Hello,

I tend to stay away from the site a bit because of some disillusionment but I thought I would give it another shot and I thought I had a decent idea.

So what about a residential tower in downtown with an attached supermarket? That would be a great selling point to the tower plus it would provide a market option for downtown.

It could be attached somewhat similar to how Devon does its rotunda. It doesn't have to take up all the street level space of the tower, but it’s still directly attached for resident’s ease of access.

There would be a street level entrance for non-residents and an interior entrance for those residents. And I am talking about a full sized supermarket and not a convenience store.


So what does the OKCTalk hive mind think?

It isn't about what makes sense to do downtown. It is about who has the money to do it. All traditional retail grocers have specific demographics before thinking about locating somewhere (see failed potential CVS location in CBD).

This is a long fantasized concept that is a potential reality 8-10 years down the road. The population of downtown residents is still rising. It won't be long before CVS and Walgreens make an appearance and eventually long-term, an urban concept Target or Walmart is likely. But we need thousands of more people down here before we begin to sniff this future. Metropolitan, Steelyard, Edge, Maywood, Hill - it is all coming together, we just need to be patient.

I and many others on this board firmly believe the first modern residential tower to go in downtown/bricktown will be the big pusher for everything we dream of.

But like I said, money talks - and investors with that kind of money are going to go to the safer investments until someone takes the plunge. It is a waiting game.

Bingo.

Downtown OKC along with midtown and Deep Deuce are probably the fastest growing areas in the city, but until the population numbers get up higher, any full scale grocery store is a ways off. The grocery business survives on low profit margins and will need a critial mass of people to stay afloat.

Just as an example, there's a very similar development (apartment on top, Whole Foods on the bottom) going up in Uptown Dallas. The combined population of this area (Uptown, Downtown, Oak Lawn, etc.) is roughly 75K and they are only now getting this. Even with Heritage Hills and Mesta Park we are probably nowhere near that level. For the record, I would love for Downtown OKC Inc. to do a special residential count to give this to potential retailers.

We already have a smaller version of this with Level and Native Roots.

For a full-service grocery store, they are at least 15,000 SF and that would take an entire level of any type of tower. They also have to get big trucks in and out on a frequent basis.

In addition, the grocery business is very low margin and therefore they are among the lowest of rent payers.

It can and has been done, but I think the most likely scenario is that someone like Uptown Grocer builds in Midtown on the streetcar line which would effectively service almost all of downtown.