More good news for OSU and Downtown

[sgrizzle]

Feasibility study underway to determine number and type of OSU student housing to be built downtown.



Full Story:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=061103_Ne_A1_OSUTu8909

Google map of proposed location:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=36.162184,-95.995327&spn=0.005284,0.009978&t=k&om=1

[AVERAGE JOE]

Potentially HUGE for downtown, especially with the OSU Medical Center on the SW corner of downtown too. Get a big student population living downtown along with YPs and empty nesters... there would be no stopping the momentum.

Note to OSU bigwigs: when you get to designing the student housing, PLEASE I BEG YOU, make it urban and not suburban. Your campus is more suburban than it should be, but now is the time to create a dense, walkable, urban environment with the housing. You're a DOWNTOWN campus, and your housing would be one block from the Cain's and just 3 blocks to the heart of the Brady Village. Making the housing fit its urban setting would be the way to go. In other words, don't build the typical tract apartments you'd find at 91st & Riverside.

[Kiah]

quote:Originally posted by AVERAGE JOE

In other words, don't build the typical tract apartments you'd find at 91st & Riverside.

Or at 3rd & Delaware, and soon to be at 11th & Delaware . . . .

I agree, the city stepped up to help OSU acquire this land.  It's not out of line to demand good urban design.

[Rico]

The biggest obstacle to this has been the Salvation Army building. They have really drug their feet in relocating.

If I had been OSU and the City of Tulsa I would have approached them with more of a hardball style tactic.. They are a Huge Corporation. Though they are a Not For Profit they most certainly have more than adequate funds to have been out a long time ago.

[SXSW]

I like the Main St. location because it can be an extension of the existing urban buildings along N. Main by Cain's north of I-244.  Something that resembles the brownstones at Central Park but with a more modern look with possible retail space along Main would be awesome.  If OSU could secure the land on both sides of Main and have student apartments with retail on both sides and better landscaping/new sidewalks that would really help that area.  

Eventually the housing could fill in between Main and Detroit with a variety of student townhomes with shared parking garages and green spaces and retail along the main corridors (Main, Boston, Cincinnati).  Create Fairview Ave. into a well-lit and well-landscaped connector between the housing and the OSU-Tulsa campus east of Detroit.

[TheArtist]

Wonder why the arent going to build the first batch of housing closer to the campus? They own the property from Detroit west.  Or do they plan to extend campus class buildings in that direction?  Seems an odd choice but hope they actually build some regardless.

[cannon_fodder]

The student housing idea is one o fht ebest things that could happen to downtown.  Unlike peolpe that are able to afford the $2K+ a month  rents downtown, college students actually walk around and do things in their neighborhoods.  A college nieghborhood, while not as nice, seems a lot more alive than a ritzy nieghborhood.

My 2 cents...

- Jesse

[si_uk_lon_ok]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

Wonder why the arent going to build the first batch of housing closer to the campus? They own the property from Detroit west.  Or do they plan to extend campus class buildings in that direction?  Seems an odd choice but hope they actually build some regardless.

I think it's nice to have some distance between the buildings that way the campus can weave into the urban fabric, rather than have its own separate quarter.

[TheArtist]

^ That may be true but for a day like today, cold and very windy, it would suck to have to walk or bike that far to and from classes.  If I were looking around at different campuses I dont think I would look favorably on having things so spread out. Even TU has its living quarters right next to its classroom and other buildings. Yes at some large campuses you have to walk or bike comparable distances, but OSU Tulsa is not Harvard scale, and at least with those you are going past, or through, campus buildings not blocks of dark abandoned lots. You wont even be able to see the college from over there. I would say build a dense attractive campus first and spread out from that core.

[bacjz00]

I couldn't agree more Artist

[rwarn17588]

The proposed student housing is three blocks from campus. That's all.

I graduated from a large Midwestern university and have visited other similar campuses. Three blocks for cycling or walking to class is nothing at such universities.

It wasn't uncommon for me to walk a half-mile one-way to class. And it was good exercise (this was when the obesity rate was much lower than it is now). Gets you out in the fresh air. It lets you interact with people and some semblance of the real world.

I, for one, am not in favor of making universities some sort of self-contained bubble in which the real world doesn't exist.

[si_uk_lon_ok]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

The proposed student housing is three blocks from campus. That's all.

I graduated from a large Midwestern university and have visited other similar campuses. Three blocks for cycling or walking to class is nothing at such universities.

It wasn't uncommon for me to walk a half-mile one-way to class. And it was good exercise (this was when the obesity rate was much lower than it is now). Gets you out in the fresh air. It lets you interact with people and some semblance of the real world.

I, for one, am not in favor of making universities some sort of self-contained bubble in which the real world doesn't exist.

I agree you won't get the spill over effects in the local area if students are only walking between the student canteen, student housing and lecture theatres. Let them wander about and discover the downtown area. Hopefully if there is enough footfall in these areas due to the residences it may encourage further development.

[swake]

Could OSU Tulsa and MTTA come to some sort of relationship? Give students living in the housing bus passes, increase the bus service to OSU Tulsa a lot, maybe a dedicated bus to circulate through campus and the student housing and then allow the students to get all over town on the same bus pass?

[si_uk_lon_ok]

quote:Originally posted by swake

Could OSU Tulsa and MTTA come to some sort of relationship? Give students living in the housing bus passes, increase the bus service to OSU Tulsa a lot, maybe a dedicated bus to circulate through campus and the student housing and then allow the students to get all over town on the same bus pass?

I think thats a great idea, I know unis that have thier own bus system that serves the uni and surrounding areas and that students can often get discounts on tickets. But I still don't see why people can't walk or cycle a little more.

[perspicuity85]

I really hope that the OSU-Tulsa housing is going to be rented to students only.  Having a permanent 18-early 20s age range downtown will greatly benefit the entertainment marketability and encourage a walkable community.