Plaza Court in Midtown complete.

[mecarr]

I read on the current edition of Downton OKC's "Skyline Snapshot" that Plaza Court in Midtown is complete. The list of tenants include Irma’s Burger Shack II, Subway, James E. McNellies Public House, Prairie Thunder Baking Company, Paul Pearson, Inc. P/R Firm, Oklahoman’s For Responsible Government, GDH Consulting and YMCA.

Pretty amazing that just a couple years ago the place was totally vacant, and now it looks like it has filled up. It's great having Prarie Thunder, Irma, Ymca and McNellies there. It's hard though to get too excited about the other tenants, but I'm sure they're nice people. ;-)

[CuatrodeMayo]

I work across the street and I'm a big fan of all the eateries in Plaza Court.

[metro]

I'm wondering how it's "complete" unless they aren't announcing all their tenants they have signed yet. There is one or two vacant spots on the ground floor (where old King Emporium used to be), I want to say there is another vacant space next to that one, and then just north of McNellies there is a smaller space that has not been remodeled yet, and has space for lease sign in the window (rumor has it that it might be a Jamba Juice). No question Plaza Court is a quality development, question is, what is Banta holding out....

[betts]

Jamba Juice or any other smoothie store would be great! Fingers crossed there.

[ksearls]

Thanks for reading the Skyline Snapshot!

Actually it says construction is complete. I belive they continue to lease space there.

Bye!

[mecarr]

I think that all the spaces should be leased out. ACcording to skyline snapshot, there are 10 "tenants"...Doesn't even seem like there were 10 spaces available. Maybe the tenants haven't moved in yet because the remodeling isn't done or something.

[metro]

mecarr, I could easily see 10 spaces in Plaza Court, let's see:

YMCA, Irma's, Prarie Thunder, (old King Emporium), space next to it, McNellies, the vacant space next to McNellies (north), the PR firm upstairs, and I believe there is room for 2 more easily upstairs. So that would be your 10 tenants.

[progressiveboy]

What happened to the store "Kings Emporium? Already closed? I hate to be the naysayer but is this a sign that retail cannot make it in Midtown? This store was unique IMO.

[metro]

"progressiveboy", retail can survive in MidTown, some of it is already, King's Emporium was kitchy junk at best that no one wanted. I honestly don't know how Banta's judgement slipped and allowed them to sign in the first place, it was like walking into a really weird thrift store.

[progressiveboy]

To be quite honest, this remains to be seen. One example would be Banta was going to put an Office Depot in the midtown area but at the last minute OD backed out. Maybe they decided midtown did not fit their demographics? I do not know? I would love for retail to thrive in midtown, however, the area still has a lot of dilapidated and skid row buildings. I would love for the city to declare "eminient domain" on all those remaining scum lords. In Dallas where I currently reside, we do not put up with old dilapidated houses, businesses the city declares them a hazard or declares them blighted and gets the necessary permits to demolish these "nasty eyesores". As a former OK Cityan I want the best for my hometown, however, OKC midtown has a long way to go in cleaning up.

[solitude]

"progressiveboy", retail can survive in MidTown, some of it is already, King's Emporium was kitchy junk at best that no one wanted. I honestly don't know how Banta's judgement slipped and allowed them to sign in the first place, it was like walking into a really weird thrift store.

I don't think so, metro. Greg Banta leased the space to people who thought they had a product right for Midtown. It obviously didn't work for whatever reason; but to say Banta's judgment slipped is not quite right, imo. If he set himself up as the "decider-in-chief" (a little Bushism) as to what will work and what won't work for every small boutique shop, nobody would find out will play and what won't. He gave them a chance, leased them space and that's as it should have been. He doesn't have a crystal ball with all the answers. You give them space and see what happens. It's not like a suburban strip mall where they already know there's going to be a Supercuts, a Starbucks, Matress Firm - fill-in-the-blank. Midtown's a different animal and it will take some trial and error.