https://relaxparkokc.com/

Have been watching this being developed. Is there already a thread for this? Please delete if already exists. Looks like it’s getting close to opening. Don’t have any other information besides driving by.

It's a cannabis place now.

The "Wana Deck" looks to be sponsored by Wana which markets a bunch of cannabis-infused products.

I'll get down there with my drone so we can better see how this is unfolding.

Pete is this the place with the stage that I texted you about a couple weeks ago? Pretty sure it is...

Pete is this the place with the stage that I texted you about a couple weeks ago? Pretty sure it is...

Yes.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/03/26/okc-farmers-market-district-opens-new-venue-with-covid-precautions/4743985001/

Jason Thomas, the guy that was behind the failed Urban Farmhouse, is the guy backing this project.

I have learned that the City of OKC has closed Relax Park.

Evidently, the proper permits were never filed.

That would explain why I never saw any sort of permits even while an elaborate construction project was ongoing for some time.

Probably too busy "relaxing" to file any permits.

Permits are important, should have focused on not paying property tax for years after being build if they wanted to get away with something.

Relax Park is operated by Jason and Cherami Thomas who previously owned Urban Farmhouse before it collapsed in rather spectacular fashion, with lawsuits still pending.

While running UF, the Thomases received large loans from Aaron Johnson who was thrown out of Farmers Bank (https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45208) after he was instrumental in opening a Midtown branch of what had always been a small bank owned by his family in Carnegie. Johnson has since been banned from working for another financial institution by the FDIC. Millions of dollars in loans were written off by the Smith Brothers (Corsair Cattle Co. real estate speculators in Midtown) after they took over the bank and injected a ton of money to save it. They sued Johnson for allegedly engaging in fraud to induce them into investing in the bank, not disclosing many bad loans and other negative factors.

Hard to read the notice posted on the Relax Park door by the city, but it says: "Continued operations and activities are not permitted without proper inspection and code compliance." It's dated 7-26-21.


Before Relax Park opened I had driven by there several times and saw the extensive construction, but when I researched permits all I could find was the small dispensary. It made no sense to me at the time. Then, after the Oklahoman ran a big splashy story that failed to mention that this was largely a marijuana-based business, I was contacted by a PR firm on behalf of Relax Park wanting me to run a similar article. I politely declined because the whole thing seemed iffy to me. And now here we are.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark080821a.jpg


HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark080821b.jpg


HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/urbanfarmhouse080821a.jpg

BTW, Relax Park has not posted anything about being closed for two weeks on their website or very active social media accounts. Even though they had promoted events that were canceled without any sort of notice.

Privately, the operators are telling people their landlord embezzled over $1 million from them.

This whole thing is bizarre. Thanks for the truthful reporting Pete!

BTW, Relax Park has not posted anything about being closed for two weeks on their website or very active social media accounts. Even though they had promoted events that were canceled without any sort of notice.

Privately, the operators are telling people their landlord embezzled over $1 million from them.


The landlord did not embezzle anything. It looks like Jason Thomas was embezzling from his partners the whole time. A LOT of people lost money on this because he (allegedly) was lying the whole time.

Relax Park remains closed; it's been two months. The closure mandate by the city is still posted on the entrance.

The investors have filed a lawsuit against Jason Thomas claiming embezzlement and fraud. They are trying to gain control of the property so they can reopen.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark082121a.jpg

All I can see in that picture is the missing top window in Devon

Relax Park remains closed; it's been two months. The closure mandate by the city is still posted on the entrance.

The investors have filed a lawsuit against Jason Thomas claiming embezzlement and fraud. They are trying to gain control of the property so they can reopen.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark082121a.jpg

He was also arrested for a felony domestic assault or assault and battery with a deadly weapon back in January.

Haha man, I would be 110% fine if this went under completely new ownership- this place was a hellscape.

Relax Park closed by the city; lawsuits fly (https://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=748-Relax-Park-closed-by-the-city-lawsuits-fly)

Relax Park, a 3.6-acre entertainment venue and cannabis dispensary near downtown, was shuttered July 26th by the City of Oklahoma City due to lack of proper building permits and inspections and remains closed as the facility's operator and investors sue and countersue one another.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark082121b.jpg


The operator, Jason Thomas, was featured in a 3/26/21 Oklahoman article titled "Staging a Comeback" where he was portrayed as being the victim of promised bank funding that never materialized as he ran the now-defunct Urban Farmhouse furniture store.

Thomas defaulted on a multi-million loan by Farmer's Bank and Urban Farmhouse soon collapsed leaving a large amount of debt; a new investment group assumed the existing loans and obligations but later claimed the inventory used as collateral had been vastly overstated. The new owners also told the Oklahoman that Thomas had taken money from hundreds of customers while running Urban Farmhouse without completing their custom orders. Ultimately, Urban Farmhouse closed for good and Aaron Johnson, who had loaned the money to Thomas, was ousted from Farmer's Bank (https://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=629-OKC-bank-facing-FDIC-and-legal-scrutiny-high-profile-banker-ousted) and banned from banking by the FDIC due to a long list of issues.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ajthomas.jpg
From left: former Farmer's banker Aaron Johnson, Cherami Thomas, Jason Thomas


For Relax Park -- coincidentally located directly south of the old Urban Farmhouse buildings at 5th and S. Western -- court documents show Thomas sold 83% of the ownership to a group of investors who claim, among several other accusations, that Thomas took their money but never filed the proper building permits and that bills and employees were unpaid.

The lawsuit was filed against Thomas and his wife Cherami after the city posted a 'cease and desist' order on the door of Relax Park stating, "Continued operations and activities are not permitted without proper inspection and code compliance."

Relax Park featured two stages in a large outdoor setting, the dispensary, and a large cannabis-friendly bar.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark080821a.jpg
Cease and desist order posted at Relax Park


Through court documents, Thomas denies the claims of embezzlement and is counter-suing the investment group.

The lawsuits between the investors and Thomas are ongoing as the facility remains shuttered.


Note: OKCTalk was aware of the large-scale construction at Relax Park at 500 S. Western in early 2021 but could not locate building permits that are required for such work and thus chose not to cover the business, even after being approached by a public relations firm hired by Relax Park.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark1.jpg

Relax Park closed by the city; lawsuits fly (https://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=748-Relax-Park-closed-by-the-city-lawsuits-fly)

Relax Park, a 3.6-acre entertainment venue and cannabis dispensary near downtown, was shuttered July 26th by the City of Oklahoma City due to lack of proper building permits and inspections and remains closed as the facility's operator and investors sue and countersue one another.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark082121b.jpg


The operator, Jason Thomas, was featured in a 3/26/21 Oklahoman article titled "Staging a Comeback" where he was portrayed as being the victim of promised bank funding that never materialized as he ran the now-defunct Urban Farmhouse furniture store.

Thomas defaulted on a multi-million loan by Farmer's Bank and Urban Farmhouse soon collapsed leaving a large amount of debt; a new investment group assumed the existing loans and obligations but later claimed the inventory used as collateral had been vastly overstated. The new owners also told the Oklahoman that Thomas had taken money from hundreds of customers while running Urban Farmhouse without completing their custom orders. Ultimately, Urban Farmhouse closed for good and Aaron Johnson, who had loaned the money to Thomas, was ousted from Farmer's Bank (https://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=629-OKC-bank-facing-FDIC-and-legal-scrutiny-high-profile-banker-ousted) and banned from banking by the FDIC due to a long list of issues.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ajthomas.jpg
From left: former Farmer's banker Aaron Johnson, Cherami Thomas, Jason Thomas


For Relax Park -- coincidentally located directly south of the old Urban Farmhouse buildings at 5th and S. Western -- court documents show Thomas sold 83% of the ownership to a group of investors who claim, among several other accusations, that Thomas took their money but never filed the proper building permits and that bills and employees were unpaid.

The lawsuit was filed against Thomas and his wife Cherami after the city posted a 'cease and desist' order on the door of Relax Park stating, "Continued operations and activities are not permitted without proper inspection and code compliance."

When it opened in April, Relax Park featured a large performance stage with capacity for 2,000, the dispensary, and a cannabis-friendly bar with overhead doors.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark080821a.jpg
Cease and desist order posted at Relax Park


Through court documents, Thomas denies the claims of embezzlement and is counter-suing the investment group.

The lawsuits between the investors and Thomas are ongoing as the facility remains shuttered.


Note: OKCTalk was aware of the large-scale construction at Relax Park at 500 S. Western in early 2021 but could not locate building permits that are required for such work and thus chose not to cover the business, even after being approached by a public relations firm hired by Relax Park.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark1.jpg

Too much relaxing apparently.

Hard to relax when you’re being served with voluminous lawsuits.

Publishing that article has led to a bunch of people approaching me with crazy stories surrounding this place and the former operator.

I'm sure his PR firm will soon get the Oklahoman to run another cloying 'comeback' story.

Publishing that article has led to a bunch of people approaching me with crazy stories surrounding this place and the former operator.

I'm sure his PR firm will soon get the Oklahoman to run another cloying 'comeback' story.

I admit I had to Google the term 'cloying' but was giggling before I did, having some idea of what it meant. Just FYI, there isn't and never was a PR firm. At least...not one that got paid.

I admit I had to Google the term 'cloying' but was giggling before I did, having some idea of what it meant. Just FYI, there isn't and never was a PR firm. At least...not one that got paid.

I don't know about them being paid but I had several emails from a local PR firm employed by Relax Park requesting that I run a story on them.

^^^^^^^
A good friend of mine sold advertising to Urban Farmhouse and not being paid sounds very consistent with his experience.

Some of these folks appear poised for a lucrative career in televangelism.

I was working for a local commercial property owner near this property last spring and waved down by Jason Thomas. The representative from my client warned me to be very careful working for him. Guess I should be thankful I lost under $500.00

Relax Park filed building permit applications about the time the city shut them down but a good chunk of the fenced-in area with the large stage is owned by OK Dept. of Transportation. They also fenced in an area owned by ONG and tons of property within their fences is right of way (non vacated alleys, etc.)

Besides all that, they have one permanent unisex toilet. Code requires 68, and they can't be unisex. They were using a handful of port-a-potties which are not allowed.

Will be interesting to see if they can get this place up to code and obtain the necessary building permits and inspections.

In the image below, the red outline is what they own; green is the fenced-in area:

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark012922a.jpg

Can they just apply for special event permits every time they want to host a performance, then portable bathrooms would be okay to use?

It seems like they could maybe pull that off, but not be able to run a daily operation.

^

I doubt the city would keep issuing special use permits.

Even so, they have the issue of occupying property they don't own without the permission of the property owners, the city being one.

Almost a year after this place was closed, there has been no movement other than attempting to get access to some of their fenced-in property owned by others.

As I posted above, to bring the facility up to code, they would need to add at least 68 (!) toilets and a host of other improvements. And they still need to obtain access to property they don't own.

A ton of money was spent here without going through the permit process meaning the only way to reopen would be to make all the required improvements, which would be incredibly expensive. It's hard to see how this place will go forward and how the various investors will be made whole.

This place is already in ruins. I haven't seen any progress on the work required to get occupancy permits.

You can see they have removed the stages and all the rigging.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark082121a.jpg


HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark072422a.jpg


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HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/relaxpark072422d.jpg

Still would be a great place to build tiny home and temporarily house homeless veterans.

Looks like we are already 50% of the way to a community garden.