Retail Explosion on Memorial Road

[Teo9969]

This is a great development if it comes to fruition and the kind of "Lifestyle Center" that OKC has needed. My initial impression is that it needs more Residential and while I don't expect resounding urban principles here, and structured parking with at least some street level retail, probably on the lot between the 2 Jr Anchor and the Restaurant with a pedestrian corridor between the garage and 2 Jr Anchor's from the Entertainment Anchor down to the Promenade. They could turn the 4 story office buildings into more residential, increase the height of the 2 office buildings by the Plaza.

[GaryOKC6]

Construction Crew Breaks Ground On St. Anthony Healthplex In OKC
Posted: Oct 16, 2013 11:22 AM CDT Updated: Oct 16, 2013 11:22 AM CDT

By News9.com - email

The 5-story building will be approximately 97,000 square feet and include an Emergency Department, Laboratory, a Diagnostic Imaging Suite, an MRI Suite and Physical Therapy. (artist rendering)
OKLAHOMA CITY -
Construction crews break ground on a new healthcare facility in north Oklahoma City.

On Wednesday, JE Dunn Construction broke ground on the St. Anthony Healthplex – North, located at 13401 North Western on the southwest corner of Memorial Road and Western in Oklahoma City.

The 5-story building will be approximately 97,000 square feet and include an Emergency Department, Laboratory, a Diagnostic Imaging Suite, an MRI Suite and Physical Therapy.

The first floor will be used for Ambulatory Healthcare. The second floor will be used as a provider based clinic space. It will house eight primary care physicians and a specialty suite.

The third and fourth floors will be used as business space and will be designated with common space and shell space for future tenants. The fifth floor will be used for storage and roof access.

The $22.3 million project is set to be complete in January 2015.

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[adaniel]

Meh...Rustic is a lot bigger and from the looks of it: interesting.

Not doubting Petes sources but considering the Rustic opened just last weekend, I wouldn't expect this to open anytime soon up here.

Also, if I am not mistaken, this place is owned by Pat Green. So just guessing the music acts are limited to Texas Country/Red Dirt type acts. Sorry but I can't get excited about yet another country music venue no matter how nice it is. OKC has those in spades.

[bradh]

Not doubting Petes sources but considering the Rustic opened just last weekend, I wouldn't expect this to open anytime soon up here.

Also, if I am not mistaken, this place is owned by Pat Green. So just guessing the music acts are limited to Texas Country/Red Dirt type acts. Sorry but I can't get excited about yet another country music venue no matter how nice it is. OKC has those in spades.

Don't sell it short already. If it mixed in some Kings of Leon, Black Keys type rock as well, or some blues type acts, that could be awesome.

[Pete]

Not doubting Petes sources but considering the Rustic opened just last weekend, I wouldn't expect this to open anytime soon up here.

Didn't say it would be soon... Just that they've spoken with the owners, one of whom has OKC ties.

The whole Chisholm Creek development will be built out over a period of many years, as it's encompasses a massive amount of land.

However, they do want entertainment elements and with the right investors, these things can happen quickly when properly motivated.

[bchris02]

If its built like it shows in the drawing, that will be great. It would also be great to have some sort of plaza with a fountain in the middle of the development capable of hosting live music. Many lifestyle centers in larger cities do that.

[Larry OKC]

Is this the same development that had stalled a couple of years ago? I remember seeing "Coming Soon" ground level billboardish type signs near that intersection with the dates coming and going without anything happening??

[OKCisOK4me]

This is a great development if it comes to fruition and the kind of "Lifestyle Center" that OKC has needed. My initial impression is that it needs more Residential and while I don't expect resounding urban principles here, and structured parking with at least some street level retail, probably on the lot between the 2 Jr Anchor and the Restaurant with a pedestrian corridor between the garage and 2 Jr Anchor's from the Entertainment Anchor down to the Promenade. They could turn the 4 story office buildings into more residential, increase the height of the 2 office buildings by the Plaza.

Wouldn't there be potential for that to happen on the acreage to the south of this project?

[PhiAlpha]

Meh...Rustic is a lot bigger and from the looks of it: interesting.

It would be tough to fit something that big in midtown IMHO. There wold have to be a lot on top of it take the huge footprint worth it.

[RadicalModerate]

Back On Topic:
An old preacher used to say, "What really matters is where the rubber meets the road."
No, he wasn't a new-fangled olde timey zen preacher, nor was he Yoda, rather just a regular old time sorta preacher.

When one extrapolates the current development concept, apparently under virtual consideration, this is one development that should be aborted one way or another unless something is done in relation to balancing tires, time and tedium (rather than the other sense of the term "rubber".)

If one should misapprehend that concept, one might be well advised to consider the German term Klusterfukke.

Unless, of course, THEY can build-in about four of those Helicopter Vehicle Transportation Ferry Stations (40 cars per load) at each end of the roadways approaching The Retail Paradise Formerly Known as Coffee Creek. The Turnpike would provide Free Access thru that region of Automotive Hell. (or, at least, Purgatory).

[stlokc]

Wow. This is very interesting. I'll be a cynic until dirt is turned, but if it does come about, I'll be thrilled.

Obviously, I like the idea of these new retail and entertainment names. And the fact that, at present, it has urbanist principles is very encouraging. But honestly, the thing that excites me the most is this project's location.

For my entire life, the south side of Memorial/turnpike has been somewhat of a line of demarcation east of Penn. I think this has mostly to do with the perception and socioeconomic reality of the neighborhoods a couple of miles due south. Even as development has spread ever westward, there has been little to no "infill" in this area. It's been disconnected from the growth to the north and made the region seem disconnected somehow. If this all comes to pass, I think it will give developers "permission" to continue building to the east along the turnpike and MAYBE south towards 122nd. (although I don't see single family residential on a large scale in the OKC school district).

We'll see what happens but...bring it on.

[bchris02]

Wow. This is very interesting. I'll be a cynic until dirt is turned, but if it does come about, I'll be thrilled.

Obviously, I like the idea of these new retail and entertainment names. And the fact that, at present, it has urbanist principles is very encouraging. But honestly, the thing that excites me the most is this project's location.

For my entire life, the south side of Memorial/turnpike has been somewhat of a line of demarcation east of Penn. I think this has mostly to do with the perception and socioeconomic reality of the neighborhoods a couple of miles due south. Even as development has spread ever westward, there has been little to no "infill" in this area. It's been disconnected from the growth to the north and made the region seem disconnected somehow. If this all comes to pass, I think it will give developers "permission" to continue building to the east along the turnpike and MAYBE south towards 122nd. (although I don't see single family residential on a large scale in the OKC school district).

We'll see what happens but...bring it on.

I agree. I am not going to bank on this project happening until the ground is turned. If it ends up happening, I'll be very thrilled.

[Plutonic Panda]

I think Penn, Western, and Memorial need to be widened to six lanes in this area soon. This is great news though, very exciting. I will still be skeptical until dirt is moved, as stated previously, but this will be super cool if it happens!

[Plutonic Panda]

Took a few screen shots from the site plan to give a preview for people who don't want to open the webpage:

[RadicalModerate]

Cool. Very cool.

Is "Major Anchor" (lower right, just up from the "Music Venue" in the rendering) spelt rite?
Or should it be Major Anger? =)

(i am already hearing echos of disapproval from the snail darters and whooping cranes . . . =)

Please don't forget the traffic issues and drainage and etc . . .
(and do you really need both a "Light Show" AND "a Fountain" to highlite an artificial pond? geez louise)

And where's the hockey rink and soccer fields? =)

[pickles]

I agree. I am not going to bank on this project happening until the ground is turned. If it ends up happening, I'll be very thrilled.

A project like this is inevitable. There is too much money to be made.

[Plutonic Panda]

A project like this is inevitable. There is too much money to be made.

I believe you are right, but this is OKC and finding people whom are willing to "risk" it and go big as in just building the damn thing at once, instead of these "phases" and not going the cheap route like what happened with Belle Isle is going to be a challenge. I have faith in this and am hoping it will turn out as planned.

[Plutonic Panda]

I also like the 8 story hotel, I would like a 15 story Intercontinental hotel placed somewhere along the service road up against the turnpike.

[bchris02]

I believe you are right, but this is OKC and finding people whom are willing to "risk" it and go big as in just building the damn thing at once, instead of these "phases" and not going the cheap route like what happened with Belle Isle is going to be a challenge. I have faith in this and am hoping it will turn out as planned.

I agree with this. If this were any other city, I would say the project is inevitable, but given the history of retail developments here I can't help but have doubts. If this actually turns out as planned, then it will signal a HUGE shift in OKC's retail development history and set the bar much higher for future developments.

[Plutonic Panda]

I agree with this. If this were any other city, I would say the project is inevitable, but given the history of retail developments here I can't help but have doubts. If this actually turns out as planned, then it will signal a HUGE shift in OKC's retail development history and set the bar much higher for future developments.

True, very true. I am not sure if you are familiar with the development around the Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, Texas. . . but it is awesome!!!!! So many great stores in one place.

[ljbab728]

The City REALLY needs to plan to ban ALL automotive traffic in the area and provide massive parking lots--on Penn, both north and south of the proposed development--along with "Free" shuttle service into The Retail Zone and Helicopter Ferry Landing Zones for north and southbound vehicles, on Penn, driven by people not directly involved in The Shopping Experience who need to bypass it to get to and from work. There could also be Free Bicycle Racks for the adventurous. I'm not sure how to make this work for people employed by one of these retail giants, but that is a minor consideration, easily rectified.

If you think that is hyperbole, you haven't been in the area around Christmas.
Even without the implementation of the suggested solutions.
There are only so many cars that can fit into available driving/parking space.

I'm not sure what THEY could do about the "i wanna exit to shop" east/west traffic on The Kilpatrick, but I'm sure "THEY" could come up with something resembling a short-term solution to facilitate the smooth running of this Retail Paradise.

btw: Did you know that a lot of this area is in a major flooding zone?
Easy Fix: Bigger underground pipes. Or else something like Emergency Water Taxi Service.

But how would that affect the Braums access?

[onthestrip]

This will happen eventually. Maybe not all at once but will happen. It's the best large area left for this type of development and once a large anchor is secured like Costco or even better a cabelas, the rest will easily fall into place. Heck, the hospital is almost an anchor enough to get things going but then add a costco, it will happen. The folks behind it have the means to get it done too.

[RodH]

I agree with this. If this were any other city, I would say the project is inevitable, but given the history of retail developments here I can't help but have doubts. If this actually turns out as planned, then it will signal a HUGE shift in OKC's retail development history and set the bar much higher for future developments.

There is no need to slam OKC. Projects are proposed and fail to develop all over the country. It is not something unique to this city. No community gets 100%. The more prosperous a community is the more projects you will find that failed to come to fruition.

[adaniel]

I believe you are right, but this is OKC and finding people whom are willing to "risk" it and go big as in just building the damn thing at once, instead of these "phases" and not going the cheap route like what happened with Belle Isle is going to be a challenge. I have faith in this and am hoping it will turn out as planned.

Most projects on this level, including the Stonebriar development you quoted, are built in phases over several years.

Don't sell it short already. If it mixed in some Kings of Leon, Black Keys type rock as well, or some blues type acts, that could be awesome.

I would think this is a distinct possibility with Pat Green's name, although I would think that the new Wormy Dog would have a better chance of luring said acts.

I didn't mean to come off so negative. Its probably best to judge things like this after they've been open after a while.

[Plutonic Panda]

Most projects on this level, including the Stonebriar development you quoted, are built in phases over several years

Yes, but the phases are huge, not small time build 3-5 stores at a time.