Belle Isle Construction

[okclee]

What is being built near belle isle area, close to the IHOP on the south side of I-44? Looks like a restaurant.

I am not referring to the Elephant Bar at Penn Square. I drove by and didn't see a sign for the structure.

[Midtowner]

Laredo's.

[Patrick]

Yummy. Can't wait. And I must say, they're doing a mighty fine job on the building. It's going to look even more unique than the old building.

[John]

I've missed Laredo's. Can't wait for the opening!

[Midtowner]

Marco's No. 3 has been a viable substitute.

[Patrick]

Marco's No. 3 has been a viable substitute.

Where's the located?

[Midtowner]

between 13th and 18th on Classen.

[metro]

you can find more info about the construction in the following threads:

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...ght=belle+isle

or

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...ght=belle+isle

[escan]

I was never a Laredo's fan...maybe I'll like it more in the new building.

[Moondog]

Oh yay. Another Mexican place.

[John]

Oh yay. Another Mexican place.

No. Not 'another Mexican place'. Laredo's has been an OKC staple for years.

[zuluwarrior0760]

I have heard from two people close to the project
that the owner is having serious money problems,
and construction has been pretty much halted
indefinetely...

I have driven by no less than 2 times a day over
the past two weeks and have yet to see a single person
on the jobsite, nor a single vehicle.....

This may not turn out to be Laredo's afterall....

The food at Nino's, Laredo's, and Pepe's in Edmond (Laredo's sister restaurant) are all about the same taste, which is
to say not first rate compared to Teds, etc....

I say they take that shell of a building and bring back Casa Bonita complete with the treasure trove for the kiddies and
the flags on the tables.....

[okclee]

I say no more mexican restaurants.

See my other post on Fat Okc.

[John]

The food at Nino's, Laredo's, and Pepe's in Edmond (Laredo's sister restaurant) are all about the same taste, which is to say not first rate compared to Teds, etc....

Give me a physical break.

Ted's is not the be all, end all when it comes to Tex-Mex. The food isn't that good. The service is why people keep going back. I like Ted's, but by no means is it the best around.

[Midtowner]

Ted's = *very* overrated. It's about the same as Pepe's and Laredos (which are owned by the same guys). The only thing that I think really differentiates Ted's from Pepe's/Laredos is the salsa options (Pepe's/Laredos regular salsa ain't bad) and the drink options -- although, Pepe's/Laredo's makes a hell of a good margarita (and inexpensive!)

I've been to Ted's twice. Both time, I entered with pretty high expectations. In the end, I couldn't really tell the difference between it and other Tex-Mex restaurants.

[jbrown84]

I agree about Ted's. I'd much rather have Abuelo's, Cocina de Mino, Chelino's, La Luna, or Don Pablo's any day.

[zuluwarrior0760]

During your physical break, you might want to ponder
how comical it is to debate restaurants at all...

Ted's is a cut above Laredo's (in my opinion)...and
apparently the opinion of 2500 or so others a week
who wait 30 minutes to get in the joint....
having said that though, the digs will be far above Ted's
if and when Laredo's completes this place, I just say
that the food will be below the surroundings unless the menu
is upgraded somewhat.....

Sort of akin to selling Subway inside a Nonna's...

Ok, go ahead....tell me how much better Subway is than Nonna's.......

[zuluwarrior0760]

We may not be enjoying Laredo's afterall.

Construction has ceased

According to a subcontractor of VanHoose Construction,
the owner lost a good portion of his backing and was
unable to meet his obligation to the general contractor on
the job.

The jobsite has been fenced off and construction has ceased

After the general contractor files suit on the owner,
what will most likely follow is foreclosure at which point
the property will be up for grabs (Teds? Are you out there?)

The current owner bought the land from Mazzios for over 850K,
the exact price they paid for it back in 2000....

[Patrick]

We may not be enjoying Laredo's afterall.

Construction has ceased

According to a subcontractor of VanHoose Construction,
the owner lost a good portion of his backing and was
unable to meet his obligation to the general contractor on
the job.

The jobsite has been fenced off and construction has ceased

After the general contractor files suit on the owner,
what will most likely follow is foreclosure at which point
the property will be up for grabs (Teds? Are you out there?)

The current owner bought the land from Mazzios for over 850K,
the exact price they paid for it back in 2000....

Very interesting.

[Patrick]

What's even more interesting is at one time, Mazzio's had originally bought that land to build a Zio's. Wonder why that never happened.

[writerranger]

What's even more interesting is at one time, Mazzio's has originally bought that land to build a Zio's. Wonder why that never happened.

I can help with this one. Zio's was expanding very quickly around 2000/2001. The old locations began to suffer and the money was drying up. Things were looking pretty bleak there for a while. It was a classic example of expanding too fast. They called a halt to all further expansion and cancelled construction projects that were on the boards. It was a very wise decision, as Zio's is once again on the road to health. But things were very iffy after the too ambitious expansion.

[Shake2005]

Ken Selby's money was drying up? What are you talking about? Zio's isn't even a big part of the company.

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=4531578

[Patrick]

Ken Selby's money was drying up? What are you talking about? Zio's isn't even a big part of the company.

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=4531578

I think what writeranger meant there wasn't that the Mazzio's part fo the corp. wasn't doing well. The Zios part of the corp wasn't doing as well as expected, and it was jsut pulling the rest of the company down financially, so they halted further expansion of the Zios chain.

[The Old Downtown Guy]

We may not be enjoying Laredo's afterall.
Construction has ceased. According to a subcontractor of VanHoose Construction, the owner lost a good portion of his backing and was unable to meet his obligation to the general contractor on the job.....

That is a real shame. The son of the original owner that started the Laredo's on 36rd Street took over from his father a few years ago, as the business was struggling a little at the time. He is a very personable and energetic young guy and one of the changes he made was to heavily landscape and meticulously maintain the property. About five years ago, Oklahoma City Beautiful gave them an award for the fabulous appearance. They were really nice people and very proud of their restaurant. The food was good Tex-Mex, not remarkable, but the place was always very clean and the service was excellent. The patio on the west side of the old 63rd Street building was a great place for a cold beverage on a warm afternoon. I'm sure they got a great price for the old site from Chesapeake. I hope they aren't financially in the dumper over this deal.

[zuluwarrior0760]

I agree that the son is a very nice guy.

My understanding is:

The father (still running Pepe's) got 2.79 Million
for the old Laredo's on 63rd (It had an assessed appraisal
of 645K!!!!

I have no direct confirmation of this, but have been told
that the son got 800K of that to buy the land for the new
Laredo's and the father made clear that his contribution was OVER...

In the interim, the younger financed a part of the land and lined up a bank loan for construction, but then blew a portion
of the 800K, had to pay gains tax on the 800K and ended up way way short of what he needed to make his 50% installment to his General Contractor on this 2.2 Million dollar building....

That is when they shut down the job...

So:

The father will do fine, he got 2 million for a 600k restaurant.even after his gift to his son for the land but....the son likely will take a bath and end up without a restaurant at all....

It's funny.....walking up to Pepe's in Edmond is an eyesore, and the interior looks like 1975 literally (most likely was last remodeled in the 70s (no kidding)

but they are still churning out 5.99 enchilada platters
as fast as they can make them and I feel certain the old
man is doing well with that location....

The young whippersnapper had visions of grandeur and almost executed a fine fine restaurant, but I feel certain that people still would be expecting 5.99 enchilada dinners there....
They really need to move upscale with that location based on what they're spending on real estate.....I just don't think Laredo's typical clientele would be enough to support a 3 million plus mortgage....that is "if" he can line up an investor to finish the dream so to speak....