So much downtown development!

[AVERAGE JOE]

Lots happening downtown these days.

1) Soranno's coffee and sandwich spot opens up at 5th & Boston in the First Place Tower. Ate lunch there last week, it was good.

2) The guy who owns Kokoa in Brookside is opening a lunch place in the Philcade Building in 2007.

3) The coffee roasting business in the Mayo Hotel will open a retail coffee outlet in the same space after the first of the year.

4) Work on the Mexican restaurant at 1st & Elgin is progressing... shouldn't be long now.

5) New club is having their grand opening this weekend. It's named Templ (no E at the end) and it's just east of 1974 on 2nd Street, between Elgin and Frankfort. It's the building with the big ornate doors. I snuck a peek inside there today -- very trendy and upscale, which is the crowd they're going for.

6) Work on the private residence at 3rd & Kenosha is moving along. There are a few windows installed now.

7) Announcement this weekend about the Mayo Lofts (in the Mayo Hotel) securing financing so they can begin construction after the first of the year.

Not commercial development, but the Central Library recently spiffed up its digs, both the new sign and on the interior.

9) Construction is ongoing to convert Boston Avenue to 2-way traffic between 3rd and 10th.

10) Oh yeah... apparently they're building something on the northwest corner of 3rd and Denver.

That doesn't include other somewhat recently opened businesses (Dwelling Spaces, Sound Pony, Dirty's Tavern, The Continental, First Street Art Gallery) and developments that are planned or proposed (I can think of a half-dozen right off the top of my head).

Downtown Tulsa's new glory days are right around the corner.

[tulsa1603]

quote:Originally posted by AVERAGE JOE

Lots happening downtown these days.

1) Soranno's coffee and sandwich spot opens up at 5th & Boston in the First Place Tower. Ate lunch there last week, it was good.

2) The guy who owns Kokoa in Brookside is opening a lunch place in the Philcade Building in 2007.

3) The coffee roasting business in the Mayo Hotel will open a retail coffee outlet in the same space after the first of the year.

4) Work on the Mexican restaurant at 1st & Elgin is progressing... shouldn't be long now.

5) New club is having their grand opening this weekend. It's named Templ (no E at the end) and it's just east of 1974 on 2nd Street, between Elgin and Frankfort. It's the building with the big ornate doors. I snuck a peek inside there today -- very trendy and upscale, which is the crowd they're going for.

6) Work on the private residence at 3rd & Kenosha is moving along. There are a few windows installed now.

7) Announcement this weekend about the Mayo Lofts (in the Mayo Hotel) securing financing so they can begin construction after the first of the year.

Not commercial development, but the Central Library recently spiffed up its digs, both the new sign and on the interior.

9) Construction is ongoing to convert Boston Avenue to 2-way traffic between 3rd and 10th.

10) Oh yeah... apparently they're building something on the northwest corner of 3rd and Denver.

That doesn't include other somewhat recently opened businesses (Dwelling Spaces, Sound Pony, Dirty's Tavern, The Continental, First Street Art Gallery) and developments that are planned or proposed (I can think of a half-dozen right off the top of my head).

Downtown Tulsa's new glory days are right around the corner.

I'm glad to see the wheels of progress starting to turn....Hopefully we'll see a nice snowball effect soon.

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by tulsa1603
I'm glad to see the wheels of progress starting to turn....

Me, too!  I can't wait until there are corner grocers, families, entertainment and dining in downtown...  I think the snowball is beginning to take shape--it's just building up momentum very slowly.

[carltonplace]

It is very exciting. I can't wait to see the surface parking on the southside of downtown turned back into buildings.
TCC plans construction at 11th and Main and GD is still moving forward with the East End... maybe that will get the ball rolling.

[sgrizzle]

Some mexican joint moved into the old Nelson's location.

Someday someone will figure out that "location" was one of the reasons nelson's closed in the first place.

[aoxamaxoa]

I went downtown Saturday and was impressed with the music but not the crowds. Jakob Fred with Annie Ellicott was at Tsunami, next door at the Blue Dome Diner was Steve Pryor, and at Arnies was Dustin Pittsley and Jessie Aycock. These are Tulsa's premiere musicians and the sounds were amazing. The crowds were sparce due to the Cain's having the annual Red Dirt Christmas which was packed.

I do not understand why a more cooperative scheduling between these venues fails to exist. But that is the nature of competition.

Tulsa is not large enough to have too much going on at one time. I bet this weekend there are fewer choices.

Support your local live music.

[SXSW]

I was at MCNellie's last night, decent crowd considering it was a Monday.  But it really kills the vibe any of those great places around the Blue Dome have going for them by having so many empty parking lots and vacant buildings around.  I look forward to the day that area is full of buildings again, and I think the East End project is our best hope with that happening at a large scale.  More residents down there is a must.  But it's good to see some development regardless.

[perspicuity85]

quote:Originally posted by aoxamaxoa

I went downtown Saturday and was impressed with the music but not the crowds. Jakob Fred with Annie Ellicott was at Tsunami, next door at the Blue Dome Diner was Steve Pryor, and at Arnies was Dustin Pittsley and Jessie Aycock. These are Tulsa's premiere musicians and the sounds were amazing. The crowds were sparce due to the Cain's having the annual Red Dirt Christmas which was packed.

I do not understand why a more cooperative scheduling between these venues fails to exist. But that is the nature of competition.

Tulsa is not large enough to have too much going on at one time. I bet this weekend there are fewer choices.

Support your local live music.

I was also out in the Blue Dome area on Sat. night, and I agree, the crowd wasn't nearly as big as a Sat. night crowd should be.  However, I am optimistic about downtown's future.  These are some things that are in progress or are needed for downtown to reach its full potential:

a) The opening of various downtown loft projects.
b) The East End development.
c) The opening of the arena, and subsequent quality concerts/sporting events.
d) The opening of the Jazz Hall of Fame, and nighttime music events.
e) The CORE proposals coming to fruition.
f) The Centennial Walk and streetscaping project.
g) Advertising to visitors and suburban areas.

Tulsa is plenty large enough to support its entertainment venues as long as its entire population is informed of their existance.  Go to Woodland Hills Mall and ask a random person if they know anything about the Blue Dome district, and you'll know what I mean.
 

[aoxamaxoa]

What would be fun is to be able to do a live video netcast through TulsaNow and ask people randomly at Woodland Hills (or coming out of church) if they know of the Brady or the Blue Dome.

[brunoflipper]

quote:Originally posted by aoxamaxoa

What would be fun is to be able to do a live video netcast through TulsaNow and ask people randomly at Woodland Hills (or coming out of church) if they know of the Brady or the Blue Dome.

we spend two nights a week in brady, blue dome, sobo or cherry street joints and i still managed to roll my donkey out to church on sunday... this past friday, we were hitting the bars hard (three districts, six bars, one restaurant, ten hours) holding a "job wake" for one of our newly unemployed associates and saturday it was back to cherry street... i'm by no stretch a  rev. lovejoy but you sound like a ****ing moron when you paint with that broad a brush "or coming our of church"...

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by aoxamaxoa

What would be fun is to be able to do a live video netcast through TulsaNow and ask people randomly at Woodland Hills (or coming out of church) if they know of the Brady or the Blue Dome.

What would be fun is to randomly shoot people in the kneecaps who post stuff like what is quoted above.

You don't have to live north of a certain street or belong to a certain social group/caste to be aware of downtown.  PLENTY of people know about those places, as they drive past them every day to and from work.

And while we're at it, calling the "Blue Dome" a district is a crock of ****.  It is a couple of city blocks.  Its like calling the strip mall by me "The Coldstone Creamery" district.  Districts are generally a LOT larger than that.  "The Brady district" is -just- barely the size I would consider a district.  The Asian District in OKC....now THAT is a district, it makes up several square miles.

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

quote:Originally posted by aoxamaxoa

What would be fun is to be able to do a live video netcast through TulsaNow and ask people randomly at Woodland Hills (or coming out of church) if they know of the Brady or the Blue Dome.

What would be fun is to randomly shoot people in the kneecaps who post stuff like what is quoted above.

You don't have to live north of a certain street or belong to a certain social group/caste to be aware of downtown.  PLENTY of people know about those places, as they drive past them every day to and from work.

And while we're at it, calling the "Blue Dome" a district is a crock of ****.  It is a couple of city blocks.  Its like calling the strip mall by me "The Coldstone Creamery" district.  Districts are generally a LOT larger than that.  "The Brady district" is -just- barely the size I would consider a district.  The Asian District in OKC....now THAT is a district, it makes up several square miles.

Are you kidding me??  Just because people drive by things doesn't mean they have a clue about them.  There might be "plenty" of people who do know about these areas of town, but there are even more who do not.
The difference between Blue Dome and, say, a ColdStone Creamery, is that the Blue Dome is an icon in the center of an area that is building itself up and out from that very icon, creating nightlife, bringing in people to the area.

Comparing the Blue Dome district, small though it may be right now, to a strip mall is inappropriate.

[perspicuity85]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

quote:Originally posted by aoxamaxoa

What would be fun is to be able to do a live video netcast through TulsaNow and ask people randomly at Woodland Hills (or coming out of church) if they know of the Brady or the Blue Dome.

What would be fun is to randomly shoot people in the kneecaps who post stuff like what is quoted above.

You don't have to live north of a certain street or belong to a certain social group/caste to be aware of downtown.  PLENTY of people know about those places, as they drive past them every day to and from work.

And while we're at it, calling the "Blue Dome" a district is a crock of ****.  It is a couple of city blocks.  Its like calling the strip mall by me "The Coldstone Creamery" district.  Districts are generally a LOT larger than that.  "The Brady district" is -just- barely the size I would consider a district.  The Asian District in OKC....now THAT is a district, it makes up several square miles.

Ok, it was me that originally brought up the "ask people at Woodland Hills" thing because I grew up in south Tulsa and know for a fact that most people my age (20s) from there don't know what the Blue Dome District is.  I know a lot of people in their 40s and 50s who work downtown but don't do anything else there.  
And you're right, the Blue Dome isn't a true district yet, but it definitely isn't shrinking.  The adjacent East End project will likely spur more and more development around the Blue Dome, allowing the area to grow into a true "district."  I mean, what else should we call it?

Sorry aox, I have to agree that the church reference crossed the line.  I too am a church attending person who also enjoys going out to bars.  Believe it or not there are some intellectual people in Tulsa who don't consider that hypocrisy.

[aoxamaxoa]

A bit touchy about churchianity are we? The comment was not intended to be a "stab" but the aggressive type A's took it that way....

[brunoflipper]

quote:Originally posted by aoxamaxoa

A bit touchy about churchianity are we? The comment was not intended to be a "stab" but the aggressive type A's took it that way....

oh ****ing please, "was not intended to be a "stab""?

he won't even try and back-up his own bull**** comments... then he goes on to try and make it about the "agressive type A's"...well done, 2 points for deflection...

his rhetoric has worn thin...