The Latest Downtown News From Downtown OKC Inc.
Now is the time to move up to Downtown Oklahoma City! On Saturday, May 3, the Move UP Downtown Living Tour will lead visitors through 11 new or renovated residential developments for sale and lease, with a featured stop at the 2008 Symphony Designer Show House.
This self-guided tour runs from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. and visitors are invited to tour as many properties as they like. The free Move UP shuttles will run a continuous loop of the tour locations until 6 p.m. Stops can be visited in any order. Tour books with maps will be available at each stop. Guests should allow 20 – 30 minutes for each stop they choose to visit.
Free parking will be provided at NW 10th & Robinson across from Hadden Hall, Lower Bricktown lots and the City Center Garage (enter from Park Avenue or Hudson) located at 301 W. Sheridan. Downtown OKC offers over 20,000 lot and on street metered parking spaces for your convenience. Metered spots are free on weekends.
The 11 stops featured on the tour include; Block 42; The Hill; The Sieber; Legacy at Arts Quarter; Carnegie Centre; Park Harvey; Sycamore Square South; Lower Bricktown/Centennial; The Montgomery; Hadden Hall; and Brownstones at Maywood Park and the 2008 Symphony Designer Show House. Click here for a tour map
Tour guests will experience all that downtown OKC has to offer, with restaurants and specialty shops offering tour specials and prizes. As guests visit each property, they are invited to register to win one of many exciting Downtown prizes. The more properties visited, the better the chance to win! Prizes include a $2,000 gift certificate to Bo Concept Urban Design; a “Downtown Test Drive” at the Skirvin Hilton with a deluxe room and dinner at the Park Avenue Grill; and gift certificates and passes to many of Downtown’s finest eating establishments and exciting attractions
The 35th annual Symphony Designers Show House and Gardens, a project of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, will feature the new downtown construction of the Brownstones at Maywood Park. Admission to the Symphony Designer Show House is $15.00 each and no children under 8 or cameras are allowed. The Show House is open until 3:30 on May 3. The Show House opens runs through May 18.
The Move UP Downtown Living Tour is produced by Downtown OKC Inc. and sponsored by the Downtown Business Improvement District, The Oklahoman, Downtown Magazine and the Downtown Developers. Supporting sponsors include Bo Concept Urban Design, Downtown Urban Neighbors (U.N.) and Red Prime Steak.
SoundBites Concert Series Tomorrow! The John Arnold Band
Both kinds of music, country and western, will fill the Downtown spring air today as the The John Arnold Band takes the stage to entertain downtowners on their lunch break The band won the $50,000 national Dodge-Wrangler Country Showdown and has toured across the US with Ricky Skaggs and Exile. They have opened for such artists as George Strait, Steve Wariner, Marty Stuart, Reba McEntire, Michael Martin Murphey, The Bellamy Brothers, The Judds, T. Graham Brown, and many others.
SoundBites concerts happen Fridays in May and June from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. in Couch Park, located between Broadway and Robinson at Robert S. Kerr, adjacent to Kerr Park.
SoundBites concerts include:
May 2…..John Arnold Band
May 9…..The Bluecats
May 16….Camille Harp
May 23….Horseshoe Road (Steve’s note: these guys are good – future national showcase performers good)
May 30….Starkweather Boys
June 6…..Shakespearean Afternoon Delight by Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park June 13…..Aranda
June 20…..Groove Merchants/SoundBites at Sunset 4:30 – 6:30
Hungry downtowners are encouraged to visit one of the many fine SoundBites restaurant partners to grab a lunch to go and enjoy the tunes. These restaurant partners are offering a special $5 “SoundBites2Go” lunch special! Couch Park features tables with umbrellas and cozy shaded seating areas and is the perfect spot for a midday Downtown retreat from the office.
To take advantage of the SoundBites2Go $5 lunch specials, visit the following:
Quizno’s………………110 N. Robinson….232-7773
Sub Stop……………..120 N Robinson…..232-3332
Interurban……………..204 N. Robinson….235-4448
City Bites……………..211 N. Robinson….232-3322
Ground Floor Café…..211 N. Robinson….232-2233
Crave……………………211 N. Robinson…..606-6691
SoundBites in the Park is presented by the Downtown Oklahoma City Business Improvement District, managed by Downtown Oklahoma City, Inc.
For more information regarding SoundBites in the Park or the BID, contact Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. at (405) 235-3500.
Convention Center of the Future?
Doing something better than iconic. That’s the vision of architectural students I met with earlier this week at the studio of Hans Butzer along Film Row. The story is here.
The top three sketches are by OU architectural student Brent Gathright, who is also known as BG918 at www.okctalk.com
OU architectural student Kimberly Monroe envisions a convention center that would collect rainwater from the roof and circulate it in an interior courtyard, as shown below.
Kyung Namgoong drew her inspiration from the city’s terrain:
The Eyesore List
A couple of weeks ago I posted the following question at www.okctalk.com: what are the worst downtown eyesores?
Here’s the list they compiled:
———————————-
Stage Center
Old Downtown Library
DEQ Building
AT&T campus
Former Stewart Metal buildings
304 NE 3 (Deep Deuce)
City Detox
Former Fox Collission Building
Bob Howard Ford
Union Bus Station
First National Arcade
Trigen
Garage at Kerr and Harvey
Park Harvey Building
Former nightclub at Main and Walker
Goodyear Tire store
Browns bakery
Dowell Center
Bricktown Parking Garage
U-Haul building in Bricktown
Cotton Coop
Finley building
Bass Pro
Century Center
Harkins Theater
So, what’s next? I’ve got a camera, and I’m preparing to take some photos of these “eyesores.” Then I’ll provide details on some of these properties, followed by a poll here at www.okccentral.com. The more of you who vote in this poll, the more likely it is you might nudge someone to make some improvements. Now, quiz time friends… which one of these “eyesores” is the only Oklahoma City property to win one of the highest architectural honors possible? Which property was deemed one of the city’s most significant architectural landmarks by a panel of architects and preservationists? Which building is owned by dedicated urban pioneers who have led in their district’s revival? And which building is closest to becoming history?
New Skyline?
Thanks to the wonders of photoshop, some glances at our potential new skyline are beginning to emerge. Here are a couple that have popped up the past 24 hours:
- Doug Loudenback, www.dougdawg.blogspot.com
- BG198, www.okctalk.com
I know there are a lot of photoshop and simcity geniuses out there, and even some architects and architectural interns and students who are reading this blog. So let’s have some fun with this – take your best shot at imagining the new downtown OKC skyline and email to me, and I’ll post them over the next several days.
You might never know whose eyes are reading this site, and how your imagination could influence the folks who will be making the final call of downtown’s future.
Burning Design
Will anyone fight to save this fire station from being torn down in 50 years?
Oklahoma City Fire Station 37, built in 1996, Oklahoman Archives
I’ve been thinking more about the city’s decision to build a new fire station at the east entrance to Bricktown. Old Downtown Guy suggests we shouldn’t be trying to mimick designs of stations of decades past – but rather come up with a new design that still complements the area.
So here are some stations that caught my eye cruising the Internet. The first one, shown above, is located in Ashland, Oregon, and is clearly the pride of the community. The story below is from the city’s web site:
Ashland Fire & Rescue Station #1
Owners: City of Ashland – Keith Woodley, Fire Chief/Project Manager
Architects: Peck Smiley Ettlin Architects
Contractor: Adroit Construction
What started out as a small early 1900′s auto service repair and gas station and later converted into a fire station is now the site of one of the most attractive buildings in the City and probably one of the most attractive fire stations on the West Coast.Prior to the City’s commitment to reconstruct the fire station, the old fire/gas station was considered by manyin the community as an unattractive site with dangerous ingress and egress access.
Since the building’s completion, the community has embrace the building with enthusiasm.
The street activity along the frontage clearly demonstrates a positive aesthetic impact as well as a financial benefit shared throughout the Downtown area.In an age when projects of this type do not consider “human scale” design or orientation or have such recessed parking bays, they create a “missing tooth” in the Main Street façade.
Also, new fire stations are typically built near the city’s fringe – fragmenting any potential lationship to downtown businesses and the community. Ashland Fire & Rescue Station #1 shows vision for future developments in the City.The Historic Commission would like to thank not only the citizens of Ashland for providing the funds to build the station, but also the Ashland City Council for providing the necessary direction and vision for our community’s future.
Mesa, Arizona Fire Station No. 217
Architect: Wood Associates Architects, Inc., Mesa
Columbia, Missouri, Peckham & Wright Architects
