View Full Version : The Nova



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Pete
05-19-2021, 06:39 AM
Project will bring living units, a grocer and greenhouse space to Auto Alley (https://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=731-New-development-coming-to-Automobile-Alley)

An ambitious remodel of a historic former Chevrolet building will be combined with a new addition to bring retail, restaurant, living units and an urban greenhouse to Automobile Alley, directly west of the another remodel that houses The Parlor food hall and office space.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova2.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova3.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova4.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova5.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova9.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova6.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova8.jpg


Press release:

*************

The Nova Project Information

Design Team:
Client: Elevated Railway Development, LLC
Architect: Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Historic Consultant : Rosin Preservation
Structural Engineer: Wallace Engineering
Civil Engineer: Johnson & Associates Inc
MEP Engineer: HP Engineering, Inc
General Contractor: CORD Construction Services, LLC

Timeline:
Anticipated Construction Completion Q4 2022

Project Information:
The Nova is a mixed use development in Automobile Alley located directly adjacent to the BNSF railroad tracks with frontages on NW 6th and NW 7th. The 66,000 sqft scheme will restore the historic Chevrolet Motor Company Building and adjacent structure to provide spacious downtown loft apartments, secure parking, retail space and a rooftop urban greenhouse.

The south buildings are comprised of 2 structures. The Chevrolet Motor Company Building, located at 1 NW 6th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was built in 1926. The 3 story industrial brick building is a contributing resource to the Automobile Alley Historic District. Chevrolet occupied this building until 1954. The team is working with SHPO/NPS to obtain Historic Tax Credits to bring life back to this historically significant building.

The ground floor of the south building is approximately 19,000 sf of ‘white boxed’ future retail that is slated to become grocery, bar and bodega, while 20 generous for lease apartments are built on levels 02 and 03. Level 02 west facing apartments have generous walk out balconies with views downtown.

While the north building is outside the historic boundaries, it is still essential to the success of the development. New 2 story retail space will be built to activate NE 7th street while the balance of the existing ground floor will be utilized for parking. Atop the existing north building will be a 10,000sf urban greenhouse that will grow produce for distribution to local markets and restaurants.

Linking the north and south buildings is a hardworking external core which solves access and fire egress for both buildings and acts as front door for the apartments.

The development is enhanced with landscaping and improved parking surfaces to support the future retail.

Architectural Quotes:
Quotes from Wade Scaramucci, Director, AHMM Architects
“We see this project as a continuation of our previous work in Automobile Alley, stitching together both new and old buildings - as well as carefully designed outdoors spaces – to create meaningful places to live, work and play.”

“We have worked closely with the State Historic Preservation Office to develop a strategy to rehabilitate the historic building while still creating a modern, intentional and meaningful place for the citizens of Oklahoma City.”

“This project is an exciting example of real mixed use – it is comprised of housing, retail, office as well as the Downtowns first urban agricultural farm”.

Development Quotes:
“We are excited to share what we have been working on the last year and a half. Bringing the first full-service grocery concept to the urban core of OKC and integrating that with beautiful residences and an urban farm has been a daunting task. Fortunately, our team is as good as it gets, full of professionals who understand the scope of what we are trying to do, the reasons behind it, and who have the expertise to help us pull it off. The support of the Alliance and the Chamber has been incredible and immensely helpful in bringing this project together. AHMM, indispensable as always.” - Brandon Lodge, owner and development partner

“We cannot wait to share more about the plans for our grocery concept in the coming months. The historic Chevrolet building provides the perfect backdrop to a unique shopping experience. We have partnered with Urban Agrarian - in a full grocery market concept we’re calling Urban Agrarian: a Bar, Eatery, and Bodega - to significantly expand their current operation, footprint, and product offering. I met Matt and Chelsey years ago and was instantly drawn to their mission and passion. Doing this project with them is just the beginning.” - Jerry Roca, owner and development partner

“The partnership with Urban Agrarian is a critical piece of what we are trying to accomplish and what we are trying to say through our projects: namely, that our national food system is broken and the time to fix it is now. We are not food secure. We are vulnerable, and in large part our vulnerability lies in the centralization of our food production and distribution. Covid shined a spotlight on a problem that’s been lurking in the shadows for decades. Urban Agrarian and their mission to support and be a distribution hub for local farmers and producers is the exact business model to help us decentralize and close the loop in order to become more food secure community by community.” - Brandon Lodge, owner and development partner

“Our rooftop farm will be productive and will partly supply of the produce sold in all Urban Agrarian locations, among other outlets. It will be profitable. We believe urban farming is a critical part of the multi-faceted solution to our national food problem and we believe if it cannot be done profitably then it is not a viable solution. But it can also be such fun and very experiential.” - Patrick Myers, owner and development partner

“We think our glowing glass box will be beautiful at night. We will have a two-story bar that will be contained within the greenhouse structure - separate climates but with the rooftop farm and the city skyline beyond as the backdrop. We want to reconnect people to their food, reconnect urban to rural, cause people to wonder where their food comes from and ask why they should care - and we think we can have a lot of fun doing that.” - Patrick Myers, owner and development partner

“A neighborhood market selling locally sourced products is one of my favorite memories of my childhood in Mexico. It is so important to know where our food comes from and to support the people who grow it for us. It is healthy for the body and good for the soul. I want to bring that to OKC. We were meant to be connected to, not removed from, nature. That connection to the land and people who feed us offers real wisdom we often miss out on in this culture.” - Jerry Roca, owner and development partner
“Our industrial lofts will be a different product offering than what is currently available in the downtown market. We’ll be sharing more details in the coming months, but they will feature 12’ foot ceilings, large industrial windows, separate walk-in showers and bathtubs, walk-in closets, and chef-worthy kitchens - of course these will be directly above what we think is a wonderfully unique amenity, Urban Agrarian - a Bar, Eatery, and Bodega.” - Brandon Lodge, owner and development partner

Jake
05-19-2021, 06:43 AM
Very cool!

catcherinthewry
05-19-2021, 06:56 AM
Looks like a great addition to AA.

Anonymous.
05-19-2021, 07:12 AM
PLEASE let this happen!

City needs to P180 these streets so badly. They are absolutely awful.

king183
05-19-2021, 07:38 AM
Looks like yet another AHMM home run. I’d love if they had 10 of these projects going on simultaneously in OKC.

Does this mean Urban Agrarian would be moving out of the farmer’s market?

David
05-19-2021, 08:20 AM
AHMM with another win. Really nice to see their work in OKC continuing.

DoctorTaco
05-19-2021, 08:44 AM
This is so rad.

Pete
05-19-2021, 09:00 AM
One of the main developers on this project, Brandon Lodge, is also behind 8th Street Marketplace (home to Prairie Ales) and the Edmond Icehouse/Creamery project.

Brandon is quickly becoming a force for quality adaptive re-use and does things the right way.

Pete
05-19-2021, 09:25 AM
One more thing...

In talking to various players involved in development deals, I'm told there are a lot of projects that are just entering the pipeline.

There are tons of things brewing and you should start to see more announcements/news in the near future.

BoulderSooner
05-19-2021, 09:26 AM
One more thing...

In talking to various players involved in development deals, I'm told there are a lot of projects that are just entering the pipeline.

There are tons of things brewing and you should start to see more announcements/news in the near future.

this is really exciting for OKC

Pete
05-19-2021, 09:32 AM
I expect to see lots of mid- and smaller-sized projects this year.

The area is presently pretty over-built with office space and we should see more projects like this one that doesn't have offices at its core.

It's a good thing that the bigger projects already announced or underway (FNC, Boulevard Place, 700 West, Alley's End, Lincoln Plaza, Page Woodson, Wheeler) do not have much/any office space.

Midtowner
05-19-2021, 09:35 AM
It's kind of funny that the Chevrolet Building is being called the "Nova," which was a model which fared very poorly in sales in Spanish speaking countries because the name translates loosely into "Doesn't go"--probably a bad name for a car.

catch22
05-19-2021, 09:57 AM
Wow! Impressive!

OKC is so lucky to have AHHM.

catcherinthewry
05-19-2021, 10:26 AM
It's kind of funny that the Chevrolet Building is being called the "Nova," which was a model which fared very poorly in sales in Spanish speaking countries because the name translates loosely into "Doesn't go"--probably a bad name for a car.

There is an urban legend that the Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because "Nova" means "doesn't go". This isn't true—"nova" in Spanish has the same celestial meaning that it does in English. While "no va" does mean "won't go", few Spanish speakers would interpret "Nova" as "no va"—as Snopes.com points out, the difference is a bit like saying "Notable" would be a poor name for a dinette set as it could be read as "no table". In fact, the Nova sold well in several Latin American countries.

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/chevrolet-nova-history-generations-specifications-photos/

David
05-19-2021, 10:33 AM
One more thing...

In talking to various players involved in development deals, I'm told there are a lot of projects that are just entering the pipeline.

There are tons of things brewing and you should start to see more announcements/news in the near future.

Very interesting if we're going to get through the pandemic associated economic downturn and still have projects like this happening in fairly short order, instead of the years of recovery that we got with the 2008 recession.

Midtowner
05-19-2021, 10:35 AM
There is an urban legend that the Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because "Nova" means "doesn't go". This isn't true—"nova" in Spanish has the same celestial meaning that it does in English. While "no va" does mean "won't go", few Spanish speakers would interpret "Nova" as "no va"—as Snopes.com points out, the difference is a bit like saying "Notable" would be a poor name for a dinette set as it could be read as "no table". In fact, the Nova sold well in several Latin American countries.

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/chevrolet-nova-history-generations-specifications-photos/

Interesting take, considering I had a textbook in IIRC, a college marketing class which presented this as a case study for ensuring marketing campaigns are compatible with the culture you're marketing them to.

I'm definitely not discounting the work done at Snopes. But to the good PhDs who wrote that marketing textbook, I want a refund.

catcherinthewry
05-19-2021, 10:37 AM
Interesting take, considering I had a textbook in IIRC, a college marketing class which presented this as a case study for ensuring marketing campaigns are compatible with the culture you're marketing them to.

I'm definitely not discounting the work done at Snopes. But to the good PhDs who wrote that marketing textbook, I want a refund.

Interesting, that's no table.

king183
05-19-2021, 11:08 AM
One more thing...

In talking to various players involved in development deals, I'm told there are a lot of projects that are just entering the pipeline.

There are tons of things brewing and you should start to see more announcements/news in the near future.

I had a conversation a couple weeks ago with a well-known commercial real estate broker in OKC and they mentioned that they are seeing a ton of demand from potential non-office tenants for spaces that don't yet exist in the midtown area. They predicted a lot of new projects announced this year.

ChrisHayes
05-19-2021, 12:22 PM
I had a conversation a couple weeks ago with a well-known commercial real estate broker in OKC and they mentioned that they are seeing a ton of demand from potential non-office tenants for spaces that don't yet exist in the midtown area. They predicted a lot of new projects announced this year.

Does he have anything to say about the rest, or other parts of the city?

soonerguru
05-19-2021, 02:36 PM
What an incredible concept! As a former Nova driver, I'm especially thrilled (jk).

soonerguru
05-19-2021, 02:38 PM
Interesting take, considering I had a textbook in IIRC, a college marketing class which presented this as a case study for ensuring marketing campaigns are compatible with the culture you're marketing them to.

I'm definitely not discounting the work done at Snopes. But to the good PhDs who wrote that marketing textbook, I want a refund.

I heard this story repeated to me ad nauseum as well. Urban legends are powerful.

HangryHippo
05-19-2021, 08:35 PM
PLEASE let this happen!

City needs to P180 these streets so badly. They are absolutely awful.
This. This street in particular SUCKS.

dankrutka
05-19-2021, 08:53 PM
I'd love to see more residential on from 6th to 10th between Oklahoma and Broadway so the area has more consistent activity.

Plutonic Panda
08-25-2021, 01:41 PM
Pete, is this moving forward? This project is really cool.

Pete
08-25-2021, 01:58 PM
Yes, it's going to happen.

Plutonic Panda
08-25-2021, 02:05 PM
Awesome!!

Pete
08-26-2021, 08:35 AM
The developer just told me that they hope to start construction before the end of the year.

aDark
01-13-2022, 07:33 AM
The developer just told me that they hope to start construction before the end of the year.

Any update on this project?

AlvarezK
01-27-2022, 01:40 PM
Any updates from this development Pete?

Pete
01-27-2022, 01:47 PM
Any updates from this development Pete?

Developer told me they should be starting soon.

I believe they are trying to wrap up the Edmond Icehouse project.

Laramie
01-27-2022, 03:02 PM
PLEASE let this happen!

City needs to P180 these streets so badly. They are absolutely awful.

^ Definitely. Don't wait until they finish the project and then start to address the street concerns.

Pete
08-16-2022, 08:13 AM
City set to award this project $765,000 in TIF.

soonerguru
08-17-2022, 07:21 PM
City set to award this project $765,000 in TIF.

Great! So Nova is not a "no go."

BridgeBurner
09-15-2022, 09:24 AM
https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-city-grocery-store-downtown/41197880
KOCO article about Nova

goldenHurricane22
03-14-2023, 10:39 PM
Anyone hear any updates to this project? Sounds like things are still at the "behind the scenes" development phase since TIF approval, but I am curious if there are any rumors to a start date.

Pete
03-15-2023, 06:56 AM
^

I spoke to them about a month ago and was told they are working through new market tax credits and should start in March or April.

goldenHurricane22
06-17-2023, 11:10 AM
Curious if there have been any updates on this project? Thank you in advance.

Pete
06-17-2023, 12:02 PM
Curious if there have been any updates on this project? Thank you in advance.

I've spoken to the developer several times.

They are in the process of ironing out some issues and hope to be starting work soon.

Southsider2
06-17-2023, 01:52 PM
They have a website up.

https://thenovaokc.com/

HangryHippo
09-01-2023, 02:07 PM
I think I drove by this project earlier today and noticed it has a fence around it and lots of heavy equipment on site, but I couldn’t tell if it was just for roadwork or if the project is beginning. They did have westbound 6th St. closed, so I hope that doesn’t impact the Parlor too much. I think most of their business enters from 7th though.

Pete
09-04-2023, 07:01 AM
Talked to the developer and he said the work is a storm sewer project by the City. It has to be done before the larger project can start, which should be soon.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova090323a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova090323b.jpg

mgharfeh
09-05-2023, 05:52 AM
Are the plans for the greenhouse on top still the same?

Pete
09-05-2023, 06:37 AM
Are the plans for the greenhouse on top still the same?

Yes.

mgharfeh
09-05-2023, 09:19 AM
hope they still do that bar in the greenhouse too. that was one of the coolest parts

Pete
09-07-2023, 05:01 AM
hope they still do that bar in the greenhouse too. that was one of the coolest parts

I know they are doing some modifications, so not sure what parts are staying.

Tyson
03-19-2024, 12:42 PM
They finished the storm sewer project a long time ago. Does this seem to be moving forward anytime soon?

Pete
03-19-2024, 12:44 PM
They finished the storm sewer project a long time ago. Does this seem to be moving forward anytime soon?

I learned yesterday that the Pivot Project has taken over and they are working through new plans.

The
03-19-2024, 01:03 PM
Bummer. But Pivot Project has done some good work.

dtnatt
03-19-2024, 02:14 PM
The icehouse project in Edmond seems like a failure really. There aren't many things open. Since these were the same developers I can see then not continuing.

Pete
03-19-2024, 02:20 PM
The icehouse project in Edmond seems like a failure really. There aren't many things open. Since these were the same developers I can see then not continuing.

??

It's almost completely full: American Solera Brewery and Taproom; The Fried Taco; Woodward Pizza and The Creamery is set to open soon.

Jake
03-19-2024, 02:22 PM
??

It's almost completely full: American Solera Brewery and Taproom; The Fried Taco; Woodward Pizza and The Creamery is set to open soon.

Was going to say the same thing. Not aware of any vacancies the times I've been. Seems to be in a good location too.

Pete
03-19-2024, 02:57 PM
^

There is one vacancy but not sure if the bakery is still planning to go in there.

Oski
03-19-2024, 03:31 PM
It's full but does it attract people? I haven't checked it for awhile, last time I went, it looked pretty dead.

dtnatt
03-20-2024, 01:33 PM
Maybe it was over a year ago I went and it wasn't full. I wish them the best, but I was very hopeful, and it just didn't seen as impressive as I thought it would be. I haven't been back but maybe I will give it another shot.

WhoRepsTheLurker
03-20-2024, 05:39 PM
It's full but does it attract people? I haven't checked it for awhile, last time I went, it looked pretty dead.

Apparently, you have never been there on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon on a day with nice weather. Stop by there this weekend or any weekend where it isn't rainy.

Pete
07-30-2024, 07:12 AM
This project is now out for construction bids and it's changed quite a bit since the Pivot Project took it over.

Gone is the grocery, brewery, and greenhouse.

Now, the south (Stow) building will be offices on the ground level and two levels of apartments above. The north building will be covered parking with 6 pickleball courts on top. There will be a plaza between the two buildings.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova090323a.jpg

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova072524a.jpg

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova072524b.jpg

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HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/nova072524k.jpg

Tyson
07-30-2024, 07:20 AM
The whole city is about to become one giant pickleball court.

Tyson
07-30-2024, 07:24 AM
Really is a bummer that they got rid of the coolest and most unique parts of the original plans. I'll take anything that makes that building look nicer and cleaner though. The area definitely needs it.

Anonymous.
07-30-2024, 08:08 AM
Does the TIF award get reviewed again since the entire thing is changed?

LocoAko
07-30-2024, 08:15 AM
Losing the proposed downtown grocery store for yet more pickleball courts is a real disappointment.