Let's not let this happen...

[erfalf]

Let me start by saying that I do not see the comparison between Bricktown and the Brady District. They are in my opinion polar opposites of each other. But, I have heard the comparison made.

http://downtownontherange.blogspot.com/2012/05/2nd-bricktown-shooting.html

Read this by Nick Roberts from OKC. He justifiably is complaining about Bricktown. Honestly, I haven't been in about 3 years, so I'm not exactly keen on it's current state.

Every time I see something like this, I feel fortunate that Tulsa's re-growth has been more organic. It is real, sustainable, unique. It has been slower, but doesn't the tortoise win the race in the end? Recently, the Brady has seen a real boom in construction, so it will be interesting to see how the two compare in say 10 or 20 years.

[Townsend]

So are you thinking the Brady build is bringing gun play?

[TheArtist]

A lot of "fake urban" districts are a mess.  The Power & Light in KC has been having problems as well.   http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=199023   (5th post down has some rather insightful comments    )

Real urbanity isn't that hard to build.  So many people really seem to want good urbanity and really enjoy it when they are there... so why is it so hard for developers and cities to get that?

One of the common threads I have seen in other "threads" is that after a while people notice that, though an area may look urban at first glance (see Uptown Dallas as one example of many), even have super high population densities (see downtown Miami as one for instance) the areas are not full of pedestrians because, for one thing, THEY BUILT TOO MUCH PARKING! and didn't pass my (If you were the only one there would you still enjoy being there?) test.

What's happening is people say they want something, then don't know how to get there.  They thought they knew what it was they wanted or liked about that "something", then built their version of it, and indeed even enjoyed it for a short time.  But, what they were likely enjoying was the enjoyment of the "new" and the company of the other people there who were there also enjoying that,,,, only to find in time that "Somethings not right? I still like the place I thought I was building, but don't like what we have here".  People do like seeing things that are new, and being around other people.  But a space can't rely on that over the long haul.  For every place get's old, and every place starts off each morning without people.   If you can be in an old familiar place, even with no people around, and still love being there,,, then that's a good place. Urban or not, the same rule applies.  Make that place pedestrian/transit friendly, throw in a lot of people,,, then you will have a superb urban space.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Like I have said over and over - OKC's got nothing on us!  We need to quit comparing ourselves to them and just go paddle our own little canoe and not worry about what they do down there!

[erfalf]

So are you thinking the Brady build is bringing gun play?

No, I just don't want a trashy district. I don't think the Brady is anywhere near headed in that direction. But I think it is important to be mindful on what is going on. What kind of development do we want. We don't just want whatever we can get kind of thing.

[Teatownclown]

Chesapeake's Hometown Woes
Oklahoma City Benefited From Aubrey McClendon's Boosterism and Largess, Which Now Is at Risk

By MIGUEL BUSTILLO

OKLAHOMA CITY—Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s CHK +6.33% name seems to be everywhere in this sleepy state capital turned natural-gas dynamo, from the arena of the scorching-hot pro basketball team to the Olympic-caliber rowing complex in what had basically been a drainage ditch.

Chesapeake's flamboyant chief executive, Aubrey McClendon, has pushed to turn Oklahoma City into a metropolis, showering arts groups and schools with millions in donations and sparking a building boom with an ever-expanding corporate campus of Georgian-style buildings that would fit in at his alma mater, Duke University.

He even lured the first Whole Foods Market WFM +1.62% to town, boasting that the high-end grocer "validates the revitalization we have experienced in Oklahoma City the past 10 years." He personally owns 19% of the Oklahoma City Thunder—whose games have become the hottest ticket in town after the team made short work of the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA playoffs.

So charities and civic leaders are fretting about potential consequences for the city now that Chesapeake under Mr. McClendon has run into financial straits, amid low gas prices and a web of loans that entangled him and his company in debt.

"Everything good that has happened in Oklahoma City in the past decade, he's had a hand in it," Leonard Sullivan, Oklahoma County's tax assessor, said of Mr. McClendon. "It makes us nervous to think he might have some problems, because if something happens to him it is going to affect a whole lot of folks."

Assessed property values in Oklahoma County, which includes Oklahoma City, have nearly doubled to $6 billion over the past decade, with a Chesapeake subsidiary now among the 10 biggest taxpayers.

Chesapeake representatives and Mr. McClendon declined to discuss his civic role.

Battered by the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people, Oklahoma City has bounced back with a renaissance thanks to the growth of local natural-gas companies. One Chesapeake rival, Devon Energy Corp., DVN +2.56% recently opened the tallest skyscraper in the state.

Mayor Mick Cornett notes with pride that Oklahoma City's 4.4% unemployment rate is the lowest in the U.S. among metropolitan regions of more than a million people. Like many here, he is optimistic that Chesapeake's problems will fade as soon as the price of natural gas goes back up and the business of unlocking energy trapped in deep rock formations through hydraulic fracturing becomes more profitable.

"It's a commodity-based business and the price of the commodity is down," said Mr. Cornett, a former newscaster. "Those of us who have followed the company's history have seen them ride through periods like this."

But some locals fear Mr. McClendon has endangered livelihoods in his hometown through reckless financial dealings, after learning through news reports that he used his interest in company oil and gas wells as collateral to borrow as much as $1.4 billion from a private-equity group that was buying assets from Chesapeake.

Mr. McClendon agreed to step down as chairman earlier this month after revelations of the loans, which critics called a conflict of interest.

"It's embarrassing for a company like that, one of our own, to get into trouble like this," said Grover Ozmun as he left the Whole Foods store. "It's greed," added his wife, Sheral. The retired couple didn't know that Chesapeake owns the land on which the shopping center sits.

Across the street, the company's Silicon Valley-style campus embodies Mr. McClendon's drive to transform Oklahoma City. The campus, which holds more than 4,600 workers, has four restaurants, including one called Fuel where patrons order on touch-screen monitors; a 72,000-square-foot gym featuring basketball courts and a rock-climbing wall; and an on-site dermatologist who provides Botox treatments, though the company stressed that it doesn't subsidize that service.

Some Oklahoma City nonprofits recently held a news conference to support their benefactor as news of his troubles spread. One participant likened Mr. McClendon to George Bailey, the inspirational Jimmy Stewart character in the movie classic "It's a Wonderful Life."

Debby Hampton, the head of the United Way of Central Oklahoma, said Mr. McClendon started a culture of giving at his company that has led other executives to make generous donations and many younger workers to volunteer time tutoring students and helping communities recover from Oklahoma's frequent tornadoes. Of the chapter's record $22 million in donations last year, $5.5 million came from Chesapeake employees.

"We have had companies leave, and we weather those storms, but Chesapeake is our largest donor so we do worry," said Ms. Hampton, who acknowledged that the nonprofits conferred with Chesapeake before holding the news conference, calling it a "mutual idea."

Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, cited the rowing district as an example of how Mr. McClendon has contributed ideas as well as cash. Civic leaders were struggling with what to do with a fetid leg of the Canadian River that had been rerouted to prevent flooding decades earlier by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The city developed a plan to build three dams and turn a seven-mile stretch into a waterfront district called the Oklahoma River. It's now a training facility for rowers and kayakers, and includes a $3.5 million community boathouse that Mr. McClendon helped pay for and a $7 million tower at the finish line donated by Chesapeake.

"You'd be naive to not be concerned about it," Mr. Williams said of Chesapeake's problems. "But we are used to ups and downs in that industry sector."

Write to Miguel Bustillo at miguel.bustillo@wsj.com

"when life looks like easy street there's danger at the door" Garcia/Hunter

[erfalf]

A lot of "fake urban" districts are a mess.  The Power & Light in KC has been having problems as well.   http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=199023   (5th post down has some rather insightful comments    )

That was an interesting point about empty buildings. Look at the historic buildings that have been re purposed. Does no one pay attention to what made them desirable now and then? I'll be it that times were different and transportation was vastly different. But they have somehow bridged the gap and became just as desirable today as they were then, in spite of sitting empty for years in many cases. That is proof positive that is what we should be studying. It works. Look at every desirable district. They always consist of older buildings: Brady, Blue Dome, Cherry Street, Brookside. Riverwalk Crossing, not so much.

[Hoss]

That was an interesting point about empty buildings. Look at the historic buildings that have been re purposed. Does no one pay attention to what made them desirable now and then? I'll be it that times were different and transportation was vastly different. But they have somehow bridged the gap and became just as desirable today as they were then, in spite of sitting empty for years in many cases. That is proof positive that is what we should be studying. It works. Look at every desirable district. They always consist of older buildings: Brady, Blue Dome, Cherry Street, Brookside. Riverwalk Crossing, not so much.

Riverwalk Crossing had mucho potential, but it was terribly mismanaged from the outset.

[Teatownclown]

Riverwalk Crossing had mucho potential, but it was terribly mismanaged from the outset.

No retail potential...perhaps mediocre eateries...

[DTowner]

Let me start by saying that I do not see the comparison between Bricktown and the Brady District. They are in my opinion polar opposites of each other. But, I have heard the comparison made.

http://downtownontherange.blogspot.com/2012/05/2nd-bricktown-shooting.html

Read this by Nick Roberts from OKC. He justifiably is complaining about Bricktown. Honestly, I haven't been in about 3 years, so I'm not exactly keen on it's current state.

I'm the last person to defend Bricktown, but this guy simply keeps repeating his rant that Bricktown is "trashy" without citing anything in support.  A couple of shootings in one week should not necessarily define the place.  I'm not dismissing the shootings, but when a couple of newsworthy crimes occur in Brookside in a short period of time, I don't think that warrants condemning the whole area.  There are a number of things about Bricktown that I don't care for, but it's not clear to me what this guy thinks are its problems.

[erfalf]

I'm the last person to defend Bricktown, but this guy simply keeps repeating his rant that Bricktown is "trashy" without citing anything in support.  A couple of shootings in one week should not necessarily define the place.  I'm not dismissing the shootings, but when a couple of newsworthy crimes occur in Brookside in a short period of time, I don't think that warrants condemning the whole area.  There are a number of things about Bricktown that I don't care for, but it's not clear to me what this guy thinks are its problems.

Fair enough, but if you look at in context with what he has been saying over the years, it isn't some knee jerk reaction. Although he is pretty pissed about them canceling Thunder Alley because of the shooting the other day. Like you said it shouldn't have defined the place, although they let it.

Over the years, he has been railing on how the apparent gestapo design committee and asinine rules they have their has led to low class development. And instead of turning Bricktown into a place people gravitate toward, it has seemingly set out to repel people instead.

[DTowner]

Fair enough, but if you look at in context with what he has been saying over the years, it isn't some knee jerk reaction. Although he is pretty pissed about them canceling Thunder Alley because of the shooting the other day. Like you said it shouldn't have defined the place, although they let it.

Over the years, he has been railing on how the apparent gestapo design committee and asinine rules they have their has led to low class development. And instead of turning Bricktown into a place people gravitate toward, it has seemingly set out to repel people instead.

Sounds like a lot of background/context that was not apparent in this particular article, which is why I did not understand the basis for his conclusion.