Another upscale concept from Good Egg Group
Upscale market planned for NW 23rd
Journal Record
March 25, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY –Two restaurateurs in Oklahoma City have found success in an old flower shop, an abandoned car dealership and a neighborhood retail center built in the 1940s.
Their next project is in a rundown former gas station facing NW 23rd Street. Heather and Keith Paul, of A Good Egg Group, had been eyeing the former Phillips 66 station for several years, at 401 NW 23rd St., which sits next to their flagship restaurant Cheever’s Café. But the station wasn’t for sale, and was occupied by an auto repair shop. Last year, however, the Paul’s were able to buy the station, then they gave the tenant time to move, and now plan a major renovation to open an upscale market and catering kitchen.
The store will be called Market C-the C as in Cheever’s-and offer a variety of main dishes and side dishes from Cheever’s kitchen. It will also offer rubs and sauces for meats from their Red Prime Steak restaurant, selections from Iron Starr Urban BBQ, and pre-cut meats and some bakery items. “We are going to take a gas station that faces one of the city’s main thoroughfares and transform it from something once forgotten to something unique and thriving,” Keith Paul said.
Market C, in a 1,360 square-foot building from 1935, is just the latest property the Keith’s have breathed new life into in the inner city. Cheever’s, at 2409 N. Hudson Ave., is the former Cheever’s flower shop, and was built in 1937. Cheever’s Café opened eight years ago.
Red Prime Steak, at 504 N. Broadway Ave., was built as a Buick dealership in 1911. The building was vacant for decades but renovated as the restaurant last year. Iron Starr Urban BBQ sits on the corner of a brick structure at 3700 N. Shartel Ave. Built in 1943; Iron Starr replaced another restaurant in the space and opened in 2002.
Brian Fitzsimmons is the architect for the Market C project. The Paul’s contacted him to design the market but had a pretty good idea of how they wanted the building to look on the inside and outside. Fitzsimmons is also involved in renovation efforts at the neighboring Tower Theater. Inside, the market will have a counter and retail area up front, with the catering kitchen on the back side. The facelift will also attempt to stay true to the buildings original look and feel.“On the exterior we plan to keep it simple and straightforward and respect the historic character of the building,” Fitzsimmons said. “The idea is to keep it warm, friendly and very inviting.”
The renovation costs are estimated at about $100,000. The renovation efforts have begun and the market is set to open this summer. The area has also benefited from a streetscape on NW 23rd Street completed in the last decade that ran about $1 million.
Bob Mier, urban redevelopment specialist with the city planning department, said improvements along NW 23rd Street, were funded by a city bond issue from 1995. The work was completed about five years later. The project came about after a study by the Urban Land Institute to make several inner city areas more functional and to spur more private investment.“It’s a very effective way of encouraging private investment and making the streets work better and safer,” Mier said. “That’s been the case with 23rd Street.”
Around 2000 a group called Uptown 23, made up of property owners along NW 23rd Street, as well as input from the city and Oklahoma City University, worked to spruce up the area and lure more businesses. And while much of that stretch of NW 23rd Street is still occupied by convenience stores, pawn shops, wig stores and vacant space, Cheever’s began to prosper at its spot just north of NW 23rd Street along Hudson Avenue.
Heather Paul said one of the main reasons she and her husband wanted to open the market was to give busy families on-the-go the option to pick up some of their favorite dishes from the Paul’s restaurants. “Customers will be able to enjoy their favorite dishes from one of our restaurants in the comfort of their home any day of the week,” she said.
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