Design Review Committee if it's simply going to rubber stamp the demolition of historic buildings?  A committee operating in a similar manner wouldn't saved the Skelly Building in 2004.

Honest question, does downtown Tulsa have a design review committee?  I know Oklahoma City has one for downtown and another one for Bricktown.  If Tulsa has something like that you never hear about it.  Downtown, Brookside, and Cherry Street should all have such a committee.

Nope.  Nothing of the sort.  Closest thing are the neighborhood historical preservation districts.

That's hard to believe.  Is there any kind of movement to have something like that downtown? 

What's the purpose?  Have you taken a close look at how TMAPC works?  This would eventually be populated with pro-development advocates and become one more rubber stamp. I hate to sound apathetic, but it's hard not to be when I've watched how things get done around here for 40 plus years.

Hey guys. I'm actually one of the preservationists that are causing the huge flack. I am tired and worn out from all the appeals and all the meetings..I've been to 3 public meetings to deal with this thing (which last for hours and hours each, during the day), written countless letters, and even presented in the first Board of Adjustment meeting. We will win eventually, but I want everyone to win, including SandRidge. This company is refusing to work with anyone despite their rhetoric they mockingly push at us that they are model corporate citizens. Their lawyer is the biggest a**hole in the world, as well.

So far we've lost on 4/6 of the buildings, which they approved at the last meeting. We have a really strong possibility to save the ones that matter the most, though. The KerMac bldg at the corner of RSK and Robinson is historic, and the original headquarters of Kerr McGee--a company whose legacy apparently SandRidge detests. The India Temple is a 1902 building with a false facade that can be removed. This building also served as the state capitol while they were building the current building on Lincoln. There have been numerous developers in the last few years who attempted to renovate these bldgs, problem is they have not been on the market for decades. One group had financing in place and they had a deal with KMG that fell through when they got bought out. Now they're going to be gone forever, despite the awesome potential for lofts and a boutique hotel that will pump huge amounts of life into our DEAD DEAD DEAD downtown core.

I would really appreciate some help from people in Tulsa who care about downtowns. I have cared about you guys' downtown, I have supported a lot of your local businesses, and I've posted thousands of photos of Tulsa on other urban forums. It would be great if we could get some support from up the turnpike. People with power already razed 50 blocks for their superblock urban renewal projects. Now they're wanting to raze whatever is left, and this is the biggest stand we've taken since the 1970s. We lost then, I hope we don't lose again. If we do, I will seriously be looking for a new place to call home.

What would you like us to do?

Just write a short email, it can be one or two sentences. Talk about how you're tired of being bullied around by property owners with no vision for the city, how you wish Tulsa had the ordinances OKC had, how we have the potential to make a stance and be a significant example in the fight against urban renewal.

The email address is kathe.casula@okc.gov and all emails she gets are logged and put in the public record. SandRidge is coercing letters of support from everyone they can.

Sent my letter a few days back (when I started the thread). I pulled a lot of arguments from Jane Jacobs--pretty substantial arguments, I think. I'll do all I can.


That's why I created this thread and have been posting all over facebook about it. It's sickening that this kind of stuff would happen in 2010. Did we not learn our lessons in the 60s and 70s?


Are you talking about current-day things or what went on decades ago?

I nominate "Uprising" by Muse as the preservationist theme song.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtZV5XdfqrI[/youtube]

spartan, keep us informed on the latest, and let us know what else we can do.

I sent a letter too.  I lived in Oklahoma City for a time and really enjoyed seeing downtown come alive with Bricktown and other areas getting revitalized.  Just like Tulsa it seems like it's always one step ahead and two steps backwards on urban-related issues.  Who knows we may need OKC's help saving the Tulsa Club building one of these days...

I guess I will have to go back through Bricktown - haven't been there since Christmas.  At that time it was a half empty shell - lots of vacancies, so all that development didn't lead to lasting enterprise.  Kind of like the Riverwalk thing in Jenks was about the same time.

Sad.

You might give it another chance, I think you'll be pleased. Bricktown is extremely seasonal, too. The retailers and restaurants that have embraced that have lasted a long time.

Don't get me wrong (at least too much...).  I like Bricktown area and the Riverwalk area in Tulsa both very well.  And I definitely wish the people with shops there (especially the restaurants!!) well, because I like to frequent those type of places.

The problem I have with both relates more to the hype surrounding them from the respective city officials.  Playing one against the other as sales point to get big, stupid spending/taxing things going.  "Next big thing" syndrome for the 21st century.  Blechh...

The fact that it's seasonal is part of why I don't think it's a very sustainable district--it's not just seasonal, it's truly only thriving on weekends. In any development or redevelopment like that, if it's to be successful over the very long term, there HAS to be a substantial mixture of uses and users over the period of a day and week. That means it can't just be retail and entertainment--it has to include substantial residential, office and service components, as well. 'Substantial' is the key word. Without a good mix of those things, any development is only going to thrive on the weekends... and most businesses (services, entertainment, offices, retail, restaurants, etc.) cannot survive on a weekend tidal wave alone.

Anyway--what's the latest word on SandRidge, Spartan?

The problem with that is that nobody is willing to do anything. For some reason we just can't get the same level of potential infill projects that Tulsa is getting right now. I think the main reason is all of the change in downtown that has everything up in the air and making people less willing to invest in projects until they see how the dozen or so gamechangers currently in progress will pan out. Other reasons..OCURA isn't making the big push for infill that the TDA is, and we lack the incentives to push for infill that Tulsa has. We all know exactly what Bricktown needs, a huge long laundry list..how to get it is a different problem that we're all trying to figure out. We've made a lot of expensive mistakes there (Bass Pro, blocking Bricktown Village). It's worth noting though that Bricktown is getting a lot more active during the daytime, not just evenings.


No gnus. Last week, their attorney's comment that "SandRidge may need to reconsider if downtown is appropriate" for their HQ blew up in the media, newspaper, and TV news. I think they regret that their attorney said that in a heated moment and they've been no comment ever since. Waiting for them to come out with some statement dealing with that.. but they are looking very bad right now.