DOWNTOWNKCKTOTO C STRATEGIES & IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 2011 DOWNTOWN OKC Housing Strategies & Implementation Plan PREPARED FOR: STEERING COMMITTEE: DOWNTOWN OKLAHOMA CITY INC. SUSAN HOGAN Urban Redevelopment Division - City of Oklahoma City CITY OF OKLAHOMA CITY JANE JENKINS OKLAHOMA CITY URBAN RENEWAL Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. AUTHORITY MARCUS JOHNSTON GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY CHAMBER OF Urban Redevelopment Division - City of Oklahoma City COMMERCE ROBBIE KIENZLE PREPARED BY: Urban Redevelopment Division - City of Oklahoma City ROBIN ROBERTS KRIEGER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS, INC. Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce Indianapolis, Indiana JOE VAN BULLARD JHP ARCHITECTURE / URBAN DESIGN Oklahoma Urban Renewal Authority Dallas, Texas GENTLEMAN MCCARTY Indianapolis, Indiana ART LOMENICK Dallas, Texas DOWNTOWN HOUSING STRATEGIES AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN Introduction THIS SECTION PROVIDES A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THIS STUDY, SECTIONS 2-5 PROVIDE ADDITIONAL DETAIL RELATIVE TO ANALYSIS, FINDINGS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS. roles where they are centers of culture, arts, recreation, and 1.1 SUMMARY entertainment. One of the key components to this successful PURPOSE OF THE PLAN urban revitalization has been the development of housing to capture the increased demand for opportunities to live The Downtown Housing Strategies and Implementation in a pedestrian oriented environment with direct access to Plan is a guide to leverage new housing development in these new amenities. Downtown Oklahoma City over the next 5 - 10 years. It provides data, analysis, and recommendations for creating Past studies examining revitalization strategies for policy and action towards a comprehensive, effective, and Downtown Oklahoma City point to the construction of sustainable housing development program that builds off of downtown housing as a primary component of creating the signifi cant progress achieved in Downtown Oklahoma successful urban environments that generate a high quality City over the past 20 years. of life and economic development opportunities. The Downtown Housing Strategies and Implementation Plan WHY DOWNTOWN HOUSING? proposes that the City of Oklahoma City take an active role in guiding a large scale, comprehensive, and impactful Much has been written about the role that Downtown program of housing development over the next decade. Districts play as the heart and soul of communities - how For years, growth in Oklahoma City has been a quick march they serve not only as centers of commerce but as drivers to the edge. Greenfi eld, suburban-style development has of economic development through branding, tourism, culture taken advantage of affordable development economics, and entertainment, and the establishment of a vibrant cheap transportation, a favorable lending environment, urban lifestyle that appeals to multiple generations. Over and the willing extension of utilities and services to serve the past half century, urban revitalization efforts have this development. In order to maintain a sustainable urban arrested the decline of American CBDs. Our CBDs have environment that balances quality of life with an improved been turned into true mixed-use environments that look past tax base, the ability to pay for essential services and their historic roles as centers of business and government to infrastructure, and opportunities to generate a competitive 2 EXISTING 3 DEVELOPMENT 4 DEVELOPMENT 5 IMPLEMENTATION 4 1INTRODUCTION CONDITIONS FRAMEWORK ECONOMICS OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA economy, the City must keep focusing on the revitalization PLANNING FRAMEWORK FOR DOWNTOWN of its urban core, capturing the regional and national HOUSING demand to live in unique urban neighborhoods. Unlike residential development in other parts of metropolitan HOUSING IN DOWNTOWN OKLAHOMA CITY areas, downtown housing requires numerous synergies with other land uses to be truly successful on a large scale. Oklahoma City’s Downtown has a relatively small While we all make housing decisions based on proximity number of housing units compared to other mid-tier U.S. to employment, retail and services, and entertainment, cities. Despite high expectations for new units just half a residents who choose the higher density, attached housing decade ago, only a small share of anticipated construction of a downtown or central city environment demand closer was realized. A lot of this has to do with the national access to these amenities than is offered elsewhere. recession of 2007-09 and its unique impacts upon national and international real estate markets, but it is clear that In urban areas that are primarily shaped and accessible there are other hurdles to developing downtown housing by the automobile, households choosing downtown housing projects. Increasing land costs and diffi cult logistics of are essentially making a “value” proposition. They are land assembly, the need to repair outdated infrastructure, typically willing to trade larger, cheaper housing units only and a mismatch between construction costs and what the if it offers something in return, and that something is close market will bear all play a role in limiting the appeal of proximity – typically walking distance – to employment the Downtown market from a development/investment and amenities. perspective. The new economic climate and the failure of some downtown housing projects have understandably left Strategizing for a downtown housing initiative must take the initiative to develop downtown housing in a period of these factors into consideration when deciding where limbo as the public and private sectors ask themselves how investment must take place. One of the largest hurdles to they can make downtown work as it has been envisioned creating the vibrant, sustainable places that drive demand by residents and city planners. for downtown style housing is the large geographic size of Downtown Oklahoma City and the lack of connectivity Despite the hurdles, there are numerous signs that show that between activity centers. One of Downtown’s advantages downtown housing is in demand. National trends show a is that its individual districts have emerged as unique renewed interest in urban, “infi ll” housing product adjacent destinations in their own right – the Central Business District to entertainment amenities and employment centers. for employment and sports, Bricktown for entertainment, Despite limited supply, downtown rental units collectively the Arts District for culture and the arts, and Midtown and outperform any other local market, with occupancy and Automobile Alley as smaller-scale nodes of dining and lease rates far above comparable city and suburban sub- entertainment. The disadvantage is that they are too far markets, and surveys of metro area residents show an apart, and don’t create enough synergies to communicate unusually high interest in living downtown when compared a more comprehensive picture to residents, renters and to other markets. buyers. There is a need for Downtown to become more than a sum of its parts. Altogether, this indicates a strong potential market to capture and focus into newly established downtown Targeting downtown housing in specifi c locations is therefore neighborhoods. What is needed is a comprehensive a crucial strategy. New housing development needs to and strategic approach to pushing past and removing take advantage of emerging activity centers in Midtown, the market, physical and fi nancing hurdles that exist and Automobile Alley and the Arts District, building mass until creating an environment that successfully accomplishes the each area is connected via physical walls of development, goals and objectives of both the City as well as its private or at least easy pedestrian, automobile and streetcar partners. access. Key areas to focus for investment are corridors that will support growth in retail, dining and other services and businesses that downtown residents seek. 10th Street, 2 EXISTING 3 DEVELOPMENT 4 DEVELOPMENT 5 IMPLEMENTATION 1INTRODUCTION CONDITIONS FRAMEWORK ECONOMICS 5 DOWNTOWN HOUSING STRATEGIES AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN Broadway and Walker all offer opportunities to merge PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP 2.0 existing traffi c count with concentrations of residents, creating ideal environments for urban, independent The City of Oklahoma City has had great success in retailers to succeed. leveraging public-private partnerships to create compelling and impactful projects, from Bricktown to the new Skirvin INVESTMENT STRATEGIES Hotel. However, what the City needs to move its housing program forward is a public-private partnership version Downtown development can be a diffi cult proposition. “2.0” – a new way of thinking and acting around public- The intrinsic costs of redeveloping previously used sites, private partnerships. Like the Web 2.0, this initiative is addressing environmental and infrastructure issues, and the intended to facilitate participation, interaction, sharing and cost of land adjacent to major employment and activity collaboration among the City and private development centers can make it extremely diffi cult not to extend a partners. project past what the market can bear – especially in a region like Oklahoma City, where the cost of housing If the City wants to turn the corner in terms of revitalization is relatively inexpensive. An analysis of the economic and sustained investment in the Downtown area, then viability of downtown housing projects showed that what it needs to organize around a proactive approach that would be considered “typical” projects carry