I agree, give it time. From what I understand David Boren is still very involved in the project. The man's very well connected and great at playing the game from what I can tell... I just can't believe he would let it turn into yet another strip mall.

The lateset I heard is some of the shops in the sooner mall are going to move out there, grapevine says the mall owner has raised the leases and they don't want to pay what he wants. I can see UNP being another Ed Noble Parkway, norman city coucil is gutless and don't really care about what the citizens of norman want, if it benifits the council and makes them look good they go for it.

How can anyone say there is nothing new or different when there is nothing old and the same?

I'm just going off the list of tenants that have been annouced and so far there is nothing that's new to this market.

Sportsman's Warehouse
Pei Wei
Target
TJ Maxx
Circuit City
Office Depot
Petco
Kirklands
Dress Barn
Maurices
Rack Room Shoes
PF Changs

...pretty much describes Memorial and Penn, although I can imagine for Normanites it's exciting to get some of these things near them, like Target, Pei Wei, and PF Changs.

And not only is it nothing new, with the exception of Pei Wei and PF Changs, there's nothing even remotely upscale.

No Talbots, no White House l Black Market, no Apple Store, no Jos. A Bank, no J. Crew, no Banana Republic, etc. SO FAR, I'm not impressed.

^ Perfect for a revitalized downtown retail strip along Main Street east of Flood, or a new mixed-use district along University Blvd. through Campus Corner. Those kinds of stores would be more inclined to open in urban areas of central Norman, which is where they belong.

I'm just going off the list of tenants that have been annouced and so far there is nothing that's new to this market.

Sportsman's Warehouse
Pei Wei
Target
TJ Maxx
Circuit City
Office Depot
Petco
Kirklands
Dress Barn
Maurices
Rack Room Shoes
PF Changs

...pretty much describes Memorial and Penn, although I can imagine for Normanites it's exciting to get some of these things near them, like Target, Pei Wei, and PF Changs.

And not only is it nothing new, with the exception of Pei Wei and PF Changs, there's nothing even remotely upscale.

No Talbots, no White House l Black Market, no Apple Store, no Jos. A Bank, no J. Crew, no Banana Republic, etc. SO FAR, I'm not impressed.

can you tell me where you got that list of tenants?

In this very thread.

I'm just going off the list of tenants that have been annouced and so far there is nothing that's new to this market.

Sportsman's Warehouse
Pei Wei
Target
TJ Maxx
Circuit City
Office Depot
Petco
Kirklands
Dress Barn
Maurices
Rack Room Shoes
PF Changs

...pretty much describes Memorial and Penn, although I can imagine for Normanites it's exciting to get some of these things near them, like Target, Pei Wei, and PF Changs.

And not only is it nothing new, with the exception of Pei Wei and PF Changs, there's nothing even remotely upscale.

No Talbots, no White House l Black Market, no Apple Store, no Jos. A Bank, no J. Crew, no Banana Republic, etc. SO FAR, I'm not impressed.


Can anyone verify actual sources for any of this information? I mean, yesterday, the lady that cuts my hair at sport clips said they are thinking about putting another sports clips in over by the target, but that sure doesnt mean they are going to. Besides Target and Embassy Suites, has anyone actually read, heard or been told any other FOR SURE things going in UNP? i'm sure a few of these places will end up there, but i haven't been able to find anything about 90% of that list. Not to mention, by not finding anything about them, doesn't mean that banana, J. Crew, or the others aren't going there either.

This is what I know about University North Park:

Target will officially open 10/3/2006. Throughout the center proposed tenants include TJ Maxx, Circuit City, Office Depot, Petco, Kirklands, Dress Barn, Maurices, Rack Room Shoes. PF Changs as well as Pei Wei are heavily considered as possible tenants. Chipolte will be located on an outparcel. Starbucks will be a build-to-suit in Area 1B. JC Penney will be located in Area 2A, while Kohl's will be located in Area 2B. John Q hammons will build Embassy Suites in Area 4 along with a large convention center.

Home Depot is in negotation to take Area 3A, which means the present location on I-35 will be vacated.

Other possible tenants include: high end eateries, Hal Smith type restaurants, Whole Foods, Costco, and The Container Store.

A theatre is planned for the Lifestyle Center however it is to be small and offer dining during the movie.

Sooner Mall is not intending to close and from what it appears Dillards will absorb the vacated JC Penney store, much like Dillards did at Penn Square.

From my understanding, the large theatre planned for Moore is stil underway; however additional investors are being sought before additional financing can be provided.

Unfortunately, University North Park offers the same ol' stuff that is being located at very shopping center in OKC. There is still some available retail bays and restaurant sites that the developer can utilize that will make this development stand out from the rest.

Hey OKBOY, where did you get this info?

New stores announced for University North Park development (http://www.nedcok.com/pages/home_page/news_cat/samantha_news_story_2875/news_story.xml)

Also there are maps floating around somewhere that show the locations of all these stores in the development. Don't remember where I saw it.

Also there are maps floating around somewhere that show the locations of all these stores in the development. Don't remember where I saw it.

Here you go jbrown, not a good scan really though:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h303/oudirtypop/Photo0001.jpg

nice web page, EASY!

Sooner Investments has a pdf file with all of the tenants of this shopping center up. You're welcome to take a look there if you want to know what's fact and fiction.

I bring this up because most of what jbrown said is true ... those are the tenants for now. The only tenant announced so far for the pedestrian mall is Belk's, which doesn't really impress me, for their pedestrian mall...

I was fairly disappointed with the Belk that recently opened in Stillwater.

Sooner Investments has a pdf file with all of the tenants of this shopping center up.

yeah thats where I saw it

These might be the most helpful links in this whole discussion! Bookmark these. I am sure more information to come in the coming months!
Thanks for telling us about it Spartan.

After Seeing these, thats pretty exciting.

http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_norman-071406.pdf


http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_norman_dp-071406.pdf

http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_norman_elevations-071406.pdf

http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_micro_norman-1106.pdf

Now, i do have one bit of confusion...why would they put a kohls there with the one right up the road? Also, they are currently building a new JCPenny off of 19th and i 35, so why put another one of those there also? That doesnt make much sense to me.

I would guess, in the lifestyle mall part we will see big names, high end...mac, white house, banana, gapkids, etc.

This is one thing I can actually agree with oudirtypop on, give this development some time.

I am thinking it is a good sign that the JC Penney is not in the lifestyle center portion of the development.

These might be the most helpful links in this whole discussion! Bookmark these. I am sure more information to come in the coming months!
Thanks for telling us about it Spartan.

After Seeing these, thats pretty exciting.

http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_norman-071406.pdf


http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_norman_dp-071406.pdf

http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_norman_elevations-071406.pdf

http://www.soonerinvestment.com/pdf_flyers/univ_town_ctr_micro_norman-1106.pdf

No problem. And don't quite piddle your pants just yet ... what we've seen so far is, on the whole, quite depressing for the "BIGGEST PROJECT OF ALL-TIME" that we were expecting. Note the sarcasm...

This project will eventually work its way up to Tecumseh, is my understanding, and I'm hoping that this would just get more, and more impressive as we go. The residential market in Norman, where I live, is booming, and it will be interesting to see if the developers intend to take advantage of that.

I like the look, modern. I think they are giving it a good shot. The Branson Landing is really nice and it had Belk. I don't know anything bout it. Is it high-end?

I like the look, modern. I think they are giving it a good shot. The Branson Landing is really nice and it had Belk. I don't know anything bout it. Is it high-end?

my wife said she went in one in mckinney and it was pretty nice, maybe a couple notches up from kohls, but the same overall idea as jc penny, or dillards. She thought she remembered it had kinda dim lighting to make it feel more home-like. She said she enjoyed just didnt remember too much else about it.

Belk's are okay but nothing to get excited about.

There are already two in OK: Owasso & Stillwater. So, that should tell you something.

This project will eventually work its way up to Tecumseh,

We should probably clarify, for those unfamiliar with the area, that we mean Tecumseh Road and not the town of Tecumseh. I know that to those of us who know the area that seems like a no-brainer but some may not know that there's such a road in that area.

Yeah that did confuse me for minute. I went to college in Shawnee so I had Tecumseh the town in my head.

It's a four lane road .....

Although not out by where I live, lol.

Hey..I'm new..but this site/forum seems really cool. I'm new to living in the OKC area but I've visited here all my life. I heard that the huge Norman project was to be one of the nations 5 biggest malls. I'm pretty disappointed to hear that it might be just a strip mall..Although it is still huge, so we can pretty much hope for anything. I know this is really random..but does anyone know if they are planning for an Urban Outfitters to come to the OKC area? I attend Hillsdale FWB college in Moore and its crazy that the closest Urban Outfitters is in Dallas!

There will be an Urban Outfitters in Broken Arrow, one of Tulsa's suburbs, but nothing for OKC yet.

Umm... why do you go to Free Will Baptist College?

Umm... why do you go to Free Will Baptist College?

Sounds a little rude Spartan. Maybe you didn't mean it that way, but it comes across as such. I think we might be a little more welcoming to new posters.

To answer, roontburger, we're all a bit disappointed because we'd heard the same thing. We'd heard that it was going to be the second largest in the country and be this great new thing for the area. From what we've found out since, it seems that it'll be just another strip mall. There's still time for it to be corrected though. We can only hope.

Am I the only one glad this isn't going to be as big as planned? I saw it as something that would really change the dynamic of Norman and continue turning into just another suburban community. How many good college towns have huge retail centers like this anyway? College town retail should be centered by the COLLEGE. I want to see more retail and restaurants in central Norman not out by the interstate. It seems as though this will be a retail center with mainly national chains but nothing that upscale or even new to the Metro. It will be auto-oriented with possibly more of a mixed-use area added in the future with residential and offices further up 24th. This will allow central Norman to be full of the more unique and local retail/restaurants and I believe anything really upscale would rather be near the University in Campus Corner or downtown. Some chains like Chipotle, Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, etc. would be welcome additions to the mostly local scene in central Norman but Belk, Target, TJ Maxx, Dress Barn, etc. belong in this development by the highway...

BG, its still going to be as big.

I dont know where you grew up, but every town, well, growing town, has a large retail development. If you look at this optimistically, you would realize that the growth on the highway, will result in more sustainable growth around campus and central norman.

You must be confused, norman is a suburb, not a college town. If you take OU out of norman, it would still function. True, it wouldnt be nearly as good, and it would kinda suck for a while, but Norman could rebound. It is such a vibrant city outside of the college. If you took OSU out of stillwater, it would suck even more. But, its still not really a college town. Now, you take SWOSU out of weatherford, and that town is a ghost town. If you look at norman, at over 100k people, i think its quite more than a college town, and projects like this just prove that to be true.

As i have said before in this thread, you have to get the big names, to get the unheard of or small names. How well do you think a jimmy johns is going to do when it opens in yukon? Probably not as good as a subway. Now, what if you put a subway there first, then a block away you throw in a jimmy johns. The traffic is there, so now you can steal the patrons for the new store.

As i have said, have a little patience. We can all gripe and complain when it turns out to be a dud, until then, lets be optimistic!

Norman is very much a college town in parts and very suburban in other parts. I personally would rather see the investment go into the urban areas around the campus but realize highway development is also lucrative. I just think if there is going to be a "town center" shopping area it should be mixed-use and not be full of parking lots and cheap stores. But if it takes a development like this for the cheap suburban chains to locate in Norman I hope the upscale businesses continue to stay around campus or migrate that way.

It's pretty funny that UNP won't even be complete until at least 2010 and several people have already written it off as a strip mall failure. It's going to be two miles long, yet some act like they were expecting the whole thing to be a town center.

The first tenants may not be glamourous, but that doesn't mean it is just a strip mall. It will have a town center, a park, lots of water features, lots of landscaping, hotels, a convention center, restaurants, and it is all going to be contained within one development with the same unified architecture utilizing brick, not EIFS. Every town center that I have been too has had a sea of parking around them and strip malls nearby. So, please... just give it some time.

Totally Agree BFizzy....besides, how are we supposed to shop if we dont have anywhere to park?

Has anyone else noticed how many trees are in Targets parking lot. Give it a few years, and that will look quite nice.

There is a towncenter in the Houston suburb of Sugarland that has a parking garage. I'm talking 4 or 5 levels.

Hey again guys...yea..I agree..its better to be positive about it. Any way you look at it, its gonna be a huge project and it will probably add a lot to Norman! I mean would you rather have nothing at all? The only thing that for me personally might have been a little letdown was thinking that it was going to be a "Mall of America" type thing, but in Oklahoma. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will still be cool though!

Oh..and about asking why I go to Hillsdale...I just really like it here and its a good atmosphere and I have lots of good caring friends. Its been a great experience so far. I'm from Stratford..so being in the OKC AREA is much more entertaining than living in a town with a graduating class of 34 people..and we always still had things to do, and no I'm not a redneck, far from it actually. But it is kind of amazing how much more people gripe about little things in the city(such as not having a starbucks on a certain street when the closest one MAY be 10 minutes at the max) but that's kind of off subject, sorry. Oh, and I wasn't going to ECU (in Ada) to party with all the small town kids who just care about being cool. Not that everybody there is like that, I have some good friends there...but honestly I just wanted to get out of the small town where everyone tried to act cool and impress each other because we're in such a small group type thing. There are so many more opportunities in the city and more people. Not to say there's not drama everywhere you go..but I just needed a new atmosphere for awhile.


About Urban Outfitters in Broken Arrow..is that in the Woodland Hills Mall? Or is Woodland Hills considered in Tulsa? How long until it opens? Thanks guys..

roontburger, I'm glad you like Hillsdale and like OKC, and welcome to OKCTalk.

Woodland Hills would be Tulsa, so the Urban Outfitters must be somewhere else, probably in the big development where Bass Pro went in. I looked on their website however and saw nothing of opening soon in Broken Arrow, so I don't know.

There are a lot of us here that would really like to see one in OKC. I noticed a lot of their stores are in college towns. Their only Kansas location is in Lawrence, so maybe Norman will be first to get an Urban Outfitters.

Thanks for the welcome! And yea...that seems perfect to have on in Norman..I'm sure it would do well with a lot of the trendy OU kids..haha..I've seen quite a few of them at Lifestream. (that's that big college thing that Journey Church does on Thursdays..I'm not advertising just explaining what it was in case anybody didn't know..lol):artist:

On Cox Channel 20 in Norman they are airing a local government access show of the Norman City Council discussing the UNP. A representative just said that they have had very positive feedback from upscale tenants for the Lifestyle Center. Some of the tenants that he said they received positive feedback from were Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Banana Republic, J. Crew, Urban Outfitters, Macy's, ZGallerie, PF Changs, Freebird's World Burrito, and several others that I have already forgotten. Obviously, there is a huge difference between "positive feedback" and firm commitments, but at least it proves that they are trying to land the upscale tenants that we are expecting.

Now that would be more like it bfizzy...Let's hope they land a few of those

I found the exact quote in the Norman Transcript:

"We have to have consumer traffic to support the lifestyle center. The lifestyle center is the critical piece," he said.

Nelson said some of the potential clients that have been contacted that have responded in a positive way include Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Dick's Sporting Goods, Macy's, Belk's, Urban Outfitters, J. Crew, Guess, Banana Republic, Puma, Lucky Brand, Coldwater Creek, Restoration Hardware, Williams-Sonoma, Apple, Dell, Pottery Barn, Discovery Channel, PF Chang's, California Kitchen, Johnny Rocket's and Ted's Montana Grill.
"And there are many other not only anchor stores, specialty stores and retailers we are working on," Nelson said. "You can tell the higher-end retailers that we're after. Obviously we are very early in the process. But the fact that these type of tenants are interested in Norman is a very positive thing."

Link: The Norman Transcript - Hotel/conference project approved (http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_047001520)

Checked out Ted's Montana website and it looks like it would be a welcome addition looking at their menu...A PF Chang's closer than Memorial would also be very nice for us down south

Was kinda hoping for a dang Dave & Buster's on that list

I didn't even know Puma and Lucky had their own stores. I wish we had a Levi's Store in the metro.

Puma stores are world wide baby. For real...

Okay, so far the only thing under construction is the out-lieing strip mall, so why are so many of you assuming that all we are getting is a strip mall? You're forgetting about the other gazillion acres that hasn't even been developed yet.

Freebirds World Burrito. Interesting. I'm not in the food business but I have tossed around the idea of starting a few things on the side and I actually contacted them a few years ago about a potential franchise and at that time they said they were not interested in starting up operations outside of the state of Texas. I believe it had to do with their whole production/supply model and the ramifications of extending it a few hundred miles north.

Regarding Campus Corner and putting upscale stuff in there... that's crazy. As much as the OU college kids may want to pretend they are living in Dallas and going to SMU, the fact is that they don't spend at upscale restaurants anywhere near as much as the local suburban types on the west side do. Heck, even fast casual places in Campus are struggling meanwhile pretty much every chain imaginable is flourishing on the west side. Add to that the seasonability of Campus and it's almost a corporate death sentence to anyone who opens up shop over there. Besides, until recently the most upscale place in Campus was a bar that had piles of jockstraps decorating the glass backing of the main bar area. That's real classy and upscale.

Look at the demographics and where the money is being spent, and where the easy highway access is, and it is clear that UNP is the correct placement for the things that are to come.

I completely disagree with upscale retail/restaurants not working in Campus Corner or downtown. Even though there is a lot of money on the westside the neighborhoods around campus, especially the ones just to the west and southwest, have some very wealthy residents mixed in with middle income and students. Infill in these neigborhoods is becoming more common with several houses being torn down and replaced with new ones or existing homes refurbished. There is a growing number of people who would rather live in the tree-lined neighborhoods near campus that are central to all of Norman rather than the westside, and that will continue. Also upscale shoppers would be much more likely to stroll a revitalized Main Street for their shopping and dining or walk around Campus Corner than they would driving to some strip mall.

Campus Corner is seasonal because there isn't enough retail and dining options right now. That is slowly changing with all of the recent developments, but for the Corner to really become a destination it needs new buildings such as north of White on Asp and along University Blvd. from Boyd to Apache. Add to that a better concentration of stores and restaurants along Main Street east of Flood, especially now that Hobby Lobby and Mardel are moving to 24th and Main that opens up that "gateway" to downtown for redevelopment.

hi, i just discovered this forum today... and although this is unrelated to UNP, does anyone have any information about the BJ's Brewhouse going into the old Don Pablo's?

I was wondering when they were planning to open and such...

hi, i just discovered OKC talk today, and although this is unrelated to UNP... I was wondering if anyone has information on the new BJs Brewhouse going into the old Don Pablo's?

Does anyone know when they plan to open?

Are there any updates on the tenant list for this project. I heard that Costco was a proposed tenant. They will kill Sam's club business.

I've yet to see the positive feedback that Banana is supposedly supplying to this center. I wonder how many other retailers are being touted as inaccurately as BR is... :rolleyes: They shouldn't say anything until they have firm LOIs signed, otherwise they're just getting everyone falsely excited.

I want this place to be incredible, but they sure seem to be a lot of talk for time-being. Hopefully within the next year they will have a more substantially realistic portfolio of tenants to tout.

I'm curious... I saw a new building starting a little south of Target... anyone know which tenant is coming next?

Urban Outfitters please! Haha..just kidding. I'm not really sure, but I'm curious as well. I'm guessing the urban outfitters, puma, and lucky store will all be in the outside mall area. This sounds a lot like what Dallas offers to me in places like the Northpark Mall and Mockingbird lane. If the "outside mall" area turns out anything like the one on Mockingbird lane in Dallas, I'll be thrilled. I'm guessing it'll be a long time before all that comes in though.

I'm just grateful for whatever comes up..I'm from Stratford...so I'm used to having nothing around to do...so having even more original businesses close to Norman or the college is always great.

should be the cingular/att building

I thought that ATT was going on the north side of Target, and the south side (where the loop is) was like Ted's. On the Urban Outfitters issue, I've heard for a long time that Edmond was supposedly getting one. But I've heard that for a long time from multiple people, and nothing has happened. I do olove them though, and wish I didn't have to buy so much stuff online.

I'm thinking the lifestyle center is going to have a lot of shops like maybe Kansas City's Country Club Plaza. I know the last time I was there they had many of the same shops that have been proposed or at least brought up, and some others, like Anthropologie (or something like that, Urban's parent company), Armani Exchange, and some stores that Penn Square have now. They also had an incredible two story gap that was awesome, a big, nice area to shop, no cramped spaces.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to the west of 24 part of the Park, cause the other half is just rehashed stuff I can already get.

i think you mean the east side! The west is going to be a big shopping center...ed noble parkway 2. And they all face the east so the view from the highway is going to be spectacular!

and the building to the south is a teds. I spoke with a managment person at teds and he said they are breaking ground now and set to open in the fall. he also said they are going to have a full bar and be much bigger than any other teds.

Yeah, I meant west.

That's good to know about Teds, the other locations are TINY and there's always a huge wait on the weekends.

I dearly wish that we could somehow get an H&M. As far as clothing stores go they are delightful, and generally quite a lot cheaper than urban outfitters. Anyone else ever been to one?

H&M is great! I went there in New York a few weeks back. They have much better clothes at Old Navy prices. It's not an expensive place, so there really is no excuse for them not entering this market.

Yeah and H&M would be nice. I've also personally emailed Urban Outfitters several times over the past year and they've mentioned they were highly interested in the OKC metro and currently scouting locations. Hopefully this is accurate information and they will land a couple locations.

Also, I went to the OU Red/White game this past weekend and saw walls of several other buildings going up at UNP. Alot more dirt work has been done, and a sign for the JQ Hammons Embassy Suites was up but no dirt work had begun.

I went to H & M in Chicago for Spring Break and I love that store. It would be fantastic if we could get one.

I looked at H&M's website and their expansion hasn't made it past St. Louis and Chicago yet. Hopefully we will be in their next round along with KC and Dallas.