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Well, what do you know, news still happens if I take a couple of vacation days. Jack Money has an article now at www.newsok.com detailing Devon Energy’s purchase of the Colcord Hotel.

And of course, the online community is just buzzing about this purchase and wondering about the implications. I don’t have all the answers, but….

It’s ridiculous to suggest Larry Nichols might want to tear down the hotel and replace it with parking. But if you’re looking for the negative angle on every story, go ahead and keep on talking about it anyway. Truth is, from the moment Devon announced its plans to build a new tower, one had to wonder about how the Colcord might survive the loss of its surface parking lot. The city-owned old Galleria parking deck is part of the site that is expected to be awarded to Devon by the Urban Renewal Authority later this month.

Devon, of course, wouldn’t mind having an upscale hotel next door to its new tower. And imagine the possibilities for both Devon and the Colcord if the tower development were to incorporate the hotel, instead of having architects and planners trying to work around the 98-year-old landmark.

Yes, it really could be that visionary - and that simple. While I’m not on this story, past discussions with Larry Nichols and other leading corporate leaders in this community are revealing. Look at Kerr-McGee in its final days as being the old way of corporate campus development: self contained, no interaction with the surrounding neighborhood, totally self-sufficient. The new way is to look at how to interact with the surrounding community, to not just benefit from the nearby amenities, but maybe even help enhance them.

Larry Nichols has previously indicated he wants to do just that with the Myriad Gardens. Is there any reason to doubt him when he says he has the same intent with the Colcord?

Downtown Fort Worth is getting its first new hotel in 20 years, and I doubt anyone would challenge the value of its contribution to the city’s skyline.

With an opening set for later this year, the Omni Forth Worth Hotel will have 604 guest rooms with 97 condominiums on top of the hotel.  In addition to the hotel lobby, the ground floor will include Bob’s Steak & Chop House, Starbucks Coffee, another restaurant, sports bar, a spa, and a gift shop.

The building also will feature  48,000 square feet of meeting space, and is across the street from the Fort Worth Convention Center.

The 34-story building is going up on what was convention center parking (the city is building a garage to replace the lost spots).

According to Fort Worth Architecture Online, the hotel’s design consists of a masonry base with an “L” shaped masonry and glass hotel tower rising out of it.  A taller, boat shaped glass section rises out of the base.  On the upper floors of this section of the building will be 97 condominiums.  The building will have three levels of underground parking.  The architect for the Omni Fort Worth Hotel is HOK.  At the current time, the exact height of the hotel is unknown, but it estimated to be around 547 feet in height.

Now here is my question: downtown Fort Worth has been booming for years, yet it saw none of the low- to mid-rise hotel projects now popping up in downtown Oklahoma City. Is there any conclusion to be drawn here about OKC’s chances at drawing an Omni-type project in years to come?

Here’s an interesting tidbit: which major downtown - one that many in OKC admire and wish to immulate in many ways - is just now getting its first hotel in two decades?

A decade ago downtown had one hotel. When the Hampton Inn opens in Bricktown later this year, we’ll have seven. Add to that the Holiday Inn Express that will be built at Oklahoma and Main and you have eight. And oh, by the way, for those of you who have seen my mentions of more hotels lining up, yep, the Candlewood Inn announced today is one I’ve been tracking, and yeah, that makes the count nine.

Here’s the betting line on what’s still in the works, based on various players I’ve talked to:

Odds of No. 10: 90 percent.

Odds of No. 11: 75 percent.

Odds of No. 12: 60 percent.

Odds of No. 13: 50 percent.

Odds of No 14: 10 percent.

Tom Corcoran, for anyone who might be interested, happens to be chairman of Irving, Texas-based Felcor Lodging. He is the company’s co-founder and the “Cor” in Felcor.

He’s also one of 150 top hotel executives from around the country meeting this week at the Skirvin as part of the annual summer summit of the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

I don’t know how Mr. Corcoran or his peers are spending their free time while in Oklahoma City. But my sources tell me that at least some of these executives are indeed meeting with downtown property owners and real estate brokers and looking at doing deals - especially in Bricktown.

I’m not going to get into the debate over the pending relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics to Ford Center. But you’ve got to wonder if J.A. Adande at ESPN has ever stepped foot in Oklahoma City when he suggests at the end of this video that it doesn’t have enough hotel rooms to be home to an NBA team.
Say what? I didn’t see anyone resorting to using sleeping bags outside Ford Center on nights when it hosted Hornets home games. For what it’s worth, by 2009 downtown alone will have nine hotels with more than 2,000 rooms. And along I-40 and Meridan Avenue, about 10 minutes west of Ford Center, there’s another 4,000 rooms.
I also don’t recall any major complaints about room availability during recent sold-out Big 12 basketball and NCAA games.
Oklahoma City has taken a lot of hits in this debate - “dust bowl,” etc. - but it’s difficult to understand how this comment has any connection to reality.
- Thanks to OKCTALK for bringing this to light

If you haven’t cruised along Sheridan Avenue lately, the Hampton Inn is really beginning to take shape. The nine-story, 200-room hotel will be the tallest building in Bricktown when it opens later this year. But that honor may be surpassed by the Cotton Exchange, a 12-story building proposed for the corner of the Bricktown Canal across from the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. I talked with developer Gary Cotton today and he says plans are proceeding, and schematic designs are underway.

Have no doubt, McDonald’s is coming to Bricktown. Site work began this past week. So, with that underway, one has to wonder if the blue metal building next door, last occupied by the now defunct Fox Collision, might soon disappear and be replaced by a more ambitious commercial venture. Imagine … a huge pad, next to McDonalds and across from Bass Pro Shops and within eyeshot of the highway … and big enough to include its own parking.

-Steve

Interesting tidbit from this week’s Bricktown Urban Design Committee. Jim Cowan, director of the Bricktown Association, and Avis Scaramucci, owner of Nonna’s and a member of the committee, both acknowledged receiving emails concerning the proposed Holiday Inn Express. And a partner in the development team for the hotel, John Sweeney, reported reading comments at www.okctalk.com. Sweeney spent part of his interview with me answering questions and comments registered on the online forum.

-Steve

 BEFORE AND AFTER: McDonald’s changed designs for its proposed Bricktown restaurant after meeting resistance from the Bricktown Urban Design Committee.

“Urban designer? I’m not an urban designer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”
-Brett, Oklahoma City, at www.newsok.com

Today’s story about the owner of the Quality Inn at 1800 E Reno and his plans for a Bricktown Holiday Inn Express isn’t sitting well with all readers, if online comments today at www.newsok.com ,www.okctalk.com, www.okmet.org/bb are any indicator. The Bricktown Urban Design Committee, tasked with approving such projects, will consider the project at its next meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the second floor conference room at 116 E Sheridan Ave.

The criticism seems to focus on two different aspects of the application: the demolition of the old Steffen’s Ice Cream building, parts of which date back to 1917, and the construction of a new Holiday Inn Express that would have what appears to be about half of its facade consisting of a sythetic stucco.

Bob Blackburn advises to consider the first action very carefully - read his arguments here. It might be informative to look back at previous projects in the past couple of years that also clashed with standards set by the Bricktown urban design ordinance.

It was just last summer that McDonald’s pitched plans for a restaurant across from Bass Pro Shops. Officials claimed the restaurant was designed specifically for the entertainment district. But it didn’t take long to find the same design recently used on new McDonald’s in Mustang and other suburban areas. The design was even featured in a national advertisement. The McDonald’s folks tried to lecture the Bricktown Urban Design Committee on what they could and couldn’t require from the fast food giant. But with an hour-long special airing on cable that same month on how McDonald’s had constructed special restaurants to match historic districts, the company had a change of heart, hired a local architect, and came up with new designs that won unanimous praise throughout Bricktown.

When a Hampton Inn was proposed for Bricktown, it too was to include some synthetic stucco in its facade. The committee required the facade consist of brick, and the developers agreed without any argument.

Here are some questions not pondered: is the design of the proposed Holiday Inn Express, shown below, an example of franchise architecture or does it appear tailored to Bricktown?

 - Steve