23rd and Penn McDonalds

[Plutonic Panda]

I hope it won't take to horribly long. Even more so, I hope they build it to last(not match stick construction)

[ljbab728]

I hope it won't take to horribly long. Even more so, I hope they build it to last(not match stick construction)

McDonalds doesn't build things to last as long as the pyramids but they do have construction standards which are not match stick.

[edcrunk]

I can't believe I'm excited about a McDonald's. I also didn't realize how often me and my girl use this location as a late night option.

[warreng88]

Looks like they poured the slab for the new McDonald's. Since a lot of the site work is done, I am curoius how long it will take for them to start going up.

[shawnw]

Looks like they poured the slab for the new McDonald's. Since a lot of the site work is done, I am curoius how long it will take for them to start going up.

The answer is TODAY. Apparently sometime between 1:03pm and 5:45pm.

[blangtang]

thats a nifty double saucer UFO hovering above

[Plutonic Panda]

Hopefully they'll put a new sign up too.?

[tillyato]

Hopefully they'll put a new sign up too.?

+1. If they are keeping a McDonald's at this location, they should at least make it look as nice as possible. I still don't know why this location warrants a two story McDonald's, I guess they get a lot of traffic from Shepherds Mall workers at lunchtime...

[OKCisOK4me]

thats a nifty double saucer UFO hovering above

Yep, rolling down the window works magic for flashes ;-)

[shawnw]

Yep, rolling down the window works magic for flashes ;-)

Yeah, I figured I'd get crap for it and was going to crop it but wanted to leave the sign in the pic. Was a very quickly taken photo as the light had just changed...

[Architect2010]

+1. If they are keeping a McDonald's at this location, they should at least make it look as nice as possible. I still don't know why this location warrants a two story McDonald's, I guess they get a lot of traffic from Shepherds Mall workers at lunchtime...

Well there's a lot of hungry students down the street at OCU as well. And gasp, the students and others living by could actually walk to this location if it were not for the homeless people that would surely harass them. Lol. Not to mention, 23rd St. is a very heavily traveled arterial as well.

Is this a franchise or corporate location? As the previous structure was kept purposely as a retro design for as long as possible and was well-known by locals, it's not surprising they had something special for the spot when it finally was rebuilt.

[Jettmiester]

The retro one wasn't there very long. I liked it's look. I remember eating there when it was new and had all the momorabila and the old car out front. There was a similar one to it in Edmond on 33rd. I never been inside of it, but it has been re-painted beige instead of the original retro white. Looks awful. What were they thinking???

[Larry OKC]

Almost all of the McDonald's in OKC were corporate owned when I worked for them a few years ago. The balance has shifted since then, where the vast majority (if not all of them) are now franchised. The Santiago's are the primary owners of the franchises in OKC now, if not mistaken. I can't recall what the corporate franchise ratio was back then or if it is the same now, but think it was something like 25% corporate, 75% franchise (company wide). As corporate would build more stores, they often sold off their older/established stores to franchise owners.

[rezman]

The retro one wasn't there very long. I liked it's look. I remember eating there when it was new and had all the momorabila and the old car out front. There was a similar one to it in Edmond on 33rd. I never been inside of it, but it has been re-painted beige instead of the original retro white. Looks awful. What were they thinking???

Seems like that place had the retro look for about ten years. I remember when they built it. It has only been a few years since they sold the old car off. It was a red and white '55 Ford four door, with the rear door handles removed to make it look like a two door. Later on, I talked with the guy who bought it after it was removed.

[Bigrayok]

Greg LaPat was the original owner of the store who gave it the retro look. Greg used to own ten McDonald's in the Oklahoma City area including Mustang, El Reno, and Kingfisher. He has sold all of his McDonald's except the ones in El Reno and Kingfisher which his son is in the process of taking over. Greg used to be the Dean of Hamburger University which is McDonald's management training school at headquarters. The Santiago family bought the 23rd and Penn store and the Mustang store a few years ago.

Bigray in Ok

[SomeGuy]

It looked kind of small when I drove past it earlier today. Maybe it's because I was in the car either way I'm excited and I hope it's open before late May

[Larry OKC]

Hopefully they'll put a new sign up too.?

If it hasn't come down yet, it is probably staying. Several other McDonald's in the area rebuilt the store but kept the old sign. The sign on the rebuilt store on south Penn & 59th really looks bad and needs to be replaced.

[Mr. Cotter]

Does the city place height restrictions on new signs? If so, I imagine keeping the old sign lets you keep the height.

[Larry OKC]

Good point, not sure if OKC has taken the Edmond path or not on new signage...may depend on location etc.

[shawnw]

West wall going up...

[metro]

Yeah I drove by last night and there even further along than that photo shows.

[EBAH]

Greg LaPat was the original owner of the store who gave it the retro look. Greg used to own ten McDonald's in the Oklahoma City area including Mustang, El Reno, and Kingfisher. He has sold all of his McDonald's except the ones in El Reno and Kingfisher which his son is in the process of taking over. Greg used to be the Dean of Hamburger University which is McDonald's management training school at headquarters. The Santiago family bought the 23rd and Penn store and the Mustang store a few years ago.

Bigray in Ok

Santiago is, IMHO, the best franchise operator in the metro. Their stores are always astonishingly clean and the service surprisingly quick and friendly.

[SomeGuy]

Well they arebuilding this thing fast, I hope ithe 2 story still has a retro look though

[Larry OKC]

I agree the Santiago ones I have been into have been clean /quick/friendly, bit it seems increasingly difficult to find someone who understands English (for special orders), even among the management staff.

[metro]

Well they arebuilding this thing fast, I hope ithe 2 story still has a retro look though

Why are you expecting a retro look? The one they tore down was not retro, and the renderings for this one is above.