Downtown Edmond to get apartments, town homes

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record May 18, 2017

EDMOND – Nearly 100 apartment units are planned for Edmond’s downtown.

In the past, the city has turned down apartment proposals. Last month, residents voted against a rezoning proposal that would allow high-end multifamily units in an expansion at Spring Creek Plaza.

Edmond Economic Development Authority Executive Director Janet Yowell said the downtown units are smaller in scale and closer to the downtown business core. The Spring Creek Plaza project came with 325 luxury apartments.

Edmond-based The Grant Group developers Casey Massegee and Chris Anderson are constructing 17 apartment units and 14 town homes near Stephenson Park. The apartment building, called Park 17, measures 16,000 square feet and will have 5,000 square feet of first-floor retail. The project is southwest of Stephenson Park at E. Fifth Street and S. Littler Avenue, near Hideaway Pizza.

The town homes, called the Towns at Stephenson Park, will be at E. Third Street and S. Littler Avenue.

Construction will start on both projects in the next quarter. It will take nine months to complete the two projects.

The Grant Group owns all the land around Stephenson Park, so more buildings are planned, he said.

“We have a clear vision of what we want it to be,” he said.

The city has several upgrades planned for the park. Being near the park means the developers don’t have to worry about planning green space with their projects.

Massegee said the apartments and town homes will be higher-end. Nearby restaurants Café 501 and The Martini Lounge are very successful, so more mixed-use could do well in the area, he said.

At N. Jackson Street and E. Campbell Street, two three-story apartment buildings are being reviewed, but have not gone through the city’s approval process. The two buildings will have a combined 66 units, each with first-floor retail space.

When The Grant Group finishes its Littler Street projects, it will figure out its final design for the Fifth and Broadway site. Massegee said he could not confirm that Tucker’s Onion Burgers would be a first-floor tenant.

“We have a building design with additional work that needs to happen,” he said. “The northeast corner is what’s being called a Tucker’s site by many people.”

Yowell said several land parcels are changing hands in and near downtown Edmond. She doesn’t expect that to slow down anytime soon.

“The urban resurgence is happening,” she said. “We’ve seen a jump in people buying property. The university (of Central Oklahoma) drives some of this, but a lot of this multifamily residential may not be targeted to the students. It could be higher-end, and we don’t have that option for the most part.”