New Office & Residential Towers Proposed (OKC)

[modernism]

http://newsok.com/competing-developers-hope-to-build-high-rise-housing-in-downtown-oklahoma-city/article/5349293

[Townsend]

I hope it turns out as attractive as the art.

[sgrizzle]

The top looks a little familiar.

[Conan71]

The top looks a little familiar.

Well played!

[Hoss]

Well played!

ZOOOOOOOL!

[Townsend]

ZOOOOOOOL!

Yeah, OK, I'll be a Gozer worshiper. 

Anybody up for roasting marshmallows?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Amazing....there are some actual artistic touches there!  I "hearkened back" to an earlier golden age of architecture that is still modern and refined, when I saw that picture!

[TheArtist]

Very nice.  Am still puzzled at how slow our downtown development is in Tulsa.

[Townsend]

Very nice.  Am still puzzled at how slow our downtown development is in Tulsa.

I'd contribute to this conversation but I'm afraid I'd come off negative as hell...and we've covered most of the mistakes made that have damaged Downtown Tulsa development.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I'd contribute to this conversation but I'm afraid I'd come off negative as hell...and we've covered most of the mistakes made that have damaged Downtown Tulsa development.

Awww....come on.... give it a shot!!  I am probably the most negative person in the state on recent architectural designs - like the last 40 years or so - don't think you can be any more negative than me.


The designer took a nice small positive step, I think.  Coulda gone a little further even, but small steps!!

[sgrizzle]

Very nice.  Am still puzzled at how slow our downtown development is in Tulsa.

As mentioned in our downtown housing event, lenders still don't believe in the viability of downtown, so unless you have cash on hand you're usually stuck.

[rdj]

The biggest takeaway for me in this OKC project is that two (TWO!) out of stated developers are competing to build something on this site.  Who is competing to build anything in downtown Tulsa?  What out of state developer is coming in to downtown Tulsa to do anything?

[DTowner]

Very nice.  Am still puzzled at how slow our downtown development is in Tulsa.

It really shouldn't be all that surprising that Tulsa's downtown is developing more slowly than OKC.  First, oil & gas is booming in OKC. While Tulsa's energy sector is doing well, it is not growing nearly as fast as that same sector in OKC and we simply do not have any companies that currently compare to the growth of Devon, Chesapeake and Continental (just to name the 3 largest).  Second, OKC's downtown development is at least a decade ahead of Tulsa.  We got to the game late, and arrived at about the same time as the financial collapse of 2008.  Third, Tulsa's population/job growth has been and continues to be much slower than OKC.  If you want new office and residential buildings, you need to have employees and residents to fill them up.

[heironymouspasparagus]

It really shouldn't be all that surprising that Tulsa's downtown is developing more slowly than OKC.  First, oil & gas is booming in OKC. While Tulsa's energy sector is doing well, it is not growing nearly as fast as that same sector in OKC and we simply do not have any companies that currently compare to the growth of Devon, Chesapeake and Continental (just to name the 3 largest).  Second, OKC's downtown development is at least a decade ahead of Tulsa.  We got to the game late, and arrived at about the same time as the financial collapse of 2008.  Third, Tulsa's population/job growth has been and continues to be much slower than OKC.  If you want new office and residential buildings, you need to have employees and residents to fill them up.

Well if getting ahead means having something as butt-ugly as the Devon tower, then we should just stay behind....

[carltonplace]

I hope it turns out as attractive as the art.

If something like this were proposed for our downtown I would hope the footprint would be smaller. The buildings in the rendering are beautiful, but something this large would not easily fit into any of our available plots inside the IDL without ripping out some existing building stock. It really feels like a suburban office complex/campuus more than something that will mesh with a dense walkable downtown.

Outside of the IDL there is room of course  (in Uptown or next to OSU Tulsa or east of Crosbie Heights).