Grant's New Toy

Steve Lackmeyer columns from NewsOK

• Downtown Oklahoma City planners facing tight deadline November 3, 2009
  Blink and you might miss it, but decisions that will affect downtown Oklahoma City’s image for decades to come are being made at lightning speed.Call them "the dream team,” or better yet, the Delta Force for urban redesign in Oklahoma City.Read more on NewsOK.com […]
• Parking offer at game may score with fans October 27, 2009
  The Bricktown Association is repeating its offer of free parking for the second season home opening game Wednesday for the Oklahoma City Thunder.Read more on NewsOK.com […]
• Property buyer is coy about downtown plans October 20, 2009
  Nicholas Preftakes is still being coy about his plans for a block of properties he’s acquired west of the future home of Devon Energy Corp.But Preftakes is providing a bit more information this week about what he has planned.Records show Preftakes has spent about $14 million acquiring more than half of the block bounded by Hudson, Walker, Sheridan and Main.R […]
• Myriad Gardens plan crystallizes connection October 13, 2009
  The start of construction last week on the 50-story Devon tower might be impressive, but one must look to other endeavors by the company’s CEO Larry Nichols to see how he fits into downtown’s history.It’s a timeline that starts with the late Dean A. McGee.Read more on NewsOK.com […]
• Q&A with Alison Oshel October 6, 2009
  How Oklahoma retailers have been hit by the recessionQ: Oklahoma City is well into its own recession now.Read more on NewsOK.com […]
• Building survey to catalog Oklahoma City downtown's past October 6, 2009
  Is there a "lost Bricktown”? You bet.Lost in the hype over Bricktown as a thriving urban entertainment venue is that the one-time wholesale district was once much bigger.Read more on NewsOK.com […]
• City building now sports a new piece of sculpture September 29, 2009
  James Cotter visited Oklahoma City during the weekend to do some showing off of a sculpture he commissioned for the north plaza of Cotter Ranch Tower downtown.Of course some readers already are a bit confused, unaware such a tower exists.Read more on NewsOK.com […]
• ‘Dream team’ is in place for downtown makeover September 22, 2009
  Cathy O’Connor, Brent Bryant, Kenny Jordan, John Michael Williams, Dan Batchelor and Leslie Batchelor were all dubbed the "dream team” after completing one of the most complicated public/private financing plans in city history for renovation of the Skirvin Hilton.Now some of the same faces are back and facing even bigger tasks with creation of the Devon […]
• Is downtown ready for chaos of construction? September 8, 2009
  Change is coming, but is downtown Oklahoma City ready for it?A couple of years ago, downtown Tulsa went through an extensive streetscape program started as part of the city’s Vision 2025 initiative.Read more on NewsOK.com […]
• Memories often fuel desire for new brands September 2, 2009
  Maybe it’s all a matter of perspective.While cruising the online message boards, it’s fascinating to see how some locals yearn for chain stores and restaurants not found in Oklahoma City.Read more on NewsOK.com […]