By MIKE JONES Associate Editor on Mar 27, 2012, at 2:15 PM Updated on 3/27 at 2:15 PM
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This was a nice beginning to a beautiful spring morning in downtown Tulsa. Not because of the weather, which was great, but because of the continuing work that is transforming downtown.
Work continues in the Brady and Blue Dome districts, but it was the work in the downtown core that put a smile on my face this morning.
The reconstruction and improvement on the long-closed Boulder Avenue bridge is really taking shape. The outer walls are being poured and it is beginning to look like a new bridge rather than just a mess of torn up concrete and dirt.
Its completion this summer will make access to the north side of downtown even easier. It will add another elevated crossing for the railroad tracks. For now, there are overpasses at Denver, Main, Cincinnati (one-way south) and Detroit (one-way north). The Boulder bridge will be open to two-way traffic as is Denver.
Further into the core, work One Place is progressing nicely, thanks to a warm winter. The two structures, consisting mostly now of steel beams, also will have space on the ground floors for restaurants and other commercial ventures. Both will soon be looking like real office buildings.
The larger of the two will be an 18-story structure. That’s about the heigth of the Mayo Hotel. It will have a definite positive impact on Tulsa’s skyline.
The freshest breath of air in downtown, however, was the long-awaited change at Fourth Street and Cheyenne Avenue. The eyesore that once was the Downtowner Hotel is being razed. It’s about time.
There was a time when the Downtowner was a nice motel. But as downtown fell into its funk, the Downtowner became the symbol of the deterioration. It has been boarded up for years. In that time, it’s only saving grace was that it was the new home of the historic Coney Island.
I don’t care what becomes of the space where the Downtowner once stood, although I do have some fond memories of the motel. For all I care, it can become a surface parking lot. It was that bad.
But it is close to the BOK Center, as well as One Place. It would be a nice spot for restaurants or affordable lofts, or both. I’m just glad it will soon be gone. It was on my list of the top three ugly, forsaken abandoned buildings in downtown.
And, the Coney Island will soon be back where it belongs, in the spot it was when I went to work here in 1971. It will be in the little space next to Orpha’s Lounge, one of Tulsa oldest and last remaining downtown beer joints.
Spring is looking good.
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