STAY TUNED: New downtown development news coming soon

[TheLofts@120]

Stay tuned for news regarding a new downtown development, likely to be released within the next 24 hours.  This will bring an exciting dimension to an already happening little spot of downtown and pave the way for futher new development and economic growth.

Will

[custosnox]

Stay tuned for news regarding a new downtown development, likely to be released within the next 24 hours.  This will bring an exciting dimension to an already happening little spot of downtown and pave the way for futher new development and economic growth.

Will

Did I hear blue dome district?

[sgrizzle]

I'm guessing 3rd & kenosha.

[bmuscotty]

??

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/group-negotiating-to-buy-land-for-downtown-tulsa-park

[Townsend]

??

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/group-negotiating-to-buy-land-for-downtown-tulsa-park

I'm hoping it's in addition to that.

[forevertulsa89]

Just saw this posted.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20100720_298_0_TheAtl666216

[Hoss]

Just saw this posted.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20100720_298_0_TheAtl666216

Thought I read something about that little parcel of land on here a month or so ago...either way, this is the location:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=36.157944,-95.993101&spn=0.001886,0.004128&t=h&z=19

[we vs us]

Just saw this posted.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20100720_298_0_TheAtl666216

Oh for the love of Pete, can't we stop fragmenting the DT hotel market?

/lonely voice in the wilderness

[SXSW]

Oh for the love of Pete, can't we stop fragmenting the DT hotel market?

/lonely voice in the wilderness

Where do you think all of the hotels should go?

Any renderings available?  I think the design should represent a continuation of the brick buildings along Main north of Brady, specifically on the east side, or the nearby Tribune Building.  Something like this but maybe a few stories taller (no EIFS/stucco!!) with similar window spacing for the street level retail:

[Renaissance]

Oh for the love of Pete, can't we stop fragmenting the DT hotel market?

/lonely voice in the wilderness

Can you explain?  Just curious what you mean by "fragmenting the market."  Do you mean that all the hotels should be in one area/quadrant of DT? 

[dbacks fan]

Where do you think all of the hotels should go?

Any renderings available?  I think the design should represent a continuation of the brick buildings along Main north of Brady, specifically on the east side, or the nearby Tribune Building.  Something like this but maybe a few stories taller (no EIFS/stucco!!) with similar window spacing for the street level retail:

If you could take acouple of the buildings in this picture and create a lobby resteraunt and bar on the first floor, and hotel rooms on the second floor without changing the facade you could create one of my favorite places that I want to stay at in Telluride, The New Sheridan Hotel.

http://www.newsheridan.com/

While Tulsa doesn't have that mountains and skiing, this would make a nice place in the area of Brady, Blue Dome, OneOk Field and not far from BOk.

[we vs us]

Can you explain?  Just curious what you mean by "fragmenting the market."  Do you mean that all the hotels should be in one area/quadrant of DT? 

Oh I've been harping on this in a couple different threads lately.  Adding small hotels to the DT scene is useful on a superficial level in that there are now more rooms added to DT inventory, but less useful in a strategic sense in that they don't encourage the growth of group occupancy. 

Think of it this way:  hotels divide their business roughly in thirds:  1) retail transient, or individual room sales to individual travelers, via Priceline, Hotwire, call-in and walk-in 2) business transient, or negotiated rates with local businesses in exchange for a set amount of room nights per yer (or 6 mos, or per quarter), and 3) group rooms, or committed limited term room blocks that range from citywide conventions to traveling amateur sports teams. 

So on any given day, the total room inventory is divided between those three segments, and commitments per day vary.  On weekdays a given hotel downtown might commit 60 of its 100 rooms to business transient, 30 to group, and 10 to retail, while on the weekends the split would change to 60 group, 30 retail, 10 business.  Etc. 

Point being that when thinking about DT as a unified environment for bringing in the larger conventions, adding 100 limited service rooms does virtually nothing for the larger strategic picture.  They'll commit only a portion of their rooms to group. Likewise, converting the Old City Hall into 200 upscale rooms sounds fantastic on some levels, on others it's less constructive than if we'd decided to bulldoze the whole lot and put up a 600 room Sheraton.  It's the difference between committing 100 rooms to group vs 300.

As it stands, some of the larger conventions that Tulsa could compete for must split their room block at two or three (or four, or five, etc) different properties all around DT, and that alone could be a deal-breaker for groups that need more centralized control over their agenda. 

Of course this is not to say that a new hotel anywhere in the IDL isn't great news; and it's even better if it's new construction that's done well and will help build the ecosystem in the Brady. Don't get me wrong about this; it's excellent news, but I just wish we had a more concerted plan for making us a destination. 

[TheArtist]

   Well done.  I think this will be great for the area.

[Renaissance]

Oh I've been harping on this in a couple different threads lately.  Adding small hotels to the DT scene is useful on a superficial level in that there are now more rooms added to DT inventory, but less useful in a strategic sense in that they don't encourage the growth of group occupancy. 

Think of it this way:  hotels divide their business roughly in thirds:  1) retail transient, or individual room sales to individual travelers, via Priceline, Hotwire, call-in and walk-in 2) business transient, or negotiated rates with local businesses in exchange for a set amount of room nights per yer (or 6 mos, or per quarter), and 3) group rooms, or committed limited term room blocks that range from citywide conventions to traveling amateur sports teams. 

So on any given day, the total room inventory is divided between those three segments, and commitments per day vary.  On weekdays a given hotel downtown might commit 60 of its 100 rooms to business transient, 30 to group, and 10 to retail, while on the weekends the split would change to 60 group, 30 retail, 10 business.  Etc. 

Point being that when thinking about DT as a unified environment for bringing in the larger conventions, adding 100 limited service rooms does virtually nothing for the larger strategic picture.  They'll commit only a portion of their rooms to group. Likewise, converting the Old City Hall into 200 upscale rooms sounds fantastic on some levels, on others it's less constructive than if we'd decided to bulldoze the whole lot and put up a 600 room Sheraton.  It's the difference between committing 100 rooms to group vs 300.

As it stands, some of the larger conventions that Tulsa could compete for must split their room block at two or three (or four, or five, etc) different properties all around DT, and that alone could be a deal-breaker for groups that need more centralized control over their agenda. 

Of course this is not to say that a new hotel anywhere in the IDL isn't great news; and it's even better if it's new construction that's done well and will help build the ecosystem in the Brady. Don't get me wrong about this; it's excellent news, but I just wish we had a more concerted plan for making us a destination. 

That's interesting.  I hadn't thought of it that way.  Too bad Hammons built the 300 room Renaissance out at 71st and 169.  I don't think we're going to see a 600 room hotel in Tulsa--ever--but a property like the Renassance closer to the Convention Center would be good.  I wonder how big the proposed Hilton will be at One Place, and whether that and the coming Aloft will be enough for convention center business? 

[SXSW]

Denver saw this same problem in its downtown and when they rebuilt their convention center the city brokered a public-private partnership with Hyatt to build an 1,100 room hotel right next to it.  They were very smart to do this.  I think OKC is trying to eventually do the same thing once they get their plans finalized for the new convention center they're building as part of MAPS 3.