Metro Loft office

[SXSW]

I like a few of the Metro lofts but most are pretty average, design wise.  They remind me of a lot of the crap "contemporary" lofts and townhomes that have gone up in Houston for the past several years.  Not quite as bad though as at least these don't have huge garages facing a sidewalk-less street like in Houston.  I like the ones that face the street not the ones that face the inner concrete courtyard with garages.  I'd like to see more like the LEED Platinum house Shelby Navarro designed, a duplex that faces the street with parking behind, or rowhomes like the ones at 18th & Carson.

[MidTownLifer]

Well Double A please don't find fault in this - but nope, I haven't lived in Midtown ALL my life ... started out in Claremore as a kiddo and as soon as I could move out (after attending University of Tulsa) that's when I became a midtown lifer, living only in midtown since I was old enough to start making my own living-area decisions.

As far as the comment about Texicans ... it's such an opinion I wouldn't expect from "our part of the world" in midtown. I love mid/downtown because of the friendly neighborly openness it fosters. And just in general I feel we should be more welcoming as a state instead of acting as negative evangelists judging by race or whatever other qualities. I love Oklahoma and don't find any fault with people wanting to relcoate from other states. But to each their own.

And about the neighborhood getting decimated. I know a lot of the neighbors really wished the slumlords and the folks living in those homes that were destroyed would've taken better care of them. I remember seeing one home lose a front porch due to ice and the owners never repaired it ... instead, a big ole broken porch leaned diagonally across the entry. Ever read "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell? He has a "broken window" theory that fits the situation nicely. Ignoring issues like a sagging front porch eventually leads to disregard for the area which in turns creates a hotbed for crime. BUT that's just my opinion from having been an outsider to Cherry Street as a resident and only seeing it as a restaurant / bar-goer for the past years.

Congrats on finding the place you did in Lewiston Gardens. Sounds like you've done very well and in a great area. We too will probably, at some point, move into a home instead of a condo; BUT at this point in our life we're digging the no-yard, walk to dinner and the farmer's market part of life. Again, to each their own.

[cannon_fodder]

My first apartment was a garage apartment in Swan Lake. I lived in an apartment for ten years in the area that the Metro Lofts decimated, until I couldn't stand to watch the destruction of a neighborhood I dearly loved any longer.

I wondered where all your spite towards Metro came from.  It seemed above your usual level of hostility.  Most people consider the loss of those old homes a tragedy, but the blame rests on the tenants, landlords, or previous owners who rode them into such a condition that knockdowns were acceptable.

I for one, am happy that area is developing into a denser neighborhood.


MidTownLifer:

Welcome to the forums.  I appreciate your first person input on this topic.  DoubleAA has some good Tulsa knowledge, but is almost exclusively expressed negatively.

[Rico]

Doble A....

I think you are showing a substantial amount of control on the matter of Metro.

If....... all of those (lofts?) things go to others to sell. May begin to remind one of a film closings in Tulsa.

Cherry Street may have low cost rentals soon.... 

[ARGUS]

Why did they (multiple builders) build so many? Why do they all look so similar? Not a hater; but there are a lot of them.

[TheArtist]

Why did they (multiple builders) build so many? Why do they all look so similar? Not a hater; but there are a lot of them.

?   As compared to what? Do we have more or less of them compared to other cities our size? I have always thought we had pitifully few of that type of lifestyle/living/housing option. Is that because we are too small a city or dont attract as many people who like that type of home? Didnt seem that Tulsa was always that way, we used to offer quit a bit of whatever was "up to date and in fashion, even cutting edge". Have we lost that over time?  Perhaps we have too few people who have the money to afford that type of living,,,(seems what we offer in this style is mostly of lesser quality compared to other cities like say Austin or Denver but I suppose that there are enough people in those cities who want and can afford nicer, so ours is the cheapo version).  The very fact that you ask the question you have asked is kind of startling to me. I thought we had too few, and for whatever reason that was true, felt that was not a good thing. 

As for "Why do they all look so similar" there seems to me to be as much variation in the buildings as many another neighborhood has.   My neighborhood of ranch style homes could be said to look similar. The faux Tuscan neighborhoods out south, the 80s brown stone and wood neighborhoods I lived in during my high school years lol, Lortondale, etc.... Its just what people at the time like, or liked.  Again whats odd is that in this instance there isnt really a whole neighborhood of them. Just a minor block wide strip and a smattering here and there. Let alone a whole neighborhood or several whole neighborhoods of them scattered around the city like the other time periods/styles I mentioned above and that many other cities have of this type. We just have a few.  I actually find that disturbing. Whats next on this trajectory....? Nothing new, nothing contemporary (do a google image search of "contemporary house' and see what comes up,,, its this style) this is the contemporary style of the age, nothing modern? We cant get much less of a style and still say we have it lol.