First National Center - Oklahoma City

[Kerry]

Just sharing some info from outside Jax that some might find interesting.

Overview of $287 million renovation of Oklahoma City's First National Center built in 1931.
https://www.news9.com/story/40232869/developer-gives-first-look-at-hotel-rooms-apartments-at-first-national-in-downtown-okc

This was last night.
https://youtu.be/sMEJ7ZRnFZs

[Ken_FSU]

^Beautiful project!

[Charles Hunter]

Looks great!

Didn't Karl Torp (the reporter) used to work at one of the Jacksonville TV stations?

[J Random Sucker]

Didn't Karl Torp (the reporter) used to work at one of the Jacksonville TV stations?

He was a reporter for Fox30/CBS47.

[Charles Hunter]

Didn't Karl Torp (the reporter) used to work at one of the Jacksonville TV stations?

He was a reporter for Fox30/CBS47.

Interesting, OKC is a marginally smaller market than JAX, according to the 2020 Nielsens

41    Jacksonville    690,400    0.645
42    Norfolk-Portsmth-Newpt Nws    684,310    0.639
43    Oklahoma City    666,690    0.623

We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion about the restoration and renovation of that beautiful building in OKC.

[thelakelander]

Just sharing some info from outside Jax that some might find interesting.

Overview of $287 million renovation of Oklahoma City's First National Center built in 1931.
https://www.news9.com/story/40232869/developer-gives-first-look-at-hotel-rooms-apartments-at-first-national-in-downtown-okc

This was last night.
https://youtu.be/sMEJ7ZRnFZs

Same article mentions the MAPS3 convention center costs $288 million.

Project budget: $288 million
Construction: Under way
Size: 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall, 45,000-square-foot meeting space, 30,000-square-foot ballroom.

https://www.okc.gov/government/maps-3/projects/downtown-convention-center

On the other hand, our joke of a convention center RFP....

The city set forth requirements, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record, that the bidders include in their plans a 350-room convention hotel, 1,700 parking spaces, at least 200,000 square feet of public exhibition space, a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, a minimum of 45 meeting rooms and a full-service restaurant.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/jacksonville-convention-center-proposal-tops-1b/532362/

- The Jacobs proposal would see the city pay $1.2 billion over 25 years

- The Rimrock team's plan would cost $936 million over 30 years

- The Preston Hollow group is asking the city to finance half of a $458 million project

[marcuscnelson]

Maybe the hotel and restaurant are worth a billion dollars?

[vicupstate]

Maybe the hotel and restaurant are worth a billion dollars?

I bet even Shad Khan would find THAT hotel nice enough.

[thelakelander]

I see OKC's real convention center numbers and all it solidifies is that attaching an exhibition hall to the Hyatt's meeting and ballroom spaces would have had a realistic and affordable solution to the convention center issue that could have been resolved, funded and under construction by now. Same goes for the Landing and Alvin Brown's $12 million deal with Sleiman in 2014. In other words, for a fraction of the funds we've used recently to deliver nothing but vacant lots and the saying "big things are coming", we could already be reaping the benefits of a revitalized Northbank riverfront. Jax has become the perfect example for other cities of what not to do if you really want downtown revitalization to be successful, quick and cost effective.

[itsfantastic1]

How great would it be if the Ford on Bay ended up as a convention center/marina anyway, just done to the Hyatt's size/market specifications instead of the city's.

[thelakelander]

^It would be great but the RFP scoring criteria is weighted in a manner that such a proposal would likely come up short because it would not necessarily include residential units and would likely require some form of subsidies.

[itsfantastic1]

^It would be great but the RFP scoring criteria is weighted in a manner that such a proposal would likely come up short because it would not necessarily include residential units and would likely require some form of subsidies.

Well if I remember correctly; weren't there 3 parcels in the RFP; 2 land and one water? What's to stop the Hyatt group from using only one of the land parcels to have the convention center attach to the hotel and partner with another developer to meet the criteria of the 80% retail on Bay and all the housing units that would score well in the RFP with the third being the marina?

I would think that be worth it to the Hyatt to develop those units to ensure they control the convention center, instead of Lot J?

[Kerry]

If your interested in Oklahoma City convention center here is a link with lits of info including construction photos.  The parking garage of the convention center is going to be wrapped with several hundred apartments and the convention hotel is adjacent.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=26179