What would you replace Heritage Park Mall with?

[masonsmomma]

I live right next to the mall and there is now way I would want a gated 'exclusive' place next to me. I don't care for the Church TV Studio idea either, but making it something like an exclusive for the rich people isn't going to make it any better. This side of the town is going down hill and fast, I doubt the people that would live in the exclusive area would even want to.

[bombermwc]

Down hill fast? I just don't see that at all. Just because the mall is collapsing, it doesn't have anything to do with the neighborhoods...which are extremely safe! I'm not sure what you are basing your opinion on, but with all of the people I know that live over there, "down hill fast" is not accurate.

[CuatrodeMayo]

I know for a fact that it is a good neighborhood.

[masonsmomma]

Do you live in this area? Everything in this side of the town is going down. The pep boys is on its way to closing along with the popeyes closing a couple months ago. The mall has very little reason to be open except for the Sears, unless you like to buy the cheap stuff from a-z outlet. With 29th street becoming such a great success, the empty spaces are popping up all the time on this side of town. Not to mention it's not the safest part of Midwest City. If you don't agree, that's fine, it's just my thoughts on it.

[bombermwc]

How does 3 businesses closing quanitfy "going down hill"? I'm sad to see Pep Boys close...can't quite figure that one out to be honest. But Popey's never did well there. That place was always empty, no matter what goes in there, it's going to have a problem because of the location. Arby's is established because it's been there forever, but Popeye's just doesnt draw a crowd.

And "not the safest part of MWC"....what planet are you on? It's not as though you live north of 10th street. You can walk around those neighborhoods at night by yourself, just like you can anywhere else south of 10th. If you're basing something off of a crime tracker or something, then you aren't paying attention either.

I just completely and whole heartedly disagree, and I think 99% of MWC would be on my side too. Empty stores have absolutely nothing to do with the neighborhoods there...at all....period.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Maybe if you compare it to the gated communities on the far east side of town, it is the safest.

[masonsmomma]

It's not just three stores, you also have the wal-mart, target, and albertsons that went out. My point wasn't to say that the neighborhoods are going down hill because the stores are closing. I have lived in Midwest City all my life and this side of town has never really been the greatest part. I live really close to 10th street so I do know what I'm talking about, and it's not just the 10th street area that is bad, what about the corner on Air Depot and Reno? That's not the greatest area either, how about the rape that happened at the Spring Tree apartments? I don't care if you don't really agree with me and I'm sure that the 99% of MWC that you think is going to agree with you, will not. I've talked to many people who live here and have lived in this general area, and most of them agree with me that this side of the town IS going down hill, it's not getting the attention that 29th and 15th Street are getting. I think that they should be trying to get this side of town up and going again, it needs more than just some new gated community though.

[m@ximus]

They could put a Super Target in that area and that would draw some attention to the area. There are so many Wal-Marts around with just not enough competition.

[Lauri101]

I'm glad that 29th Street is picking up, mostly for selfish reasons - I live within rock-throwing distance from Lowe's (well, if someone had a good arm!).

I have to agree with masonsmomma somewhat - that area around Reno and Air Depot looks like crap! No one has kept up the properties around there, thanks to MWC allowing the constant building and development in the past with no requirements or enforcement of upkeep, landscaping, etc.

HPM should be gutted and turned into something both useful and attractive - multi-use retail and office perhaps.

And MWC needs to get busy and pass some laws that require landscaping and noise barriers, plus upkeep of proeprty and no grandfathering!

[masonsmomma]

Thanks! Someone finally atleast sees where I'm coming from. It's such a major disappointment to see that this side of town is looking so blah. I really wish the movie theater could have stayed open, I think that would have attracted atleast some more people to this side of town. Don't get me wrong I love that 29th is going great, I do most of my shopping over there, I just wish we still had something over here besides Crest.

[bombermwc]

Hello-----the Hospital bought Target practically before Target even left. There's no myster why Westlake and Target made their moves....it wasn't kept a secret. The hospital has been aquiring land over towards Parklawn for decades to try and move that direction in growth.

Wal-Mart and Albertson's were a loss. But without giving out too much detail...those structures may be gone in the next 5 years in lieu of a facility that is complelty unexpected.

The area near Reno and Air Depot is going down hill???? How? Raintree has always been a big pile of crap...even when it was new. Again, quanifying that the area is going down hill by a few stores closing?? Did you not notice the new neighborhoods that went in not 1/2 mile north of Reno....right there...within the last 5 years????

So the area is SOO bad, that people want to build new homes, apartments, retirement communities? It just doesn't add up, sorry.

I've lived in MWC my whole life too.

[masonsmomma]

I was not aware that there was a retirement community around here. Where is it located? I would love the idea of the hospital expanding and bringing in new doctors and other buildings, so I'm for that idea. But all the empty buildings are eyesores and don't look good, sorry if you think they look great. I did notice the gated neighborhood that's near the church, it's great, but what's it doing for the low income families that surround this area? I think I'd like to see something being done for the low income families around here, helping them get what they need. Legacy apartments came but they are for the people that can afford over $600 dollars for a one bedroom. I'd like to see new apartments that are affordable be built.

What are they planning on doing with the Wal-Mart area?

[bombermwc]

The retirement home has been on Air Depot since about 1998 I think. It looks like a very large home. Just west of Air Depot before you head into the neighborhood there across from the firestation...ish. I never remember the street name. When it was built, the area around it was just fields....that's all homes.

The arguements don't seem to balance though. The area there south of 10th isn't really low income. When you are right there ON 10th, youre pushing the boundary lines, but it's not representative of the vast majority of the neighborhood....I promise. How can you gripe about new buildings just because they are for a different economic group? They are all sold and full, so MWC isn't having a hard time filling them. And if you want to look at low income, then you need to look more over in the origional mile.

The difference is that the folks that live in TOM have been working piece by piece on their own for a good decade to help revitalize the area. Everywhere you go, you see people who have renovated those old homes and are worknig to keep the place a nice quiet neighborhood. I guarantee they have less money than anyone in your neighborhood. They even attracted investment in the old Uptown Center to start renovations and expansions there. Again, that area is far more economically deprived than the Country Estates neighborhood (not to be confused with the elementary school).

Motivation is the key here. It's not the city's responsibility to level everyone's playing field. If you want to make changes, you have to start at the bottom and look at what you as an individual can do to make changes. It all starts with talking to civic leaders to discuss what you think can help. If you see something going on, talk to a councilman about what can be done to change it. They do listen...lots of stuff has happened around MWC because of that sort of effort.

Commercially, I can tell you that the chamber and the city do what they can to attract businesses. The economical development center has an amazing amount of publically available information that you can look at. They try a lot harder than most of the OKC suburbs to attract businesses to MWC. It's more of a little here and a little there to fill in rather than big jobs like 29th.

As for Wal-Mart, I can't really talk about it. It's far from being a done deal...more exploratory right now. But it's something we've needed for quite some time.

[metro]

Keep in mind lifechurch.tv purchased the old Dillards and plans to develop it into a campus later this year. I'm sure this along with the property company willing to market the property, we'll see some sort of mixed use development.

[masonsmomma]

Well thanks for the information, I'd really just like to see some improvement around this general area. You seem to know some dirt on the Wal-mart thing, and it seems to be something that will benefit the city!

[oneforone]

Keep in mind lifechurch.tv purchased the old Dillards and plans to develop it into a campus later this year. I'm sure this along with the property company willing to market the property, we'll see some sort of mixed use development.

I am looking forward to seeing the 900th statue of Pastor Craig posing like the Jesus statue in Rio.

[Lauri101]

I am looking forward to seeing the 900th statue of Pastor Craig posing like the Jesus statue in Rio.

OMG! LMFAO!

Maybe we'll even get an auographed picture of Jesus!

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

OMG! LMFAO!

Maybe we'll even get an auographed picture of Jesus!

Just look closer at your grilled cheese.

[oneforone]

I am looking forward to seeing the 900ft statue of Pastor Craig posing like the Jesus statue in Rio.

Just for clarification I meant to post 900ft statue not 900th.

[mmonroe]

Wow, so much information.. so little time.

Just to point out a few things, I believe Anthony's store on Reno and Sooner is a nice addition to that area. I was there when it was painted, I was there when the signs went up, and I was there when it was being renovated. As a matter of fact, Anthony was my sunday school teacher when I was in kindergarten. His living space above the store is really very nice, you should have seen it before the renovation. Anthony went for big on the neon signs because midwest city has an issue with tall signs and passed an ordinance where they can only be so big, so instead we get these little short signs all over midwest city with thirty different store name displays on them (i.e. Look down Air Depot). But they don't have an ordinance against flag poles, Anthony wanted to stick out, and so he had a huge flag pole put in. Nice.

Chick-Fil-A is still open inside of HPM. The one on 29th and the in HPM is owned by two different people. Btw, if you're looking for a job, the owner of the one on 29th said he was looking for AM, apparently, not many people have applied for that.

A lesser known church inside HPM, New Life Church was in the process with Hobby Lobby of purchasing the old Dilliards building and was just about to sign purchasing when LifeChurch.tv swooped in and bidded .5 million higher and stole the real estate and now LifeChurch.tv plans to just sit on it. How nice, the bigger church stealing from a small church. Pretty crappy in my opinion. I have no respect for that.

More office space... Nick Harroz built the Cherry Center and to date, still has a lot of open space to lease. I don't know what the cost per sf is, but it must be too high to afford.

As far as the future of HPM, it's been bought and sold 3 seperate times, the latest to a california based company who planned on renovating it by tearing out the south side and replacing it with glass fronts, guess thats not going to happen, besides all the tacky colors and paints used to try and make it more aesthetically pleasing. With the three anchors holding down HPM, all owned independently from the mall itself, i doubt it will be torn down.

I'm honestly surprised Pelicans hasn't relocated to the 29th street corridor. It's a nice restraunt.

On another note, i've lived in Midwest City all of my life ever since I was born at midwest regional, wasn't called midwest regional at the time, and lived on Arnold street, to all the times and area's we moved and lived in the different parts of midwest city. I still live in midwest city, and i'm glad to see the development thats happening. My only concern is do we have enough financial support and the right demographics to support and promote a healthy growing suburb? When people talk about Oklahoma City and metro areas, we hear more about Edmond and Norman. If any mention of the area of Midwest City is heard, it's called Tinker. I just feel Midwest City is a diamond in the rough and only a stones throw from OKlahoma City, but only blocked by the eyesore of Del City.

On a third thought for the night, I would say that I would like to see the homes behind the 29th street development to be bought out at a fair market price, bull dozed and a nice new housing addition built in. We see a lot of growth in the residential area on the out skirts of town, even south on sooner towards norman/southeast okc is booming in residential neighborhoods. I believe the houses could be a quick sale because of it's location to shopping and I-40, not to mention raising property value of the area.

Words? Thoughts?

Do remember, that these are my OPINIONS.

[bombermwc]

I don't think you'll ever get anyone on the Origional Mile idea. That place is packed thick with housing...much more dense than anything you would see today. That dense building means there are a LOT more homes to buy out, and believe it or not, people really like living there. It's a quiet neighborhood and it's safe. It may not be the prettiest homes you've seen, but the people that live there enjoy it and don't complain. They may be 60 year old cracker-box homes, but a huge number of people have either kept thier homes in good condition or have renovated them. I can't tell you how many people had their first home in that neighborhood....and still do.

Like any neighborhood, it has it's good and bad parts, but If you drive around and look at how many people have really put effort into their homes in the last 10 years, I think you'd see it's not as bad as it appears. It's not a 100K home neighborhood, but I don't think it should be bulldozed by any means. Let me see a plan to bulldoze everything north of 10th and I'll sign it. The homes may be bigger, but the crime is terrible up there...plus it's OKCPS.

[mmonroe]

Don't get me wrong, i've lived in this neighborhood and grew up in this neighborhood. I'm really into urban renewal though, and i'd like to see midwest city move up. As a matter of fact, I still live in this neighborhood on E. Jacobs.

[Lauri101]

I don't think you'll ever get anyone on the Origional Mile idea. That place is packed thick with housing...much more dense than anything you would see today. That dense building means there are a LOT more homes to buy out, and believe it or not, people really like living there. It's a quiet neighborhood and it's safe. It may not be the prettiest homes you've seen, but the people that live there enjoy it and don't complain. They may be 60 year old cracker-box homes, but a huge number of people have either kept thier homes in good condition or have renovated them. I can't tell you how many people had their first home in that neighborhood....and still do.

Like any neighborhood, it has it's good and bad parts, but If you drive around and look at how many people have really put effort into their homes in the last 10 years, I think you'd see it's not as bad as it appears. It's not a 100K home neighborhood, but I don't think it should be bulldozed by any means. Let me see a plan to bulldoze everything north of 10th and I'll sign it. The homes may be bigger, but the crime is terrible up there...plus it's OKCPS.

Well said, Bombermwc!

I happen to live in one of those "crackerbox" homes - although mine is no longer a crackerbox thanks to a 500 sf room addition. The ol' "hood" is nice, quiet and definitely safer than anything north of 10th Street.

I bought my house for under $25k, 27 years ago. It's worth three times that now and I'll likely make my next move to either a nursing home or pine box. We may not have fancy homes, but the builder who did my room addition said they don't build homes nearly as sturdy now as they did in 1953. I'm on W. Rickenbacker, which is a pleasant walk to Town Center.

Back on topic - what lifechurchtv did was despicable, but I think most religion is pretty worthless - my opinion.
Ramen

[mmonroe]

Like I said, don't get me wrong, I live in this neighborhood too, I started out over on Arnold when I was a baby, moved around to E Ercoupe, W Douglas, Givens Dr, E Lockheed, and now E Jacobs.

[bombermwc]

I'd love to see HPM dozed and a new neighborhood put in personally. We'd get some frontage back for small businesses or whatever too.

Or like I've said before, give us a new 6-7 floor office tower that we really do need. Office space in MWC is full and they keep building those stupid house-sized places...yuk. Just look off both Douglas and Post.

Or maybe we could build a MWC football stadium???? Municpal place so we can doze the crapfest that are the mid-del fields and then we can host events like UCO does. Pipe dream...but whatever.