Crossroads Mall

[warreng88]

I was just talking to my wife about this last night. If this were the old Shepherd Mall and this exact thing were being proposed, it would make sense due to the location and connection with the asian community 1.5 miles east of there. but, as others have stated, it just doesn't make sense. I feel like this will do ok for six months after it opens, the newness will die out and the same thing will happen. Others have been saying and I think the same way that this would be a great location for the soccer stadium. It will never happen as they have their sights set around DT, but I wouldnt be opposed to it.

[SouthSide]

I think many people don't realize there is a growing Asian community south of the river. The city's consultants advised it would be better to keep everything in close proximity so I don't see Crossroads being a contender for the soccer stadium.

[Scott5114]

Which makes sense, because the public can't buy directly from grow facilities.

Also, because a grow facility is mostly full of immature plants that can't be consumed. Successful grows tend to sell off finished product to dispensaries fairly quickly, so there's not a whole lot of inventory sitting around that someone could get into. And grows have plenty of incentive to keep non-employees out of the facility (like any other business, you don't want random outsiders tampering with your product or taking it without paying for it).

[Pete]

^

Large grow facilities -- this one included -- have a bunch of fully processed weed. This one will have a dry room, cut room, etc. I've been in a few and you'd be surprised by the quantity of finished product -- way more than a dispensary.

Also, tons of cash come in and out of these places. Like most grows, this has a large safe room and cash room.


You can't blame the schools for not wanting this so close.

BTW, the landlord is the new owner from Utah, the same guy that is developing the Asian Plaza. I'm sure he just wants to get paid.


Now that the state is a few years into the cannabis thing, look for legislators to try and start putting much more regulation around a lot of things that were never fully anticipated. I know this is going to be a big push in the near future; lots of people working on new bills.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^^

It needs to just be made recreational and done with it. What’s the difference of a kid seeing a dispensary near a school versus driving by one one the way to school?

[Pete]

^^^^

It needs to just be made recreational and done with it. What’s the difference of a kid seeing a dispensary near a school versus driving by one one the way to school?

Access.

Same reason they don't allow liquor stores and full bars near schools.

[HOT ROD]

exactly Pete.

exactly the same reason we don't have distillaries near schools and neighborhoods, same should apply to grow facilities. There's PLENTLY of land in the OKC metro area for existing and new indistrial space to be built for grow facilities.

I can appreciate the adaptive reuse idea for Crossroads but there was a school there first and therefore should have prevented an opening of a grow facility in the first place (common sense). On this one I agree with lawmakers and hope they put in some restrictions; not kill it but regulate/enforce it just in the same way alcohol is.

[Pete]

Based on filed permits, it looks like the supermarket to be on the 2nd level of the old JC Penney building will be R&F Mart.

There is one by the same owner in Salt Lake City and it's kind of like a Costco for Asian products:

[Plutonic Panda]

This is cool but they really need to work on making the area around it more attractive. I wish the south OKC chamber of commerce would lobby for that. All of the business owner should really get together and put together a master plan for the mall.

[catch22]

The whole thing needs to come down. Build a dense-ish mixed-use area centered around the future train station along the commuter rail line.

Master plan this thing.

[Plutonic Panda]

Yeah ideally that’s what would happen.

[citywokchinesefood]

The whole thing needs to come down. Build a dense-ish mixed-use area centered around the future train station along the commuter rail line.

Master plan this thing.

I think it is more realistic to convert a lot of the unused parking lot space to apartment complexes and smaller commercial units. It would be cool to burn it to the ground and start fresh I don't think we will see that in the next 20 years. The only hope would be a developer like the upcoming OAK development across from Penn Square Mall to take over the property. Even then this would be an even bigger project.

[David]

Best we can probably hope for in this location is conversion into something like the Shepherd Center, particularly since it kind of feels like that is what is already happening.

[Laramie]

Best we can probably hope for in this location is conversion into something like the Shepherd Center, particularly since it kind of feels like that is what is already happening.

+1

There seems to be a lot of inverters looking at OKC...

[Laramie]

I think it is more realistic to convert a lot of the unused parking lot space to apartment complexes and smaller commercial units. It would be cool to burn it to the ground and start fresh I don't think we will see that in the next 20 years. The only hope would be a developer like the upcoming OAK development across from Penn Square Mall to take over the property. Even then this would be an even bigger project.

Good realistic view citywokchinesefood.

We're all rooting for some kind of long term transition for this project that has sit for far too long.

[Jesseda]

looks like where the old waldens book store use to be in the mall will be a new antique market. kind of surprised thats going inside the mall area.

[April in the Plaza]

This property needs someone with a ton of bitcoin cash (CWCF, maybe?). The kind of dry powder required to take down the land, grease all of the right wheels on the south side, bring in high-level New Urbanists, like DPZ, and then execute the vision in a disciplined way. Anything short of that will see the property continue along its current trajectory.

[Oski]

This property needs someone with a ton of bitcoin cash (CWCF, maybe?). The kind of dry powder required to take down the land, grease all of the right wheels on the south side, bring in high-level New Urbanists, like DPZ, and then execute the vision in a disciplined way. Anything short of that will see the property continue along its current trajectory.

Please excuse my ignorance, who is DPZ?

[Urbanized]

Please excuse my ignorance, who is DPZ?

Seminal New Urbanist planning firm founded by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Co-founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). The design team behind Seaside, Florida in the 1980s. Here in Oklahoma they provided the planning and design work for Carlton Landing.

[SoonerDave]

By law, dispensaries cannot be within 1,000 feet of a school.

It seems they are more permissible when it comes to grow facilities.

Pete, you may have more specific/current information on this, but I was told just the other day that the school administration was totally blindsided about the grow facility plans and was basically livid to have been told about it via someone who heard of it through social media. They are supposedly not going to let it go without some degree of fight, whatever that might entail.

[Pete]

Pete, you may have more specific/current information on this, but I was told just the other day that the school administration was totally blindsided about the grow facility plans and was basically livid to have been told about it via someone who heard of it through social media. They are supposedly not going to let it go without some degree of fight, whatever that might entail.

Yes, the day after I published the story I spoke directly to the superintendent of Sante Fe South schools.

I gave him all the info I had, including the building plan I had found that did not mention the grow facility, but I recognized it by the floorplan.

I'm not sure they can stop the grow facility from happening, but he was talking to the new owner of the mall. FYI, the schools own two of the old department stores but the Utah buyer of the mall also bought the other two old dept. stores. So, the schools and the rest of Crossroads are under completely separate ownership.

[shawnw]

does that include the land or is there one landowner?

[SoonerDave]

Yes, the day after I published the story I spoke directly to the superintendent of Sante Fe South schools.

I gave him all the info I had, including the building plan I had found that did not mention the grow facility, but I recognized it by the floorplan.

I'm not sure they can stop the grow facility from happening, but he was talking to the new owner of the mall. FYI, the schools own two of the old department stores but the Utah buyer of the mall also bought the other two old dept. stores. So, the schools and the rest of Crossroads are under completely separate ownership.

I suspect you are exactly right that they can't stop the grow facility. It appears there's a lot of scrambling at the legislative level to get better controls on this industry in place, so maybe he plans to try and delay things until new laws are in place? Purely speculation on my part, of course. That separate ownership issue has plagued the Crossroads property almost since it opened, and prevented Sears from moving from Reding on 44th into the Wards space when Wards went bankrupt.

[Pete]

^

The separate ownership issue also makes it highly unlikely the entire property will ever be reworked in any significant way.

[Laramie]

The grow facility is simply what it is, a grow facility. It's not a retail outlet for card carrying medical marijuana users.

Realize there's some kind of perceived conflict with this type of establishment within 300' of a school; however a grow facility doesn't sell directly to the public.