11th Street TOD

[SXSW]

Does anyone know who owns the old Chris Nickel dealership just west of 11th & Lewis?  I think that would be a great location for Tulsa's first transit-oriented residential development.  The abandoned dealership straddles the tracks that could eventually be where a light rail extends from downtown to Broken Arrow and there could be a stop just north (or south) of 11th Street.  Residential development, mostly in the form of apartments and maybe some houses, would be built around the future station.  The location is ideal for TU students as it's less than a mile from the campus and also for people working at Hillcrest just a few blocks away.  This could be what finally jumpstarts further revitalization along 11th from downtown to TU.

The entire area north of 11th St. is the abandoned car dealership, while the south part is parking lots, a few warehouses, and a couple businesses that could be relocated elsewhere or within the new development.  The focus would be on access to transit, which currently is the 11th Street bus route to downtown/TU but in the future would include a light rail stop.  Thus parking requirements could be adjusted, and all parking would either be underground or in garages.  Retail parking would be parallel on the street where several retail storefronts could line 11th near the tracks all the way to Lewis with apartments above or behind.  Something similar to the Triangle in Austin, but with a future rail transit connection which could also help jumpstart light rail planning if there is already a TOD under construction.  Do you think there would there be support or opposition from TU?

Area outlined in red between Hillcrest and TU (future light rail right-of-way in blue)


http://www.triangleaustin.com/

[Rico]

One note:

About two weeks ago, they were using a concrete "pump truck" to place concrete in what I believe used to be a portion of the service bay area.

I never visited the dealership when open so I could be wrong.

My point being. "pump trucks" are not cheap, the one being used had a 100' boom on it. You might want to check what they are doing with the building now.

Although, I like the idea you have.

[Conan71]

One note:

About two weeks ago, they were using a concrete "pump truck" to place concrete in what I believe used to be a portion of the service bay area.

I never visited the dealership when open so I could be wrong.

My point being. "pump trucks" are not cheap, the one being used had a 100' boom on it. You might want to check what they are doing with the building now.

Although, I like the idea you have.

I was told some time back that Red Castle Gun Club had bought or was leasing a building near 11th & Lewis for an indoor gun range, I've never been clear which building that would be in.  That might explain the concrete pumping going on there.

[SXSW]

There appear to be several buildings that are empty surrounded by weed-strewn parking lots.  It looks horrible, and really brings down the area.  If there is one area outside of downtown that I would want to see public and private interests work together to revitalize through renovations, streetscape, new development, etc. it's the 11th Street corridor from Elgin to Harvard.  It has a tons of potential. 

[pfox]

SXSW...You are exactly right about that site being a perfect TOD redevelopment opportunity.  I don't know what else to say about it, other than you need the "T" in order to have the "D". 

INCOG has let an RFP to do a Transit System Plan and Alternatives Analyses on potential corridors, and new FTA rules place a higher emphasis on potential station area redevelopment.  The most obvious obstacle to that site is the RR itself, as it is a freight line that is used with some frequency by Union Pacific (and BNSF by a use agreement).  In order to utilize that RR ROW for transit purposes, you'd likely have to have some temporal separation of uses, meaning you would have to get UP to agree to use it at night for freight, so you could run passenger service during the day.

Still, it is worthy of investigating.  I might also point out that a functional system plan is going to rely heavily on rubber tire transit.  TOD is great, but it is not always the final destination.  You have to be able get from your station to where you want to go in a reasonable manner.   

[buckeye]

Red Castle can't afford to do anything that's "not cheap".  Their building is south of 11th in any case.