ULI Awards, and the winners are . . .
By: J. David Chapman/February 6, 2020
The Urban Land Institute has had a huge influence on development in Oklahoma. For the past six years, ULI Oklahoma has awarded Impact Awards to the most deserving projects. I am honored to serve as a judge, and even though ULI leadership gives us a clear rubric in evaluating the nominees, this may be the most difficult evaluation I make all year. The decisions were difficult again this year with a host of great projects and developments nominated.
For Outstanding Community Building Effort, the Northeast Oklahoma City Developer’s Conference was chosen for providing local real estate investors the skills to achieve their investment goals with the end result of economic development in the community. Congrats Apollo Woods, Quintin Hughes, and Leasha Larkor.
The Small-Scale Development category produced so many quality candidates, so ULI decided, for the first time ever, to award two winners. They are: The Collective Food Hall and Social Capital. With 11 kitchens, a 40-foot bar, outdoor dog-friendly patio seating and a 95-person rooftop patio, The Collective has been a hit in downtown OKC. Capitalizing on location next to Scissortail Park, Social Capital built a wonderful community-gathering place for food and drink out of an abandoned transmission shop. Congratulations to the CTB Group at Social Capital and Northline Development at The Collective.
In the Boutique Development category, Frida Southwest/Paseo Studios was honored for redeveloping an 18,000-square-foot abandoned corner lot into a mixed-use development creating an inviting gateway to the Historic Paseo Arts district and adding density and a destination for visitors. Kudos Shaun Fiaccone and Jeremy Foraker.
In the Large-Scale Development category, West Village was honored for its mixed-use development focused on creating a fully functioning neighborhood on the west side of downtown OKC. Cheers to Andy Burnett, Mark Beffort, Clay Moss, and Hall Capital!
In the Large-Scale Rehabilitation category, the Central Exchange was honored due to its adaptive reuse of the former Pioneer Communications Warehouse into a 43,000-square-foot mixed-use office and retail project. Congrats to Tribune Capital.
Congratulations to all those nominated, and especially those who received awards, but it occurs to me that the real winners are the citizens of Oklahoma who have a great built environment and a wonderful organization such as ULI to motivate and honor those that create this environment.
J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).