The shipping container craze is set to continue in Oklahoma City, with firm plans to bring a mixed-use development to the east side of Automobile Alley near downtown.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th2.jpg

A local group has leased two vacant lots on the north side of NW 7th between Broadway and the railroad tracks.

Similar to the popular OKSea project (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=OKSea) in Deep Deuce, the 7th Street project (a final name has yet to be selected) will be even more elaborate and on a larger scale. A residential development made from containers, Squirrel Park (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Squirrel), is currently planned for the Classen corridor.

Featured will be an area for food trucks and a dedicated kitchen / restaurant with indoor and outdoor space which will allow year-round operation.

In addition to a large amount of outdoor space and a full bar, container space will be leased to small offices and retail tenants.

The project has multiple levels which adapt to various grade changes on the parcels.

David Ledbetter is the designer and work should commence soon.

The area between Broadway and the railroad tracks is seeing quite a bit of activity, with the massive 330-unit Metropolitan Apartments (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Metropolitan) set to open in the next few months.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th3.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th4.jpg

BTW, they already have an operator for the full-time kitchen and bar. Should be a great concept.

Cool - I really like these types of projects. I wonder how much a small office space with utilities and internet will run.

I love that it is great infill of just parking lots, of which there are far too many between Broadway and the tracks.

David Ledbetter?

Not an architect. But does a lot of design work for restaurants. If anyone local could navigate the code f***ery needed to pull off something like this in OKC it's him. At this stage the city doesn't consider conex boxes, albeit plumbed and wired, a permanent installation. So maybe there's loopholes to exploit there...in a good way.

Yeah, I know who he is.

This reminds me a lot of the one in Austin, TX. Literally called the "Container Bar".

Yeah, I know who he is.

David was surprisingly involved in a ton of stuff when I was OKC staff. He's interesting, isn't he?

Is David on his own completely? When I met him, he quasi-worked for Sam Gresham.

I have been told he works with one other person who does most of the SketchUp work for their clients.

I don't know about the status of his relationship with Gresham. My main interaction with him was when he provided drawings for permitting on a business in which I was a partner. I wasn't a fan by the time we were done, but in fairness he was low on the list of about a thousand things that were wrong with that business and partnership.

Well if he's been involved in the architectural design of this, then he ain't half bad. I like it a lot.

More images:



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th5.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th6.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th7.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/7th8.jpg

I like these, but I hope this one is it for awhile. I think very many more might be too much. With OK Contemporary, perch'd, OKSEA and this in a relatively small area we're good. Maybe a couple in West downtown eventually would be okay. But we don't want to be known as the container city...

When you add the container housing project, Squirrel Park, we have definitely become a leader in something...

OK Sea is very well designed, and as long as these turn out the same, I'm all for it.

This project is now called The Yard and they are seeking formal approval from the Downtown Design Review Committee in their next meeting.

Some new renderings:



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard041216a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard041216b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard041216c.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard041216d.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard041216e.jpg

So about 10 parking spaces on the plans?

So about 10 parking spaces on the plans?

Looks like close to 50 spots in the adjacent lot.

So about 10 parking spaces on the plans?

Gotta think outside the box! This place is intended to serve the many people which will be living in the area who can simply walk. This isn't the mall in the suburbs surrounded by a sea of parking. Think urban. Four years from now you can park over by St. Anthony's, hop on the streetcar and catch a ride over to this place and back.

You've gotta think fourth dimensionally ;-)

Does anybody know which cities these type of developments are most popular in? Anybody have any pictures from other cities? Any chance we could become the capital of the world of box car buildings? Not joking, I actually think it would be pretty cool. It would have been even better if we kept the Stage Center because that architecture goes along perfect with these.

Does anybody know which cities these type of developments are most popular in? Anybody have any pictures from other cities? Any chance we could become the capital of the world of box car buildings? Not joking, I actually think it would be pretty cool. It would have been even better if we kept the Stage Center because that architecture goes along perfect with these.

It's cool until it's not cool. Then people are like "man, why do they have so many crappy box car buildings?" I think having some container buildings can be kind of neat, but I wouldn't want to see it become even 1% of our downtown area.

Does anybody know which cities these type of developments are most popular in? Anybody have any pictures from other cities? Any chance we could become the capital of the world of box car buildings? Not joking, I actually think it would be pretty cool. It would have been even better if we kept the Stage Center because that architecture goes along perfect with these.

Las Vegas has a bunch -

http://downtowncontainerpark.com/

Austin has the Container Bar, which reminds me a lot of this development too. Been to the Container Bar a few times and it's a really neat venue and bar!

Home - Container BarContainer Bar | America's First Shipping Container Bar (http://austincontainerbar.com)

The Austin one is great and this OKC proposal is almost a mirror of it.

One thing I noticed at the Austin location is cooling fans installed throughout, I think that could be big here in OKC on patios, more places need misters/cooling fans.

They've started work:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard081816.jpg

Awesome to hear this. Has work started on the new Orange Squeeze next door to this yet?

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard100916.jpg

This kinda reminds me of a development I saw driving to Vegas when we stayed the night in Albuquerque. I'll try to find out what it was called.

http://www.greenjeansfarmery.com/

http://www.greenjeansfarmery.com/

Didn't have time to make it to Green Jeans when I was in Albuquerque this spring but it was highly recommended to me by locals.

It was awesome and a nice surprise. We just picked the Hampton across the street before we left because it was easy to access the highway and when we arrived we had a nice surprise across the street.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard103016.jpg

Have there been any updates on this project?

Have there been any updates on this project?

Yes, it is still moving forward.

I'll post a new photo soon.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard011517a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard011517b.jpg

I've walked by this many times wondering what this was going to be?! This looks awesome, can't wait!

First phase is almost complete.

Bar and food will be served out of the building with the yellow awning; the other build is restrooms.

Will be bringing in tables and chairs. The area up above behind the restrooms is an upper level seating area.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard021917.jpg

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It doesn't look as impressive as the rendering...is it just my perspective of the photo?

I think all those containers stacked on top of each other are going to the left of Pete's photo, on top of that grassy hill. Unless I am seeing this wrong.

I think all those containers stacked on top of each other are going to the left of Pete's photo, on top of that grassy hill. Unless I am seeing this wrong.

That is correct.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard030517.jpg

They are getting very close to opening here.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard031917.jpg

Appreciate the picture updates, any idea when they open? I can't find a website or any social media pages.

I think all those containers stacked on top of each other are going to the left of Pete's photo, on top of that grassy hill. Unless I am seeing this wrong.

When does that portion start? This is a little underwhelming as is...

what you can't see in this photo is all around the tree in the background the dirt is torn up. not sure what that's about but I assume it's related to this place.

AA instagram post has Cinco De Mayo as the Yard grand opening at 2pm

When does that portion start? This is a little underwhelming as is...

The next phase has changed but is still being planned.

Should have more details soon.

I would think there is an opportunity to enhance scope now that AA infill is finally happening. More rooftops and window shopping traffic to spill into some kind of hip outdoors spot.

They open on Cinco de Mayo:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard042817a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard042817b.jpg

Much hip. Wow.

So is the shipping container part of this development a phase two? Or was it scaled back and I missed that?

There will still be a phase II it will just be different than previously shown.

Went to the grand opening. This place is going to be very cool. The main container near 7th is the full bar. There is a beer only bar in the back near the parking lot. A lot of people did not know this as the back bar cannot be seen. So there was a massive line in the middle of the space. This will get better as people get more familiar.

Staff was very nice and friendly. But [most of them] did not know what was going on in terms of pricing and how to use the tablets for card payments. I went up for the same orders at least 3 or 4 times and paid differently each time. There was random times where three beers were $12 even. Then suddenly $15. And the best one, $13.01. Like what?

The amount of people that brought their kids was a little weird. People trying to push strollers through that gravel looked like a chore. I was hoping this place would have less kids than Bleu, but it looked like the same.

The TVs were efficiently placed and on mute, which was nice. They had some pretty bad top 40 music blasting early on before the band next door [at the block party] started playing and they just turned it off completely (good move).

One food truck on site, it was a BBQ truck, it parks in the lot in the rear, which is nice to have it out of the way. It did not look like many people were ordering from it as it was obviously cinco de mayo so everyone was eating burritos and tacos at the block party.

Overall, once the staff gets more organized, this place will for sure be successful.

I was there as well and really enjoyed it.

Like a smaller Bleu Garten but like the crowd here lots better. Met lots of friendly, nice people.

Was an absolutely gorgeous night.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/yard050617.jpg

They officially open today at 5PM.

I stumbled upon this place last night. Had no idea it existed.
They have built a roof over the western row of tables. Great addition.
The weather last night was perfect, there were only about 20 people there around 8:30 on a weeknight.
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I have been often, it is a great little spot. And I love how much more personal it is than Bleu Garten. However, I will say that it seems like the competition is stiff and stubborn. More aggressive marketing and potential 'bar trivia' games may be needed to lure people away from Bleu if this place is going to make it.

The lone foodtruck they host on some nights gets almost no business depending on the vibe.

I like this place, but I wonder if there's been a bit of a struggle due to location. 7th is a dead zone. With the 8th Street Market coming online soon, though, I'm hopeful that we'll reach critical mass along the tracks from 9th to 7th and The Yard will benefit.

They would benefit from at least social media promotion.

If they can survive with slow-developing word-of-mouth, I'm good with it. It's nice to have an option that's not slammed with dudebros.