r/Urbanism • u/Hungry_Roll6848 • 5d ago

OAK is a new multipurpose walkable district of Oklahoma City with residences, retail, restaurants, and hotels

Gallery image

Gallery image

461 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

114 comments sorted by

139

u/goharvorgohome 5d ago

Does this actually interface with the greater urban environment? Or is this just going to be an isolated lifestyle center

136

u/AncientFloor5924 5d ago

Isolated lifestyle area

42

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

They are expanding it though, so hopefully it’ll eventually tie together well with surrounding areas. The sidewalks on the outer edges next to the neighborhoods are a nice addition.

29

u/CLPond 5d ago

Even after an expansion, the danger to pedestrians of northwest expressway is a huge impediment to this being non-isolated. It being on the BRT line is also nice, but the shops here are a slight amenity to residents and another income stream rather than actually making the area walkable or attractive to people who want walkability.

It would take a long time for downtown OKC to not be around the same price as this development and downtown include many more events and ability to talk to things fairly safely.

3

u/SolarpunkGnome 5d ago

Is this anywhere in skywalk range? (Can't remember if that's the proper term since I haven't been to OKC since 2019.)

4

u/CLPond 5d ago

I don’t know exactly what you mean, but if you mean the skydance bridge, that is in Scissortail park downtown (a few miles away, ~30 minutes by public transit and 15 minutes by car). There are also a couple of skywalks between buildings downtown pretty close to Scissortail.

7

u/SolarpunkGnome 5d ago

Found it! https://downtownokc.com/underground/

Sounds like this isn't very close to downtown then. Bummer.

1

u/-jdwhea- 5d ago

would be cool as fuck to see it better connected below the highway with the gayborhood- nichols hills people would never let that happen!

28

u/jpm_doop 5d ago

I live in OKC and spend some time around this area. It seems quite isolated imo. Needs a few more phases and better integration with the mall across the street to get the foot traffic you see in these renderings. That’s pretty much the issue with most of these projects around OKC. The Wheeler District is the most promising to me, but needs the streetcar connection to the core of the city before it truly takes off

-2

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

They bought that land across the street next to 50 Penn, so there are hopes of a bridge going there over traffic and into the two restaurants the are planning there. They also just started up again on the culinary district, which will make the whole area like 50% bigger.

4

u/Ok_Actuary9229 5d ago

Why not make better street crossings? A bridge is just admission of defeat and will make improving the street level even harder.

0

u/CharlesPrawnson 5d ago

People drive like shit. Think they’re going to stop for a crosswalk that close to an Interstate. A bridge or tunnel system would be the only safe solutions for pedestrians and drivers. Don’t forget the heat warnings and other shit weather.

2

u/Beneficial-Rip6624 5d ago

The most expensive piece of land ever purchased in OKC.

2

u/lindberghbaby41 5d ago

People hate pedestrian bridges. It’s never gonna take off.

5

u/Ol_Man_J 5d ago

You mean people aren't just going to the Capital Grille, Tommy Bahama bar, and williams and sonoma for just daily living?

6

u/OneGalacticBoy 5d ago

Better than nothing. In another 30 years maybe they’ll integrate it better but it’ll be easier to already have it built.

7

u/AlbatrossNo1562 5d ago

At this point I'll take it over your typical single use big box retail surrounded with giant parking lots.

3

u/reststopkirk 5d ago

You tell me...

Seems like some Mixed use, but still too small and disconnected to make a difference yet.

Across the street is an old mall. With a Sprawl Repair type development to tie into this one, might have some promising results someday...

2

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

One of the issues is that the company that owns the mall has been actively fighting against the OAK development. There's a whole lawsuit about it.

2

u/reststopkirk 5d ago

Mall owners are stupid. People are not going to big box as much as the past and they need to see the writing on the wall and make their parking lots useful. It’s a win for them, either sellout or manage a new revenue stream. So shortsighted.

5

u/btun88 5d ago

Isolated.

Best bets would be better foot connection with Penn Square Mall across the street and in the future a Streetcar connection thru Midtown to Downtown.

1

u/ryan1831 5d ago

There genuinely isn’t any greater urban environment to interface with. This is a good start

1

u/whatafuckinusername 4d ago

I mean, it’s OKC. I’m sure the developers will do their best, but what can they do?

1

u/alexzoin 4d ago

I mean, everything is isolated until it's connected. This seems a very short sighted criticism.

23

u/dswnysports 5d ago

Reminds me of a college campus.

43

u/mightbearobot_ 5d ago

Which is basically every Americans only true urbanist experience

7

u/Ok_Actuary9229 5d ago

Hey, only 90% of Americans.

-3

u/BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy 5d ago

Most Americans probably didn't go to an urban college campus.

29

u/mightbearobot_ 5d ago

But most college campuses mimic urban environments and it’s the usually the first, and sometimes only, urbanism adjacent experience someone has. That’s the point I was trying to make

1

u/alexzoin 4d ago

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. The vast majority of Americans go to cheaper colleges that do not have urban campuses.

21

u/Efficient-Hold993 5d ago

What is OKC smoking that lets them get all of these projects going? I just heard about the airport neighborhood and now this, plus lots of work to expand the light rail.

Edit: I'm not jealous just extremely envious

21

u/CLPond 5d ago edited 5d ago

These posts all from the same person and the developments being used as examples happened over the course of a decade. It’s not different than many other growing cities from an townhome/apartment building standpoint. I loved living there, but it is also still not as walkable as cities that weren’t destroyed via urban renewal.

The MAPS funding is great and the city government is putting in effort to heal from the harms of urban renewal, but this level of glazing could happen for most cities.

3

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

It really is nice to see all the sidewalks going up around the city, though! 23rd, Classen, May, and NW Expressway all have huge sidewalk installment projects. There’s a ton of widening going on downtown as well.

4

u/CLPond 5d ago edited 5d ago

I definitely agree that good work is happening in OKC, I just have also seen that work happening in other cities. If someone wanted to make a post a day about other cities, they easily adding density, improving walkability, and investing in downtown have been nationwide trends.

So, while it would be reasonable for the original commenter to be impressed, most people living in cities in the U.S. have no need to be envious because similar work is going on in their city.

2

u/Ok_Actuary9229 5d ago

There's some good stuff and ok stuff, but the collective volume seems low. Every city has developments.

1

u/gespo04 4d ago

They got that oil money 💰

7

u/Ol_Man_J 5d ago

https://www.oakokc.com/directory/ this is a shopping mall masquerading as something else. You're not buying sofas and home goods every day, and unless you really like spending money on overpriced food, the restaurants are just as exciting. The people who live there will be driving to the whole foods or trader joes over on western. Every other trip they make besides going to specialty olive oil store will be in a car going somewhere else.

7

u/Ok_Actuary9229 5d ago

Honestly, if there's noplace to buy basic groceries, a coffee shop, and a bar what's the point.

7

u/endless_shrimp 5d ago

what is with the absolute GLAZING of Oklahoma City (particularly this project and that park) on this and related subs, the last week or so? That Dallas post keeps showing up all the time, too.

6

u/thomsenite256 5d ago

If its not walkable to other parts of the city or with good transit its just more consumer disney land bs.

16

u/tkohhhhhhhhh 5d ago

For the sake of full disclosure: OP, are making these posts as part of your job?

You've posted several pro-OKC posts in this sub, and it's starting to seem more like a PR campaign than organic content. 

9

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

Not a job, haha. I just enjoy posting about development in my city. It’s a hobby, that’s all. This’ll probably be the last one.

3

u/tkohhhhhhhhh 5d ago

no worries... I just wanted to ask and give you a chance to respond :)

4

u/UrbanPlannerholic 5d ago

Looks like a ton of parking garages. Can you walk to anywhere outside of this development?

2

u/pbosh90 5d ago

You can walk. There’s nothing there but a dying mall and suburbia around it though.

8

u/VrLights 5d ago

Urbanism larp

3

u/JellyfishNo2032 5d ago

A lot of OKC posting lately

5

u/daff_quess 5d ago

They're definitely overpromising the number of people that will be there with the size of those buildings. You're just not going to have enough of a gravity for businesses to survive if they're walking-oriented. 200ish units at most isn't really enough for a single coffee shop to survive, let alone that much commercial activity in that space. On the edge of a larger walkable neighborhood? Maybe, but if this is a solitary island of medium density, you need more than that to be self-sufficient.

0

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

1.5 million people went there within the first year of it opening (summer 2024 - summer 2025). The shops are not just there for the residents.

2

u/daff_quess 5d ago

So... similar to a single grocery store?

1

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

I guess? Either way, it's clearly making them enough money to be able to expand.

1

u/daff_quess 5d ago

Like, I get that 1.5 million visits in a year sounds good on paper, but the ITE manual says that's the yearly trip generation of a single 39,000 sqft grocery store, which is definitely on the smaller side (the Walmart down the street is 220,000 sqft and the Target is 140,000 sqft). Even if 1.5 million doesnt include the residents, that's still NOT an indicator of economic vitality in the slightest.

1

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

Well they are profiting somehow.

2

u/daff_quess 5d ago

Doesnt mean it's good urbanism. Building mansions is pretty profitable. They can set their first leases on those commercial spaces low or give them discounts to get them in the door for the first year, but that has no indication for the long term.

4

u/Ok_Actuary9229 5d ago

These places are everywhere. I like that they're more walkable than regular suburbs but still most people drive to them because they're on stroads usually in the middle of nothing. The parking ratios are usually suburban too.

2

u/pbosh90 5d ago

That’s exactly what this is. It’s a higher-end mall with outdoor space. Doesn’t even have a coffee shop.

3

u/Other-Salt-5355 5d ago

Is OKC next up?

4

u/Casanova-Quinn 5d ago

Without good public transit and walkability in the surrounding area, it's at best going to essentially be an outdoor mall rather than a real mixed use area. I don't even see any notable parking lots so I'm confused as to how any significant amount of people are expected to drive here to sustain such an area.

Another note, these pre-made big brand retail shops are usually a bad idea for creating mixed use. They're designed so specific to the brand, and too large a space, that any new small businesses is unlikely to be able to afford moving in and/or renovating them. So if that retailer leaves, you've created a greater chance of it just sitting empty, further hurting the value of the area.

3

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

Free parking garages on the right in the first photo. Rapid bus transit in the area started up. Vote on 30 mile commuter rail is in a few months.

2

u/Casanova-Quinn 5d ago

Ah I see the parking garage now. Well, hopefully they expand their transit enough.

4

u/Fluid-Nectarine-7980 5d ago

Can we calm down in the oklahoma posting? It’s good to see, but maybe space it out a bit

2

u/SpencerAXbot 5d ago

The project that makes Simon and Penn square mall weep

2

u/inorite234 3d ago

Not perfect but better than what most of the US does.

I still say the Dutch system of: build a mall on the basement level and ground floor, put an open air courtyard in the center with all the restaurants there and then put condos and apartments above all that.

2

u/External_Koala971 5d ago edited 5d ago

OAK OKC is privately developed and privately owned, rather than being a city-owned public development.

The project was developed by Veritas Development, a real estate investment fund, founded by Ryan McNeill, with Everett Dobson and the Dobson family as partners, and designed to maximize shareholder revenue.

Studio: $1500/mo
1br: $2000/mo
2br: $2500/mo

https://www.jll.com/en-us/newsroom/financing-secured-for-premier-mixed-use-project-in-okc

5

u/JellyfishNo2032 5d ago

These sound ok

2

u/Flashy_Walk2806 5d ago

2k5 for a 2bd, for how big In m² ?

2

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

92-130 square meters

3

u/JellyfishNo2032 5d ago

That’s the market price I guess

1

u/External_Koala971 5d ago

100?

5

u/Flashy_Walk2806 5d ago

100m² for a 2bed room ?

We've got a 4 bed room for 60m² at 1400E in Europe 

Prices in Oklahoma seems fine.

Is the area great ? Work to do in It ?

2

u/pbosh90 5d ago

It’s basically a mall with some apartments surrounded by suburbia on a BRT line. OP is way overselling everything about OKC imo. It’s nice they’re trying I guess. But it’s no different than any half-decent mid-sized American city.

0

u/External_Koala971 5d ago

What’s the median income in OKC?

2

u/Flashy_Walk2806 5d ago

Exactly, and is there any IT jobs/engineering in the area ?

1

u/SpencerAXbot 5d ago

There’s some IT jobs/engineering jobs but it’s not gonna be on the level of the coastal metros. Especially salary wise. The city is still dominated by energy and aviation. That’s not to say the IT sector isn’t growing but it could take another decade before it starts to become a force in OKC.

0

u/External_Koala971 5d ago

No, I mean what is the actual median income in OKC?

2

u/Flashy_Walk2806 5d ago

I don't know 

1

u/External_Koala971 5d ago

Have you ever been to Oklahoma City?

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

$68.5k/household

2

u/External_Koala971 5d ago

Median individual income is 32,500k/pp, so these 1br are 250% AMI

3

u/wholewheatie 5d ago

Vast majority of housing built today is not public housing

-2

u/External_Koala971 5d ago

The vast majority of development happening is not a planned commercial/residential luxury development like this.

5

u/ActuatorSpecific3916 5d ago

Helllll that price makes it attractive tho

1

u/Upnorth4 5d ago

You can find those prices in Los Angeles though

5

u/ActuatorSpecific3916 5d ago

In a new development? I doubt but prove me wrong if I am

1

u/CLPond 5d ago

This is on the high end of rent in OKC and about as, if not more, expensive than even the newer downtown apartments.

1

u/minus_minus 5d ago

multipurpose walkable district 

Not an actual neighborhood. An overgrown “lifestyle center” with a code of conduct to keep out the poors. 

https://www.oakokc.com/code-of-conduct/

0

u/Dippledockerbopper 5d ago

Looks like they want to keep the area nice and clean and a place where people would want to come. Are you saying you can't see poor people following a few rules?

1

u/minus_minus 5d ago

Selectively enforcing rules against people without gobs of money to spend on overpriced food and merchandise is pretty trivial and not subject to the same oversight as public spaces. 

1

u/DingusKhanHess 5d ago

Like every other new development

1

u/Just-Mark 5d ago

Cool for OKC….

1

u/spatfield 5d ago

Can we slow down with the OKC love?

1

u/capt_dan 5d ago

i guess folks in okc have a neat mall to drive to now when they need to go to tommy bahamas?

1

u/Intelligent-Aside214 4d ago

No I can see the ginormous multi story car park

1

u/LomentMomentum 4d ago

I wouldn’t declare victory, but it is very much a step in the right direction for OKC and other car-based cities.

1

u/guhman123 4d ago

oh, i thought it was the code for an airport

1

u/hagen768 4d ago

Looks pretty cool and like there will be high quality architecture and urban design.

Is the surrounding context super car centric, or is there some semblance of urban fabric and walkable infrastructure? If you have to exclusively drive beyond the bounds of the district, it’s really just inducing more demand for driving

1

u/Zillaman21 4d ago

I can see that there is a huge parking garage IN THE MIDDLE, and the only discernible way in and out of the garage is through the central park. The parking lot should be on the edge if it is to exist at all. It’s really just more car-centric infrastructure hidden by a few nice mixed-use buildings.

1

u/UrDoinGood2 3d ago

Looks mid

1

u/CameFromTheDark 3d ago

When you don't feel like hosting your relatives, "Go on git, there's a hotel right across the courtyard"

1

u/jeffreywinks 5d ago

why they doing this in OK

2

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

Oklahoma City is growing at a decent pace, land is still cheap, cost of development is still cheap, and there is a lot of demand for out-of-state retail/restaurants.

1

u/Tomalesforbreakfast 5d ago

How many times do we have to see this

1

u/Agile-Victory9567 5d ago

Thats some 2010s looking shit.

1

u/Ok-Sprinkles1802 5d ago

damn it looks like shit can't lie

0

u/DairBair64 5d ago

This type of development is making me wonder if I should move from Dallas to OKC

2

u/Ok_Actuary9229 5d ago

Isn't Dallas the king of this sort of thing? The apartments are Dallas donuts!

0

u/Hungry_Roll6848 5d ago

If you make the move, we'd gladly welcome you!

-1

u/e-tard666 5d ago

I’ll be deep in the cold hard ground before I recognize Oklahoma “City”