OAK (formerly Penn Central)

[Ginkasa]

. . little bit further West (Meridian), but love this whole are is experiencing a resurgence!!

Little bit further east (Western) but ditto!

[dankrutka]

I just hate that this is so limited, size-wise.

The limited plot is also an asset, preventing another sprawling development. Instead this will be dense and walkable. Bigger often is worse.

[stlokc]

Totally agree. I think you can draw an arc from Oak to Penn Square to Classen Curve to Nichols Hills Plaza, Whole Foods area and the boutiques on Western and really see this entire 2-3 square mile area becoming the premier shopping destination in the state.

I'd love to imagine what the area could have been if they had also somehow been able to also repurpose the old plant and lake instead of putting that cut-rate strip mall in its place. But, but, but, I'm not going to gripe too badly about that. It's looking better every day and feeling more "big city."

[TheTravellers]

Little bit further east (Western) but ditto!

In the middle (May/36th), double ditto!

[Plutonic Panda]

I will be sparing no expense at Tommy Bahama. I love their stuff

[chssooner]

The limited plot is also an asset, preventing another sprawling development. Instead this will be dense and walkable. Bigger often is worse.

I am more thinking Legacy West sized. That is insane, and I wish OKC could have something that size. Not bashing the development, at all. It is killing it!

[Mountaingoat]

I just hope it doesn't "kill" Penn Square.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^
It’s likely to bolster sales at PSM, so long as they pay attention to maintaining the property and its tenant mix. PSM is an outlier when it comes to enclosed malls; still a highly-performing property while the industry itself struggles mightily. In this case, retail density is a GOOD thing.

[chssooner]

Poor PSM has never really gotten a ton of love from Simon. I wish this could help, but I doubt Simon cares that much.

[stlokc]

The limited plot is also an asset, preventing another sprawling development. Instead this will be dense and walkable. Bigger often is worse.

This. This. This. Limited spaces will create demand for those spaces. Too much room could cause developers to bring in lower-quality stuff just to fill space.

[Teo9969]

On the space conversation: it's much more important for things to be built to last for 100+ years than it is to have a bunch of space to build on. Look how much Chisolm Creek has "struggled" to put together their ambitious plan with all the space they have. Not so much trying to dog on Chisolm Creek as I am showing just how incredibly well thought out and executed this development is and how it has come together so quickly in comparison. Not having a lot of room to play with actually provides the kind of limits that are sometimes necessary to move forward. The office tower adjustment is a great example: it largely looks the same and was only slightly moved around but it fits very cleanly with the plan and they're moving forward with it.

And the rest of the area will only continue to take off. There is:

1. All of the surface parking both at PSM and Belle Isle that will eventually become too big of an opportunity cost not to develop.

2. The group that's been collecting properties south of NWX and west of Classen that could coalesce in the 2030s (and potentially earlier, especially if Oak is as successful as we think it will be).

3. Tons of single story infrastructure that is at least 20 years old and could be easily torn down over the next 10-15 years for higher and better use.

4. Talks of burying I-44, which could also be capped to open development space/opportunity.

It's not going to be Manhattan in 20 years, but there's no way if this Oak is successful that this area doesn't get increased investment. The best example is probably the Galleria area in Houston which is similarly distanced from downtown and built around a retail hub with some major office around the area (mainly 50 Penn & Valliance Bank). That's a super nice area of Houston.

[G.Walker]

This is great, I can honestly say the core of Oklahoma City is swelling, and thats a good thing. Traffic is crazy, no parking downtown, pedestrians everywhere downtown, restraunts are full, apartments are full, construction everwhere.

[LakeEffect]

This is great, I can honestly say the core of Oklahoma City is swelling, and thats a good thing. Traffic is crazy, no parking downtown, pedestrians everywhere downtown, restraunts are full, apartments are full, construction everwhere.

Traffic is crazy?

[SEMIweather]

Traffic is crazy?

OKC traffic is not close to being at DFW, Austin, or Denver levels yet, but surface streets in the core are noticeably busier than they were back in, say, 2018-19.

[LakeEffect]

OKC traffic is not close to being at DFW, Austin, or Denver levels yet, but surface streets in the core are noticeably busier than they were back in, say, 2018-19.

Depends on where you are, I imagine, but when checking the 2023 or 2022 counts against history, most surface streets in the core are still lower than pre-pandemic. Traffic in the core on surface streets peaked around 2017... It's fascinating to look at the flow of traffic around the core and how it's changed.

https://acog.public.ms2soft.com/tcds...?loc=Acog&mod=

[SEMIweather]

Depends on where you are, I imagine, but when checking the 2023 or 2022 counts against history, most surface streets in the core are still lower than pre-pandemic. Traffic in the core on surface streets peaked around 2017... It's fascinating to look at the flow of traffic around the core and how it's changed.

https://acog.public.ms2soft.com/tcds...?loc=Acog&mod=

This is fantastic, thank you for providing data to refute my anecdote. Didn't even know this website existed and currently having a lot of fun playing around with it.

[Shortsyeararound]

Pete-
Do we any updates to what the rent prices be for the apts?

[progressiveboy]

I will be sparing no expense at Tommy Bahama. I love their stuff

I am excited about this concept too! Love his coastal look in clothes. The bar looks very cool too!

[progressiveboy]

Great announcements!

I was holding out hope for Crate and Barrel but it's hard to imagine them adding that now given all of the other home goods stores in the mix.

I could still see C&B in this development. Really like this store! Let's hold our breath.

[Laramie]

So nice to see the construction and continued growth of OKC. Lots of new stores and shops a the OAK.

[dankrutka]

^^^^^^^^
It’s likely to bolster sales at PSM, so long as they pay attention to maintaining the property and its tenant mix. PSM is an outlier when it comes to enclosed malls; still a highly-performing property while the industry itself struggles mightily. In this case, retail density is a GOOD thing.

I'd love to see PSM respond to OAK by building on surface parking with some density at the closest corner to OAK that visually connects the developments together in a walkable area. Even if it's just a parking garage wrapped with some retail.

Generally, I've always wanted to see a mall, any mall (or Lloyd Noble Center), build mixed use developments on the surface parking (I'll accept the parking garages built in) around malls to turn them into a walkable communities... which was the original plan for malls.

[mugofbeer]

I wonder if OAK may also encourage PS to look at adding a high-density housing component on unused parts of the property?

[chssooner]

I'd love to see PSM respond to OAK by building on surface parking with some density at the closest corner to OAK that visually connects the developments together in a walkable area. Even if it's just a parking garage wrapped with some retail.

Generally, I've always wanted to see a mall, any mall (or Lloyd Noble Center), build mixed use developments on the surface parking (I'll accept the parking garages built in) around malls to turn them into a walkable communities... which was the original plan for malls.

Simon has done that with dozens of their malls since 2000 However, PSM has gotten minimal investment from Simon (aside from a new entrance or 2), so it would be great if they finally invested in PSM, but I won't be holding my breath.

[warreng88]

I think our best case scenario for building on the SW corner is PSM is someone coming in to buy it and develop it and PSM using that money to build a larger parking garage.

[fortpatches]

I am pretty excited to have Williams Sonoma back in the city! I tend to prefer it over Sur la Table.