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.

Following the 5 Guys map, perhaps?

Following the 5 Guys map, perhaps?
Possibly, but I doubt it considering the two are based on opposite ends of the country.

Looks like they have started putting up some kind of tin sheeting on the walls. Does anybody know if the stonework is now complete?

Also they are building something in front of the covered eating area but i cant figure out what. Maybe a retaining wall with a wheelchair ramp?

It's always been slated for a fall opening.

I thought when originally announced they said it would be "late spring 2011."

I thought when originally announced they said it would be "late spring 2011."

http://wholefoodsmarket.com/pressroom/blog/2010/05/12/whole-foods-market%C2%AE-announces-plans-to-build-store-in-oklahoma-city-near-classen-curve-development-and-chesapeake-energy-campus/


Scheduled to open by year-end 2011, the new Oklahoma City Whole Foods Market will be the largest natural and organic supermarket in the state.

No fall

No fall


Representatives for Whole Foods are planning on a fall opening, but have not confirmed a grand-opening date yet.


http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-11607-organic-oklahoma.html

http://www.ionokmag.com/

Grocery Jubilee

By 2012, the Oklahoma City area will welcome three*new grocery retailers with entirely different marketing concepts. Whole Foods Market will open its location on Classen Curve in the fall; Sunflower Farmers Market will open its first location in Oklahoma in September; and Uptown Grocery Co. will open in Edmond*by February. Photo Credit: Whole Foods



http://m.newsok.com/oklahoma-city-whole-foods-store-to-open-by-classen-curve/article/3460795


Whole Foods Market and Chesapeake Energy confirmed Wednesday the chain will open its first Oklahoma City store in late 2011 along N Western Avenue between Classen Boulevard and NW 63.

http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-11607-organic-oklahoma.html

http://www.ionokmag.com/

This is a quote from the Gazette article:

"While Whole Foods began in 1980 just a state away, in Austin, Texas, it’s taken 30 years and 300 stores for the world’s leader in natural and organic foods to bring Oklahoma into its fold. But, as the saying goes, 'better late than never'." Unless Tulsa is no longer in Oklahoma, that's not quite accurate. LOL

Tulsa isn't...at least as far as the folks in Tulsa think of themselves...they think they are a state unto themselves with the Tulsa State Fair every year...LOL

This is a quote from the Gazette article:

"While Whole Foods began in 1980 just a state away, in Austin, Texas, it’s taken 30 years and 300 stores for the world’s leader in natural and organic foods to bring Oklahoma into its fold. But, as the saying goes, 'better late than never'." Unless Tulsa is no longer in Oklahoma, that's not quite accurate. LOL

Maybe they meant build a new store, which OKC will be the first. The one in Tulsa was Wild Oats (which did not have an OKC location) before Whole Foods bought them out in 2007.

have they started the expansion of the tulsa wholefoods yet?

They are back in expansion mode, they are starting on the new stores in the Austin area so I would expect some work in other areas as well The Domain location is soon to bet let out for bids, it was supposed to be close to the sie of the downtown store but I think it has been trimmed by about 20-25%. Haverty's Furniture recently moved over one spot (taking over a much smaller closed Stein Mart space) in the Arbor Trails Center (Southwest Austin where Costco is located) and a Whole Foods is supposed to go into the space Haverty's vacated.

have they started the expansion of the tulsa wholefoods yet?

I was there 3 weeks ago and sure couldn't see any signs of it, will be there again tomorrow.

Looks like there is power to the building now and they are lighting it up at night.

Still can't figure out what the cement work by the eating area is all about.

Construction trailer permit was issued today for the contractor (Hill & Wilkinson) that I believe is doing the finish-out for Whole Foods.

They may finally start on the interior soon.

It would help if they'd pour the floor first. Thanks for the info Pete.

It would help if they'd pour the floor first. Thanks for the info Pete.
Not when you are installing plumbing......you leave the slab out in areas where underfloor plumbing is installed and come back and pour the floor when it is done. Saw cuts in existing slabs can be an issue in the future with differential settling. Especially if you are doing stained concrete, tile or some other hard surface, even doing a decorative concrete topping it can crack along the cut lines.

thanks for the info Pete.

Anybody been able to figure out what they are doing with the so called "outdoor seating area? I am not so sure it is still this. It looks like maybe they are putting in framing for windows? i am at a loss what it could be now.

Took a look at the so called "outdoor seating area today and now it has glass on it and they look to be pouring even more concrete walls. I am at a total loss now as to what that portion of the store will be.

I don't recall there ever being an official statement that the area you're talking about is an outdoor seating area. It was just speculation by people on here.

Indeed, it was speculation started by me, and others agreed, in which I've changed the location of the supposed "eating area" twice now. I drove by today at lunch, and I'm almost certain it will be an indoor seating area at the SE corner of the building. I suppose it's possible it could be elsewhere, AND that they will have additional outdoor seating, but with the glass in now, it sure does look like a seating area on the SE corner, especially considering I've been to numerous Whole Foods and it sure looks like many of theirs.

The whole triangle was a lost opportunity from a design and density standpoint, but I'm still thankful that we're getting these desired retailers, especially WF out of any that we may get. I love Rand's minimalism (self proclaimed minimalist myself), however I question if he designs for the real world, at least for a semi-urban, retail perspective. I think he is clueless when it comes to functionality. The parking lot is poured and light poles are in (ugly). I will try to take pics soon.

Rand designed this WF? He gets his hands on everything in this town!

I thought this was a WF design, using their architect?

Rand may have been the "local" architect as a consultant to the design architect or the architect for the developer (Chesapeake). I know when I worked on the new OKC Federal Building and the VA Center in Lawton and others worked on the Memorial and Arena our firm was the "architect/engineer of record" and worked with the design architect to complete design development/construction documents and perform construction administration. It is not uncommon for there to be multiple firms involved especially if there is an established architect for each entity involved like Whole Foods and Chesapeake have.

My firm down here has been hired by some contractors to do BIM modeling and coordination on projects and become "virtual contractors" building the BIM model from the construction documents and perform Navisworks coordination and clash detection on some complex projects, most of these projects were done by the design firms in 2D cad and there are just too many things that can be missed on a complex project trying to do it all that way. For The Belo Center for New Media on the UT campus we were hired by Flintco/Austin and while they were still drilling piers we found structural/roof conflicts in the studio area to be built months down the line and corrections were made by the architect of record well before steel shop drawings were done or steel arrived on site. Currently we are currently doing the same thing on a $38,000,000 home (on a $39,000,000 piece of property) perched up on the hillside near Lake Austin, this is a "museum grade" home designed by an architect out of California. The amount of conflicts on it has just been staggering because of the complexities of not only the building portion but all of the services involved.

And again, I said the Triangle And Curve development in general, not just WF, although yes, Rand was the local architect for WF. He is very suburban in design, just with good taste.

[snipping out metro's self-glorification post]

The whole triangle was a lost opportunity from a design and density standpoint, but I'm still thankful that we're getting these desired retailers, especially WF out of any that we may get. I love Rand's minimalism (self proclaimed minimalist myself), however I question if he designs for the real world, at least for a semi-urban, retail perspective. I think he is clueless when it comes to functionality. The parking lot is poured and light poles are in (ugly). I will try to take pics soon.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, except that betts is right. But I want to combine these points into one interesting question to ponder:


I thought this was a WF design, using their architect?

As bluedog says, it was a combined design team, and I imagine that it is a special WF design that is "very Rand," but at the same time they wanted to keep many things trademark, including the outdoor seating area, and including the site layout. The site layout is what we're criticizing here, but what if Aubrey and Rand actually did want something a little more urban, and WF ended up insisting on something a little more suburban?

I doubt it, WF has plenty of urban designed stores.

I doubt it, WF has plenty of urban designed stores.

Yeah, but having seen one of the potential masterplans for Chesapeake's development, they certainly did seem to want a sort of urban arrangement, as well. Or at first any rate...

I feel the same way. Love the design of the building but hate the layout. I have the same feelings about Classen Curve. While not downtown I think that area could've supported a more urban format and been more like a mini-downtown for the Nichols Hills area, enhancing both Chesapeake's campus and the surrounding neighborhoods as well as the Western corridor which is semi-urban in spots from west of downtown up to this area.

I think it was a missed opportunity. I agree with metro in that Rand is a great architect but designs for suburban environments. Too bad he couldn't have partnered with a more urban architect from someplace like Chicago or Seattle. But even if he had, would OKC's outdated suburban building-code allowed it in this area? I doubt it with the bloated parking and setback requirements outside of the downtown core.

But even if he had, would OKC's outdated suburban building-code allowed it in this area? I doubt it with the bloated parking and setback requirements outside of the downtown core.

Wow, I didn't know that setbacks were REQUIRED outside of downtown. I just thought that was a product of the prevailing mindset of developers, along with an absence of ordinances specifying minimal to no setback.

Setbacks of some kind exist on almost every piece of property in almost every city or town.

OMG I can't wait for this place to open!!!! We went to 2 different Whole Foods while we were on vacation. One in Birmingham, AL on the SE side (which was a very large and VERY nice one. I hope ours is as good as that one) and one in Little Rock on the SW side which was smaller and not quite as nifty. SOOOO many yummy things!!!!

I'd love to see a floor layout of the place if they have one available. I'm just curious which store it will be more like. The employees in Little Rock seemed to think it was going to be more like the B'ham store than theirs.

Bomber, you need to visit their ParkLane store in Dallas or their flagship store DT Austin if you think those two are nice.

I have been to the Arkansas location before and it feels like it was a Wild Oats that was converted into a Wholefoods.

They started the wood facade on the front

They started the wood facade on the front

So does that mean we can start selecting cheese in the deli next week now? LOL
The length of this construction is beyond unbelievable.

where is the wood facade going? I thought the building was all stone and steel?


What is going on by the outdoor seating area? My best guess is that they built a giant wheel chair ramp and then added a huge outdoor seating area by the now covered seating area?

They started the wood facade on the front

I thought it looked more like rusted metal panels.

Yeah, it may be rusted panels, the rendering looked wood, but it's hard to tell.

Charger, the renderings are on page 43.

http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae288/snewlon/WholeFoods1.jpg

i wish the rendering showed what the other corner of the store looked like. :(

Here's a pic I took with my cell phone today ... click the top pic for a larger view ...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/wholefoods_2011_06_12s.jpg (http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/wholefoods_2011_06_12.jpg)

Here's a crop from the above.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/misc/wholefoods_2011_06_12_crop.jpg

I still can't figure out what's going on with that brown stuff and how it's supposed to mesh well with the stone look.

or why there's no concrete 'floor'.

or why there's no concrete 'floor'.
The floor will go in after the underfloor utilities are installed during the T.I. process. To put a floor in now just to cut it up later is stupid, although we have do it all the time with shell building spaces to be leased. In this situation since the T.I. is following right after shell construction, it is no big deal especially with the underfloor plumbing that they have with the Whole Foods layout.

Some of the small flex buildings on the east side of Broadway Extension between 63rd & Wilshire (the red brick ones) were built in the early 80's and some had never had tenants, they still had the perimeter slab and dirt floor awaiting tenant improvements in the mid 90's.

Coming soon to Grand & N. Western??

2UFc1pr2yUU

Coming soon to Grand & N. Western??

2UFc1pr2yUU

LOL. This is great.

Bwahaha

^^ grin

It causes me to wonder if it will be safe, going to the Whole Foods Parking Lot! I've got my crip card and everything, but who knows what might happen! <grin>

The floor will go in after the underfloor utilities are installed during the T.I. process. To put a floor in now just to cut it up later is stupid, although we have do it all the time with shell building spaces to be leased. In this situation since the T.I. is following right after shell construction, it is no big deal especially with the underfloor plumbing that they have with the Whole Foods layout.

Some of the small flex buildings on the east side of Broadway Extension between 63rd & Wilshire (the red brick ones) were built in the early 80's and some had never had tenants, they still had the perimeter slab and dirt floor awaiting tenant improvements in the mid 90's.

Thanks for the information BD.

Is there a reason why the utilities were not installed with the foundation/slab? Isn't that normally the process, or at least have the conduit prerun (and they just pull everything in later)?

Is there a reason why the utilities were not installed with the foundation/slab? Isn't that normally the process, or at least have the conduit prerun (and they just pull everything in later)?
In a typical shell/finish out construction the main lines are installed but the branch lines are not until the T.I. (Tenant Improvement) phase. I would imagine that the services for the Whole Foods store is a little different, they may be stubbed out inside the foundation for future connection. I do know that Whole Foods has been tweaking store layouts and they may not have had the interior layout finalized on this one before going to shell permit. It may also have to do with who pays for what, many times the shell may be paid for by the developer but the interior is paid for by the tenant. So the utilities for finish out would be paid for by the tenant but utilities to the building would be paid for by the developer. Not sure it that is the case here but I have seen it done that way a bunch.

Sometimes alterations are made midstream, at the NW 23rd & May Walgreen's store we added another row of refrigerated display merchandisers after the slab was already done, it was something Walgreen's was starting to add to other stores and decided to pay extra for cutting the slab and extending the power across the aisle for the new merchandisers.

thanks for the 411 bd.

Thought this was interesting. I was at a talk yesterday given by a WF representative on the process behind getting locally grown foods in their stores. Of interest, she said that the store could possibly open in September and that the construction is moving along at a pretty could clip.

The site looks like they could open it in a month if they really wanted to so September is believable.

The site seems to be putting in some interesting features now. The outdoor eating area is a total mystery to me. I need to drive over and physically look at the site and see if i can make any sense of it.

It also looks like they are putting some kind of giant planter on the side by the loading dock.

Maybe they're moving up construction after the Wildflower announcement.

Wildflower?

wildflower?

i think soonerguru meant sunflower market...

sunflower farmers market to 6401 n. may (http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=25405)

-M

the so called outdoor seating area now seems to have a hydrolic garage door on the end facing the campus.

The SE corner? It has all windows, or at least it did.

the so called outdoor seating area now seems to have a hydrolic garage door on the end facing the campus.

Stop calling it the outdoor seating area. It's not outdoor and no one ever designated it as the so called outdoor seating area.

I was the one that started calling it that. I can call it the mystery structure on the SE corner if you prefer. I still think it will be some kind of eating area and from the camera today it looks like the window on the end fold up like a garage door.