Wheeler District

[Pete]

[ComeOnBenjals!]

Very cool as always to see this thing grow. I'm not sure what the critical mass is for some more shops/ a bodega sort of place is. Would take this to the next level in my opinion.

[Anonymous.]

Love the light-colored metal roofing. I am sure summer cooling in these is significantly more efficient than the standard dark asphalt shingles that are seen in the majority of the state.

[mugofbeer]

A suggestion might have been to use solar panels for the south facing roof sections.

[OkiePoke]

If you haven't checked out the bike races on Tuesday's night, it is quite the scene. The whole neighborhood is packed.

[riflesforwatie]

"They" (assuming Wheeler District LLC, the owners of the parcel) have recently cleared the area on the south bank of the river between S Western Ave and S Walker Ave where some unhoused persons were living. They also cut down/uprooted a bunch of trees. Someone was actively operating a backhoe in the area yesterday. These are plots R092441075 and R092440570.

[Pete]

The Wheeler District owns everything outlined in red.

That wooded area just west of the inlet has scores of tents and trash; or it did when I went through there about a month ago.

[Urbanized]

Am I the only one where who remembers when that flat open area was a golf driving range?

[riflesforwatie]

The Wheeler District owns everything outlined in red.

That wooded area just west of the inlet has scores of tents and trash; or it did when I went through there about a month ago.

That tongue of trees extending west-northwest of the main wooded area is gone as of yesterday. There may have been one large cottonwood left but that was it. And the equipment was starting to move further east into the main wooded area, it appeared. The tents are gone. I noticed some trash was still present, mainly a big pile of old tires.

[Plutonic Panda]

It would be nice to see them preserve that wooded area and turn it into a park.

[wunderkind]

https://www.visitokc.com/event/bikefest-2022/20651/

Bike Fest at Wheeler Park this Sunday.

[Mott]

Rode the trails, and the wooded area with a homeless camp is being leveled.

[taha]

any idea what their plans for this area is? im guessing an extension for wheeler of course but isn't it somewhat early for that considering they haven't reached capacity at the western plot?

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
If you look at the original master plan document that area is definitely targeted for future phases of similar/related development, but that is likely still years away.

I’d guess the encampment/tree clearing was possibly not related to or even coordinated by the development but was instead connected to a public agency, possibly the county’s SHINE program. The way the tree clearing was described upthread - combined with the property lines shown in Pete’s graphic - suggests that the work might have been limited to property outside of the boundary, which would be publicly-owned.

For the record I haven’t discussed this with anyone at Wheeler; it’s purely speculation on my part.

[riflesforwatie]

I’d guess the encampment/tree clearing was possibly not related to or even coordinated by the development but was instead connected to a public agency, possibly the county’s SHINE program. The way the tree clearing was described upthread - combined with the property lines shown in Pete’s graphic - suggests that the work might have been limited to property outside of the boundary, which would be publicly-owned.

For the record I haven’t discussed this with anyone at Wheeler; it’s purely speculation on my part.

I had the same thought, but the cleared area is actually within both the Wheeler District LLC property and County property, at least per the County Assessor's maps (and Pete's graphic upthread). Of course, the lines shown on the county website are certainty not official, and would also imply that a substantial part of that section of river trail is actually private property, which I'm sure is not the case. I wondered if the County Assessor's website is wrong and the closest section of land (R092440570) to the river is actually publicly-owned and not owned by Wheeler District LLC, in which case the cleared area would definitely be on public land. That section of land was deeded to Wheeler District LLC by the City of Oklahoma City back in 2017. I only vaguely remember hearing something about that at the time.

When I went by it was a single guy in a backhoe doing the clearing. Looked like he had driven in in a red pickup truck that had a logo on the side but it was too far away for me to see what company or entity it was from.

In any event, I completely agree that this current tree clearing work is likely not related to any imminent Wheeler District development.

[Pete]

It will take Wheeler a decade to build out the area west of Western and I seriously doubt they would start on this area until that is largely complete.

[shawnw]

If it had been me I would built up the waterfront along the full length of their properties in the first or at least second phase....

[gjl]

Am I the only one where who remembers when that flat open area was a golf driving range?

It was a 9 hole Par 3 golf course. May have had a driving range too. I worked at AT&T with the guy that owned it in the late 70s early 80s and I would occasionally fix the lawn mowers he used to keep it mowed.

[soonerguru]

The Wheeler District owns everything outlined in red.

That wooded area just west of the inlet has scores of tents and trash; or it did when I went through there about a month ago.

Any grove of trees is endangered in this city.

[Pete]

I suspect that this homeless camp was getting out of control and causing issues for both the bike path and the sports fields to the south.

When I was recently down there on foot, it was pretty shocking and tons of trash was blowing into the river.

[Martin]

^
you can see the encampment and the strewn garbage on google maps, so it must have been pretty bad.

[Pete]

I'll get down there with my drone to get a detailed look at exactly what is happening here.


The homeless situation is just so heartbreaking but at the same time, these camps create a lot of problems.

[Urbanized]

It was a 9 hole Par 3 golf course. May have had a driving range too. I worked at AT&T with the guy that owned it in the late 70s early 80s and I would occasionally fix the lawn mowers he used to keep it mowed.

Ah...I must have missed the 9 hole...maybe it was converted to a driving range at some point? I didn't move here full time until '86, and only hit balls there a couple of times before it closed. Maybe late 80s or very early 90s. It was closed by the time I discovered downtown airpark lunches, and that would have been circa '92 or '93.

[Roger S]

Ah...I must have missed the 9 hole...maybe it was converted to a driving range at some point? I didn't move here full time until '86, and only hit balls there a couple of times before it closed. Maybe late 80s or very early 90s. It was closed by the time I discovered downtown airpark lunches, and that would have been circa '92 or '93.

Pretty sure it was mid-90's... I moved my office downtown in 92 and I think I remember it still being there a couple of years after I moved down there.

I've always wondered how many golf balls are still buried in the ground out there.

[Canoe]

Any grove of trees is endangered in this city.

I wish there was something we could do. I love trees.