Navigating the tunnels
By: J. David Chapman/December 1, 2016
In the 1930s, William Balser Skirvin built a tunnel under Broadway between the historic Skirvin Hotel and his new Skirvin Tower, now known as the 101 Park Avenue Building. If those underground walls could talk – I would listen.
Originally known as “bootlegging” or “prohibition” tunnels, many U.S. cities have underground systems connecting buildings in downtown urban centers. Skirvin’s was the original section of the three-quarter-mile-long tunnel system that now joins 16 city blocks and more than 30 buildings downtown, known today as the Underground. Originally named the Conncourse after Oklahoma City banker Jack Conn and designed by I.M. Pei in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the value of the system has constantly been debated and challenged.
The UCO Real Estate Club was recently treated to a lecture and tour of the tunnel system by Jerry Church, director of operations of Downtown OKC Inc.
Many urban designers claim these tunnel systems, just as skywalks, literally suck the public life out of the city. They assert that this situation causes the loss of opportunity for street-level retail and foot traffic that creates the vitality needed for a world-class city. However, one of the benefits of the Underground was evident on our tour as a 30 mph wind whipped through OKC. Pedestrians have the ability to walk to neighboring buildings protected from harsh Oklahoma elements. They can even get a bite to eat and a haircut.
Because of the cost of maintaining these systems, the inability to assign accountability for liability, and the urban planners’ loss of affection for the systems, many cities have abandoned the tunnel systems, leaving them to decay. The failure of most of these systems makes the OKC system that much more impressive. The members of the BID and OKC Downtown Inc. should be commended on their work and effort to maintain and improve the system.
J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).