With the new year approaching, I thought I'd share some plausible hopes and goals for Tulsa this coming year.
I think the one of the biggest focuses of downtown in 2012, will be the Brady and Blue Dome districts. Already, we are seeing the north side of downtown fill in. This will be further amplified when many of the projects that are currently under construction, are completed sometime in the coming year. There is already a huge amount of synergy in these neighborhoods, and I think that developers will really play on that when they announce several new projects in 2012.
Another area that will see considerable new development, while not as much as the Blue Dome and Brady, will be the area including and between the CBD and the BOK Center. Already we are seeing this with the recent flurry of development, and I see no reason for this trend to change. I would have to say though, that my biggest hope for this area is that some of those pop up shops become permanent. It doesn't have to be the exact same stores, in fact I would love it if they were ne ventures, but I would like to see at least two or three of those pop up spaces filled.
Towards the end of 2012, it is my hope that the southern, as well as the east ends begin to relish in the same success that the north and central parts of downtown are currently experiencing. I would love to see TCC further develop its long range plans, and I would love to see a couple infill projects here and there throughout these areas.
All of this is simply my speculation though. I hope it happens, but who knows? Perhaps, we could be surprised with more than we expected. Yeah, there's my hopie for 2012. Let's be pleasantly surprised with more than we expected of our city.
Please tell me some of your hopes for Tulsa in the new year below. And of course, it does not have to include downtown. Any section of the metro is up for discussion.
I would like to see Tulsa build a significant skyscraper at the current surface parking lot located at E 2nd St. & Cincinnati, it would work wonders for the skyline, especially at that location. The only company I can see pulling it off would be ONEOK. I mean their current tower is only about 20 stories, and the word out is that they are growing rapidly. So don't see why they can't build a 35-40 story to accommodate their growth.
ReplyDeleteYes, that would be amazing to see happen, espescially in that specific location. Maybe aside from being a goal for 2012, it could be a goal for 2015. I don't know how fast ONEOK is growing, and you never know what they could be planning...
ReplyDeleteSkyscrapers look nice, but we have to be able to fill it. What Tulsa needs before a skyscraper is an urban downtown. It should be about 4x4 city blocks filled with shops, restaurants, bars, retail and entertainment and get away from the crutch of the 71st street nightmare because they can coexist. Before Tulsa does anything else it needs to build on the river. Tulsa has to be the only Metro with a river running through the center to not have any development on it, it's absolutely insane to me that this hasnt been done in the last 30 years.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree on the river development issue. Why would we try take development away from an area that ALREADY has synergy, people, a name for itself etc., and. Ove it to the river? I think we should focus on building out the districts that we already have, and then move on to create new districts, ie. something along the river. But of course it's only my opinion and I understand that others have different viewpoints. Really, any urban development around Tulsa is a plus.
ReplyDeleteThanks you guys for your input! Blogging is so much more fun when I hear back from my readers.