Good new heard in a chamber meeting today is that the shopping center on the NW corner of this intersection that has been virtually abandoned for years has been purchased and will be torn down and redeveloped. No definite word on what the redevelopment will consist of yet but this is good new for that area.

Thanks for sharing. Yes, great news.

Thank goodness! According to the county assessor site no sale has taken place yet, but perhaps it's just pending.

I wish it could be renovated because I grew up just down the street and spent tons of time there: Safeway, Treasury Drug, TG&Y, Westpark Cinema, Furrs Cafeteria, and believe it or not, that little interior mall was once at capacity with all types of shops.

But it's been virtually empty and in embarrassing condition for far too long. Had the same ownership from the beginning, just stopped keeping it up.


http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/sketches/picfile/2814/R189095000001sA.jpg

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

I spent many hours in the theater many years ago, probably about the same time you were Pete. It has become a sorry eyesore. Bring it down.

My younger sister worked at that theater in the late 70's, so I could get in free to see all the movies. She later worked at Godfather's Pizza right across the street and I got plenty of free food when I was home from college for the summers.

There is a lot of traffic through that intersection with a relatively dense surrounding population. You would think retail and restaurants would work there if done right.

What amazes me most is that Pro Bike is *still* in that strip center near Cajun King. It's the last tie to my childhood!

I didn't realize West Park is owned by the same east coast company that owns French Market Mall. French Market is almost fully leased and did a good job of converting an old interior mall and cinema into one big tenant, Burlington Coat.

Here is the lease plan for West Park; currently there are only two tenants, Family Dollar and Awards Etc., and none of the pad sites have been developed:

http://www.saulcenters.com/properties-us/ok/west-park/images/newall.gif

Did the post office finally close or are they still there?

Did the post office finally close or are they still there?

Post Office is still there/operational.

I wonder why the P.O. space is shown as available? Perhaps the landlord has a kick-out clause.

They've been there for at least 30 years.

The Post Office moved back over to their original spot on 63rd st beside the library to the west.

My younger sister worked at that theater in the late 70's, so I could get in free to see all the movies. She later worked at Godfather's Pizza right across the street and I got plenty of free food when I was home from college for the summers.

There is a lot of traffic through that intersection with a relatively dense surrounding population. You would think retail and restaurants would work there if done right.

What amazes me most is that Pro Bike is *still* in that strip center near Cajun King. It's the last tie to my childhood!

Glad to hear they might be doing something useful with that site. As a kid, I spent much of my free time in that mall area at the theater and at Godfather's. My stomping grounds ranged from MacArthur to Meridian on 63rd and up to what was Albertson's on MacArther. It was a great time to live in Cherokee Hills.

WalMart neighborhood market is my guess,when this store opens the 23rd & MacArthur store will close.

WalMart neighborhood market is my guess,when this store opens the 23rd & MacArthur store will close.

Tht makes no sense. They are far apart and serve completely different populations.

WalMart neighborhood market is my guess,when this store opens the 23rd & MacArthur store will close.

They are 40 blocks apart! I have 4 King Soopers, a Whole Foods, a Sunflower Market and a Safeway within 1 1/2 miles of me here in Denver. People eat in OKC, too!

Glad to hear that might be happening at old Westpark. One of several properties there that could be redeveloped

That's good news for the City of Warr Acres I hope it brings some tax dollars in.

WalMart neighborhood market is my guess,when this store opens the 23rd & MacArthur store will close. They will keep it open. They remodeled that store from a former old school Walmart. They are not shutting down especially since they would be leaving Crest with a bigger foot print to operate.

They are about to open the new Walmart Market (They dropped neighborhood from the name) in Midwest City on Reno. I have a feeling prices at Crest #1 and Crest#2 because Walmart's store is between the two of them. I am willing to bet it will be a 24-hour Store.

This is similar to the new store.

http://wonderstate.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/marketplace/businesses/images/2011/05/17/walmart_market_t670.jpg?b3f6a5d7692ccc373d56e40cf7 08e3fa67d9af9d

They are 40 blocks apart! I have 4 King Soopers, a Whole Foods, a Sunflower Market and a Safeway within 1 1/2 miles of me here in Denver. People eat in OKC, too!

That's the way it used to be in Oklahoma City. My parents had Homeland, Buchanans, Cost Plus/Shop N Save/Humpty Dumpty, Food Lion, Albertsons/Skaggs, Pratts/McCartneys, Price Mart all with in about 5-10 minutes of our house. It was all matter of how much time they had to shop and who had the best sells. McCartneys/Pratts was the store they went to stock up. The others were the quick stop and best sell stores. I still miss warm Buchanans donuts on Saturday mornings.

There is still no sign of this property having been sold.

Anybody have an update?

There is still no sign of this property having been sold.

Anybody have an update?

I haven't heard any more but I'll ask my co-worker who was told about this at a Chamber meeting to ask again at the next meeting.

Pete, my co-worker is going to another Chamber meeting next week and she said she expects to hear more about this at that time. It was the mayor of Warr Acres that gave the information.

Thanks! Please keep us posted.

Any new news?

Any new news?

Sorry, no. My co-worker was ill and couldn't attend the last chamber meeting to ask about it. Hopefully some news soon.

They are 40 blocks apart! I have 4 King Soopers, a Whole Foods, a Sunflower Market and a Safeway within 1 1/2 miles of me here in Denver. People eat in OKC, too!
Well, then. You must not have been back since we all went on Mayor Mick's diet. :ohno::chef:

My co-worker talked to someone in the office of the NW Chamber of Commerce about this today. She said they were supposed to have a meeting about it but the date got pushed back so she wasn't sure where it stands now. The chamber person told her something about Walmart and Sams taking it over. I would seriously doubt that though. It's too close to other Walmart and Sam's stores.

That site isn't nearly big enough for a Sam's or Walmart.

Maybe they meant Walmart Neighborhood Market?


Thanks for the info! Hope something happens here soon... That center is a blight on NW OKC.

That site isn't nearly big enough for a Sam's or Walmart.

Maybe they meant Walmart Neighborhood Market?


Thanks for the info! Hope something happens here soon... That center is a blight on NW OKC.

Yes, I think you're right. I questioned her a little more about it and I think a Walmart Neighborhood Market was what she meant.

Something is finally happening here.

http://newsok.com/suburban-oklahoma-city-area-mall-poised-for-redevelopment/article/3695846

It looks like what I was hearing earlier about a Walmart Neighborhood Market was premature but not totally off base.

Yes!!

Thank goodness... That shopping center is one of the biggest eyesores in the entire metro.


I bet they end up tearing the whole thing down, as that mall space back in the corner is completely vacant and pretty worthless.

Yes!!

Thank goodness... That shopping center is one of the biggest eyesores in the entire metro.


I bet they end up tearing the whole thing down, as that mall space back in the corner is completely vacant and pretty worthless.

Excellent. I used to work at 63rd and Rockwell, I always wondered why no one did anything with it. Lyrehood can't be that much of a bad influence on the surrounding area.

Warr Acres would be smart to provide incentives and get a good grocery store at that location.

Seems like that entire area of OKC is very short on grocers.

That shopping center is less than a mile from the Homeland on NW Expressway & MacArthur. If it needs a grocery anchor, I'd like to see something that stands out from that Homeland, and the two Buy For Less locations that aren't far from here.

Maybe some basic services would do well? A nail salon, barber, dry cleaner, donut shop, and one or two neighborhood restaurants would be great. This is a solid neighborhood, housing wise, and I think it could support good options.

There used to be far more grocers in that area: 63rd & MacArthur, 63rd & NW Expressway, 50th & MacArthur, 50th & Meridian, huge Gibson's at 42nd & MacArhtur and many more.

The NW Expressway corridor and north is well-served but the area south of there has very little.

True, the nearest grocery to there is the Buy 4 Less on MacArthur a few blocks south of 39th...which for a short while was a Kennards/Buy 4 Less(?) when they relocated from 50th/MacArthur.

True, the nearest grocery to there is the Buy 4 Less on MacArthur a few blocks south of 39th...which for a short while was a Kennards/Buy 4 Less(?) when they relocated from 50th/MacArthur.

The nearest is the Homeland at NW Expressway and MacArthur, less than 1 mile away. The Buy For Less on 39th is 2 miles. It's interesting how separate 63rd and MacArthur feels from NW Expressway and MacArthur.

I am just glad they are redeveloping an "old" site and not abandoning that one only to build a new development a few blocks away. I think we need to attempt to redevelop existing sites before pushing the sprawl out farther. This is good for the residents of that area, and good in general practice.

Absolutely! And if this goes well, hopefully it will spur development of other corners in the area. (I'm looking at you, 50th and MacArthur.)

That shopping center is less than a mile from the Homeland on NW Expressway & MacArthur. If it needs a grocery anchor, I'd like to see something that stands out from that Homeland, and the two Buy For Less locations that aren't far from here.

Maybe some basic services would do well? A nail salon, barber, dry cleaner, donut shop, and one or two neighborhood restaurants would be great. This is a solid neighborhood, housing wise, and I think it could support good options.

There is a beauty salon, dry cleaner, barber shop, and donut shop just across on the SE corner as well as a great restaurant. Basic services are not missing. I'm sure there are other things that could be included, however.

Absolutely! And if this goes well, hopefully it will spur development of other corners in the area. (I'm looking at you, 50th and MacArthur.)

50th and macaurther has become the 24hr convenience corner its nice. Not really sure what they could do with the rest of that area unless the city would allow a little entertainment bars and such into the area. There is quite a bit of square footage available on the corner. What would you propose for the area?

There is some good stuff at 50th and MacArthur, but some of it could use some updating (or at least a powerwashing). Isn't the center with the Goodwill quite empty? A neigborhood bar, a casual resturant, a yogurt shop, a giftshop/Hallmark would be nice.

I really like this part of town. The park is nice. The houses are well cared for. It's just a really nice "regular" neighborhood.

Mega Marshalls or TJMAXX and More or Bealls would be good in it's place.

Parking lot demolition has started but nothing on the mall as of yet. Of interest is that there is a new sign for "Family Dollar coming soon" which is already in that center. It may be that they will have a place for that business to move to before starting demolition on the mall itself.

Warr Acres would be smart to provide incentives and get a good grocery store at that location.

Seems like that entire area of OKC is very short on grocers.

Wal-Mart put nearly everything else out of business and it's taking a while for the market to correct itself especially considering the risk of opening a grocery store in OKC with no wine or strong point beer. It's slowly happening though. Crest should really open a few more stores in the metro. Every existing location is usually busy competes very well against Wal-Mart.

Parking lot demolition has started but nothing on the mall as of yet. Of interest is that there is a new sign for "Family Dollar coming soon" which is already in that center. It may be that they will have a place for that business to move to before starting demolition on the mall itself.

Thanks for the update.

Glad to see progress and I'm sure before long that entire corner will be redeveloped.

The building is being razed. Any new info on what's next?

Just spoke to Jim Tapp, the developer.

He told me that other than the Family Dollar building that has now been completed in the parking lot (they were moved from within the center itself) that a Walmart Neighborhood Market will be the only other tenant in this development.

Said that building and the related parking will take the entire property.


BIG improvement and I look forward to seeing the new grocery go up.

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


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

Pete: I am a bit confused. Is the entire strip mall coming down to make way for the Walmart Neighborhood Market? What about the Post Office? Neighborhood Markets don't seem to require much of a foot print...many are in former "regular" Wal-marts. But even new built ones seem to have a relatively small footprint (see the one in the Sears parking lot @ SW 44th & Western and the former site of Southwest Ford behind the McDonalds and Walgreens on SW 59th & Penn). On the surface this mall and parking (3 blocks x 2 blocks mol) seems more than ample for just a Wal-Mart???

Larry, the post office moved out of the mall some time ago, as did everything but the relocated Family Dollar.

From what Jim Tapp told me today, the entire structure is coming down and the grocery will utilize the entire parcel, other than the free-standing Family Dollar building.

It does seem like a lot of land (10.7 acres) for just a Walmart Neighborhood Market but perhaps this will be one of their bigger locations?

To compare, the entire Westpark Mall was about 125,000 square feet (lots of dead space back in the corner) and the larger Neighborhood Markets are about 80,000 s.f.

Pete: Thanks for the clarification..thats what I was thinking. I still miss the Furrs and the Treasury Drug that was in that mall.

Glad to see something using that space. I know my in-laws will be happy with having a grocery store in that spot again.

I wonder if the library is still there or will still be there

I wonder if the library is still there or will still be there

Library is still there and won't be touched.

The mall is probably about 80% demolished now. The dollar store still has lights on and hasn't started moving into the new building yet. I will be ecstatic when the parking lot gets rebuilt. Every time I pulled in there I was always afraid I would fall in a hole and never be found.

True..true

Photos from metro... Looks like the whole property is scraped except for the gas station on the corner.

Note the WA Library is a separate parcel.


Looking northwest from 63rd & MacArthur:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/westparkdemo1.jpg


Looking west:
http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/westparkdemo2.jpg

Yes, I was by there several times today and that's exactly what it looks like. They should have all of the debris removed in a few days. Also, they have been bringing it dirt for some time for what appears to be the foundation for the new building. That land area looks surprisingly large with the building gone.

I'm not sure what the prospects are for the gas station. It's still open but the sign has been removed.

maybe it is going to become one of the Wal-mart affiliated Murphy stations?

maybe it is going to become one of the Wal-mart affiliated Murphy stations?

Possibly, but that would likely mean a tear down and reconstruction. Those are normally next to full size Walmart stores. I go in there occasionally and it's been the same management for many years.

Some of the Neighborhood Markets have them too (just down the street @ 23rd & MacArthur)