It sure looks like putting that stone up is a slow process. The rate they are going it should take a couple months to do the whole store.

I still am trying to figure out why they haven't closed up the Northeast side of the store. It sure looks weird.

Here are some pics I took about 3 days ago. Quality is not the best.
East Side looking west
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae288/snewlon/WF2-1.jpg
Looking North
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae288/snewlon/WF1-1.jpg
Looking NE towards CHK campus
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae288/snewlon/WF3.jpg

Great Pics metro. That stonework looks really expensive.

Your pics make that back corner of the store more mysterious. I can make out the stair case and am wondering if they are planning on doing that back corner in glass? Maybe there will be a eating area up that way.

If it was just going to be standard office space you would expect that corner to be the typical box type.

So, I guess they really are looking at a late 2011 opening?

"The OKC store is scheduled to open this year in October" (according to http://twitter.com/WholeFoods/statuses/41160809979707392)

They are obviously slow-playing that store for a reason.

As I've pointed out, where construction goes on in other areas on their campus in the evening and on weekends, that is never the case with the WF site. Just a week ago, they completely stopped working due to rain while all the other sites were still going gangbusters.

They might be trying to time the opening with that of the other retail they are constructing adjacent. Also, they are getting close to finishing the Central Car Park, which is several levels underground with a playfield on top. After that, we will probably see some sort of construction (probably a hotel and more retail) on the playfield on the west side of Western and where the old Glenbrooke Centre East once stood.

I know Anthropologie is hoping to be open by the fourth quarter. I don't know if that means they want to be open in October or just before Christmas. I don't know enough about commercial construction to know if that is possible. Looking at the footprint, I would think it's going to be a two story building...it looks too small to be 10,000 square feet to my admittedly untrained eye. I still wonder why there hasn't been announcement.

CHK has been very reticent when it comes to real estate announcements probably because they don't want questions asked about their larger plans.

Of everything they've built, the only announcement I can remember was for Whole Foods and that was only long after everyone already knew and they had been issued a building permit. And even then, I think that was more a case of WF's wanting to announce something, not CHK.

They've got two very large $30 million buildings under construction on the east side of Classen and I can't even find renderings. They are extremely secretive when it comes to their various developments.

For those requesting pics...This link was posted before http://oxblue.com/pro/open/smithandpickel/wholefoods It's a link to a live webcam. You can use this to check the progress at anytime.

Not quite Devon tower but nice.

So, I guess they really are looking at a late 2011 opening?

"The OKC store is scheduled to open this year in October" (according to http://twitter.com/WholeFoods/statuses/41160809979707392)


this doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint. Are they just going to let the building sit around till October? It doesn't seem that they have 6 months of work left on the building.

this doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint. Are they just going to let the building sit around till October? It doesn't seem that they have 6 months of work left on the building.

They have to finish the exterior before they can do the interior and install the equipment for managing the food. Hire and train or relocate an entire staff. Stock the entire store. Six months seems like they need to pick up the pace.

Snowman, they could easily be open in 3 months or less if they wanted to, heck they could already have opened if they really wanted ro, given the sow pace of construction

To put the construction pace in perspective, I watched an entire mall built and occupied in less than 9 months.

And, that included moving millions of tons of earth to carve out part of a huge hillside. AND it was a pretty elaborate architectural design with over a 100 different stores and restaurants.

When developers and retailers are motivated, these types of projects can be completed in a few months, start to finish.

This project started in August... We are already 7 months in and it will have taken well over a year to complete. They are clearly not in a hurry.

I had heard all along of an October 2011 opening.

Pete,
Do you have any theories as to why they are slow walking the project? It would seem that you would want to have this project built quickly so they could start generating revenue off of it. Is there some way they are being more eco friendly by having it built so slowly? I can't see how waiting for the grand opening of the entire plaza would be worth the lost revenue of a couple months.

It may be that it's Whole Foods that is holding up the show. Typically these retailers have project teams that travel around the country knocking out new locations. WF is in expansion mode and this store is probably behind a bunch of others in the queue.

Could be that CHK was anxious to get started in order to kick off work on the surrounding property and to lure more tenants to Classen Curve. They probably commenced with the understanding that WF wouldn't be ready to take over the shell until this summer.

In all these leases, there are specific clauses about when the space is handed over and when the tenant will be open.

Taking a look at the web cam it looks they finally are doing something with that southeast stem wall they poured. That sure looks to me like it is going to be a covered eating area. Can anybody else imagine what else it would be?

I suspect there will be tables all along the southern section of the building under the canopy, as well as that SE corner.

http://www.tnttri.com/OKCTalk/campusmap93010b.jpg

I went back and found this drawing you posted a couple months back. I think they must have changed the entire masterplan for the triangle based on what we are seeing today. I wonder if they will still do the sky bridge. They should have the skybridge drop right by wholefoods rather then on the corner where there is nothing.

I work for Country Boy markets and when we rebuilt our grocery store in Little Axe, we went from foundation to fully operational besides a bit of drywall in the backroom in 6 1/2 months. So it is very possible, and that store is not small and has all the latest bells and whistles.

Has anyone noticed the recently poured stem wall just west of the whole foods?

Any idea what it's going to be?

Anthropologie, I think. Chesapeake hasn't announced it, but it fits with what I've heard.

Looking at where they are at the stem wall i would think they are close to start putting up steel. Maybe it has been delivered but we can't see it on the video cam.

I wonder if they are waiting on the crane to finish up at whole foods and then just move it and the crew over to the new building.

I looked at the entire site from the air the other day. I sure wish i could see the master plan for that block because it doesn't seem to make sense to me now.

Looks like they are getting close to pouring the parking area (or at least some of it) at the WF site.

I see they laid some kind of gravel foundation today on the Anthropologie pad. This seems strange as the wholefoods site never had this done. you would think the construction process would be very similar on each.

I see they laid some kind of gravel foundation today on the Anthropologie pad. This seems strange as the wholefoods site never had this done. you would think the construction process would be very similar on each.

This will be the first Whole Foods to incorporate a 100% natural dirt floor, the latest green design standard.

^^Kewl!

anybody been by the store lately? Are they finished with the stone work yet?

This will be the first Whole Foods to incorporate a 100% natural dirt floor, the latest green design standard.

wait..what? how do you avoid ruts from pushing a shopping cart around?

anybody been by the store lately? Are they finished with the stone work yet?

It's done on the north and east sides and mostly done on the west side. They are also starting to work on the wood elements on the front (south) side. I was at WF in Tulsa on Friday and they told me they are still being told Ocober and that many of them are moving to OKC to work, as many are college students originally from OKC.

wait..what? how do you avoid ruts from pushing a shopping cart around?

Think the post was in jest (but ya never know)

Are they building another bridge behind the so called Anthropologie pad? I wouldn't have thought they would build something like that till they were building something new behind that site.

Also not sure what happened to the Antropoligie site as it was going gangbusters but now seems to have died off.

The last two days, there has been almost zero work done at the WF site and the area in general.

I can't believe how long this project is taking... I'm sure there are reasons but it's hard to understand.

The south side facade is still completely open. East and north side are completely bricked though. I might be wrong, but the exterior stone work is different than what's shown in the mockup. The exterior on that is a lot more tan color. Some crappy phone pics from Tuesday:

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5871/img0315on.jpg

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/2240/img0321fg.jpg

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/3066/img0319hb.jpg

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/3646/img0320ls.jpg

Very interesting Pics. Looks like they have glass in place at the back of the building but the question is why? Is it a eating area? You would think if it was just stairs to offices they would have it closed off to the world.

What exactly are they doing with the crane?

What exactly are they doing with the crane?

It appears that there are some large concrete sections directly in front of that pickup that are being put in place as part of a retaining wall.

To illustrate the extreme difference in construction timetables, I present photos for both the WF site and Devon Tower. First photo is from 9/8/10 and second is from the past week.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/wf9810.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/wf41511.jpg


http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff342/OKCDrummer77/94Devon16.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/devon/devon4811.jpg

Looks like imax386 got the ball rolling today with his comment. They started glassing in the front of the store today.

I think the guys putting the stone on the building were on the site all of 3-4 hours today. they must be union or something.

This construction process is amazing... Glassing in the front while there is still a dirt floor inside!

So the south side is going to be all glass? That's why it's still bare? I never noticed that in any of the mock-ups.

I was in town for a visit this past weekend and couldn't believe how far they still have to go with this. Glad to see it's a nice sized WF though. It's as big as the one I frequent in Cherry Creek in Denver, and much larger than the smaller one a few blocks from my house.

Trader Joe's is heading to Texas (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/20110503-popular-grocer-trader-joes-is-heading-to-texas.ece)

A bit off topic but interesting nonetheless.

Hope that means Oklahoma is in their sights as well.

I absolutely love Trader Joe's and am quite indifferent about Whole Foods. In fact, when WF moved further down the street from me for a bigger location and TJ's took it's place, it made me very happy.

I imagine they'll be busy in TX for awhile, it's a HUGE and hot market.

Trader Joe's is heading to Texas (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/20110503-popular-grocer-trader-joes-is-heading-to-texas.ece)

A bit off topic but interesting nonetheless.

Whole Foods--especially their larger stores like the one OKC is probably getting--blows Trader Joe's out of the water. I've been to TJ's many times in CA and NM and never been impressed with it.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for In-N-Out to expand here in Austin though...it's just a matter of time...

Whole Foods--especially their larger stores like the one OKC is probably getting--blows Trader Joe's out of the water

Completely different types of stores.

Even with tons of big WF's and hundreds of other specialty / luxury grocers here in California, TJ's is unquestionably the most popular of them all.

Agree, TJ's is great...I think I would rather have one of them more than WF, too. But WF is a great start in improving the grocery store choices here, so I am not complaining.

With TJ going into Texas, do these companies traditionally wait a few years and see how their TX stores are faring before looking into OK, or is plausible that they'd expand into both TX and OK in the same year?

To each their own but I just can't see all of the excitement about grocery stores (unless you are in an area that doesn't have one).

Larry,
This is one time I agree with you! Some of the things people on this forum get excited about, really amazes me. E.g. container store, whole foods, trader joes, macy's, Five Guys burgers. Focus should be on making the city a place upscale retailers want to be rather than focusing on grocers and middle range burger joints.

Whole foods is an upscale retailer...

Whole foods is an upscale retailer...

Supposedly. I have a WFM about 4 miles from me and believe me the building is non descript. A city does not need a brand name store to get wholesome, free range, fresh foods. All of the grocers talked about on this forum are in within my area (Wegmans, WF, TJ) but I can tell you, I most often shop at Giant foods or Shoppers food warehouse. Once you get these stores you will find out how "regular" they really are, and pricey.

Supposedly. I have a WFM about 4 miles from me and believe me the building is non descript. A city does not need a brand name store to get wholesome, free range, fresh foods. All of the grocers talked about on this forum are in within my area (Wegmans, WF, TJ) but I can tell you, I most often shop at Giant foods or Shoppers food warehouse. Once you get these stores you will find out how "regular" they really are, and pricey.

No, I shop at the one in Tulsa and Dallas several times a year. And your point is right, but only in certain markets, and OOC is not Austin or So.Cal., we have virtually no options for organic food, good produce and specialty and bulk items. Sure we have limited options, but you have to go to 6 stores across the city to get everything. OKC needs a one stop organic shop.

Larry,
This is one time I agree with you! Some of the things people on this forum get excited about, really amazes me. E.g. container store, whole foods, trader joes, macy's, Five Guys burgers. Focus should be on making the city a place upscale retailers want to be rather than focusing on grocers and middle range burger joints.

Better grocery stores enhance the city, making it a market that "upscale retailers" will want to enter. And aside from that, it just makes the city a better place to live - the mainstream grocery stores in OKC just aren't that great, and when you have bad (or not very many) grocery stores, people tend to go to convenience stores and small markets and eat/drink things that are bad for them, bringing down the general health of the city. Personally, though, I think Homeland and Crest suck compared to the grocery stores I've shopped at in other states, so I'll be pretty happy if we start getting better grocery stores. I'm indifferent to Whole Foods because they're so expensive, but it would be soooooooooooooooooo nice to have a Trader Joe's here. :kicking:

As far as "middle range burger joints", I think that we have way too many of those around already, there should be some kind of zoning ordinance that says if there are already a bunch of cr*ppy restaurants that do what you're proposing, you can't open a new one. :Smiley122

Having decent grocery stores has a pretty direct impact on a lot of people... Especially if you've lived somewhere with far better choices (which is virtually everywhere else). I buy groceries at least two times a week and it's almost always at TJ's, Costco or Ralph's (the one nearest me is very nice). If all I had to choose from was Homeland and Crest, my quality of life would definitely suffer.

I don't think it's a coincidence that since the WF announcement, there have been two other upscale/organic groceries announced as well.


I don't feel the same way about restaurants, especially chains. Same for retail as you can buy most things on-line anyway.

Having decent grocery stores has a pretty direct impact on a lot of people... Especially if you've lived somewhere with far better choices (which is virtually everywhere else). I buy groceries at least two times a week and it's almost always at TJ's, Costco or Ralph's (the one nearest me is very nice). If all I had to choose from was Homeland and Crest, my quality of life would definitely suffer.

I don't think it's a coincidence that since the WF announcement, there have been two other upscale/organic groceries announced as well.


I don't feel the same way about restaurants, especially chains. Same for retail as you can buy most things on-line anyway.

I agree 100% with your points here. Even if people do not want to shop at these places, competition in the grocery store segment is good for all of us!

I have nothing against them and I will check them out to see what all the buzz is about or if it is just over-hyped, over-priced stuff. If I can buy the same or dang similar stuff at Target, Crest, Homeland or Wallyworld for 10, 20 percent or even greater savings, that is where I am going to be shopping. If it is worth it to you to shop there, by all means shop there.

in case it wasn't mentioned, looks like most of the glass has been installed on the front part of the wf building. -M

But no floor yet

I think wholefoods typically uses stained concrete floors. They put these in at the very end so the construction equipment doesn't damaged it. Stained concrete is not very forgiving to damage.

This building is very frustrating. It looks like they could finish it in 2-3 weeks if they really got after it. Instead it seems that every week less workers show up and the work gets slower.

I think wholefoods typically uses stained concrete floors. They put these in at the very end so the construction equipment doesn't damaged it. Stained concrete is not very forgiving to damage.

This building is very frustrating. It looks like they could finish it in 2-3 weeks if they really got after it. Instead it seems that every week less workers show up and the work gets slower.

It's always been slated for a fall opening.