Would “Amenities” Make the Difference?
The highly-anticipated Brownstones at Maywood Park have not sold as quickly as hoped.
Sometimes comments get posted on older articles at OKC Central and don’t get properly noticed. Such was the case recently when visitor Diane Hooper posted the following comment on an article published two years ago – “Why Downtown Condos Cost More than $250,000.”
Looking back, I think most developers and observers will acknowledge this effort at controlling the market was a failure and the city should have spent the pre-2008 crash encouraging apartments and starter housing at the same time it was pushing for upscale housing.
Here’s Diane Hooper’s thoughts:
I’m originally from OKC. All my family live there and had thought to look for a condo to retire there. However, I am looking at what is on offer and comparing it to other inner city cores I have lived in, in the past. NYC, Chicago, Toronto, among other smaller cities around two hundred thousand people. The BIG difference here is that part of being a condo dweller in the inner city that attracts people is the easy access i.e. walking to everything. OKC still does NOT have this. The prices for the condos on offer are in line with the area in many ways but, the inner city amenities are not there yet.
I’m not sure I’d like to commit that much money to an inner city condo in OKC without the public transportation availability that works so well in so many other cities. Going to the grocery store? You have to drive, going to the pharmacy in the evening? You’ll have to drive. I still don’t see OKC downtown as having the same community spaces as other cities. It’s trying and maybe some day but, not right now. I’m keeping an eye on things though.
It almost looks as if these condo buildings are going in plopped near some amenities but, without actual living day to day amenities in place. The need for a car in most inner city urban centers is eliminated. That and the need for great parks and green spaces being kept in tact. Avenues, with trees etc….OKC could be great in that urban core but, it can’t just be a few condos near Bricktown or one library or one center. There’s got to more of a community core space that people call a “home” than that.
One thing OKC needs to do is REALLY strive for full public transport that is safe, available, reliable and affordable. Most people I know in condos in many other cities don’t even need to own a car! Everything they need is within walking distance of their condo. If they go on a long trip they just rent a car for that purpose or take cabs. OKC, if it wants to urbanize needs to do what other cities that are successfully urbanized downtown do so well. Easy transportation and daily amenities within walking distance of these condos, not just restaurants and bars and arts centers but, real amenities like green grocers, drug stores, flower shops, you know things a “main street” has. Without those the condos will still be in an urban no mans land except for the “eat out” crowd and some amenities for the arts. It has to be it’s own “town” in the core. Right now it’s really not there yet. So I wouldn’t pay three hundred thousand to live down there. More underground parking would help too to get rid of so many unsightly HUGE parking lots. Those things are a no mans land of wasted space and do not contribute to a community gathering space at all.
Having said all that, I am encouraged to see OKC striving to revive that core and make it a real living space. My father owned a store down there for many years and it was discouraging to see how far down the core went for so long. I am so urbanized now, when I come home for a visit my sister laughs at me thinking I can hail a cab to go about anywhere and such. This needs to change. OKC has always been a huge “driving city” and is spread out but, it is NOT impossible for it to become a fully serviced public transport city like others, NOR for the core to be serviced by the same amenities as the suburbs. The reason most downtown cores are more expensive in other cities is that ALL the arts attractions are in their cores BUT you can also live in them. Go to your grocer, your doctor, your hardware store AND have access to the best arts activities, museums etc. OKC does not have the same living attractions in the core of these other cities…….yet.
Add to this that OKC’s core is competing with their suburbs with VERY affordable housing. Solve the transportation and daily amenities issues FIRST before you start adding in more restaurants etc. Each of these buildings would do well with a ground floor grocer for quick access. OR if OKC had an underground like a subway the space under these buildings could be used for shops too. I’m just dreaming and I love OKC but, it’s got a long way to go before justifying the kinds of prices some of these condos are going for.
I adore Block 42 and the townhouses…though they just are not “quite” there yet. If I am living in a condo and trading off having no adjoining walls for “easy access” then there needs to be something there to access besides “entertainment” People have to live day to day. Also, retirees with some cash could be buying up these spaces but, they want to know they will NOT have to drive to everything if they go into a condo space downtown. Why move into an urban area if there’s no “there, there” yet and pay the same as you will pay for a luxury home in the same city? It doesn’t make sense.
All this said, I’m thinking of perhaps buying a space downtown and putting in a green grocer near these existing condo units somewhere. These people need COMMUNITY businesses that they can use every day.
Downtown OKC 2020: Bert Belanger
Bert Belanger
When I became re-involved in 2003 in OKC development, I touted TIF (Tax Increment Financing) as the means through which the MAPS sales tax incentive could be “bootstrapped” to help create a dense mixed use environment. The target: a broadly defined “triangle” bordered by I-40 on the south, I-235 on the diagonal and on the west, a north-south boundary splitting what is now known as MidTown.
The Factory - an unrealized redevelopment of an entire square block in Bricktown pitched by Bert Belanger and the McLain family in 2003.
My first efforts were with ERC on Deep Deuce, then the Arts District, then The Factory, in which I was technically “Oh for three.”
However, we learned a great deal that we have tried to apply since. We conducted a market study of 14 peer cities that had neither sexy mountains nor shorelines and found that each had between 2 percent and 8 percent of their MSAs’ population within the urban core. At the low end for OKC, that math translates to 24,000 people. Even counting the Jail, we are under 2,000 today.
Now that a number of players have emerged downtown, the geographic focus has naturally gotten blurred. The Thunder and Devon Tower have brought into the game two 800-lb gorillas – the NBA owners group and Devon Energy. To a significant but lesser extent, Sandridge, the Humphreys family, Roy Oliver/Mark Beffort and CHK/McClendon have gained strong positions in the core. Greg Banta/Bob Howard/Mickey Clagg and Corsair/Smith Brothers have made a number of speculative buys in MidTown that are starting to see life. Steve Mason, Chris and Meg Salyer, Nick Preftakes, BMI and Earl Neighbors have taken very different but positive approaches as user/owners.
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and the City Staff are clearly and rightfully feeling their oats, while the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority has been weakened by Larry Nichols’ departure and the controversial pick of The Hill’s developer, which probably has spawned a winding down of some trustees’ long running influence. The approval of a un-Urban design for the Chamber’s building was an unfortunate reminder of the darker days in OKC history before the Bombing made consensus and grass roots projects possible over politics.
The highly-anticipated Brownstones at Maywood Park have not sold as quickly as hoped.
A perceived negative out there is that the former Triangle group has splintered, which is true but not necessarily a bad thing, as each of us can now play in their own sandboxes and probably get more done, and I think Maywood Park has been unfairly maligned as a bit of a bust as most of the brownstones sit empty. I say unfairly because I think they will ultimately sell, and because the City got exactly what it asked for from all of the Downtown housing developers – expensive, high-end for sale homes.
Neither the City or Urban Renewal wanted affordable rentals, as they turned down both of my ERC proposals for mixed income apartments in the competition for the Deep Deuce site (2002, with Benham) and the Arts District site (2003, with ADG and Raptor). The only for sale projects that have sold out have been the Centennial (albeit to mostly corporate buyers) and the Harvey Lofts rehab (only 17 units between $100k and $200k).
Dick Tannenbaum has made a very successful entre into housing development (Park Harvey and Lincoln), but not without hiccups (eg the failed attempts to condo both the Montgomery and the Classen). Block 42 has more dark windows at night than not, and The Hill deal is a ticking time bomb; the unpaid contractors will soon grow tired of waiting for their money and will no longer play as nice as they have been.
The national meltdown has been a big factor, but the reality is that OKC has never been a big condo market. Also, no one can blame even the richest buyers for a reluctance to buy if the surroundings of a real dense and active urban village does not materialize as quickly as everyone would like.
The reality that the City is experiencing downtown is that critical mass and density matters most, and is not delivered quick enough through the linear production and absorption of for-sale housing. The decision by Urban Renewal and the City to promote and push for upper end, for-sale housing first was ill-timed to be sure, but generally a violation of real estate development fundamentals.
In my opinion, the critical path to successful infill Downtown development in OKC begins first with creating density of people using the real estate on a 24/7 basis. This happens quickest through 2 uses – Hotels and Rental Apartments, which more quickly put more heads on beds than any other use.
Everyone wants to experience an urban “Magnificent Mile” environment like Michigan Avenue, but Daniel Burnham’s Plan For Chicago took 15 years to draft and adopt and over 90 years to develop, culminating with Millennium Park, absolutely the coolest urban green space in America. That is why I think that the current Core to Shore emphasis puts the cart way before the horse. We need to finish the Core first in a most excellent way.
I believe that the following represents a better chronology for a critical path for OKC’s Downtown Development
1- Plan for Core to Shore through a broader 20 year long process and horizon, led and participated in by more than a couple dozen people, incrementally stopping and adjusting every 3-5 years to review how the market is responding. Mix in Social Initiatives like the Jail (on a more modest, phased basis, not as a response to another unfunded Federal mandate) and Homeless Center with the sexy stuff so that voter fatigue doesn’t kill the Goose that Laid the MAPs Eggs.
2- Avoid the consolidation of power in administering Business Improvement Districts comprising the current and emerging “districts” that make up the Downtown Core. Remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
3- Let the Neighborhoods and Districts decide where their boundaries begin and end and manage themselves through Business Improvement Districts and other Owners Associations. The localized characteristics of Auto Alley, Bricktown, Deep Deuce, Maywood Park, Midtown, Film District, Lower Bricktown, Courthouse Block, Devon/Botanical Gardens each have their own forces of will, market attraction and good design attributes that will help compel and sort out the timing and priorities of projects – politics should not.
4 – Use TIF creatively and broadly to include Sale and Room Taxes for discrete user-driven projects, as per the examples of the Skirvin Hotel and Devon Tower.
5- Inventory current infrastructure opportunities and challenges in the Core and create a priority list that gets addressed by TIF. Example on one end of the spectrum – we can cheaply double parking on Broadway through angled striping and narrowed, slower traffic; versus the other end of the spectrum – the costly Boulevard through nothing to nowhere, which only happens five years after the Feds fund I-40.
6 – Agree that density, shared parking, connectivity and walkability are good and should be the paramount ideals for Project design.
7 – Focus on Big Users and what they need to come into the Core.
8 – Rental apartments can be tailored for sites big and small, renters rich and not so rich, and are the most finance-able class of real estate today and for the foreseeable future.
9 – The Quiet Zone (property owners are seeking new gates along the BNSF railroad to quiet train noise as it passes through the Flat Iron district) is a threshold need that must happen first BEFORE any other project Downtown – it is absolutely essential to any private project of scale, and will create incremental value on both sides of the tracks for miles East and West, North and South.
10 – Do not try to Force the Core to Shore – it is my sense that a relatively small group of parties are unduly influencing priorities. I am okay with the MAPs 3 Convention Center Idea just South of the Ford Center, but it is still a long ways to the South shoreline. Our version of Millennium Park will have to be birthed and season for 10 years before development happens naturally further South. The thing that could change this is if a huge User shows up, but none are on the horizon that I can see.
An Open Letter from Grant Humphreys
The Flatiron: Oklahoma City, OK from imagiNATIVEamerica on Vimeo.
A year ago there were at least a handful of downtown developments on the drawing boards that seemed to be sure things. One of those was the Flatiron, a mixed-use development by Grant Humphreys at 5th and Harrison.
Construction was to start in the fall. And that’s where things get all messed up; have your leases and financing nailed down in July, 2008, and things are still set. But fall was a totally different story following the economic crash, and while Oklahoma City has been spared much of the pain, financing is still troublesome for pretty much everybody.
Grant Humphreys wants to make this deal work. He spent time and money on the project. He invested his creative energies and hopes.
The local economy isn’t shutting down, but it’s not immune from the outside pressures. Interestingly enough, I’m seeing more leasing activity along Broadway and in Bricktown than I have the previous two years.
By all accounts, Devon Energy is showing no hint of delaying or stopping construction of its 54-story highrise.
Yet the banking crunch is having its effort. Without any further delay, here’s Grant’s open letter:
From: Grant Humphreys
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 5:03 PM
Subject: THE FLATIRON – A SYMBOL OF RESILIENCE – of our downtown, of our city, of our Oklahoma spirit
Across the nation, the economic crisis has forced many development projects to be put on hold or brought to an end. Yet Oklahoma City, despite some very real economic downturns, continues to prove itself as one of the most resilient markets in America.
After almost three years of design and due diligence, our project known as ‘The Flatiron’ is poised to become a reality. When the construction of this project begins at the gateway of downtown OKC, The Flatiron will deliver the message that Oklahoma City is still in the game. Watching this new 5-story mixed-use project be built will boost confidence in our market and help maintain or increase property values as well. No doubt the Devon Tower will deliver this same message around the world, but we’re the small business version that is ready to go. But we need YOUR help.
We need YOUR help to meet our pre-leasing hurdle. The Flatiron will create more than 73,000 RSF of Class ‘A’ office and retail space ideally located at the gateway to downtown, Bricktown and the Oklahoma Health Center. Our asking rates are $22/RSF (gross) for loft office and $22/RSF (net) for street level retail (with CPI bumps). We need credit tenants willing to sign a 5-year lease. Local tenants are great. Once we’ve pre-leased 50% of this space, we will move towards an exciting groundbreaking event. We want to work with brokers. So bring me a deal. With your help, we can meet this goal . . . and you’ll be the first invited to the party!
All the information you need is available online at www.flatironokc.com. You can find floor plans, marketing brochures and a video of the project. Make a point to watch the video. It’s awesome.
Dave Ortloff, our Director of Marketing, is handling the broker relations. He’s here for you. If you’d like to arrange a tour or receive more information about this exciting project, just call Dave at (405) 228-1000 (ext 4). His contact information is also on the website referenced above.
Let’s work together to show everyone that, despite the rest of the nation, the real estate market in Oklahoma City is alive and well. I appreciate your help!
Thanks,
Grant
Find out more by visiting their website at: FlatironOkc.com!
UPDATE: A co-worker got an interesting call from a “homebuilder” who complained about this post. The homebuilder didn’t bother contacting me directly, but apparently feels this is a ”lovefest” for Grant Humphreys and wanted to know how much Grant paid for it.
Grant paid nothing. I post what I find interesting. I found the new animation interesting. I thought Grant’s comments were interesting. There you have it, anonymous homebuilder. The same logic went into yesterday’s posting on the Prohibition Room.
I also think this might be interesting to my readers. If I’m guily of a ”lovefest” here, I guess you can also say I’ve had “lovefests” with Marva Ellard and the Sieber, Ron Bradshaw and the Maywood Lofts, Larry Nichols and Devon Tower, pretty much all of Bricktown and all of MidTown and all of Automobile Alley.
Here’s the thing people keep on missing: I cover downtown and the inner-core. That’s what I do. If I were the Sooner beat writer, I guess I’d be accused of having a lovefest with Bob Stoops.
Geez…
Bonus: Maywood Hall
Ron Bradshaw has yet another project ready to move once he gets the ball rolling on The Leslie (see today’s story). Ladies and gentleman, the above image is for Maywood Hall which Bradshaw hopes to build at NE 2 and Walnut.
Dog Days of Summer
It’s hot out there. But downtown is still moving forward at a fast clip, and I guess, so must I. As I’ve reported before, more hotels are likley to be announced, most of them in Bricktown.
More housing is coming too – and much of it will be targeted to the pent-up demand for downtown homes priced at less than $200,000.
I’m also beginning to see signs that the folks in Bricktown may be awakening to reality – let’s wait and see of course – but surely a decade of demanding $20 a square foot and not getting it should be a loud and clear answer from the market about what is and isn’t realistic.
Had a nice visit with the owner of Lit Clothing, which opened up in The Centennial. Overall, Lower Bricktown still isn’t hitting the retail mix I know some leaders hoped for several years ago, but it’s getting closer to offering the sort of diversity that’s been missing from Bricktown since day one.
I talked with Chuck Ainsworth, and yes, that is construction you can see starting up in what will the American Banjo Museum. Now, if only someone could close a deal to have the Mickey Mantle Museum. Then we would really have a regional tourism destination.
Automobile Alley is still humming along. I visited with Steve Mason yesterday and I’ll have a story on that soon. I also visited with Marva Ellard, and things are going nicely with her redevelopment of the Sieber Hotel. The Sieber family is still very emotionally attached to that old building and it’s not unusual to find one of them driving by … veeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy sssssssssssllllllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwlllllllllllyyyyyyyy.
Marva is definitely one of those folks I’d call a “building hugger.” I asked her what she thought about Bert Belanger tearing down the old sex offender houses and plans to tear down the boarded up nursing home on Broadway Drive. Her response was ho-hum at best… I’m not hearing from any people who really consider these properties a big loss.
That’s it for now. Sorry for the dearth of posts this week.
More From Opening of Block 42
I had to work late Thursday, covering the grand opening of Block 42. Below, soon-to-be resident Dick Rodine shows off the view to former Mayor Kirk Humphreys.
More views of the Rodine residence:
All smiles for developer Grant Humphreys. His next project: the Flatiron.
“Oscar” greets visitors and residents as they enter into the main lobby of Block 42.
Another Eyesore About to be History
This beauty at 100 NE 8 has looked like this for quite some time. And until 2006, it was owned by the Corsair Cattle Co., which also owned the former Pat’s Lounge building on NW 10 now being renovated by Greg Banta.
The billboard is an interesting approach to zoning. This property is visible to thousands who travel I-235 into downtown.
The property was sold to the Triangle development group in 2006 for $353,000, and they are now seeking to have the building torn down.
Downtown at Night (Not Bricktown)
Yeah sure, there’s plenty to see and take photos of in Bricktown at night, but what about the rest of downtown? Here’s some intesting angles taken tonight along an increasingly vibrant Automobile Alley and in Maywood Park, which is awaiting the last element needed to make a neighborhood complete – residents.
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.
Grant's New Toy
Grant Humphreys submitted the winning bid for the Ferris Wheel at the legendary Santa Monica Pier. I’ve got what no other television station or newspaper has – an interview with Grant. Full story in tomorrow’s paper and at www.newsok.com.
