N.W. 51st and Western

[TeriOKC]

I drive by this intersection every day on my way to work and back home, and noticed earlier this week that the previous Forward Foods/Antique Store/51st Street Speakeasy was being torn down. This morning, it was almost completely leveled. Does anyone know what is going in there? Sorry if this has already been posted.

[LakeEffect]

Permits to demolish 5129 and 5123 N Western and 1108 NW 51st have been issued.

The only construction permit I see is Permit BLDC-2015-06897, 5129 N WESTERN AVE.

Additional Information
Job Value($): $300,000.00
Public Owned: No
Construction Type: 329-Structures Other Than Buildings

BUILDING
Permission To: Install
Square Footage: 10000
Existing Use: BUISINESS
Proposed Use Code: Parking
Land Use Code: 8300.13
Zoning: C-4
Construction Type: 321 - Parking Garages (Buildings and Open Decked)

[Pete]

Looks like a bank is planning a parking structure which probably means they plan to build there as well.

I find out what I can and report back.


Thanks for the heads up, Teri!

[sooner88]

Looks like a bank is planning a parking structure which probably means they plan to build there as well.

I find out what I can and report back.


Thanks for the heads up, Teri!

Could it be for First National or do you think another bank would be going in next door?

[Pete]

BTW, I don't think the Speakeasy is being demolished, just the 3 small buildings between it and Western.

[Pete]

Looks like just more parking for the new bank directly north across 51st.

Seems like a ton of money and expense for a small amount of parking spaces, and also sad to see a key corner get leveled in favor of surface parking.

Looks like they may be planning some small structure at the far south end.

[Mr. Cotter]

That is extremely disappointing.

[LakeEffect]

PARKING PARKING PARKING
CARS CARS CARS

Western is being upgraded and refined to be more walkable, and they're demolishing existing buildings for more parking. That's sad.

[Mr. Cotter]

And, tearing down perfectly serviceable buildings to do it.

[Martin]

sad thing to me is that speakeasy already has a decently sized surface lot that pretty much goes unused during banking hours... seems like it would've been better if they could have made arrangements to use existing parking instead of demolishing perfectly good storefronts.

oh... and i miss forward foods. -M

[HangryHippo]

sad thing to me is that speakeasy already has a decently sized surface lot that pretty much goes unused during banking hours... seems like it would've been better if they could have made arrangements to use existing parking instead of demolishing perfectly good storefronts.

oh... and i miss forward foods. -M

You nailed it, Martin. Just pitiful thinking on this deal.

[bchris02]

Drove by yesterday and the demolition is already done. What is most unfortunate about this is its at the north end of a strip that the city is investing a lot in trying to revitalize.

[Teo9969]

Western has some major challenges north of 45th, and it will be a long time before anything north of 45th will be well-connected to the primary commercial area north of 39th.

IBC bank is killer and that building is not going away and First National didn't really do anything to interact with the intersection which is unfortunate. So it's created a situation where those buildings that were just demolished were buildings that you drive to, not buildings that you walk to like you have @ 44th and Western.

Couple that with Bishop McGuiness's football field being right across the street and a variety of other factors including the highway: while I would like better, I'm not terribly disappointed at this point yet, either. You can always build on top of parking, and none of those buildings were particularly notable.

I'm hoping to sit down with some people in the city and start talking through some ideas about what needs to happen in the Helm area (rectangle between I-44/Western/36th/Classen). I think it's a pretty key area to getting the most out of Classen and Western on that stretch, but it's going to require some very creative thinking to be successful…But if it is, it could be a great OKC neighborhood in the next 20 years.

[rte66man]

Does OKC have any plans to improve the 50th and Western intersection? They put in pretty new traffic signals, yet there is only one dedicated left turn lane (sb Western). At the very least they could plane the bumps off.

[Pete]

For the life of me, I can't understand why Chesapeake continues to sit on the southeast corner of that intersection.

They paid $4.5 million (!!) for that property and there it just sits.

Of course, the same can be said for the hundreds of millions they have invested in other completely non-business related real estate which they aren't even trying to sell at a time the whole company is hurting.

And the properties they have sold have not been openly marketed and have been generally sold to company cronies. I just don't get it.

[Rover]

Amen Pete

[OKCretro]

Heard a rumor years ago that if CHK expanded so much they would have bought out McGuinness and moved them to the old John Marshall location. Of course that never happened.

[onthestrip]

sad thing to me is that speakeasy already has a decently sized surface lot that pretty much goes unused during banking hours... seems like it would've been better if they could have made arrangements to use existing parking instead of demolishing perfectly good storefronts.

oh... and i miss forward foods. -M

This demo is less for more parking (FNBOK has plenty already) and more for clearing the way for a future higher and better use, and most likely more dense too.

[C. B.]

This demo is less for more parking (FNBOK has plenty already) and more for clearing the way for a future higher and better use, and most likely more dense too.

They tore them down for future density?

[BDP]

They tore them down for future density?

Ha. Yeah, how do you make it more dense than two buildings that took up pretty much all of both lots.

Not to mention, that never happens here. For the most part, when a parking lot is poured in OKC, it's there to stay and then they go looking for the next building to demo for parking.

[onthestrip]

Ha. Yeah, how do you make it more dense than two buildings that took up pretty much all of both lots.

Not to mention, that never happens here. For the most part, when a parking lot is poured in OKC, it's there to stay and then they go looking for the next building to demo for parking.

Maybe by going multi-stories? I dont think its happening tomorrow but Im pretty sure they will be looking for a new use of this property as soon as one presents itself.

[BDP]

Maybe by going multi-stories? I dont think its happening tomorrow but Im pretty sure they will be looking for a new use of this property as soon as one presents itself.

Why do you think that?

[onthestrip]

Why do you think that?

From what the grapevine tells me.

[Pete]

I've very curious why the felt the need to evict the tenants and scrape those buildings on a key corner when they have no immediate plan other than parking, of which they already seem to have plenty.

[BDP]

I've very curious why the felt the need to evict the tenants and scrape those buildings on a key corner when they have no immediate plan other than parking, of which they already seem to have plenty.

Agree. Some developers will scrape something because they think it makes it more marketable, but I don't see how pouring a parking lot and landscaping makes it more appealing. Those buildings were perfectly in line with the inventory and aesthetic of the district as they were, too.

Obviousky, there's always a chance of something happening, but it's a weird way to go about it and for now it's probably safer to assume it will be parking for some time.

Do the Sines own this property?