Red Ridge (SE Corner of I-44 and Lincoln)

[ryanosu]

We recently moved offices across the street (Central Park) and noticed the swath of undeveloped land on the SE corner of I-44 and Lincoln (all the way east to Kelley and south to 50th, minus the Burr Oaks neighborhood in the SE corner).

Doing some research, it looks like "DFK LLC" paid nearly $7MM for ~135 acres (mostly zoned ag - some residential) in 2008, during the heart of the recession. They even purchased some of the residential lots in Burr Oaks fronting 50th & Kelley.

I was curious if anyone had any knowledge of the plans for that area?

[DoctorTaco]

Don't know about any plans for the area, but I recently found the background on the space which you might find interesting. When my wife and I lived in Central Park we ventured into the area one hot summer evening and it was one of the creepiest experiences I've had in OKC. Felt like Jason Voorhees was about to jump out of the woods at any minute. The weirdest thing was that in the middle of this giant empty overgrown abandoned lot we found, on the ground, a fresh chocolate chip cookie. Just sitting there. Not even ants on it or anything.

The pictures in the link don't speak to the eeriness about the place.

http://www.abandonedok.com/red-ridge/

[Rover]

Those images make me sick just to see the disrepair. In the late 70's I officed there when we used it as headquarters for Oklahoma Monthly Magazine. At the time it was an elegant old structure, but in good repair. My office was upstairs and opened to the top level veranda shown in some of the pictures. The "ballroom" with the big fireplace was used as a photography area. The grounds were well kept at the time and it was an amazing environment to be in. So sad to see it now.

BTW, at that time our lead reporter was Mike Boettcher. Mike went to be one of the original CNN reporters, was the lead war correspondent/analyst for NBC in first Gulf War, and now is an award winning journalist embedded with troops in Afghanistan, along with his son Carlos.

[UnFrSaKn]

http://www.okctalk.com/nostalgia-mem...tml#post353635

[ljbab728]

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/546...coln%2C%20I-44

Homes, businesses, parks and a hotel are envisioned under a plan for 134 acres now mostly covered by trees at NE 50 Street and N Lincoln Boulevard, two miles north of the state Capitol.

[Plutonic Panda]

I don't have a sub. :/ I'm asking you to post it, but are there any renderings of it? I'm curious how serious of a development this is and how soon it might break ground. This sounds cool.

[ljbab728]

I don't have a sub. :/ I'm asking you to post it, but are there any renderings of it? I'm curious how serious of a development this is and how soon it might break ground. This sounds cool.

Yes, there is a rendering and it looks great but I don't want to copy it to post here. That is frowned on. This would be developed by the Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office and it sounds like a serious proposal.

Plupan, you could easily get a subscription for what you spend for gas for one day.

[Plutonic Panda]

Yes, there is a rendering and it looks great but I don't want to copy it to post here. That is frowned on. This would be developed by the Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office and it sounds like a serious proposal.

I understand. I just stumbled on a free link Oklahoma agency plans major development near Lincoln, I-44 | News OK

This looks really cool!!!! I really hope this is built.

[Plutonic Panda]

The state could lease land to sell parcels. Full development could take seven to 10 years. The first phase would likely be retail facilities at the southwest corner of the property.

:/

7-10 years. Well, I think that's what Chisholm Creek originally stated and then they pushed their timeline way up, so maybe the same will happen with this. I don't like the possible "retail facility at the southwest corner" which for some reason translates to strip mall for me.

Oklahoma agency plans major development near Lincoln, I-44 | News OK

[Teo9969]

:/

7-10 years. Well, I think that's what Chisholm Creek originally stated and then they pushed their timeline way up, so maybe the same will happen with this. I don't like the possible "retail facility at the southwest corner" which for some reason translates to strip mall for me.

Oklahoma agency plans major development near Lincoln, I-44 | News OK

If they put the parking on the inside of the lot and build 20 to 25 feet from Lincoln and 50th and put the parking on the inside of the development, no precedent is set for a strip mall, even though it will function as a strip mall to start.

A substantial development here would go a long way toward bring the East side some notoriety and would help make the adventure district more appealing. I hope Pettis is doing anything possible to insure this is a high quality, successful development.

[Plutonic Panda]

If they put the parking on the inside of the lot and build 20 to 25 feet from Lincoln and 50th and put the parking on the inside of the development, no precedent is set for a strip mall, even though it will function as a strip mall to start.

A substantial development here would go a long way toward bring the East side some notoriety and would help make the adventure district more appealing. I hope Pettis is doing anything possible to insure this is a high quality, successful development.

I agree. What I'm worried about it a typical NW OKC strip mall getting built and branded as something temporary or something to just have until the other pieces fall into place kind of thing.

[ljbab728]

I agree. What I'm worried about it a typical NW OKC strip mall getting built and branded as something temporary or something to just have until the other pieces fall into place kind of thing.

Why wait to worry when you can start now? LOL

[Brett]

I personally doubt that this development would be successful. If anyone has ever traveled Lincoln Blvd. on the weekend then you know it is a complete ghost town. A grocery store would be a godsend. I'll wait and see if the Binkowski's follow through with their promise to build an Uptown Market at NE 23rd St. & MLK.

[loveOKC]

I personally doubt that this development would be successful. If anyone has ever traveled Lincoln Blvd. on the weekend then you know it is a complete ghost town. A grocery store would be a godsend. I'll wait and see if the Binkowski's follow through with their promise to build an Uptown Market at NE 23rd St. & MLK.

That area is only a ghost town because there is nothing along that corridor, once this is built you could guarantee success.

[Teo9969]

I personally think it's an absolutely fantastic location, and definitely a place where "If you build it they will come" applies.

The nice thing for this development in addition to their own housing, you've got Central Park apartments right there and several hundred people working right across Lincoln. Factor in the relative closeness to The Adventure District, and the State Capitol and this has a chance to be very successful. Plus, the NE side is severely lacking in amenities. If they drop enough money into the area, this gets set-up as a great future extension of the street car (possibly in the mid-late 2030s).

And being right off 44 and so close to 235, it has great access to Edmond.

I think the only thing that will inhibit success is developing on the cheap. Attempt to do all this for $80M, and they'll be sorry they even tried. Tackle this with $250M+, they'll be very happy with the final, long-term results.

[swosuknight]

I can tell you a lot of neighbors were not very happy when they found out about this proposal and the city council seemed to be in the dark about it as well. Pettis has said the city has had no part in this so far.

[adaniel]

That area is only a ghost town because there is nothing along that corridor, once this is built you could guarantee success.

Well truth be told, hasn't Lincoln Blvd been targeted for redevelopment for about 2 decades now? To be fair there has been some redevelopment and even some new construction but for the most part a lot of Lincoln is fallow lots where gross hooker motels use to stand.

Forgive me for being skeptical, but my family has been on the NE side for over 5 decades and could write a novel on lofty plans that never made it past the drawing board. Props to the CLO for at least trying, but there is pretty baked in east-o-phobia in OKC; if all the empty fields haven't developed in the past, why now? I would probably be a bit more bullish if this was something on a smaller scale and more service/retail oriented (vs offices that will empty out at 5).

[Teo9969]

I can tell you a lot of neighbors were not very happy when they found out about this proposal and the city council seemed to be in the dark about it as well. Pettis has said the city has had no part in this so far.

why are neighbors not happy?

[swosuknight]

why are neighbors not happy?

You have to understand the makeup of some of the close neighbors. A lot of the people have been there many, many years and it is a relatively quite area. It is one of the reasons they picked the area to live in the first place. Anything bringing more traffic and more people to the area is frowned upon. Also, believe it or not there is a lot of wildlife in the area that many people enjoy. Clearing out that large of an area would affect this in a negative way. I have mixed feelings about it. I live close by as well. I would love a grocery store close by but I also worry about all the increased traffic and people it would bring to the area.

[Plutonic Panda]

I can tell you a lot of neighbors were not very happy when they found out about this proposal and the city council seemed to be in the dark about it as well. Pettis has said the city has had no part in this so far.

That's a shocker.

[Teo9969]

I know not everyone shares this opinion, but I staunchly believe that all land within the Grand Blvd Loop should be assumed for dense Urban development land use. And really, it doesn't matter what you or I or anyone else believes, it is dictated by economics, and will be increasingly so as time moves forward.

And just as the people complaining about Guyute's, the neighbors need to understand that complaining about increased property values will likely fall on deaf ears. The neighbors should be focused on demanding that development of a certain quality take place, yes, but if this entity is coming in to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop this land in a sustainable, urban-minded manner, then it's quite simply foolish to block it.

And when you consider the insane industrial nature of everything literally caddy-corner to this site, it's even less surprising and should be less aggravating. This is never going to be a wild-life reserve, and probably shouldn't be considering the Zoo is exactly 1 mile away.

[Spartan]

I personally think it's an absolutely fantastic location, and definitely a place where "If you build it they will come" applies.

The nice thing for this development in addition to their own housing, you've got Central Park apartments right there and several hundred people working right across Lincoln. Factor in the relative closeness to The Adventure District, and the State Capitol and this has a chance to be very successful. Plus, the NE side is severely lacking in amenities. If they drop enough money into the area, this gets set-up as a great future extension of the street car (possibly in the mid-late 2030s).

And being right off 44 and so close to 235, it has great access to Edmond.

I think the only thing that will inhibit success is developing on the cheap. Attempt to do all this for $80M, and they'll be sorry they even tried. Tackle this with $250M+, they'll be very happy with the final, long-term results.

We've been talking about Lincoln Blvd redevelopment for my entire life, a quarter century. I know that this discussion begun much sooner than that, as well. When the GOP rushed into power at 23rd and Lincoln, the State abandoned its "Lincoln Renaissance" development program - which was simply a masterplan for how state agencies will grow into space along Lincoln. Having a masterplan gives confidence which tends to make funding available, so that was bad...

Then Tanenbaum got involved with the Plaza Hotel site, right after his group built those swanky suburban-styled apartments that they like to call "Central Park" (odd name). The state has continued to do some things off and on, and then on the southern end stuff is happening again in the OUHSC and where that connects into Bricktown.

So how can Pettis claim that the state's redevelopment proposals for Lincoln "come as a surprise?" How can residents behind the property make the same claim? Lincoln has always been a major redevelopment push. I think what people mean is "we didn't know they were serious about this." That said, not including Pettis in this process - big mistake. That councilman has proven himself to be a valuable advocate for issues/projects he gets involved with, and he has a vision and the ability to revitalize Northeast OKC. Involving Pettis is how you tie this Lincoln development into other projects across the Northeast side, including his 23rd "King Crossing" strip mall, his TIF for the old strip mall north of there, and the MAPS3 senior center. I just wish he didn't love strip malls so much...

[boitoirich]

There is development phobia on the Eastside because of the history of Deep Deuce and Walnut Grove. Black residents are fearful that "They are trying to make all of this downtown," which given that many people remember a time when their grandparents owned homes in near central neighborhoods is not a completely irrational fear. Longtime residents have a long, bitter history with developments that have not only disadvantaged them but have all too often displaced them. Hence what needs to happen is anyone attempting anything major in or near Eastside neighborhoods ought to discuss plans with locals leaders and neighborhood associations to allay fears and listen to concerns.

That being said, I just hope this thing is urban, well-done, and transit-ready.

[AP]

Is this going to happen?

[Pete]

Is this going to happen?

It's always just been a concept without a developer.

Would love to see it happen but it's just fantasy at this point.