$200 million development in Bricktown?

[Steve]

Maybe. Maybe not. The story will be in The Oklahoman and at NewsOK.com | Powered by The Oklahoman and NEWS 9 Friday.

[Patrick]

Geesh Steve. You're worse than American Idol....making us wait.

Hey, wouldn't $200 million be more than what Hogan has spent on Lower Bricktown? I think it would be close anyways.

I remember Bricktown 2000's plan was for over $400 million to be invested in Lower Bricktown. Now, where they were planning to get that money was always a question.

[Steve]

Here's a teaser.... Bob Funk. That's all. Buy the paper, visit newsok. Keep me employed. Good night.
-Steve

[Steve]

Btw: it will be Friday in six minutes. I wonder how long it takes NewsOk to get a story posted?

[Patrick]

Here's a teaser.... Bob Funk. That's all. Buy the paper, visit newsok. Keep me employed. Good night.
-Steve

Ahhh, you'd be referring to the new development planned for the property east of the ballpark. I've been waiting for something to be announced about that. And we get the paper, so it will be coming on my door step tomorrow morning.

[Patrick]

Btw: it will be Friday in six minutes. I wonder how long it takes NewsOk to get a story posted?

I'm thinking they get the stories up around 5 or 6 AM.

[AFCM]

There WILL be a $200M development in Bricktown. This will only be confirmed by the report tomorrow.

[Luke]

Is it there yet?

[Luke]

Found it...

NewsOK: Discussion over land stalls<br/><span class='hl2'>City, developers differ on ideas</span>

[CuatrodeMayo]

What"s Wrong With You Mick!!!!

[metro]

Can someone please post the entire 2 page article? I haven't been able to log into the new Newsok.com for days now. Screwy new website.@#$#$&#37;$#

I can post the rendering though:

[CuatrodeMayo]

NewsOK: Discussion over land stalls<br/><span class='hl2'>City, developers differ on ideas</span>

Discussion over land stalls

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

Oklahoma RedHawks owners Bob Funk and Scott Pruitt are clashing with Oklahoma City officials over plans to build a $200 million mixed-use development east of the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

Funk and Pruitt are concerned they've hit an impasse in negotiations with Mayor Mick Cornett and City Manager Jim Couch. Funk and Pruitt say they are prepared to invest approximately $200 million on a project that would include a hotel and condominiums on the west side of Joe Carter Avenue, immediately east of the ballpark, and up to 100,000 square feet of retail, more housing and a 1,900-space garage on a parking lot east of the same avenue.
The land in question is leased to Funk and Pruitt for another 17 years as part of their team's lease of the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. Planning for the project began four years ago, Pruitt said, and negotiations with the city continued through last year until a bid to buy parking lots for the project was met with silence in December.
"We extended an offer to the city,” Pruitt said. "And the response back was no response. No counter offer, no response to negotiate. And that was December. And we're wondering — what do we need to do to get things started?”
Even informal conversations over the last several months have not given Funk and Pruitt a clear idea whether the city supports developing the property.
"It's unusual for us, and we're having a hard time understanding it,” Funk said. "We just want to understand what the city wants to do.”
Meeting scheduled
Couch and Cornett deny talks have hit an impasse, and said a meeting with Pruitt and Funk is scheduled for next week. "There is not an impasse,” Couch said.

"We have been progressing very, very slowly. We're being very cautious on this, and that's how we've been on all projects like this.”
Significant disagreements remain to be addressed before a deal is done.
Cornett is refusing to allow the development to include the employee parking and plaza area west of Joe Carter Avenue, where the pair want to build a five-star, 125-room hotel and condominiums.
"We are not interested in development west of Joe Carter Avenue,” Cornett said. "That's based on what's being discussed with MAPS 3 and things we might do with that. I don't want us to rush into anything that we might regret later.”
Instead of developing the parking lot and ballpark plaza west of Joe Carter Avenue, Cornett wants to see whether the ballpark can be adapted to accommodate a football or soccer team.
That stance surprised Funk and Pruitt.
"If anyone has been patient in this process, we have been,” Pruitt said.
"No one is rushing into making a decision. We've spent months talking about this. Is the highest and best use for that land surface parking? It's not. If you can replace that parking, add to it, and add condos or retail, how is that not to the benefit of Oklahoma City?”
Funk and Pruitt also are unclear whether the city is willing to sell the land for development.
Options open
In an interview Wednesday, Couch said the two sides had three options: the city selling its interest to Funk and Pruitt, the pair selling their interest to the city, or the two sides entering into a joint development.

"The city doesn't have the right to negotiate that property without involvement by them,” Couch said. "And they don't have the right to develop that property without dealing with the city. Neither one of us has an absolute right to that property.”
One day later, however, Cornett ruled out an outright sale.
"We are not willing to sell to them,” Cornett said. "We can buy their share of the lease and then let them respond to an RFP (request for proposals) or we enter into a joint development.”
Was sale indicated?
City officials have never publicly revealed their response to the development proposal until this week.

But Cornett said he previously provided a response to Funk's and Pruitt's pitch — a statement that further frustrated the pair.
Pruitt said city officials also led him to believe they were willing to sell the land. He insisted a sale is the best way to proceed with development.

"We're open to seeing whatever their proposals are, but we've not seen anything from them so far,” Funk said. "I'm not a believer in that the best interest of taxpayers is to be involved in the development business.”

Hopes for development

Pruitt said he hopes the development still can proceed. Pruitt said he and Funk have an experienced developer and prominent investors ready to advance Bricktown and Oklahoma City to the next tier.
"When are we going to seize this momentum and put a Ritz Carlton here to show that we've arrived, or maybe a Whole Foods Market or Crate and Barrel? What are we going to do to make this happen? Bob Funk and I want to do just that. We don't think it should be that hard.”

[Pete]

[Pete]

I like the talk about a Ritz and Whole Foods but of course, those two businesses would have to want to sign leases for this development -- I'm sure Funk & Co. haven't even talked to them yet.

Also, I like that Mayor Mick is being cautious about this. It's almost like he's saying "We're not going to make the same mistake as we did in Lower Bricktown." Sure this could be a great development, but why not open it up to other bidders? The fact Funk has a 17-year lease for parking lots does not make him the owner or defacto developer.

Also, the hotel and condos look only to be 4 stories... That would barely see over the right field wall. Why not go at least 10 stories??

[jbrown84]

I'm okay with opening it up for proposals, but get on with it then. If nobody's got a better idea, then let Pruitt and Funk continue. This already looks ten times better than LBT.

[Luke]

I wonder why the mayor and city manager has so much hesitance?

[Patrick]

I agree that it is city-owned land, and that Funk and Pruitt shouldn't just be sold the land outright. There should be a request for proposals, and if Funk and Pruitt win that, then they should receive the property for development. But, I think sitting on the issue, and letting time pass, is ridiculous.

I'm also not sure if developing the land west of Joe Carter Avenue is a good idea. When the ballpark was built, it was built to be expandable. That land between the ballpark and Joe Carter Avenue could be used for expansion of the ballpark some day, if that's necessary. I also think building the Bricktown parking aarage, and possibly even the Hampton Inn might hault possible expansion plans for The Brick.

I think there's plenty of land on the parking site to the east of Joe Carter Avenue to develop.

I appreciate Mick for being overly cautious. We need to be more cautious in the types of development we allow in Bricktown. Lower Bricktown has been a joke IMO. But, concerning that, you have to remember, back in the early 1990's Hogan's project actually looked pretty good. I mean, come on....a movie theater downtown? Back then, even Hogan's plans looked too ambitious. Our expectations have gone way up since then.

I say get on with it already and open the land up for proposals, all of which have to include structured parking to replace the parking lost for the Redhawks. In the end, we have to provide parking for the Redhawks, but I think we can do that via structured parking instead of surface parking.

[jbrown84]

I just hope Mick doesn't sit on it so long that we get nothing out of this.

[Pete]

We certainly don't want to stall developers that want to spend hundreds of millions.

On the other hand, as we've all discussed in regard to OCURA, the city shouldn't be just accepting whatever local developers want to propose. We should make sure that the widest possible field gets the opportunity to submit a proposal.

It sounds like the biggest hold up is the land immediately adjacent to the Ballpark, and the mayor is wise to set that aside. The city has a big investment in that park and once that property is developed, our future options become very limited.

It's great that Funk has some ambitiious plans but I think he's being a bit arrogant here... Because he's leasing these parking lots he feels like he has some sort of right to develop them and demand the city sell him the land?

I think we should develop an RFP for the property east of Carter Blvd. only, then make a decision. Although if this falls to OCURA, heaven help us. But the Bricktown Design committee should definitely be involved.

[BDP]

That looks like the best chance for real retail in bricktown we have seen in a long time. I think tieing it into bricktown is key and, to effectively do that, I think part of it has to be located on the west side of Carter. Pedestrian flow is horrible from lower bricktown into bricktown. They are too rigidly divided, imo. Placing this whole development on the east side with more surface parking seperating the two only creates the same type of divide.

I think some of the concerns with regards to expanding the ball park are warranted, but the who, when, what, and why aren't even on the table at this point. Is it wise to turn away developers with a plan and with resources now in the hopes that maybe one day a soccer team will be interested in playing there? What are the actual plans for expansion? Can these plans be mixed with those? Or does the city really want to hold onto it because it thinks that it can add retail, lodging, and housing to that land by including it in an expansion plan? I would say that if it turns this down, then any expansion plans should include such services.

It really is a great idea and I think the city needs to learn to hold developers to their ambitious plans instead of simply dismissing any that it considers too grandiose for Oklahoma City. The problems in the past have been just as much becuase the city ultimately lets the developers half ass their projects as it has been the city rejecting better plans.

[jbrown84]

That looks like the best chance for real retail in bricktown we have seen in a long time. I think tieing it into bricktown is key and, to effectively do that, I think part of it has to be located on the west side of Carter. Pedestrian flow is horrible from lower bricktown into bricktown. They are too rigidly divided, imo. Placing this whole development on the east side with more surface parking seperating the two only creates the same type of divide.

That is my concern as well. I think the ballpark, IF it ever needs expansion, could be expanded upward, as opposed to outward.

[Patrick]

Personally, I think the structure was built as a baseball park, not a soccer field. If we want a soccer field, we need to develop a multi-purpose venue for that option. Baseball parks really aren't good for anything other than baseball, especially the way our park was designed.

Still, I'm with MalibuSooner. Just because Funk has a lease on parking lots for the Redhawks, doesn't give him the right to develop on that land. If the city wants to open the parking lots up for development, that's up to them.

One problem with developing that site.....it would block the main front of the Coca Cola Events Center.

[Patrick]

That is my concern as well. I think the ballpark, IF it ever needs expansion, could be expanded upward, as opposed to outward.

To go upward, you'd have to go outward some.

[Patrick]

One thing I will add.....anytime someone offers to invest $200 million into our city, we shouldn't take that lightly.

[jbrown84]

One problem with developing that site.....it would block the main front of the Coca Cola Events Center.

They shouldn't have expected that to stay a surface lot forever.

I agree about the soccer issue, and that Funk shouldn't automatically get the right to develop it. RRP it now, Cornett!