Has anyone ever heard of any plans in the works for this area?
Spartan65- 09-06-2006
Just exactly what area?
wsucougz- 09-06-2006
East of bricktown - those big old sheds that used to house a steel manufacturer.
Spartan65- 09-06-2006
Oh dangit... there was a really old thread on the old forum that had what your talking about. I think I had some papers on this one on my desk a few days ago...
Basically some guys who are also in Triangle bought the warehouse and I think he is going to have some lofts and a few nightclubs, nothing much. This is seperate I believe from the deal where the demolition permit was accidentally issued.
May be something else.
Spartan65- 09-06-2006
Hey, I was right...
For the Bricktown area, it’s only going to get better The entertainment district’s growth is leading a revival of downtown
For 20 years, Jim Brewer has been telling anyone who will listen that great things are in store for Bricktown. By Steve Lackmeyer, Staff Writer
The entertainment district’s newest attractions, including a 16-screen theater, are drawing bigger crowds than ever. And Brewer says the best is yet to come.
At least three Bricktown hotels are being considered by developers, with construction scheduled to start on an Embassy Suites this year.
Brewer is negotiating with a national retailer to open a store in the Santa Fe Depot’s loading docks, while the owner of the former Stewart Steel property is proceeding with a retail/residential project dubbed “The Steel Yard.”
It’s looks like we’ve moved a lot,” Brewer said. “But we’re just starting to crawl. You won’t believe what it will be five years from now. Just look at what has happened in the past five.”
Twenty years ago, Brewer was one of just a handful of developers trying to revive the then-bankrupt venture.
Now, at least a dozen property owners and developers are negotiating deals for hotels, shops and housing.
Frank Sims, director of the Bricktown Association, predicts “a couple of major announcements” in the next couple months. Sims said Bricktown’s growth is fueling a revival throughout downtown Oklahoma City.
“It’s very contagious,” Sims said. ‘It’s the attitude. We’re seeing record numbers of people in Bricktown, and that is equating to increased cross traffic to the Myriad Gardens, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Oklahoma City National Memorial.”
Sims said retail already is making a successful return to downtown. The Painted Door gift shop and Shek, a clothing store, are the newest additions to retail that includes Bass Pro Shops and four gift shops along the Bricktown Canal.
In the early 1990s, Brewer was one of Bricktown’s busiest developers and promoters. At one time, he operated O’Eriens, one of Bricktown’s earliest success stories. He did deals with Zios and the now-closed Varsity Grill, and built the Bricktown Coca-Cola Events Center.
But Brewer no longer is the biggest player in Bricktown.
Fellow developer Randy Hogan lured Sonic, Bass Pro Shops and Harkins Theaes, and his latest coup is a restaurant and music hall being built by recording artist and hometown celebrity Toby Keith.
An equally ambitious plan is being crafted along the northeast edge of Bricktown with the “Steel Yard.”
Robert Meinders, a former executive with American Floral Services, began buying the properties along East Sheridan Avenue last year.
Con Rice of Egressive Commercial Realty, which brokered the deal, said more land must be acquired before development plans are unveiled. Rice said the property comes with plenty of room for parking and space for a mix of retail and housing.
“As he (Meinders) accumulates property, it will be then that he’ll decide what to do with the whole thing,” Rice said.
“There’s a bit more to come.”
While Brewer has more competition these days, he has no intention of retiring from the business of promoting Bricktown. He enjoyed mingling among some of the biggest crowds ever to attend the St. Patrick’s Day parade, which coincided with the NCAA Tournament at nearby Ford Center.
“When I wake up in the morning, I have to pinch myself,” Brewer said. “I’m never going to retire. I tell my sons, ‘Be sure to have the bagpipes for my funeral because I’ll be working up to the very last day.’ ”
wsucougz- 09-06-2006
From what I understand, Bob(?) Meinders, whom the OCU business school is named after owns it and might be thinking big.
wsucougz- 09-06-2006
You beat me to the punch.
Spartan65- 09-06-2006
And more.
Bricktown property purchased by investor By Richard Mize, Real Estate Editor Richard Mize: 475-3518, richardmize@oklahoman.com
A local investor has bought the W.H. Stewart Steel property in Bricktown and has possible plans that include 5 acres of mixed-use, retail-office-residential space.
Such a project could take the city’s entertainment district to a higher level of activity and regional prominence.
Robert H. Meinders, however, is keeping his exact plans close to the vest.
Meinders also declined to reveal the purchase price for the property, which includes several buildings on almost 5 acres. He bought the property in several tracts from Lowell and Vivian Stewart.
The property, north and south of Sheridan between Stiles and Lincoln Boulevard, is unofficially being called “The Steel Yard” because of its historical ties to the steel industry and the production of oil field equipment, said John Maisch, co-owner with Con Rice of Egressive Commercial Realty, which brokered the deal.
Meinders could not be reached Monday for comment on the transaction, which Maisch said closed late last week. In a prepared statement, Meinders said he was considering several options for the property.
One is a mixed-use redevelopment project comprised of retail, office, and living space — lofts, for sale, not for rent.
“Whatever redevelopment plan we pursue, we want to do it right,” said Meinders, a former executive with American Floral Services.
The Stewarts owned at least eight tracts and nine buildings in Bricktown, according to the County Assessor’s Office.
The buildings, constructed from 1950 to 2001, total at least 120,000 square feet, and the property, counting the buildings, had a combined assessed market value of about $1.5 million, according to the assessor’s office.
The exact extent of the purchase, however, could not be determined Monday night, so the space purchased, and the price paid, could be considerably more.
Meinders cited the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority’s efforts to develop “the Hill,” a nine-acre tract just north of the former Stewart property, and the area’s proximity to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Presbyterian Foundation Research Park as motivation for his purchase.
The steel infrastructure of the former Stewart buildings could remain in some type of “adaptive reuse” of the property, he said, especially since rising steel prices are making new construction more expensive. “You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. There’s a pretty solid super-structure behind those old metal exteriors,” he said.
I have more...
Spartan65- 09-06-2006
Group plans development north of Bricktown By Richard Mize, Real Estate Editor
Private investors have acquired a bundle of properties near Bricktown with plans for a large mixed-use development — the second such announcement this week.
OKC Town Center LLC paid about $1 million for six properties — four vacant lots and two buildings — north of Bricktown in the area known as the Flatiron District, said Bert L. Belanger, one of three principals.
Belanger until last month was vice president and general counsel for ERC Properties Inc., a Fort Smith, Ark., based multifamily and land development company with many projects in Oklahoma and other states.
Other principals in OKC Town-Center are William P. “Pat” Garrett, who also is a principal in Garrett & Co., which owns several Oklahoma City businesses, and Anthony McDermid, a principal in TAP Architecture, which is active in several high-profile projects including Interstate 40 beautification.
“The mission of OKC TownCenter involves the assemblage of underdeveloped property which we describe as ‘The Triangle,’ bordered by Interstate 235 on the east, Reno Avenue on the south and Broadway to the west, and to master-plan and develop within this site an Urban Town Center, comprised of quality mixed-use projects,” Garrett said in a prepared statement.
“Urban town center” usually refers to a pedestrian-friendly development of residential and commercial space in low-rise buildings with minimal street setbacks.
The plans sound similar to those of Robert H. Meinders, who revealed his purchase of the former W.H. Stewart Steel property east of Bricktown just Monday. That property, north and south of Sheridan between Stiles and Lincoln Boulevard, is being called “The Steel Yard” for its ties to the production of oil-field equipment. Meinders plans to redevelop the steel plant into retail-officeresidential space.
Belanger said the OKC TownCenter transactions, which closed Tuesday, are “the first of a whole lot of (investment) that’s going on.”
With the properties now in hand, he said, OKC TownCenter can work on concrete proposals with other property owners, medical-related employers not far away near the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and others with an interest in additional housing — and commerce — in and near downtown.
“Our whole deal is about collaboration,” Belanger said.
Two big announcements in three days show that “the good news just keeps on coming,” said Dave Lopez, president of Downtown OKC Inc. “It’s just another signal of the future for downtown, particularly with the concept of mixed use and the residential component.
“That helps resolve the chicken-and-egg dilemma: When does retail re-emerge downtown?”
Belanger said the OKC TownCenter investors bought three vacant lots from TexOk Properties LP and one from Harrison Walnut LLC. He said they bought the former Myriad Systems office building (old Mistletoe Express building) at 611 Harrison from Harrison Walnut LLC and another, vacant building last used as The Oklahoman’s newspaper rack shop, from TexOk Properties LP.
The Oklahoma Publishing Co. no longer had any interest in the properties, Belanger said.
OKC TownCenter will continue to purchase land and the first project will be revealed late this year, Garrett said.
---
You are now completely up-to-date with everything in Spartan's file at the moment that Spartan feels like disclosing. (The first one is a stock photo from the Oke the other is a map that was sent to me.)
wsucougz- 09-06-2006
Well done I say. Now all we need is an update and/or some renderings.
