Four New High-Rise Towers Planned For Downtown OKC

The landscape of Downtown Oklahoma City continues to change. Proposals are now on the table for not just one, but four high-rise towers. The city's Urban Renewal Alliance has the proposals, but wants to see changes quickly.

Changes are expected just west of the Myraid Garden. But the vision for the entire block continues to grow, while the deadline shortens.

Nearly three months have passed since a wrecking ball took out Stage Center. Now a masked site, the lot at Hudson and Sheridan, sits an empty pit. The current plan calls for an OG&E Headquarters, along with a 26-story apartment building on the very plot of land where Stage Center once was. Those towers would be built by Chicago based Clayco.

But two news proposals address a push south. The cobblestones of West California Ave. separate the Stage Center plot with city-owned land that extends to Reno Ave. That south chunk of land could be the site for two other towers, pictured in renderings presented by Clayco.

The high-rise apartment and office buildings would require businesses like the Arts Council to relocate. So Kathy O'Connor and the urban Renewal Alliance are requesting the firms work quickly once a proposal is selected.

"We do need to find new locations for all those tenants. We want them to plan around the 2015 arts festival and we had to get a certain length time notice to some of the tenants," said O'Connor.

An Indianapolis firm, Milhaus Ventures, has also proposed a different plan, but News 9 was unable to receive those renderings.

"We have two really good proposals for a large scale development, larger than most of the proposals we get," said O'Connor.

The alliance will vote on proposals on Nov. 19 and the firm selected will be asked to help offset the costs of each businesses relocation.

Both proposals call for assistance through public funds, but an actual dollar amount has not been negotiated.