A 6th new hotel downtown

[Conan71]

Utica Square (owned by the Helmerich family) has a maintenance shed and storage area right by that lot where the old H&P building used to be so it wouldn't surprise me if they still own it.  I could see SJMC wanting it though, but wouldn't it make more sense for the hospital to expand east instead of across Utica?  I work out there and there is a big parking lot by the health club that could be developed, I'm addition to a big parking lot along Utica by Swan Lake.  A hotel on the H&P site would be great, and would offer really nice views of the skyline.  

I did hear once that the developers of Utica Place across the street wanted to do a similar project on the H&P land, including the old homesites along St Louis and 19th.  I imagine it was a mix of office and residential, but a hotel in the middle of a larger redevelopment there would be awesome.  I wonder about Swan Lake NIMBY's though...

Back to downtown, I'm surprised there isn't a Residence Inn or something similar/extended stay.  

I'm just going based on what the M & E guys have told me about their only expansion options of being vertical rather than horizontal.  Next time I'm in there, I'll see if I can get come clarification.

You'd think development on the other side of Utica would be counterintuitive, but considering SJMC already owns the Robert Davis building, all they need to do is add a skywalk over Utica and between the existing building and a future one.  I suppose the costs of clearing out more housing in the immediate area would be pretty substantial.  That neighborhood supports a pretty good price/ft and lot price.

A Hotel would seem to make sense with a hospital as well as a couple of shopping and entertainment areas within a short walking distance (Cherry St. and Utica Square).

[dsjeffries]

Is the 120 room property shown between the Hilton Garden Inn and Best Western supposed to be branded as the Hampton Inn?

Good catch! I forgot they'd announced the brand. I'll update the graphic to reflect that.

[RecycleMichael]

Thanks to Daniel for the map.

[patric]

Put a taxi stand  some light rail  in front of it for cabs to run around downtown to the entertainment district, ball park etc. Good to have some lower priced rooms for the frugal travelers.

Fixed it.  Bigger.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Fixed it.  Bigger.

I think you and I might have different ideas of light rail. If Tulsa could develop, as others have suggest some type of circulator for DT would be beneficial. Since DT is a grid layout, you could choose two N/S streets and three or four E/W streets (two way streets might be the best choices) run a fixed rail down the center of the streets and run a vehicle similar to a cable car, (maybe powered by a CNG generator to power an electric drive) stops every other street 7AM to 6PM and a limited schedule 6PM to 1AM to cover hotels and dining/entertainment.

When I think "light rail" I tend to think of something like BART that links suburbs, or Metro in Phoenix, a smaller version of BART that has a loop around the central part of DT Phoenix.

[patric]

I think you and I might have different ideas of light rail. If Tulsa could develop, as others have suggest some type of circulator for DT would be beneficial. Since DT is a grid layout, you could choose two N/S streets and three or four E/W streets (two way streets might be the best choices) run a fixed rail down the center of the streets and run a vehicle similar to a cable car, (maybe powered by a CNG generator to power an electric drive) stops every other street 7AM to 6PM and a limited schedule 6PM to 1AM to cover hotels and dining/entertainment.

When I think "light rail" I tend to think of something like BART that links suburbs, or Metro in Phoenix, a smaller version of BART that has a loop around the central part of DT Phoenix.

I did get sorta excited and lump trolleys in with it    but is there any hard rule that says those systems couldn't be integrated?

Ive ridden BART many moons ago, and while I dont recall the routes exactly, I could conceivably imagine a series of short stops in one node followed by a leap to another node in a bedroom community.  Wouldn't want all routes like that, though.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Here is the map for BART. I used it back in September for a game at AT&T Park. I rode from Fremont to The Embarcedaro Station, went up on level to the underground portion of SF Muni Train (not the cable cars) to get to the park. Going back it was a repeat, but at night they run fewer BART trains, so I had to change at Bayview because the one that I was on was going to Dublin/Pleasanton. Total cost $18.00 I think.

http://www.bart.gov/stations

[davideinstein]

Bay Area's rail transit is actually kind of mediocre considering how dense it is. I always thought they could do better the two summers I was there.

[carltonplace]

Time for a room count inside of the IDL

Existing Properties
Courtyard by Mariott: 111 Rooms
Doubletree: 417 Rooms
Hyatt Regency: 454 Rooms
The Mayo: 102 Rooms
Holiday Inn City Center: 232 Rooms
Fairfield Inn: 104 Rooms
Aloft: 200 Rooms
Total: 1316 Rooms

Announced
Wilkins Project: 90-110 Rooms (Assume 100 for the count excercise)
Holiday Inn Express: 90-110 Rooms (Assume 100 for the count excercise)
Hilton Garden Inn: 134 Rooms
Hampton Inn: 120 Rooms
Best Western: 82 Rooms
Unknown Brand: Unknown Rooms (Lets assume 50 to be very conservative)
Zipp Inn: Unknown Rooms (again, assume 50)
Approximate Total: 636

Total Existing and announced approximate room count: 1952

We are still 1,000 short of the study recommendation for a city our size, but we get closer if you add the near proximity hotels Ambassador and Savoy.

[swake]

Bay Area's rail transit is actually kind of mediocre considering how dense it is. I always thought they could do better the two summers I was there.

One single subway tube for a city that size and density is really weak. Getting around via car/taxi/bus/train in the bay area is really difficult. SF is one of the very hardest and most expensive cities to live in.

They are finally building a second route to Chinatown/Northbeach but that is billions of dollars, years away and very short.

[Red Arrow]

SF is one of the very hardest and most expensive cities to live in.

A lot of people seem to think it is worth it though.

[swake]

A lot of people seem to think it is worth it though.

I like SF a lot, but that doesn't make it easy.

[rdj]

Time for a room count inside of the IDL

Existing Properties
Courtyard by Mariott: 111 Rooms
Doubletree: 417 Rooms
Hyatt Regency: 454 Rooms
The Mayo: 102 Rooms
Holiday Inn City Center: 232 Rooms
Fairfield Inn: 104 Rooms
Aloft: 200 Rooms
Total: 1316 Rooms

Announced
Wilkins Project: 90-110 Rooms (Assume 100 for the count excercise)
Holiday Inn Express: 90-110 Rooms (Assume 100 for the count excercise)
Hilton Garden Inn: 134 Rooms
Hampton Inn: 120 Rooms
Best Western: 82 Rooms
Unknown Brand: Unknown Rooms (Lets assume 50 to be very conservative)
Zipp Inn: Unknown Rooms (again, assume 50)
Approximate Total: 636

Total Existing and announced approximate room count: 1952

We are still 1,000 short of the study recommendation for a city our size, but we get closer if you add the near proximity hotels Ambassador and Savoy.

My understanding is the Chamber/CVB would like those 1,000 rooms to be all one hotel (or at the least a big chunk of that 1000) with a lot of meeting space.  Now that OnePlace has moved forward without a high end full service hotel I have turned my eye to the block that was formerly occupied by the BOk motor bank bounded by Denver/1st/Cheyenne/2nd.

[dsjeffries]

Time for a room count inside of the IDL

Existing Properties
Courtyard by Mariott: 111 Rooms
Doubletree: 417 Rooms
Hyatt Regency: 454 Rooms
The Mayo: 102 Rooms
Holiday Inn City Center: 232 Rooms
Fairfield Inn: 104 Rooms
Aloft: 200 Rooms
Total: 1316 Rooms

Announced
Wilkins Project: 90-110 Rooms (Assume 100 for the count excercise)
Holiday Inn Express: 90-110 Rooms (Assume 100 for the count excercise)
Hilton Garden Inn: 134 Rooms
Hampton Inn: 120 Rooms
Best Western: 82 Rooms
Unknown Brand: Unknown Rooms (Lets assume 50 to be very conservative)
Zipp Inn: Unknown Rooms (again, assume 50)
Approximate Total: 636

Total Existing and announced approximate room count: 1952

We are still 1,000 short of the study recommendation for a city our size, but we get closer if you add the near proximity hotels Ambassador and Savoy.

And just think, only 5-6 years ago, there were only 871 rooms downtown, split between the Doubletree and Hyatt. That was it. We've gone from two hotels to seven and doubled our room count, with another 636 rooms and seven new hotels to be added in the next 12-18 months. What a transformation! As the planner of a large conference to be hosted downtown in September, I wish we had a hotel large enough to accommodate 700-1000 people by itself. Right now, meeting/conference planners have to piecemeal accommodations together for their attendees.

[SXSW]

My understanding is the Chamber/CVB would like those 1,000 rooms to be all one hotel (or at the least a big chunk of that 1000) with a lot of meeting space.  Now that OnePlace has moved forward without a high end full service hotel I have turned my eye to the block that was formerly occupied by the BOk motor bank bounded by Denver/1st/Cheyenne/2nd.

That would make the most sense.  It would be great to see something like this replace the Page Belcher federal building for better connectivity to the convention center, or even the parking lot at 4th/5th & Denver.