If the old mercy site isn't pointed to as a great grocery site, I'll take a mid-rise condo with retail.


Economic rebirth of the MidTown district is expected to follow end of construction
By Steve Lackmeyer
The Oklahoman

The construction of a roundabout in MidTown was painful, but property owners in the area credit the project for what they say is a full-fledged recovery for the north downtown Oklahoma City neighborhood.
A worker welds railing onto an outdoor, second story patio on what will the new home of Cafe do’ Brasil, which will open this month at NW 11 and Walker. The patio will be an outdoor club and musical venue - an expansion of the popular eatery that was previously at NW 18 and Classen Boulevard. Photo by Jim Beckel
Combined with the expansion of the area’s biggest employer - St. Anthony Hospital - property owners think MidTown will soon join the ranks of Bricktown, Deep Deuce and Western Avenue as an urban hot spot.

New restaurants, offices and shops are opening in buildings that were closed for years - and renovations are nearing completion in the district’s landmark Plaza Court Building.

This time last year, the closure of NW 10 and Walker to make way for the roundabout was being blamed for the closing of three businesses: the Grateful Bean Cafe, Big Ed’s and Dis Guys’ Costume Shop.

The space once leased to the costume shop is now home to Studio Architecture, and the Grateful Bean is expected to open next month.

Owners of the wedge-shaped Plaza Court building, closed for almost 20 years, hope to have tenants again by spring. Owner Scott Smith is looking for a mix of tenants ranging from lawyers and boutiques to restaurants. He thinks the area’s cleaned up image and roundabout will make MidTown the inner-city’s next hot spot for development.

“The roundabout has become a nice focus point, and it seems to have picked up traffic,” Smith said. “The area is looking so much better than it did before.”

For Jerry Stivers and his partners at Studio Architecture, it was a trip to MidTown’s Brown’s Bakery earlier this year that inspired them to make the neighborhood their new home.

“We were looking for an area that needs regeneration,” Stivers said. “I think that appeals to architects. Anytime you see a rebirth, you want to contribute to that.”

Stivers has high praise for the roundabout, saying it makes the area more pedestrian friendly. And that helps at lunch time, Stivers said, as the area’s offerings continue to increase.

Immigration attorney Lawrence Davis is another MidTown newcomer who likes that he can walk to and from his home in nearby Heritage Hills.

He and his wife, Ana, bought the 97-year-old Art Deco-style white building last year from Smith, who had already attracted a couple of law firms to the building after starting renovations the year before.

The property had been empty for a quarter century, Davis said, but is nearing full occupancy. The newest tenant will be his wife’s Cafe do’ Brazil, a popular eatery relocating from its old home at NW 18 and Classen Boulevard.

When the restaurant opens next month, it will feature a second floor club and outdoor patio with a view of the downtown skyline.

“I just like the area,” Davis said. “It’s a good area. And we like old buildings.”

Housing could also be on the way. JoeVan Bullard, executive director of the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority, confirmed he had inquiries about the former site of Mercy Hospital at NW 12 and Dewey. A previous effort to build apartments on the city-owned property fell through in 2002 after developer Nicholas Preftakes asked officials to acquire additional property for the project.

Bullard said his agency’s board will likely issue a request for development proposals within the next year or so - after construction starts on projects planned for the Arts District, Deep Deuce and Bricktown. Bullard said his agency will also want to reserve the property long enough to see if it might be identified by consultants as a site for a potential grocery store.

At the center of MidTown’s transformation is the continued expansion of St. Anthony Hospital.

Cynthia Archiniaco, vice president of planning and marketing for St. Anthony Hospital, said the $30 million reconstruction of the operating room wing will be complete by summer 2006. At that time work will begin on a $20 million replacement of the intensive care unit.

Physicians, meanwhile, are nearing completion of planning for a new doctors office building in the hospital east expansion area.

As part of its campus make-over, the hospital also recently removed an old motel, long considered a blight to the area by civic leaders, and the former Big Ed’s restaurant.

Other upcoming hospital-related additions include a credit union planned for NW 9 and Walker.

“We think things are really coming together,” Archiniaco said. “In another year, people won’t recognize the area.”