# Civic Matters > Suburban & Other OK Communities > Midwest City/Del City >  Heritage Park Mall

## Plutonic Panda

What should be done here?

First, I would create a TIF for the area and encourage some of the parking to be developed and place parcels. 

I'm not too familiar with this mall, so I can't comment on the significance of it, but it sure would be cool to see a mini white water course down the middle. I'd put a city museum in it. Some indoor sports. I'd also put a mini urban village and entertainment area like a miniature Bricktown but super dense and clustered together.

I'd also widen Reno to six lanes all the way from Lincoln to Air Depot and Air Depot would also be six lanes from 10th to I-40. The roads would be divided with turn lanes. I'd run light-rail down Reno to the mall and have Bike Lanes along Air Depot.

In Midwest City, hopes remain for resurrection of dead mall | News OK

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## Plutonic Panda

For the urban village/entertainment area, I was thinking something like this

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## Plutonic Panda

This isn't the best, but I'd run a new canal from the Oklahoma River(that would be damned up as part of the project) and also have lakes and ponds along it as part of new housing developments within proximity of the canal.





Basically that blue line through the mall is a river rafting course with tropical plants along it. I'd actually building a Rainforest Cafe along it and have it depressed in the mall with taller trees growing along it to simulate a jungle.

Along the front of the mall facing Reno I'd have urban development with structured parking behind the mall. The orange is mall expansion and the red is a cafe restaurant connected to the city museum which would be part of the orange and purple.

I'd put a paintball/airsoft park inside the old sears but really go all out on it. I know this might not be very popular, but it would be neat to have a indoor park/arena especially for nitro RC cars in the mall somewhere with at least 1/4 acre.

I'd try to get some local shops and some off beat shops like Urban Outfitters and Trader Joe's. I'd create some parcels surrounded parking fronting Air Depot and place a Pappadeaux and a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

I'd also add some basketball and tennis courts on some spots on top of the roof and build an indoor baseball field  in the other department store. I'd also expand the mall a little bit to the north and add a couple of more indoor sports venues. Perhaps a laser tag, trampoline park w/ Velcro jumping & moon simulation bounce along with go carts.

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## Plutonic Panda

Also, the area directly to the east of this, I'd build a convention hotel for Midwest and along with a development 



and tie it into this north but still in the boxed area

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## bchris02

Wow.  That would truly transform Midwest City from a has-been suburb into the place to be.

Whatever gets done I think the mall needs to be torn out.  I don't think there is any way to really re-purpose it.

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## bombermwc

Ambitious...I think the Reed Center and the Sheraton probably kill any type of CC/Hotel thing in that area though.

I really like the idea of gutting the mall and turning it into an ENTERTAINMENT venue. Heck, you could even just make it a closed waterway and not even include the river. It be cleaner, and smell better too. The mall has a grade from east to west though, so unfortunately, the current building wouldn't really be able to make much use of a water way. It drops about 10' from one end to the other.

But I've always though it would be good to turn Service Merchandise or Montgomery Wards into a lasertag place....like a HeyDay. Bring some put put back, but indoors. We still don't have a movie theater on the east side, so you could take up one of those to and build that out as well, or even go with the Penn Square model and just spread it out over some of the shop space. The building really has been kept in good condition. Since it's rather young and had a short and not hard life, it didn't get beat up that much. I mean the thing opened in what, the 70's. 

The location has always been the hard selling point, and that's not going to change. It's 2 miles from the highway in any direction, so visibility isn't good, and it's on the edge of MWC's population...one mile west or north and you're out of subdivision land. Retail in the area has fluctuated but is strong again with almost zero leasable space within that same range.

Since the hospital was dumb and never developed Target for the consolidated physician's offices (but at least we got a better development out of that), they could so easily take up space in the mall. All that contiguous space!!!! And so much of it is already designed for compartmental offices!!!! It's prime for office space in any form if only we could get someone to push it. I'd much rather see that as a WONDERFUL redevelopment that any of that new house crap we see all over MWC.......come on City of MWC, quit approving those!

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## oklip955

How about doing a MOA (Mall of America ) idea of an indoor ammusment park? I weas there last week and it was real cool (no pun on the weather) Sure it could not be to the scope of MOA, but having indoor kiddie rides and a few things for the older crowd like a zip line and coaster. You could even put a grocery store or other high traffic store in at one end. A few family friendly resturants and a few specialty ones, a hotel and you have a mini destination. The major issue I see facing the mall is the neighborhood has been on a downhill slide for sometime.

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## mmonroe

Map-Horizontal-Website.jpg

Aquarium! 

Turn Heritage Park into an Aquarium.  1) There really isn't an aquarium in central OK   2) This is a unique attraction to the area, just what MWC needs.   3) You can team up with the Jenks aquarium to offer dual passes or team up with the OKC Zoo and do the same thing   4) It will work being right next door to LifeChurch.tv's MWC Campus   5) Need I say more?

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## JesStang

It's not completely vacant: Sears is still there (I think they own their building) and Life Church uses some of the old Dillard's (building on the west side).

An entertainment venue sounds interesting but I think it'd have to be a bunch of different things for it to even to stand a chance. Those national brands will never come until that place is established again. 

Another downfall that nobody ever wants to talk about**: that whole area is not the best and has been going downhill for a long time. The city has to care about this project for anything to happen.

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## mmonroe

I already emailed the idea and got an email back from Robert Coleman the Economic Development Director.

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## John1744

> Another downfall that nobody ever wants to talk about**: that whole area is not the best and has been going downhill for a long time. The city has to care about this project for anything to happen.


Bingo. I don't go to that side of MWC for anything, I just find myself happening to drive through it to get to 23rd. I think I went to Sears a few years ago to buy my dad some tools and Office Depot on a rare occasion I needed a stationary product someone else didn't have.

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## bombermwc

Well if the area has been going "downhill" for so long, why is there so little vacant space? And you've got Ross moving into the old Office Depot as we speak. What exactly qualifies for "downhill" around there? 

Like any other business in the city, you go there if the store you want is there. You want to go to Westlake, you go there. You want to go to Ross, well you'll go there. There have been a string of various restaurants in the same shopping center, but they've closed for management reasons, not lack of business (ie Checkerboard). Basil is awesome in the old Popeye's and has done well enough to spawn a chain of them now. I just don't understand why people keep saying this when it simply isn't true. Last time I looked, Heritage Plaza was basically full as well.

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## Plutonic Panda

http://kfor.com/2016/08/05/midwest-c...age-park-mall/

Fingers crossed for you guys in the MWC and hopefully something rad gets done with this area. A big mixed-use with several thousand units with a town center and a streetcar connecting to Tinker to link up with the downtown connect would be cool.

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## warreng88

Midwest City seeks proposals for Heritage Park Mall

By: Brian Brus  The Journal Record	August 5, 2016

MIDWEST CITY – Midwest City has issued a request for proposals on how to rehabilitate the nearly empty Heritage Park Mall.

Civic leaders are hoping that the 680,000-square-foot shopping center can be turned to retail once again, Mayor Matthew Dukes said, but even office space would be better than nothing. The mall is now kept alive primarily by Life.Church services and a Sears store, and Duke said he’s got doubts about the latter’s continuity since the corporation’s announcement of 78 store closings in April.

“Life.Church was, if you’ll pardon the pun, a blessing when they moved in,” Dukes said. “They’ve kept up their part of the property very nicely and it’s good to see cars in the parking lot. As it sits now, though, it’s not really doing much for anybody.”

The City Council recently approved matching a grant of $27,500 by the Midwest City Memorial Hospital Board of Grantors to solicit a market study and redevelopment plan. The issue has been under discussion for years, and the city’s portion of the funds was approved in the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget. Robert Coleman, Midwest City’s economic development director, said none of the ideas that have been discussed with property owner Ahmad Bahreini and interested parties so far have been a good fit.

The 42-year-old mall produced nearly $1 million in annual property taxes annually before its doors were locked five years ago. City officials said that with only Sears and Pelican’s Wharf Restaurant as storefronts, collections have fallen to less than $70,000. Dukes was unable to provide an estimate of sales tax collections for the property.

The owners of Shepherd Mall in northwest Oklahoma City had similar problems as retailers started leaving for smaller strip malls and stand-alone storefronts at the end of the 1980s. Shepherd Mall slowly adapted to call centers and other office space, receiving a huge boost from the relocation of government employees after the 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing.

Circumstances are different for Heritage Park Mall, however, and the city can’t afford to let it become a dilapidated box sitting on 45 acres of empty parking lot, Dukes said. That’s why the city opted to invest in proposals rather than wait for the owner to do so, he said. Coleman said Bahreini and his partners have limited capital resources for restoration or remodeling beyond minimal repairs.

“Our preferred purpose is to bring retail back into the mall and reap the sales tax to benefit the city. Or even repurposing it to office use,” Dukes said. “Obviously, there’s going to be a windfall to the owner as well if we can help revitalize the mall with tenants.”

Bahreini could not be reached for comment Friday.

The company proposal ultimately chosen by City Hall must provide at least three strategies by which the mall can be redeveloped to benefit the city. The basis for each strategy must be substantiated through a comprehensive market study. And the plan needs to work around the two existing anchors, Sears and Life.Church.

Proposals and qualifications are due by Sept. 1. An information meeting will be held Aug. 15 for interested parties.

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## Trisha

so they settled on a dallas based firm Catalyst Commercial & actly held a public meeting w/ the community & Catalyst this past monday. I'd say abt 75-100 Citizens showed up for it HPM.PNG they Presented some preliminary ideas & got lots of feedback on what WE would like to see/ have for retail...  Final report / decision will be Feb 28 at the Regular City Council meeting & we were all encouraged to attend..
we did learn that the Mall property is owned locally & they along w/ City Leaders really wanted to see something done
there is a full report/ write up in the MWC Beacon 
http://www.mustangpaper.com/midwest-city-beacon/

(from Fb) D. Smith - I went for an hour then had to leave. While I was there, Jason Claunch@catalystcommercial.net showed a short slide show of demographics of the Midwest City area and he talked about the feasibility study. Mainly, whatever is decided, Life Church and Sears would have to be in agreement. He discussed putting in another mall situation or housing for single parent families, and other types of families. When the discussion was open to the audience, entertainment such as a movie theater, Dave and Buster's, and another lady mentioned having the kind of entertainment where kids/teens can go to keep them out of trouble yet have some kind of activities rather than laying around playing games at home. A Senior Center was mentioned for physical therapy, rehabilitation from surgery, pharmacy, food court, indoor pool and the mall already has ramps and walking areas.... Someone else mentioned having an entire medical center set up. This is all I can remember and it is not exact, but I am sure a full report will be in the Midwest City Beacon.
Like  Reply  February 7 at 3:49am

D. Smith Another note: someone mentioned putting in a grocery store such as Sprouts or Trader Joe's.

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## bombermwc

You wont find the city doing an indoor water park here....ceiling height is too low and the humidty would be terrible for the way the place is built. The only place that could go is Service Merchandise or Wards, but i dont think either is a good fit. Really need a metal/glass prefab like the one in Clinton.

The old Wards would be a good place to gut for a movie theater and i think we desperately need one in EOC. It had a 2 floor section, so there's room for some larger auditoriums. The crappy ones we used to have in MWC just couldn't survive the new stadium style theaters, but it's not like we dont drive elsewhere to go see a movie! Being off the interstate isn't that big of a deal since the movie IS the destination. It's positioned well out the outside of the structure for multi sided parking access too. Or direct the entrance on the west side and you've got the bigger lot there. There's even room to add construction to the north end (and take out the garage) without affecting the parking blvd.

Service Merchandise could be a grocery, but i think that would be a very hard sale. High ceilings are great, but HVAC gets expensive and the space is pretty small...not quite the floorplate of one floor of Sears. And it's a terrible location since it doesn't face anything but a neighborhood. Good parking for it, but i think it would be a hard sale for Sprouts to go in.....as much as i would love that!!!!!! Dave and Busters might be an idea in this space though. Since it's also the destination, being on the back side wouldn't necessarily be a detriment.

As for the retail areas, it's too small to really support retail any longer as a "mall". I think we have to look at alternative options here and abandon the mall idea. We aren't going to do anything medical Remember the hospital owned the old Target and had their plans to consolidate all of the doctor's offices into the single building. That sat for years until they gave up and Winco bought it. Given that MRMC has continued to nose dive to crap, you wont find any money going anywhere there. It wouldn't work for regular sublet office space either as it's too far to walk...people dont want to go in to do this stuff.

Here's the real only idea i've got for it. Large contiguous office space for only 1/2/3 tenants. MWC lacks large office space and has a plague going around with those damned small house "offices" for dentists/lawyers/doctors/etc. But in terms of commercial office space, all we have is taken by companies related to Tinker. The same is really true of most of EOC. The United Bank tower in Del City is the only legit office space in the area. Compare Heritage Park to the Lucent plant. That thing is almost totally full again. It took a long time to get there, but most of the tenants take up a LARGE amount of space. Gut the mall area of all of the walls and you've got a LARGE floorplate to do something with. There's no reason they HAVE to keep the skylights as they are, but what an ceiling for an executive's office! Think of someone like Boeing that built a LOT of space for engineers and labs. That's awesome, and MWC lost out on it.

To be honest, i feel like everything in between Sears and Lifechurch would be better off demolished so we can start with a structure that's not made for a mall. But then the ROI is much higher.

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## _Kyle

Thread revive! Anybody got anything new?

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## bombermwc

I noticed a dumpster out front this weekend. Looks like they pulled the trees out of the center sections. And the doors now all have plywood up on them. I'm not sure what i would make of that.

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## oklip955

I do not think Sears will be around for much longer. The church could build a nice new building. I say doze the building and sell the land. If you are talking office space then maybe a large office campus.

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## _Kyle

> I do not think Sears will be around for much longer. The church could build a nice new building. I say doze the building and sell the land. If you are talking office space then maybe a large office campus.


 I was at that sears the other day. It was strangely quiet besides the noisy escalators that shake the floor. Almost all the clothes were on sale.




> I noticed a dumpster out front this weekend. Looks like they pulled the trees out of the center sections. And the doors now all have plywood up on them. I'm not sure what i would make of that.


Also saw that. I thought maybe someone broke in and they wanted to keep anybody else from going in there.

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## Choctaw11

Now that we know about seara, any word on the plan with Heritage Park Mall?

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## oklip955

I have a Lands End return. Last time it was interesting as they did not know what to do with it. Postage vs gas to do a return. Yes Sears is still suppose to acept Lands End returns.

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## DCARS

This story that has comments by Sean Reed, Ward 4 Councilman may shed some light on their plans. It looks like they are looking to just tear it down and not have anything there...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...states-economy

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## bombermwc

Honestly, i think bulldozing it and just having grass there would be better. LifeChurch will still be there, but no reason to have the rest of the vacant mall just looking depressing.

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## wallyboy75

Does anyone know if sears has starting marking stuff down or not.

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## bombermwc

Yes they have. A relative was in there last week and they had already marked a lot down. I haven't been in there yet, but i would imagine that it's probably getting thin.

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## mmonroe

Sears is actually trucking in a lot of merchandise to get rid of.  So don't despair, there are plenty of great deals to be had.

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## Dafonso7

What to do this Sears closed store after the end of August 31st., Then what are planning to do with it next?

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## bombermwc

It'll sit vacant like the rest of the place until someone figures out the it's better to doze the place and start with something new. Hell, i think it would be better to turn it into housing. The new neighborhoods just north of there filled up quickly.

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