Updates on Abundant Life Bldg (Tulsa Club moved to its own thread)

[Conan71]

I walk all over downtown with no troubles......I hope the city is not paying this dude to do a study....

$70K to be exact.  One more study the city will do to make it look like they care about smart development then totally ignore the recommendations.

Tulsa has spent millions over the last couple of decades on consultants and studies which collect dust.

[Bamboo World]

Lets see the percentage in your last 20 post....

20%

[swake]

Lets see the percentage in your last 20 post....

What's your percentage of being a complete donkey in your last 100 posts?

[Bamboo World]

I walk all over downtown with no troubles......I hope the city is not paying this dude to do a study....

I walk all over downtown with no troubles, also.

Sorry for your lost hopes, but the City is paying the purportedly metrosexual dude $70K to conduct yet another study, as Conan71 posted.

Yes, unfortunately, that's $70K that will be leaving Tulsa's economy, only to recommend things we already know and have known for many years.  And the recommendations, as good as they likely will be, are doomed.  I expect the study to be shelved and collecting dust almost immediately, just as Conan71 described.

And, unfortunately, the City is waiting on the completion of the purportedly metrosexual dude's walkability study before lifting the "moratorium" or whatever they're calling the halt on licensing agreements, which we've been discussing on the "Moratorium: No more sidewalk cafes" topic initiated by davideinstein last week.  I think any moratorium on downtown licensing agreements while the City is awaiting the completion of a walkability study is ridiculous.  

On this thread, I mentioned a moratorium and the walkability study facetiously, as a response to cannon_fodder, incorrectly assuming that he and everyone else who regularly participates in urban development discussions knows who the purportedly metrosexual $70,000 walkability study dude is.  Nope.  Bamboo World was wrong again!  At least one user here doesn't know who in the Blue love wrote Walkable City and has been discussed on the TulsaNow Forum in ten different threads (not including this one) for more than eight years.

[swake]

I walk all over downtown with no troubles, also.

Sorry for your lost hopes, but the City is paying the purportedly metrosexual dude $70K to conduct yet another study, as Conan71 posted.

Yes, unfortunately, that's $70K that will be leaving Tulsa's economy, only to recommend things we already know and have known for many years.  And the recommendations, as good as they likely will be, are doomed.  I expect the study to be shelved and collecting dust almost immediately, just as Conan71 described.

And, unfortunately, the City is waiting on the completion of the purportedly metrosexual dude's walkability study before lifting the "moratorium" or whatever they're calling the halt on licensing agreements, which we've been discussing on the "Moratorium: No more sidewalk cafes" topic initiated by davideinstein last week.  I think any moratorium on downtown licensing agreements while the City is awaiting the completion of a walkability study is ridiculous.  

On this thread, I mentioned a moratorium and the walkability study facetiously, as a response to cannon_fodder, incorrectly assuming that he and everyone else who regularly participates in urban development discussions knows who the purportedly metrosexual $70,000 walkability study dude is.  Nope.  Bamboo World was wrong again!  At least one user here doesn't know who in the Blue love wrote Walkable City and has been discussed on the TulsaNow Forum in ten different threads (not including this one) for more than eight years.

I am very hopeful that Bynum will be more data driven and will actually use these studies over whatever it is that Dewey does.

[cannon_fodder]

Why the focus on "metrosexual," and what does that mean? Is a metrosexual downtown different than a homosexual or heterosxual downtown? Or is it a pun, "metro-area sexual?" I'm confused.

Also worth noting that the funding for Jeff Speck's study was raised from a variety of sources. This isn't all city money, they hoped it would be almost none. Not sure where they ended up.

That said --- we have a good idea what makes a walkable downtown because we can watch the TED talk, read the book, follow Strong Towns and Smart Growth, pay attention to other cities, etc. etc. etc. We also know what zoning generally means, what formed based codes are, how fire codes can detract from the intent of other initiatives, how the economics of density work, etc. etc. etc. This is because we are nerds. NERDS I tell you!

Fortunately, some people in city government are nerds too. INCOG is full of them. Anna American and Ewing flirt with nerdism. If the glasses are an indication, and I think they are, GT wants to join the nerd side. But government needs something to point to and say, "gee, we paid for this, we should consider using it." If $70k helps them make our argument, then hell yeah! Plus, a study specific to Tulsa will help point out what we have already done right - and where we can focus moving forward.  Jeff Speck gets named dropped as often as Jeff Speck does for a reason.

Am I afraid we put a pretty report on a shelf and its primary use is for dissidents and detractors to point and and scream "why aren't we doing this" (see, e.g., PLANiTULSA) - sure am. Am I hopeful this time will be different? That some good will come from it? That developers who want to throw up big boxes, and land holders who see easy profits in surface parking lots, and NIMBY types all over will maybe see the light? I sure am.

And so, my fellow America...

sorry, got carried away.

[rebound]

...But government needs something to point to and say, "gee, we paid for this, we should consider using it." If $70k helps them make our argument, then hell yeah! Plus, a study specific to Tulsa will help point out what we have already done right - and where we can focus moving forward.  Jeff Speck gets named dropped as often as Jeff Speck does for a reason.

I've been an operations consultant for over 20 years, and a lot of the time one of my key roles is simply to take the heat for specifying the change/improvement.  In almost any change, somebody's ox is going to get gored.   Using an external consultant often allows mgmt, or govt, to point to the consultant and say "well, the expert said this...", and use that to make the changes.   

Now, if they will just make the changes.

[heironymouspasparagus]

He's a 50ish city planner, author, and purported metrosexual.

Of my 1300+ posts on the TulsaNow Forum, I've mentioned him by name in approximately 1% of the total, usually when I feel it's appropriate to mention him by name, but sometimes just for fun, and sometimes when I'm all alone, thinking about him, or glancing teary-eyed at the small photo of him that he gave me to savor and cherish, as I fondly remember those precious, fleeting moments he and I shared together.

Thank you for inquiry and have a wonderful day.

Brilliant!!   I love it...!!

[davideinstein]

I walk all over downtown with no troubles......I hope the city is not paying this dude to do a study....

What's your resume in regard to urban planning?

[DowntownDan]

I am very hopeful that Bynum will be more data driven and will actually use these studies over whatever it is that Dewey does.

I hope so too, but the people who oppose smart development aren't going to change.  I support Bynum and think he will do better, but I've never pretended that he's going to disrupt the big box mafia that run our planning commission and council.  He might get a few concessions out of them from time to time, but I hope nobody expects him to shut down the developers who pay big money to prevent smart zoning.  If that's what you expect out of Bynum, you're going to be disappointed I think.   

[heironymouspasparagus]

What's your resume in regard to urban planning?

Lol.  You and Bamboo World are on a roll this week!!  Keep up the good work.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Tulsa Club building project proposal moves forward with committee approval
Plans for a $24 million conversion of the historic Tulsa Club building, 115 E. Fifth St., into a boutique hotel plus restaurant and retail space cleared another hurdle Thursday.
The Local Development Act Review Committee unanimously recommended considering tax relief for the Tulsa-based Ross Group proposal, which seeks a six-year tax abatement totaling roughly $1.693 million.
The committee comprises representatives of entities that would be have ad valorem taxes redirected under the proposal: Tulsa Health Department; Tulsa City-County Library Commission; Tulsa Technology Center; Tulsa Community College; city of Tulsa (sinking fund); Tulsa County Board of Commissioners; and Tulsa Public Schools.
"It is an early step in the process, but this is a great project," said committee member and Tulsa City Councilor Blake Ewing. "I'm pretty confident that as we take it back to our individual groups, we'll see unanimous support."
The project calls for the new "Tulsa Club Hotel" to be historically renovated to house 98 boutique hotel rooms on floors 1 through 8, restaurant and retail on the first floor (6,800 square feet), and restaurant and bar space on the 11th floor (5,400 square feet), documents show.
The hotel rooms would be managed by Promise Hotels under Hilton's Curio brand. Under the renovation, the ballroom on the ninth and 10th floors also would be restored, said Steven Watts, the development project manager for Ross Group who oversaw Thursday's presentation to the committee.
"It is a great investment for the city of Tulsa," Watts said during the meeting.
Watts told the group that the project would bring an estimated 393 direct and indirect jobs to the city, a number that includes workers on the 18-24 month construction. A total of 55 to 75 people would work full-time in the building, he said.
Federal and state historic tax credits are being sought for the renovation, records indicate.
Ross Group purchased the building, which has sat vacant for 22 years, for $1.5 million in September.
Among the oldest structures in downtown Tulsa, the 92,220-square-foot, 11-story building was constructed in 1927 as a joint venture between the Tulsa Club and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. Architect Bruce Goff designed the Zigzag art deco structure.
The Chamber of Commerce occupied the first five floors for 25 years, and the Tulsa Club filled the upper six with dining halls, a gymnasium, a barber shop, and various lounges and libraries.
The top floor housed the Sky Terrace, which was used for luncheons and seated about 100 people, and the building was capped with a rooftop garden.
The Tulsa Club folded in 1994, and the building fell into disrepair. C.J. Moroney, a California investor, purchased the building three years later.
After dozens of break-ins and multiple fires, the city of Tulsa eventually targeted the building as a public nuisance and, at the start of 2008, began fining Moroney $1,000 per day until the building was brought up to code. The fines reached $330,000 and the city was granted legal permission to begin foreclosure proceedings.
A long string of legal battles, including two bankruptcy filings, delayed a sheriff's auction of the building until April 2013, when local businessman Josh Barrett bought the structure.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/tulsa-club-building-project-proposal-moves-forward-with-committee-approval/article_779bf81f-b7ca-5ca5-8016-ddc6d278192d.html

[DTowner]

Another small step, but an important one to bringing this building back to life.

[Townsend]

A happy ending (fingers crossed) for the club building as posted by the groove crusher:

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=21435.0;topicseen

Now how about that pesky Abundant Life building?  Surely there's some laws being broken there by now...

[Conan71]

A happy ending (fingers crossed) for the club building as posted by the groove crusher:

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=21435.0;topicseen

Now how about that pesky Abundant Life building?  Surely there's some laws being broken there by now...

What guy doesn't like a happy ending?