Thirteen Years of Proposed Dense Housing Development at NW 13 and Walker
The Edge, as shown at NW 13 and Walker.
So how did we get here? How did we get to January, 2012, and residents of Heritage Hills are surprised that a housing development is about to go up on the former site of Mercy Hospital?
First, let’s go back one decade. Mercy Hospital abandoned its downtown home and opened a new complex in the mid-1970s in what was then the sticks – Memorial Road just west of May Avenue.
The old Mercy hospital ended up boarded-up blight on the neighborhood for a quarter century.
In the late 1990s the city finally got around to securing control of the block and the Urban Renewal Authority was tasked with finding a developer for the site.
Nicholas Preftakes made the first pitch in 1998. The $11.8 million proposal, the first downtown area housing attempted by Urban Renewal in 20 years, called for 16 two-story town houses, 72 city villas and 52 apartments. A rendering from the project shows the apartment building would have been six stories high.
The project was canceled in 2002 after Urban Renewal commissioners refused a request by Preftakes to acquire a duplex just south of the site. That duplex, once criticized by neighbors as a public nuisance, was later renovated into law offices.
The Urban Renewal Authority made another request for proposals for the site in 2006. By this time downtown housing was gaining momentum with the success of the Deep Deuce Apartments and other for-sale and rental housing popping up throughout downtown.
Two developers stepped up on this second go-round.
Marva Ellard pitched a plan dubbed Mercy Park, a $48.3 million development that would include 111 apartments, 22 for-sale condominiums, restaurant and retail, and a 72-room hotel. The Mercy Park proposal called for a restaurant, deli, shops and a grocery to face NW 13 between Dewey and Walker. Condominiums would face Walker while apartments would be built along NW 12 and Dewey. A hotel would be built in the center of the development, with underground parking serving the entire complex.
Chuck Wiggin, meanwhile, pitched Overholser Green, a $61.3 million development consisting of four buildings, four- to eight-stories high, with 109 upscale for-sale condominiums built above underground parking.
Wiggin’s proposal was chosen, only to fall through due to the economic crash of 2008. Wiggin attempted to persuade Urban Renewal board members to keep his contract in place and allow him to adapt his proposal into apartments. The board instead decided in 2010 to put the project back out for bid. And this time they received five responses – though one, pitched by Home Creations, was deemed significantly out of line with what was being sought by Urban Renewal due to its mix of office space and low threshold of investment.
This time Wiggin proposed a five-story complex with 24,000-square-feet for restaurants and retail, a 375-car garage, featuring 200 rental units with monthly rates between $600 and $1,900.
Ellard pitched a proposal again as well, this time submitting plans for a 150-unit, four-story complex that would have included enough parking to share with the nearby Unitarian Church and a daycare center.
This time around, the competition was joined by Richard Tanenbaum, whose previous residential downtown development included the Park Harvey Building and The Montgomery. Tanenbaum and his son Stephen proposed a four-story, 268-unit apartment complex with a pool and courtyard.
Original Dewey garage facade.
The Edge has undergone some changes since it was first proposed (as shown in the above rendering). In response to a push by the Urban Renewal board and neighborhood advocates, a retail mix was added along Walker Avenue. The amount of stucco facade was reduced, and garage was relocated to where it will be far less visible to the street.
These deliberations were open to the public; I even did live blogging and in-depth evaluations of each proposal.
Building permits are being sought, financing is apparently set, zoning is in place. All that remains, really, is a routine replatting of the block and approval for the exterior design by the Downtown Design Committee, which meets on Thursday. One variance is being sought – for a three-foot parapet to screen rooftop equipment. The Mercy site has never been this close to development – and after 13 years of similarly-sized developments being pitched and attempted for the block, it now has the attention of the Heritage Hills neighborhood one block to the north.
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Comments
I dont see how people can be against this. I live downtown and this kind of development seems like a win for everyone. I’m originally from Dallas, and these mixed use developments are a hugely popular throughout the suburbs and each city is developing there own. This seems to be the coming from the group of people who do not want to see Oklahoma City turn into a large, developed city. They enjoy the small town feel and want to keep it that way.
Rational HH & MP residents are really a contradiction in terms as almost all of them are by nature liberal NIMBY Reactionaries.
HH and MP used to be my dream neighborhoods…I am now reconsidering. My modest working class neighborhood seems a little more attractive now. People make all the difference.
I used to feel the same way, kris. Living in MP or HH is almost like you’ve made it. Now the dream is to build in Sosa or up near western avenue.
Steve: These recent blogs seem to be related so if the post doesn’t really apply here, please feel free to move it elsewhere.
This all reminds me of the recent (and justified) uproar over the elimination of 4 of the DT access points with the new Crosstown. Where was the protests when this was designed how many years ago? It is rather late in the game now to fix it. Even if possible to fix, will probably be very expensive to do so.
Jason: in a lot of ways you hit in square on the head. I am a native birn OKCitian (live across the street from the hospital where I was born). Have traveled all over the US and lived in many different tates, but this is home. Many of us do indeed enjoy the small town feel of OKC even though we are one of the largest cities in the US by square miles. I have always seen us as a “rural city”. I don’t want OKC to become another Dallas or any other “big” city. If I liked that so much, I would move there.
Larry, you’ve got a point on I-40 – the loss of access from the new I-40 to downtown is not a surprise and it is what prompted ODOT to agree to build the boulevard.
Not that anybody cares, but I liked the “so how did we get here?” part.
RESPONSE: I care Duck! Thanks!
- Steve
I lobbed that very gently over the net so I would say that
was a fairly easy return. Still, I appreciate that
very much and it only makes me miss the Algonquin RT even
more. So thanks for that. I laughed. It sort of reminds me
of a birthday card I saw the other day that had a low flying
spaceship that was flying low and on the inside the caption
said “And then they beamed up your gift and sped away.”
If I still had a blog I put the picture of it up.
(The second I in the last sentence =s I’d or I would or I might have or I could have or I might have thought about putting)
This may go down as “most awesome” post of 2012. Lots of pretty pictures!