The long-shuttered old Hemi's Pizza building at NW 23rd & Olie was razed yesterday to make way for a new mixed-use development.


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

The building is part of four adjacent lots comprising .65 acres soon to be redeveloped; most likely a combination of retail along 23rd and residential above and behind. The structures will be 2 to 3 stories and the design is currently being finalized.

In 2012, the previous owners had sought demolition approval from the Urban Design Commission and then later withdrew that request after City planning staff recommended it be saved.

The 1,695 square foot building was constructed in 1951 and had fallen into severe disrepair in the last few years. Ultimately, City Council approval placed in the dilapidated structures list and thus design approval was no longer required.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/hemis2.jpg

It's yet another development in the red-hot Uptown / 23rd Street district which has recently sprouted scores of new restaurants and retail establishments after decades of neglect: The Rise (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=The+Rise), Pizzeria Gusto (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Pizzeria+Gusto), Pump Bar (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Pump+Bar), Back Door Barbecue (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Back+Door+Barbecue), Grandad's bar (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Grandads), the 23rd Street Courts (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=23rd+Street+Courts) and several others. Currently, the historic Tower Theater (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Tower+Theater) has commenced significant renovation, Guyutes (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Guyutes) is set to open soon and the Gold Dome (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Gold+Dome) has gone under contract to the developer of The Rise.

Directly across Olie, plans are underway to renovate a former electrical substation (http://www.okctalk.com/content/52-old-electric-sub-station-get-new-life-uptown.html) into offices and a yoga studio.

In the early 70's Hemi's was located on the East side of Classen between 23rd and 24th next to a clothing store called The Jeanery. Not sure when they moved to the Olie location.

Any idea on the timeline? Do they have their loans in place?

Glad to see this eyesore finally razed.:)

That's good news.... Drove by that building a couple of days ago and some guy was leaning up against it using it for a urinal.

Hey, it's a long walk from The Pump Bar to my place...

Any idea on the timeline? Do they have their loans in place?

They have a good architect and should release preliminary plans soon.

I believe they already have the financing in place.

it was a cool old building but had gone too long sitting and being an eye sore.. wish someone had saved it long ago but glad to see new development.

I was told there were trees growing up through the foundation, the roof had caved in and the support trusses had rusted out.

Hopefully with the new City ordinances property owners will no longer be allowed to let things get to such a terrible state.

In this case, it was the previous owners who just sat on the property for years without maintaining it.

yah you could tell from just passing by it that it was LONG GONE

Always good to see progress on 23rd. This was the worst looking building between 235 and Classen. If we could get 1609 ("AM Pizza") and 1520 (Boarded up trapezoidal shanty) to pick up the torch west of Classen, that would be fantastic.

I think that building could have been revitalized and turned into something great. It's sad that it fell into such disrepair that demolition was the only option. Nonetheless, I am excited to see what plans are in store for the property.

Always good to see progress on 23rd. This was the worst looking building between 235 and Classen. If we could get 1609 ("AM Pizza") and 1520 (Boarded up trapezoidal shanty) to pick up the torch west of Classen, that would be fantastic.

Yes! I'm been waiting SO long for somebody to do something with both of those locations. I wish I had the money to do something. Especially at 1520. I remember when the florist shop was there, with the beautiful glass front, and partially on the sides, from the ceiling to the ground. That place could be so special again with the right investment.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/23olie1.jpg

OKCTalk - Retail and office development planned for Uptown (http://www.okctalk.com/content/192-retail-office-development-planned-uptown.html)

The materials are gorgeous. I love that combination.

I agree, this is pretty badass and a great urban design.

The developer sought to close the alley between the two parcels (ala The Rise) to provide more connectivity and density, but the City didn't allow it, thus this first phase with the townhomes to come later to the north.

BTW, add Mass Architecture to the list of local architects doing great work. They are also behind Chisholm Creek and several other very cool projects.

Congrats to Mass for hitting a home run, excellent work. This will really raise the bar for Uptown.

I agree, this is pretty badass and a great urban design.

The developer sought to close the alley between the two parcels (ala The Rise) to provide more connectivity and density, but the City didn't allow it, thus this first phase with the townhomes to come later to the north.

BTW, add Mass Architecture to the list of local architects doing great work. They are also behind Chisholm Creek and several other very cool projects.

Wow, this turned out better than I could've imagined. Uptown is really starting to hit its stride now.

I agree, this is pretty badass and a great urban design.

The developer sought to close the alley between the two parcels (ala The Rise) to provide more connectivity and density, but the City didn't allow it, thus this first phase with the townhomes to come later to the north.

BTW, add Mass Architecture to the list of local architects doing great work. They are also behind Chisholm Creek and several other very cool projects.

This looks awesome. Why do you think they were not allowed to close the alley?

Is it funded?

Is it funded?

Yes. They are ready to go once they receive design approval.

This is incredible. Add in the townhomes, this will be amazing. Is this the first new residential being built since the Uptown revival? Count me as very very excited for this.

Wow! Once completed, it will stand in stark contrast to the O'Reilly's next door. Any word/rumor on the type of retail that will fill the ground floor?

They are working on getting tenants; I bet they won't have much trouble.

The retail space is only 4,700 square feet which can be divided into 4 smaller spaces.

They are working on getting tenants; I bet they won't have much trouble.

The retail space is only 4,700 square feet which can be divided into 4 smaller spaces.

In your post you said 9,400 sq ft of retail space on the ground level. Which number is correct?

It's 4,700 SF.

I corrected the article.

This is incredible. Add in the townhomes, this will be amazing. Is this the first new residential being built since the Uptown revival? Count me as very very excited for this.

There have been some new houses built in mesta park, the paseo, and Jefferson and someone is redoing the apartments at Robinson and 23rd, but this probably the first new build residential that's part of uptown.

I mean, seriously, what is so hard to understand about Urbanism? I mean, this is textbook: Parking in back, street-frontage on busiest corridor, and architecture to the corner. A dude from Suburbia and an OKC Architecture firm just knocked this out of the park.

We make excuses for developers all the time and these guys crush it on their first go-round. The only thing I can possibly imagine being improved is adding overhangs on the 23rd st. frontage, which can be added at any point relatively easily. And if I were them, I'd have done the same thing…Save the cost until there is actually pedestrian traffic on 23rd that will make use of those overhangs. I think the excuses we make so often for other developers are a slap in the face of projects like these who do it up great the first time around.

Scale this up a bit and this is the kind of stuff that needs to line Classen from NW Expressway to the Farmer's market.

I'm absolutely elated to see this proposal. I hope these guys make more money than they know what to do with, because this is fantastic stuff.

Scale this up a bit and this is the kind of stuff that needs to line Classen from NW Expressway to the Farmer's market.

This, right here, is what my dreams are made of. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see it.

This, right here, is what my dreams are made of. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see it.

Well we definitely won't if we don't put standards in place for new development to conform to along the corridor.

I don't even think it would need to be wholly contiguous...but it would ideally be like 80%

Amazing. Love the proposed building!

Steve's update along with an interview with Richard Steppe about the development.

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/5435474&headline=Up%20next%20in%20Uptown%3A%20MIx%20of%20r etail%2C%20office%20and%20residential%20space%20pl anned%20across%20the%20street%20from%20Gold%20Dome

Obviously an extra zero somehow got added into the square footage for the building and I'm sure that will be corrected.

I do miss the pizza there, but after someone ran into the building at some point, it really started falling apart.

I can't believe this is what we're getting in place of it. It was WELL worth the wait we've had for this quality. If you haven't driven 23rd in the last 2 years, you wouldn't recognize it and in another couple of years, I can only imagine what we'll see here. I'm a bit jealous since while I was at OCU, it was still pretty ghetto-tastic.

I'm a bit confused on the orientation of the building though. The lot is roughly square, but being just a bit longer on the N/S run. But the building looks to be designed with the "long" side running E/W??? Is that right?

I do miss the pizza there, but after someone ran into the building at some point, it really started falling apart.

I can't believe this is what we're getting in place of it. It was WELL worth the wait we've had for this quality. If you haven't driven 23rd in the last 2 years, you wouldn't recognize it and in another couple of years, I can only imagine what we'll see here. I'm a bit jealous since while I was at OCU, it was still pretty ghetto-tastic.

I'm a bit confused on the orientation of the building though. The lot is roughly square, but being just a bit longer on the N/S run. But the building looks to be designed with the "long" side running E/W??? Is that right?

Yes, because 23rd runs E/W

You know…it's kind of interesting to see the comparisons between 23rd/The Plaza and Midtown/Deepdeuce or Midtown/Bricktown. In both cases the amount of land is significantly larger in both Midtown and 23rd, but it makes it a much slower process for the district to really start coming together. In both cases, we're sort of waiting for a giant of an urban district to wake up and become something great. I love the Plaza and DD, and Bricktown remains our most solid Urban district and is taking steps to improve its quality, but I really think that 23rd and Midtown coming of age are the most pivotal to OKC's growth as a city. Until they really come into their own, the Urban Core is always going to feel like it's incomplete.

All that to say, once again, I'm super impressed with this development, and CHEERS!!! to another massive step forward toward the revitalization of 23rd St.

There are still so many holes everywhere.

Even with the hundreds of completed and planned projects, there are still huge gaps in Uptown, Midtown and Bricktown. The others like the Paseo, Plaza and DD are much smaller geographically which allows them to feel much more complete.

Now we've got Film Row, Wheeler, Core to Shore, Coop, Farmer's Market and western/south Auto Alley all competing for development; plus the CBD of course.

It just goes to show hope desperately dire things were just 10 years ago. Tons and tons has been done and we still have a very long way to go.


The best news is that we now have a whole legion of great local developers who are all out scouring the landscape for opportunities. In most cases, if we could just get the existing owners to sell most of what remains to be done would fill in pretty quickly.


The one huge issue I see, however, is the extreme lack of for-sale properties. Property values are rising so rapidly that developers want to hold, so when it comes to residential, that means oceans of apartments and almost zero condos or single family homes.

Looking at what is in the pipeline (announced and otherwise) I don't see hardly any for sale residential and most the existing developers have shown no interest in doing any. For example, MidtownR has basically said they won't do any for sale, and they still control lots of undeveloped property in the core.

This issue needs to be addressed in some way IMO. We are completely out of balance. I would recommend using the remaining TIF money for for-sale housing and stop giving grants to apartments, unless there are very special circumstances.

Yes, because 23rd runs E/W

Well duh 23rd is E/W....that's not what I was asking. The building seems to be turned sideways in relation to the way the lot is shaped since a N/S orientation would allow more building, but it would also mean less 23rd facing space.

I think it's the red rectangle in the aerial photo that throws people off. Given the north/south running rectangle, initially, it seems like the building is running north/south along Olie.

Well duh 23rd is E/W....that's not what I was asking. The building seems to be turned sideways in relation to the way the lot is shaped since a N/S orientation would allow more building, but it would also mean less 23rd facing space.

But that's the thing: the building is not designed with shape in mind. It's designed with 23rd-frontage in mind. It wouldn't do much good to make the building bigger if the store fronts opened onto Ollie.

The building is designed to take up the south half of the parcel, bounded by 23rd street to the south, Ollie to the east, the alleyway to the north, and O'Reilly Auto Parts to the west. They balanced the building size with necessary parking behind it - especially since the City did not allow them to close off the alley. Given the restraints of the lot, and that 23rd is the major street, it makes perfect sense why the building is oriented the way it is.

As Pete mentioned previously, the north half of the parcel is currently slated to become townhomes, as a "Phase 2" to this project.

Uptown design up in the air: Commission to consider NW 23rd building
By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record August 25, 2015

OKLAHOMA CITY – A mixed-use building planned for NW 23rd Street has received varied reviews from the city’s planning staff. The project will be considered by the Urban Design Commission on Wednesday.

Edmond-based developer Richard Steppe has long wanted to put a mixed-use building in the Uptown 23rd neighborhood. He started with the idea of renovating the Hemi’s Pizza building at 1007 NW 23rd St.

“The cost to renovate was too excessive,” he said. “It wound up being financially nonviable.”

With trees growing in the foundation and an engineer’s report that the building was beyond its use, the Urban Design Commission approved demolishing the old Hemi’s building earlier this year. It was razed in April.

The Urban Design Commission will review Steppe’s plans for a 9,400-square-foot two-story retail and office building. Each floor will measure 4,700 square feet. The first floor will have traditional retail spaces and the second floor will house offices. He said he’s already had interest from boutique retailers, an attorney and an accountant to lease the space. He said the project would be complete in August 2016.

The building was designed by architect Shane Murray, principal at Mass Architects. He said Steppe asked for him to design a statement piece.

“He wanted a building that would evoke an emotion,” he said. “He wanted something that would leave a lasting impression.”

Northwest 23rd has an eclectic mix, with red brick, white brick, and even the Gold Dome in the area. Murray drew on the neighboring buildings to create a design that includes gray brick, metal paneling, board-formed concrete and weathering copper-colored steel known as Cor-Ten. The building has a contemporary design in one of the city’s older neighborhoods, but Murray said people are excited about the project.

“All the response has been extremely positive,” he said. “So far, it’s been received very well. I think people are looking for a change of pace down there.”

The city’s planning staff seems torn as to if the updated design is right for the district, as noted on its report to the commission. They reported that the building’s design and materials do not fit in with the area. It is also not compatible in regards to height, size and setbacks.

But, as the staff also said in its report, the existing buildings may not be the example on which future development is based. Surrounding structures include an auto parts store, a gas station/convenience store across the street, the blank brick façade of the Dove Academy, the faux-Asian inspired architecture at the northwest corner of NW 23rd Street and N. Western Avenue, and the prototypical architecture of the two drugstores at NW 23rd Street and N. Classen Boulevard.

“At one time, the mold for development in this area was broken by the construction of the Gold Dome,” according to the report. “This application presents another opportunity to consider whether the exterior aesthetics of the existing building stock should be perpetuated or abandoned.”

The Urban Design Commission will meet Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Molly's story is confusing. It says: "They reported that the building’s design and materials do not fit in with the area. It is also not compatible in regards to height, size and setbacks." (emphasis added)

BUT, the staff report says: "The building does appear to be compatible with the existing building stock in terms of height, size, and setbacks." (emphasis added)

Staff's only concern is that materials don't match nearby materials, and they recommend approval without ANY conditions... so it's kind of a non-story, in my opinion.

Have these people on the design review committee ever traveled 23rd?

At some time in your committees history, you approved a Subway, a McDonalds, and Carl's Jr. west of Broadway…Pardon me if I don't take your pause for concern about an obscenely fantastic development "not fitting in with the area" as anything other than ridiculous.

Why does it seem like all the things the design review committee should question, they never do, and all the things they shouldn't question, they hesitate on? Did they forget that the Rise and Tower Theater and so is Rainbow Records are within 5 blocks?

But the subway looks to be in an older building so you wouldn't think would be an issue anyway

I'm sure this will be approved with little problem.

Have these people on the design review committee ever traveled 23rd?

At some time in your committees history, you approved a Subway, a McDonalds, and Carl's Jr. west of Broadway…Pardon me if I don't take your pause for concern about an obscenely fantastic development "not fitting in with the area" as anything other than ridiculous.

Why does it seem like all the things the design review committee should question, they never do, and all the things they shouldn't question, they hesitate on? Did they forget that the Rise and Tower Theater and so is Rainbow Records are within 5 blocks?

Settle down. This is staff's writing, not the Committee's. And, staff is different now than when those other projects were approved.

But the subway looks to be in an older building so you wouldn't think would be an issue anyway

The Subway was built from scratch in the early aughts (or MAYBE late nineties). I can't remember how, but Heritage Hills was able to heavily influence the design and execution of that building, which I think involved the sale of the property. As in it was sold with the understanding that it would not only conform to guidelines but exceed them.

oh nice, then. wish we could do more of THAT....

oh nice, then. wish we could do more of THAT....

This.

oh nice, then. wish we could do more of THAT....

Built in 2001 - County values it at $454,479 this year.

http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/AN-R.asp?ACCOUNTNO=R044041760

Settle down. This is staff's writing, not the Committee's. And, staff is different now than when those other projects were approved.

Staff, committee, whomever.

There is a quote from somebody that works for/with the city that looked at this project and second guessed it. It's not the end of the world. It is, however, ridiculous. I'm not concerned about the building being approved. I'm concerned that we struggle to identify quality development and proceed without question, and simultaneously struggle to identify questionable development and effect substantial, quality change.

This developer doesn't deserve to read an article and see anything other than "This is fantastic and exactly what our city needs" because it's fantastic and exactly what our city needs.

Staff, committee, whomever.

There is a quote from somebody that works for/with the city that looked at this project and second guessed it. It's not the end of the world. It is, however, ridiculous. I'm not concerned about the building being approved. I'm concerned that we struggle to identify quality development and proceed without question, and simultaneously struggle to identify questionable development and effect substantial, quality change.

This developer doesn't deserve to read an article and see anything other than "This is fantastic and exactly what our city needs" because it's fantastic and exactly what our city needs.

I think you misunderstand the nature of how the Committees work...

Staff is required to review all aspects, and they distinctly point out that the materials don't match surrounding, but, in context, none of the surrounding is homogeneous. Additionally, we're only talking about materials, not the setback, height, etc., which is much more important in my opinion. And, in the end, there is no "recommend approval with the condition that...". It was simply "Recommend Approval..." You're reading far too deeply into the staff report.

How did I miss this? Great design! Hopefully this will be swiftly approved.

Just got word the Urban Design Commission unanimously approved this project today.

Just got word the Urban Design Commission unanimously approved this project today.


That is excellent news. I'm looking forward to seeing this building under construction. This building, if built as depicted, is a tremendous step forward for urban design in OKC and hopefully provides an example to other investors and developers of "another" right way to do urban design.

Does anyone know why the Hemi's sign survived the demolition? Is there a special exception for signage or is it just lazy demolition workers?

You don't have to permit an existing sign. And the design commission ain't giving out any more pole, pylon, and in a lot of cases, monument signs. Kind of like "adult entertainment" zoning. You can buy and rebrand a topless bar but you can't zone a new one.

OKCTalk - Mixed-use project in Uptown to add 8 condos (http://www.okctalk.com/content/224-mixed-use-project-uptown-add-8-condos.html)

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/23olie120415c.jpg

Looks great! There's also a lot of room for infill in this area, particularly north of The Pump. Hopefully this sets a precedent for the area.

Looks great! There's also a lot of room for infill in this area, particularly north of The Pump. Hopefully this sets a precedent for the area.

There has been a housing project in the works for those bungalows and lots north of the Pump for years.

Not sure of the hold up but that project in particular would go a very long way towards filling in that immediate area and help to bridge the Paseo / Uptown gap.