Downtown development recap

[carltonplace]

No, that's the Tulsa Opera building

I thought the Tulsa Opera was going into the old fire house

[carltonplace]

Wow, I'm actually very pleased with their decisions here. All of them are restoring vacant buildings which is a plus since we have so many of them left, and it will provide us with a combined total of 210 new units downtown. Honestly, I think the TDA actually got the best bang for their buck here. I'm impressed!

I'm wondering if it wouldn't have made more sense to award to projects that are fairly close together to build to critical mass. For example try to grow the CBD with the Vandever, YMCA and Will's Enterprise Building lofts. That way you are adding to the Mayo, the Mayo bld and the Philtower.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see a seed planted in the east end (village, whatever), but it seems peripheral at this point in time.

[Kenosha]

There were 13 proposals.  4 were from Snyder's group.  (YMCA, Vandever's, MidCo building @ 3rd and Cheyenne, and Macy Snyder's warehouse at 2nd and Lansing.

The others were as follows:

Bill White Chevrolet conversion, Larson/Skaggs Group

119 Downtown, Jim Hawkins/River City Dev.  They were removed from consideration due to not having site control.

Enterprise Building, Sharp/Wilkins

Elliot Nelson, 140 Apartments, New Construction @ 2nd and Greenwood

GreenArch, 70 Apartments, New Construction Greenwood and Archer

Metroplains, for their 40 units of low income housing at Boston and Archer.

Urban 8,  Patrick Fox.  8 For Sale townhouses, 3rd and Greenwood, adjacent to Elliot's apartment project.

One Place.  Pelligrini/Eggleston/SJS Hospitality.  My sources say they were asking for $ for the hotel portion of the project.

Formmation.  Chuck Tollefson's group.  Probably associated with housing they proposed for the old Hartford building site.

[Townsend]

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The Rotary Club of Tulsa broke ground Wednesday on a $1 million downtown plaza dedicated to the volunteer spirit of Tulsa.

Rotary Plaza is the group's centennial project and a gift to the City of Tulsa. It will feature five bronze sculptures on a landscaped plaza.

The plaza will be located on the southwest corner of the Williams Center Green, on Third Street between Main and Boston.

"This is a milestone event in the 98-year history of our club," said President Phil Lakin. "We are pleased to start construction and look forward to the dedication this fall."

The sculptures are by Tulsa artists Jay O'Meilia and David Nunneley and will capture the spirit of volunteerism.  There will also be a granite column describing Tulsa as "America's Most Generous City."

[rdj]

This looks like a companion piece to ORU's praying hands.

[Townsend]

This looks like a companion piece to ORU's praying hands.

The rendering doesn't make me hellapumped either.

[we vs us]

This looks like a companion piece to ORU's praying hands.

There's a "he's got the whole world in his hands" pun in there somewhere but I can't quite find it.

[sgrizzle]

I've seen renderings of this for a few years, it's met mediocre feedback for awhile because the sculptures are of things like a kid on crutches, with what looks like a giant bowling ball coming after him. I've been hoping they would go more abstract, but now I'm just hoping it looks better completed than in renderings.

At worst, at least it means that plot of land gets a good reworking/sprucing up.

[hello]

because the sculptures are of things like a kid on crutches, with what looks like a giant bowling ball coming after him.

Hilarious, lol.

[Conan71]

I've seen renderings of this for a few years, it's met mediocre feedback for awhile because the sculptures are of things like a kid on crutches, with what looks like a giant bowling ball coming after him. I've been hoping they would go more abstract, but now I'm just hoping it looks better completed than in renderings.

At worst, at least it means that plot of land gets a good reworking/sprucing up.

TIMMAY!

[DTowner]

Nothing says "celebration" like a kid on crutches and people thursting for water!   Does anyone know what part of the Williams Green this is going to be situated?  The whole park is in need of an update, but I'm not sure this is going to justify a million dollars.   Since my office looks out over it, I'm hoping it looks better than the rendering.

[dbacks fan]

TIMMAY!

You beat me to it. Same thought ran through my head as well.

[sgrizzle]

Nothing says "celebration" like a kid on crutches and people thursting for water!   Does anyone know what part of the Williams Green this is going to be situated?  The whole park is in need of an update, but I'm not sure this is going to justify a million dollars.   Since my office looks out over it, I'm hoping it looks better than the rendering.

If you know where the Mayfest main stage goes... right directly in front of that.

[BKDotCom]

yup -  SW corner.
they've got a big tree down to a stump, and a little billboard sign up with the rendering

[rdj]

If I'm Daily Grill I'm just thrilled this hunk is going in front of my restaurant.  Is that park deeded over to the city?  Or does Williams own it?  Paging, Jeff!