Vote approves Hampton Inn for Bricktown
By Steve Lackmeyer Business Writer
Steve Lackmeyer: 475-3230, slackmeyer@oklahoman.com




Oklahoma City’s Bricktown Urban Design Committee got most of what members asked for Wednesday as they gave full approval for revised plans for a Hampton Inn and Suites.

The committee, charged with ensuring that new construction and renovations fit the district’s historic character, voted in November against designs that would have included “EIFS” — an Exterior Insulation and Finish System or stucco siding — on all the hotel’s floors.

The new designs submitted Wednesday show an allbrick facade on the first seven floors but still have the stucco siding on the top two floors. To pay for the added brick, architect Gary Brink told committee members he had to eliminate a planned tower in the center of the hotel that would have been lit at night.

The hotel is being developed by Wisconsin-based Raymond Management and Marsh Pitman, owner of the adjoining Power Alley Parking Garage. Construction is set to begin by May and open by August 2007.

Committee members remained concerned about the use of stucco siding on the top two floors — a material used in the facade of suites and press boxes at the neighboring SBC Bricktown Ballpark.

“We are setting a precedent,” committee member John Yoeckel said. “If we approve this project, it will be a model for things to come.”

Barry Perkel, director of real estate with Raymond Management, responded the project’s budget already was “stretched” and reported they had also raised the hotel room “price point” from between $100 and $110 a night to $115 to $120 a night.

Perkel said the project’s budget has risen from $20 million to more than $24 million because of construction cost hikes caused by Hurricane Katrina.

“We’re at the very edge of this project not being done,” Perkel said, when pressed about still using stucco siding on the top two floors. “I honestly think it’s a less effective design if it’s all brick — there would be no contrast.”

Committee members unanimously approved the designs, with one, Avis Scaramucci, saying she would be proud to have the proposed hotel a block away from her Nona’s Restaurant and Painted Door gift shop.

Pitman assured the group the hotel will improve the downtown and Bricktown skyline.

“If every building built here on out is done with this quality, Bricktown will look very nice,” Pitman said.

Rendering

“I honestly think it’s a less effective design if it’s all brick — there would be no contrast.”

-I guess basically every other building in bricktown then has little or no effect.

The other buildings in Bricktown are not 10 stories tall. A solid brick wall is only attractive for so many feet.

OK, you have a point, but what about other options? I'm guessing concrete exteriors are pretty expensive right now, but there has to be other viable options out there that have something besides a stucco look - glass, steel, etc etc.

In thinking about this, it occurred to me: someone should start up a not-for-profit brick manufacturing facility designed solely to provide oklahoma city public works(and other) projects with bricks at or near cost, thus ensuring that all of our buildings will be constructed of only the highest quality materials. Monies saved on brick exteriors could then be applied to enhance structures with stone, concrete, glass, etc.

How expensive could it possibly be to make a brick with all this red clay lying around?

It's pretty easy to forget sometimes that development is a business, the business of shaping our cities. It has to be profitable for all wrungs of the ladder.

I've seen some fairly attractive ten-story recent developments lately, and think that being all-brick would have been a great idea here. It aint bad though. The top is very remeniscent of the Colcord.

Oh come on, it's not an awful looking building. It's quite attractive, and it fills a very tight space. We need more dense development.

I haven't seen the renderings. I'm sure it looks good as 8 out of 10 is a pretty good brick ratio. I just hate to see the precedent being set to allow eifs in bricktown, however.

Oh, there's the rendering. It isn't terrible.

It does not allow EIFS. The council took care of that back when it was cold.

So you're saying this eifs was greenlighted before they locked it down?

The council denied the first permit, and told them to come back when the fix the EIFS problem. Everything's fine now. But it's not like the Residence Inn isn't chalk-full of EIFS and nobody gives Randy Hogan any problems.

I knew that happened, but the final plan allows for 2 stories of EIFS. Whether or not that's still a problem depends on who you ask, I suppose.

Don't get me going on Hogan... I'm trying not to be too cynical or misanthropic today.

Oh I thought you were talking about all of the building. Yeah it actually blows my mind that this developer expected to get away with an entirely EIFS-covered building.



I just uploaded the rendering to photobucket for people to see it right here...

You know, I think that this developer also developed the parking structure right next door, and it surely looks to be mostly EIFS... and needs a paint job too, unfortuantely.

Yeah, that garage looks like it's leeching salt or something - like an old baseball cap. Once you build a structure like that, I wonder if you can ever go back and just replace the exterior with brick, or if other significant structural changes would have to be made in order to do so.

They prepared 2 sets of plans for the garage, one with a full brick exterior and one conrete only and no paint. They submitted the plain concrete building not expecting it to be approved and it was. At the time that it was approved the juisdiction of the Bricktown Design Committe stopped at Mickey Mantle, so JDM was in, the ballpark and garage were outside of their review. That area is now in their review area. They should have done the thing right to begin with but money overrode sense. The footings built were never designed to handle brick being added to it. They might be able to do one maybe two levels with new footings and do a stucco/EIFS coat (that paint not the system) type of finish on the conrete above that to match the Hampton. That would look better than the glued on brick and red paint monstrosity that it is now.

BTW - Kirk Humphreys was a partner in that garage before he ran for mayor.