RISING THIS FALL
18-story downtown Omni hotel should begin construction later this year
The Oklahoman's Steve Lackmeyer fielded questions from readers during Friday's OKC Central Chat.
This is an abridged transcript of that conversation.
To see the full transcript, or to participate in next week's chat, go to NewsOK.com.
Q: When is the Omni hotel construction beginning?
A: The latest report I have is the Omni construction will coincide with the convention center starting by this fall.
The final plans for Omni are in with the planning department for next month's Downtown Design Review Committee.
Plans for the hotel shows it will have six restaurants and bars, including one smaller lobby bar and one small grab-and-go.
I'm not sure if we've seen the address listed, but now we know the official address for the
Omni will be 400 S Robinson Ave.
The hotel will be 18 stories high, 605 rooms and the tower will front the Oklahoma City Boulevard.
The entry level of the hotel contains the checkin lobby, lobby bar, specialty and full-service restaurants and retail space.
A 6,195-square-foot entertainment bar anchors the northwest corner, with an open-air atrium connecting the first floor with a second, 3,500-square-foot mezzanine overlooking both the first floor and with patio dining overlooking Scissortail Park.
The lobby faces north, along the Oklahoma City Boulevard.
A second, smaller 971-square-foot lobby bar is located at the back end of the lobby.
A 502-square-foot “grab & go” will be located to the east of the lobby.
On the northeast corner of the hotel, again facing the boulevard, plans show a 4,100-square-foot breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurant with an outdoor café and “art walk zone.”
The second floor will be home to all of the convention space, including grand and junior ballrooms, meeting rooms, a concierge and business center.
A third level will include a fitness center spa, outdoor bar, deck and pool.
Q: If you had to choose, would you live in the Brownstones or The Hill? Both cost about the same but they seem vastly different.
A: If I could afford either choice, I'd be thrilled to be in a position to answer! They are both quality developments.
The Brownstones are more woven into the neighborhood's fabric where The Hill sits off on its own. So on that measurement, the Brownstones would get my vote.
But I'm not so sure I'd like having three or four stories to my home, and The Hill is closer to the Deep Deuce Grill — sort of the center for Deep Deuce — so all that would give The Hill a slight edge.
Q: What is the building status and what is being built at the corner of W Park Place and Broadway? At one time the building design proposed there was really cool (a Haven Mankin design, I think) but ran into multiple blockades by the Downtown Design Review Committee. Is any iteration of that proposed building still in the works?
A: The Broadway Park building is well under construction and is now four floors up.
Construction also is underway a block north where we will be enjoying the new Oklahoma Contemporary campus.
Automobile Alley is one of the big development stories this week with the potential for a seven-story headquarters and plans for an eight-story hotel at NW 6, the expansion of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation at NW 9, and the Broadway Park building and Oklahoma Contemporary.
Q: Any word on if anything is going to be happening with the old Foodies building or the adjacent empty lot? I remember plans for some kind of outdoor space (food truck park?) had been announced at one point, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.
A: A series of unfortunate events occurred with Foodies at NW 12 and Hudson in Midtown.
The young couple who owned and operated Foodies had a hit on their hands.
But being young and inexperienced, they made the classic mistake of opening a second location in suburban south Oklahoma City.
Then a couple of people in the industry convinced the Foodies folks to turn over their Hudson location to them with the pretense (this is what I was told) of continuing the operation.
Instead, the building was gutted to make way for a bar and then everything came to a halt.
And now, the once wonderfully quirky diner sits looking more and more like an eyesore, unsecured and with a partially boarded up window.
Restaurateur Joe Jungmann then stepped in with plans to create a barbecue and food truck court.
The idea would have worked — if it had been launched prior to the wildly successful Bleu Garten a couple blocks south.
I never fully understood why this was being attempted, and sure enough, financing fell through and the project was abandoned.
So now it sits ... hopefully we will hear some encouraging news soon.