Sunday Flashback: Giving Up on a Downtown Galleria
The Galleria parking deck, circa mid-1990s - the legacy of a 20-year Urban Renewal dream to bring retail back to downtown.
Galleria Site to Be Divided Up Redevelopment Options Discussed
By Mary Jo Nelson
Sunday, May 5, 1991
The age for a monolithic downtown development in Oklahoma City has come and gone, if you heed a national architectural firm that has created mixed-use centers in the heart of 20 other American cities.
That means a four-block site in the central business district will be redivided and parceled out for individual buildings, city redevelopment officials confirm.
A project on the scale of the proposed $100 million Galleria, or the less ambitious $33 million Festival Market Center, is no longer valid, says John Gosling, architect and planner in the Dallas office of Baltimore-based RTKL Associates Inc. RTKL designed one of two never-built projects intended for the downtown Galleria site, extending from Robinson to Hudson between Park Avenue and Sheridan.
Second Century Inc., a public/private policy body set up to direct downtown rebuilding, is considering ways to disassemble the Galleria land. Main questions are how the large parcel will be broken up and redeveloped, Second Century president Tiana Douglas said.
A pair of office buildings and two-level parking structures are all of the original plans ever built on the Galleria/Festival location. Two massive retail/hotel/office projects never made it beyond concept stage. The redevelopment contractors were unable to finance the ventures.
The failures left a gaping empty space at the city’s core, and Second Century officers say once the location is cut into small parcels, it could take years to rebuild.
“We believe the development strategy for the Galleria property should focus on a series of separate entrepreneurial actions that are, relative to past aspirations, quite modest in scale,” Gosling recently reported to Second Century officials and the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority.
With break-up of the four blocks, at least part of the former street pattern will be restored, Second Century vice president David Jones said. But re-opened Harvey Avenue and Main Street won’t see typical downtown traffic again.
More likely, a T-shaped streetway/plaza will result where pedestrians will share space with selected vehicles, possibly trolleys.
“Main and Harvey won’t become dedicated streets again. Instead, they’ll be passageways limited to some kind of specialized traffic,” Jones explained. “What kind has not yet been determined. ” Second Century hired RTKL to suggest options for redeveloping the Galleria space. As architect and planner for the site’s proposed Forest City’s Festival Market Center, RTKL already had compiled vast amounts of data and understood the whole environment, Douglas said.
Pending construction of an office building for the Internal Revenue Service, to be owned by and leased from a local investment firm, “gives us another opportunity to look at the whole site and do some strategic planning and to some marketing,” she added.
“We’re really not anxious for a grand master plan,” Douglas said. “What we do now will be step-by-step. ” She considers RTKL uniquely qualified to guide downtown Oklahoma City’s revitalization. The Forest City project was one of many the firm has designed for central cities nationwide. Among major urban renewal projects to its credit is Charles Center – the core of Baltimore’s renaissance.
“It’s a different universe out there today” than four years ago, when Forest City Enterprises planned to develop a downtown Festival Market Place, Gosling said. With national economic, financial and real estate climates drastically altered, “we’re trying to make sense in the ’90s for a vitalization plan that would energize downtown. ” Gosling forsees downtown remaining a center for the arts, government, finance and utility companies for the next 20 years.
“We tried retail and it didn’t work,” he said referring to the ill-fated Galleria and Festival Market Center plans. “Now we’re looking at arts programs and working off what you can do from convention and tourist-related interests. The formula is so much more complicated now. ” To speed up expanding convention facilities, Second Century directors on Thursday agreed to spend $60,000 to study the need for expanding Myriad Convention Center and building another hotel nearby. Requests for proposals will be sought from consultants, Jones said. Possible sites for the hotel would be at Sheridan and Robinson, and on Sheridan west of Robinson. Splitting the $60,000 cost will be the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Commission and the urban renewal authority.
A hotel is proposed for Sheridan Avenue, west of the historic Colcord Building, in all RTKL options yet submitted. Virtually all authorities agree another downtown hotel is needed to attract more conventions.
The RTKL options set aside much of the western half of the four-block site for expansion of the downtown cultural/arts district. Specifically proposed are an arts museum and a new central library. Other possibilities identified are a performing arts center smaller than Civic Center Music Hall and a location for the Oklahoma Historical Society.
A cultural/performing arts, entertainment/tourism bag that is slowly emerging downtown has begun to work in other cities, Gosling said. But the fundamentals will continue to be based on city, county and federal government, financial and professional services (mainly law offices), utility companies and the corporations that historically have been based downtown, such as Kerr-McGee Corp. “I don’t see any fundamental shifts,” Gosling said. “There aren’t any corporations moving into downtowns today. When they move at all, it’s to suburbs. ” He forsees no more giant projects in Oklahoma City or elsewhere.
Douglas, Jones and Gosling unanimously stress one element: “The day of the speculative office building (such as First Oklahoma and American First Towers) in downtown is over. ” They anticipate no more of this type of construction, probably for the rest of the century.
On the other hand, Gosling said, there is not much contiguous space for large users downtown. He said the one major supplier of 75,000 square feet or more is First Oklahoma Tower. RTKL proposes that about a third of the vacant Galleria space be designated for “build-to-suit” buyers.
“We have enough office space for a five- to 10-year supply. We are seeing some businesses moving up (to more luxurious space) and some law firms returning,” Douglas said.
Two of three options also provide more multistory parking in the center of the four-block site. Existing parking structures were designed to support multiple levels. This would allow ample on-site parking behind future buildings constructed to front on Park Avenue, Hudson, Robinson and Sheridan. Douglas also forsees Sheridan becoming the new Main Street.
In the case of the downtown IRS building, proposed on N Robinson between the Colcord and American First Tower, ” the government is now getting the private sector to build buildings for them,” Gosling said. “We are seeing government departments looking at sites that support downtown wherever they can. They’re not interested in owning buildings any longer. I don’t know if this is a trend, but it’s happening all over the country. ” Besides the IRS project, the State Insurance Fund is searching for downtown space.
Whatever option is adopted Gosling and Jones point to downtown’s advantages. Although an eroding employee base has diminished the amount and type of retail establishments, the area has the tunnel system and “some of the lowest crime statistics in the city. “
Very, Very Long Week
I’m glad it’s over. Later today, or maybe tomorrow, I’ll sum up the decisions made this week on Project 180. I think it’s clear now that LED lighting is now on the table, but it’s far from a done deal and I’m seeing evidence that the LED industry is now paying attention to this discussion and sees the opportunity to make its case with Project 180 and counter information given out by consultants and OG&E concerning the readiness of the technology and available warrantees.
Not sure what’s going to happen with the “other” downtown initiatives. I’ve had a lot of people ask me what’s going on. After watching Tulsa leaders and their opposition the past decade, I recognize failures on both sides when I see it. Will we end up being like Tulsa? I hope not.
More On LED Street Lights
The folks promoting the cause of LED lights sent me this press release today:
Sunovia Energy Wins LED Street Lighting Contract from Sarasota County
SARASOTA, Fla., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SUNV) has won the bid to provide LED street lighting for Sarasota County’s highly visible main thoroughfare, Fruitville Road.
On November 13th, the county provided a Bid Award notice letter to all bid participants stating that Sunovia provided the “lowest price responsive bid,” meaning Sunovia bid the lowest price while meeting or exceeding all requirements of the proposal. Seven other companies, three of them with ties to Sarasota, participated in the bidding process.
The project calls for Sunovia to provide 148 EvoLucia(TM)-brand 120W LED cobra head-style street lights. Because the LED lights are extremely energy-efficient and require no maintenance for 12 years, the lights will save Sarasota County approximately $14,000 per year in energy and maintenance costs. Further, the LED lights will reduce carbon emissions by approximately 710,730 pounds over 10 years.
The EvoLucia lights project more than 50 lumens per watt consumed, a relatively high light output considering the low amount of input energy. They contain the newest high-brightness Cree® LEDs ( CREE) and employ patent-pending Aimed Optics(TM) technology to focus maximum light on the ground, virtually eliminating glare, wasted light and light pollution.
“Because the LEDs within our EvoLucia lights are strategically aimed to focus light on specified locations, they achieve higher light utilization and provide higher ‘target efficiencies’ than even other types of LED fixtures,” the company said. “This is particularly important in street and roadway applications, where increased road safety comes directly from the heightened visibility of more light reaching roadways at ground level. Our ‘Aimed Optics’ technology is the only technology suited for direct, one-for-one replacement of HPS cobra head street lights with LEDs–meaning Sarasota can install the LED lights on existing poles with no needed adjustments in pole spacing.”
The new cobra heads also exceed the “Fitted Target Efficiency” criteria established by the U.S. Department of Energy (D.O.E.) for Energy Star® certification. The “Aimed Optics” direct illumination method also allows fixtures to meet Dark Sky guidelines and LEED certification requirements by minimizing light trespass, reducing sky-glow, and reducing impact on nocturnal environments.
If Sarasota were to proceed to a city-wide LED street light retrofit of 62,000 fixtures, the county would save more than $5.28 million annually in energy and maintenance costs and reduce carbon emissions by 223 million pounds over 10 years.
Ed Kramer, Sunovia’s Director of LED Sales and Marketing, said, “We are grateful for Sarasota County’s commitment to energy conservation. While our technology saves a tremendous amount of energy and money, it also has the potential to rebuild Sarasota’s economy around ‘green’ jobs. By choosing environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and Sarasota-made EvoLucia LED lighting, the county has done what is best for the environment, the local economy and Sarasota taxpayers.”
About Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc.
Sunovia Energy Technologies is a Sarasota, FL-based company that commercializes and markets products within the LED lighting and solar markets that reduce carbon emissions, promote national security and preserve the environment. Sunovia owns the exclusive marketing rights to products produced by EPIR Technologies, Inc., including infrared sensors and devices for the civilian and military night vision markets.
Sunovia’s LED lighting technologies are among the most cost and energy-efficient in the world, and are marketed under the brand name EvoLucia(TM) (www.evolucialighting.com).
Sunovia owns a significant equity interest in Illinois-based EPIR Technologies, Inc., the pioneer of single crystal II-VI solar modules and a global leader in the field of IR sensors and IR imaging. EPIR’s collective infrared knowledge and experience is believed to exceed that of any company in the world. Its founder, Chairman and CEO Dr. Sivalingam Sivananthan, is a recognized world leader in HgCdTe growth.
EPIR holds the patent for growing CdTe directly on a Si readout integrated circuit, for which the company developed a manufacturing capability with Congressional support. Sunovia and EPIR co-own the solar technologies and solar products that are developed under the Exclusive Partnership Agreement. The Partners have a network of close collaborative relationships, including the Army Research Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate, BAE Systems, and other laboratories around the world.
More information about the exclusive partnership between Sunovia and EPIR is available in Sunovia’s Securities and Exchange filings at www.sec.gov, or at the partners’ Web sites, www.sunoviaenergy.com and www.epir.com.
The Sunovia(TM) logo is a registered service mark of Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Sunovia Energy products and services and EvoLucia(TM) products and services are provided by Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc.
LED Lights
Just caught up with Assistant City Manager Cathy O’Connor on the LED lights. The city has decided to pursue LED street lights under the condition that city staff and OG&E can agree it’s doable by the time the new street light poles go up in a couple of years and that the two sides can come up with a price they can agree on for the fixtures and poles.
The LED light industry, if they were smart, might want to be proactive here and offer up proof the costs aren’t as bad as feared.
Will This Be Downtown’s New Street Light?
Jerreck Boss shows a proposed new street fixture at a earlier meeting.
This light got, at best, a lukewarm response from city staff when it was first proposed. And consultants were shy about saying it was their preference until the meetings were opened up and architect Rand Elliott urged Jerreck Boss to name his preference and argue why it’s the best choice.
Sure enough, the round fixture is back. And the group has been talking about how it might work into introducing a subtle “O” theme to downtown’s street design.
Street Signs
Remember when this whole discussion began I presented examples of streetscapes across the country and showed pictures of specialized street signs in New York City? It looks like there will be a similar concept introduced in the central business district. The question is whether to apply this concept to all of downtown, and if so, how does one define the boundaries to downtown these days?
The city may have more flexibility on this matter, since it’s the city that manufactures these signs.
More Recommendations – And Surprises
Scheme with round light fixtures.
When this process started – back when only city staff was at the table – the idea of presenting traffic signal lights horizontal instead of vertically had no support. Now it’s the recommendation, as shown in the above presentation slide. When Laura Story asked if “anyone will have a cow” if the horizontal traffic signals are chosen, architect Anthony McDermid replied “I will have a cow if we don’t.”
Scheme with second street light option.
BTW: Ignore the building that the James Burnett folks show at the corner of Main and Walker. I’ve seen this building over and over again in their drawings – they’re just very intent on adding a second floor and renovating it.
It looks like we’re one step close to having horizontal traffic lights. Group just agreed on it, though I’m sure there are other reviews to come (not sure if this all ends with a council review or vote or not). It also looks like the bike racks created by Urban Neighbors will stay in the mix and be augmented by new ones designed to match or at least not conflict with existing bike racks.
Our Future?
Recommended Street Scheme
Recycling: Yea Or Nay??
Looks like the consultants are hearing downtown isn’t ready for side by trash/recycling cans. Seems to me that separating it out would make the job of empty cans a lot easier for transients looking to make a quick buck at the recycling center.
Longtime Readers, I’m Asking for Your Help
As I live blog, I won’t be able to provide less frequent visitors with links to previous blog posts that provide more context and history to the discussion (example: LED lighting). Feel free to provide links in the comment sections for newer readers to keep up with us.
Thanks!
