Seems weird to have the flagpole in the middle of the parking spots, but like ten feet over from a landscaping island where it would be more sensibly placed.

There's probably some quirky story behind it.

Learned a couple years ago from a former employee of the former owner of our buildings at work that an addition to the building was not square because one corner was technically too close to the (now inactive, and also now not even up on the property as I was told it used to be) rail line. There was some rule requiring buildings to be a certain number of feet away from an active rail line. It was a cool detail to learn because that angled slice of the building always drove me nuts (for things like square footage calculation).

They've got a looooong way to go on this whole thing. And a whole lot of vacant suites worth of work in front of them.
Only hope that it pays off with actual business. The whole area is so active, it's insane that this area has lagged behind for so long. I mean you almost have to try to not get a tenant anywhere near 63rd and May.

They've got a looooong way to go on this whole thing. And a whole lot of vacant suites worth of work in front of them.
Only hope that it pays off with actual business. The whole area is so active, it's insane that this area has lagged behind for so long. I mean you almost have to try to not get a tenant anywhere near 63rd and May.

Not only is the idea of revitalizing this area a great one, but the work so far looks really good. I'm very encouraged that, if done right, this shopping center will be very active again in the near future. If they get the right tenants, that is. It will be interesting to see (and Pete may have already mentioned them) who they get on the east side of May, and what happens with the corner where E-Z shop currently lives.

They already have tenants for almost all the space, apart from the southeast section where no real work has even started.

The demographics at this intersection are about as good as they get.

I walk through this center several times a week and they are doing a very nice job and I like that they are being methodical. They are also keeping all the tenants they inherited and either upgrading their space or giving them a completely remodeled spot.


BTW, something that doesn't show up in the photos: they completely dug up the area behind the northeast section (the one with Michael's) and poured a very nice concrete alleyway for delivery trucks and the like. That sort of thing is not cheap and shows the investment they are making.

I recall one of the owners telling me a few months ago that the modern trend in retail is that it is premium to be an open air neighbor to Target. He was surprised by the number of national chains that wanted to be in the Mayfair are because of the anchor of Target.

^

And that's why they got Harbor Freight.

I suspect they have another bigger tenant for the area that will be demolished along 50th.

It wouldn't surprise me if they also just demolish the entire southeast section in favor of more stand-alone businesses like Harbor Freight. Smaller retail is really hurting right now.

People need to remember that almost all businesses (and especially retailers) are still reeling from the pandemic. Everyone is extra cautious about expansion and trying to figure out what the future may hold now that it's obvious this virus is something we are going to have to live with for a long time.

Not only is the idea of revitalizing this area a great one, but the work so far looks really good. I'm very encouraged that, if done right, this shopping center will be very active again in the near future. If they get the right tenants, that is. It will be interesting to see (and Pete may have already mentioned them) who they get on the east side of May, and what happens with the corner where E-Z shop currently lives.

I agree it's good to revitalize this area, but I would argue that there are two things they could have done to have made it all better.

1) They absolutely should have been made to build a sidewalk here at the very least
2) Let's face it, that parking lot hasn't been full in decades, they should have built new structures for some shops along the street. There are existing examples of smaller shop footprints in this center (such as the shops fronting the gas station).

17221

^

Remember, there is a lot of retail space and the city has minimum parking requirements. Those probably need to go, but until they do, it's not a matter of the spaces needed, it's what is required by code.

I don't count L+B because they're only open until noon or 1:00, and sometimes not even then - we stopped trying to go after we found them closed twice when they were supposed to be open. Dunkin's donuts, not coffee. :p But yeah, I get your point - those two could be counted, but one's unreliable and the other is donuts and coffee (and a pretty good sausage, egg, and cheese croissant), not actual coffee shops.

Leaf and Bean is supposedly changed hands to another larger coffee shop group (regional I think, it was a while since I had heard). I was also told it would open back up shortly after closing and yet nothing has happened. The shack on 36th & May is really needing to be repaired on the looks, its kinda falling apart now.

Back to parking requirements, I just looked up the code and then did some calculations.

For the section below, that is about 70,000 square feet of retail space. OKC code requires 1 space for every 200 SF of retail up to 12,000 SF; 1 for 225 SF for the next 36,000 and 1 for 300 SF for the remainder.

That means this section of the center would require 293 spaces. In the photo below, there are only about 200 spaces. They can get away with this because they are existing structures but I'm also sure they would not be allowed to reduce the number of spaces that are already well below the current code. And adding a sidewalk along May would have caused the loss of 20 spaces.


Other cities have eliminated minimum parking requirements completely and OKC has done the same in a big part of downtown and the core.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair112821a.jpg

In fact, there is a sidewalk on that side or May to the south, and I never, ever use it because I merely walk up Mayfair Drive which runs parallel but is separated from the crazy May traffic by a wide strip of landscaping.
Random, but I wish more shopping centers and neighborhoods had this feature of being separated from the main road by the wide strip of landscaping as this area is.

I don't know this for sure, but my hunch is that when they demolish the northern part of the northeast section of the center (shown two posts above), the new use will be 7-11.

As we all know, 7-11 has been in an aggressive expansion mode since the corporate buyout. And OnCue already has a location 1 mile south at 36th & May and also owns the old Founders Bank property less than a mile to the north. Casey's has nearby locations including 39th & May, which is very close to Mayfair.

Below is a map of all the current 7-11 locations in relation to Mayfair (indicated by the star). The 7-11's in closest vicinity are all older and small; the closest one is actually on a side street off May. Putting all this together, my bet is that we'll soon be seeing a new 7-11 on the southeast corner of NW 50th & May.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair711.jpg

That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but it's certainly not very exciting.

This makes sense as I’m not sure the 59th/May 7-Eleven is long for this world once the Founders Bank OnCue opens.

^^^^^^ Neither is the NW 122 & May 7-11. No gas pumps, horrible restroom, and it has a larger and now remodeled 7-11 and OnCue 1 mile south at May/Hefner.

Just please get rid of the 7-11 on NW Expwy and Independence. It is a sh!t show getting in and out of that lot. Only 4 pumps and has the worst curb cuts imaginable. It’s dangerous and will only get worse when the new integris hospital opens.

I just learned that the new owners plan to demolish the southeast section (that was formerly home to Steinmart and others) because after tearing into it they found a real mess and it's not feasible to save it.

They will demolish then see what the market yields. I know they'd like another grocery store even though Aldi is right across the street.

And south of Interbank, they are still trying to finalize the deal with Harbor Freight but they have become more pessimistic that it will move forward, so they will proceed with the renovation of that section with the option to still do a deal with Harbor Freight should they get their act together.

I noticed they have starting work on the section north of Aldi and removing the old "clock tower" feature. what they have done so far looks great on the property looks great. I am excited about the little section south of Aldi and can't wait for Summer Moon. they have great coffee. the BF brings me coffee from them when traveling back from seeing the parental units in yukon. Their coffee is Oak roasted and is so good!

I saw a legal notice last week for a "Mayfair Event Center" requesting a liquor license. I recall the street address suggesting it would be on the East side of May.

I saw a legal notice last week for a "Mayfair Event Center" requesting a liquor license. I recall the street address suggesting it would be on the East side of May.

It's this place:

http://www.mayfairec.com/

It's been there for a while; an old elementary school.

I just learned that the new owners plan to demolish the southeast section (that was formerly home to Steinmart and others) because after tearing into it they found a real mess and it's not feasible to save it.

They will demolish then see what the market yields. I know they'd like another grocery store even though Aldi is right across the street.

And south of Interbank, they are still trying to finalize the deal with Harbor Freight but they have become more pessimistic that it will move forward, so they will proceed with the renovation of that section with the option to still do a deal with Harbor Freight should they get their act together.

Too bad if HB falls through. Sounds like the new owners are being methodical and trying to do this the right way, but I know nothing about construction.

If the Harbor Freight deal falls through, I wouldn't mind if Northern Tool locates a store on the north side of OKC.

^^^^ Or a Steve's WholeSale Tools.

I take it those are along the same line as Harbor Freight? Reasonably priced stuff?

I love Harbor Freight, but I hope they don't wind up in Mayfair. They have an industrial look to their buildings that I don't think will fit with the rest of the center. The SW corner looks like ownership is really spending to rebuild it. The concrete parking lot looks it will be expensive and long lasting.

I can easily see a new convenience store on the NE corner. A gas station has been there for 60 years, I think.

I like how the dominos fall a little bit at a time in regards to the remodel and tenant news.

Summer Moon has filed their building permit:

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair123021a.jpg


HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair123021b.jpg


HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair123021c.jpg

what the heck is wood fired coffee?

What is wood fired coffee?
Like a gas roaster, the wood flame has no direct avenue to the beans. Fans pull the hot air off the fire and fling it over the beans in the drum. The wood, being in essentially an oven, burns super hot and fast and therefore clean. There's no smoke. The choice of wood helps. I did not know this.

Sorry I don't drink coffee so am baffled by the seemingly endless ways to make it.

Sorry I don't drink coffee so am baffled by the seemingly endless ways to make it.

It's great coffee. It's a franchise out of Texas. They have a coffee shop in Yukon and one in Edmond. I am excited they are building here, I know the owners. They live close. It will be a great addition.

I had made an educated guess that 7-11 would be taking the SE corner of NW 50th & May.

Yesterday I heard it will likely be a Domino C-store.

They are locally owned and are similar to OnCue in that some locations have a drive-thru and they usually feature a grill that serves pizza and fried chicken as well as other items.

They are based in Clinton and have a number of locations in Western Oklahoma. The nearest one to OKC is in Yukon (NW 10th & Garth Brooks).


https://dominocstores.com/

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfairdomino2.jpg

Also locations in Blanchard, Tuttle, Newcastle, Chickasha, and even over near Shawnee.

I suppose this means yet another convenience store chain is expanding in the OKC market.

Good grief... For the longest time we only had the world's crappiest 7-11's and now these large-scale stores are everywhere and it seems every day there is news of another one.

The margins must be very high for these operators because they are spending millions and millions.

Even though internal combustion engines will be around for quite a while, it's not hard to imagine a drastic reduction in the next few decades. I suppose many of these places can convert to at least some electric chargers but you'd think that future c-stores will be more lounge-like since refueling is going to take more than a minute or two in almost any scenario.

You have to believe these places are going to look very different in the future that is rapidly approaching.

I've utilized the Domino in Woodward many times out there and it's pretty nice. About on par with OnCue, but not all their stores are alike.

I hope they have a drive thru at this location. I've gotten spoiled by the few drive-thru On-Cues around town,

^^^ well given the picture Pete provided it looks like they will.

^^^ well given the picture Pete provided it looks like they will.

I couldn't tell if that was just a sample photo or if it was the actual type that would be built.

I couldn't tell if that was just a sample photo or if it was the actual type that would be built.

It is just a sample photo.

They have not filed specific plans for Mayfair.

I couldn't tell if that was just a sample photo or if it was the actual type that would be built.
I bet they put a drive through. Most modern buildings have drive thru. Not sure why they wouldn’t. :p

I suppose this means yet another convenience store chain is expanding in the OKC market.

Good grief... For the longest time we only had the world's crappiest 7-11's and now these large-scale stores are everywhere and it seems every day there is news of another one.

The margins must be very high for these operators because they are spending millions and millions.

Even though internal combustion engines will be around for quite a while, it's not hard to imagine a drastic reduction in the next few decades. I suppose many of these places can convert to at least some electric chargers but you'd think that future c-stores will be more lounge-like since refueling is going to take more than a minute or two in almost any scenario.

You have to believe these places are going to look very different in the future that is rapidly approaching.
Not 100% certain of this, but I’ve heard more than once that C-stores make very little profit from gas sales due to extremely low margins and competition-driven pricing, and that they make most of their profit from selling drinks, snacks and other items to people who visit the inside.

That said, once a significant number of drivers have switched to electric these stores obviously ARE going to have to find other ways to induce folks to stop and come inside.

I bet they put a drive through. Most modern buildings have drive thru. Not sure why they wouldn’t. :p

Impulse purchases would be one reason. If those sales make up a significant amount of sales I could see a reluctance to install and staff them. It increases man hours for staff to fill soda cups and other order picking.

All these places must be doing a healthy business from their food grills because they are now included in almost all the new stores from all the different operators. Casey's is spending a fortune to add them to the old Circle K's and OnCue has actually gone back to newish stores and added hot food.

Not sure how they are finding the staff given the difficulties of every other fast food and sit-down restaurant.

Convenience stores are fascinating because it's the one place where almost every American spends money at least once a week. Very curious how they will evolve with the trend toward electric vehicles, although I'm sure Oklahoma will see less penetration than most states due to the heavy influence of the local fossil fuel industry.

In the last photo, the tailor and barber will be moving to the middle two spaces; Summer Moon will be on the left (east) and for the remainder (covered patio on the west end) they are hoping to find a restaurant.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair010222a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair010222b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair010222c.jpg

Seeing the bare insides of those shells shows how much money was, quite frankly, wasted on dead air. At the end of the day, it's a plain rectangle brick strip mall with some crap slapped on the front to make it look fancier (like any stripmall). But dang did they create a lot of dead weight with the old design. It was harder to fully appreciate how much dead space there was until you see it opened up. Fake dormers galore! And the one on the end could rival some small church bell towers! lol.

The older structure there on the SW corner (metal pref-ab shell) surprises me that it will stay and not be dozed. Yeah, the shell is in good shape and there really isn't a good reason to toss it. But the structure itself seems, well just 1960's design weird. You can get a lot of contiguous space out of those structures so it could actually serve as a pretty good small business office. But those weird ceiling heights are just that. So i'm hoping that whatever goes in there, totally owns the retro feel....think the Vegas sign. Like so many of the other businesses that have taken over the old lots, it will have absolutely zero aesthetic connection to the rest of MayFair, but it looks like they gave up on that a long time ago anyway.

Seeing the bare insides of those shells shows how much money was, quite frankly, wasted on dead air. At the end of the day, it's a plain rectangle brick strip mall with some crap slapped on the front to make it look fancier (like any stripmall). But dang did they create a lot of dead weight with the old design. It was harder to fully appreciate how much dead space there was until you see it opened up. Fake dormers galore! And the one on the end could rival some small church bell towers! lol.

The older structure there on the SW corner (metal pref-ab shell) surprises me that it will stay and not be dozed. Yeah, the shell is in good shape and there really isn't a good reason to toss it. But the structure itself seems, well just 1960's design weird. You can get a lot of contiguous space out of those structures so it could actually serve as a pretty good small business office. But those weird ceiling heights are just that. So i'm hoping that whatever goes in there, totally owns the retro feel....think the Vegas sign. Like so many of the other businesses that have taken over the old lots, it will have absolutely zero aesthetic connection to the rest of MayFair, but it looks like they gave up on that a long time ago anyway.

Mayfair's whole aesthetic was destroyed when part of it was dozed and Aldi was built, and there won't be a unifying aesthetic going forward, so it'll just be a bunch of shops rather than a true shopping center.

Some renderings of Summer Moon:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/summermoon1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/summermoon2.jpg

Very Nice!

It's not quite owning the retro, but i love that they have lights in there that give a nod to it. Very nice indeed.

Darn those annoying poles though, right? Dang columns are always in the least helpful location.....

It's not quite owning the retro, but i love that they have lights in there that give a nod to it. Very nice indeed.

Darn those annoying poles though, right? Dang columns are always in the least helpful location.....

Since that's all new construction inside, wonder why they don't make the beams larger so they wouldn't have to use poles?

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair011322c.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair011322d.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair011322e.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair011322f.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair011322g.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair011322a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair011322b.jpg

My understanding is they will shift the tailor and barbershop from the weird section that is attached to the old gas station sometime in March. They will go next to Summer Moon, which will open about the same time.

The UPS Store is moving to a new space just north of Michaels.

Once all that happens, then demo the northern section of the center. I'm pretty sure it will be for Domino C-store, but that hasn't been confirmed.

I have an odd question. Is the small, dilapidated parking area at NW 50th & Steanson (east of the UPS Store) part of Mayfair Shopping Center redevelopment project?

Really disappointed there isn't a proper sidewalk with trees along throughout this development (especially the east side). Now would have be the time to fix that and beatify it. It's scary and intimidating to walk on that sidewalk.

I have an odd question. Is the small, dilapidated parking area at NW 50th & Steanson (east of the UPS Store) part of Mayfair Shopping Center redevelopment project?

Yes. Same owners.

This is from 1969. I'm not sure any sort of building was ever on that site.

Very similar to the odd little parking area south of the center on the east side of May.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/mayfair1969.jpg

Those odd little parking areas are remnants from the original plat. The property was platted with small frontage roads and medians but they were never developed that I can tell. Aldi had to get a variance from the City of Oklahoma City to redevelop the property because the parking lot is built over the "frontage road" and technically over public right-of-way. Kind of a weird deal.

^

Very interesting.

To the south on the east side of May, there are medians between May and the N/S side street (similar to a frontage road) which is called Mayfair Drive. Runs from 47th to 43rd.

And on both sides of May, there are very big setbacks on both sides all the way south to 23rd and north into the Village.

I wonder if May once was designated as a state highway?

As it would happen... The east side of May Avenue was platted in 1947, and the west side in 1949. Maps from 1952 shows May Avenue being a Route 66 Bypass route and also being S.H. 74.

Really disappointed there isn't a proper sidewalk with trees along throughout this development (especially the east side). Now would have be the time to fix that and beatify it. It's scary and intimidating to walk on that sidewalk.
Would take a miracle.

Would take a miracle.
Which ward is this in? Why couldn’t this get a variance? I understand there are parking minimums and I generally don’t have much of an issue with those but there’s also variances that can be given.

Which ward is this in? Why couldn’t this get a variance? I understand there are parking minimums and I generally don’t have much of an issue with those but there’s also variances that can be given.
I was making a grammar joke about beatifying that area. :tongue: