Original Mile: Demolished Homes

[mmonroe]

I've seen a lot of houses go up for sale and then the city buys(?) them and demolishes them, all in the Original Mile, these are the two most recent demolitions.

Untitled-1.jpg

[mcca7596]

I thought Midwest City's plan for the Original Mile houses was to encourage renovation through credits and the like; I didn't think there was to be much new construction other than possibly mixed-use, denser housing. Were most of the ones you've seen torn down in pretty bad shape?

[bombermwc]

I dont remember the on across from First Baptist being "bad", but it is a pretty undesireable location...especially on football fridays. I don't really remember the other home since it's on the visitor's side. If more get demo'd on the visitor side, i could easily see the parking lot being expanded for the stadium....or really anywhere near there.

[Lauri101]

The one across from FBC was owned by the church and not in very good shape. I'm pretty sure the land will be re-purposed by FBC.
As far as the other - not sure, except it's been vacant for a long time and rental property before that.
This street was part of our walking route for a while until the unleashed dogs got so bad.

Sadly, some of the houses in the neighborhood have been neglected by out-of-state landlords. I keep hoping that some younger couples will buy and fix up in this area. Most of the houses on my block of Rickenbacker are rentals and don't get much TLC. Geez - I sound like an old fogie - you kids get off my yard!

[bombermwc]

And that's precisely why the Original Mile project was created. There has been quite a bit of utility work in the area lately. I'm not sure if it's related or not, but they've been swapping out poles for months.

[Lauri101]

They've swapped poles and have been re-wiring with new electric wire that is ice-resistent and supposed to be sturdier in high winds. I think they've suspended the efforts during hot weather, as each house has to be without power for 8-10 hours at a time.
The contractors are from Texas - glad it's getting done but would prefer OG&E would use Oklahoma contractors.

[woodyrr]

Transfer of Power.jpg < Click for full size image.

The crew that replaced the pole in my area was with the Davis H. Elliott company. They were from Florida. The crew that did the transfer of the wiring from the old pole to the new one was from Texas, I believe.

Yesterday (Tuesday) crews were working the area between Adair Blvd and Curtis Drive. My aunt and uncle were without power yesterday morning while they did the changeover. There were also crews working behind the Lockheed Shopping Center in the area of W. Myrtle Drive.

I spoke with the O.G.& E. inspector when he came to inspect the new installation behind my house and he told me the O.G.& E. system is being hardened in several locations. The crew that replaced the pole behind my house had to go to Moore that evening and replace a pole in a commercial area there. I have also seen crews in Midtown Oklahoma City. It's a huge project. I was without power twice for about five hours at a time, but it wasn't as hot as it is now.

There have been two lots in my area that have been bulldozed. One has a new house going up on it. I'm not sure which is worse: A dilapidated house or trying to build a Dallas style house on a cracker box lot.

[bombermwc]

Hm, well maybe they're hitting some of the areas that had the most damage in the last big ice storm. Most folks in the original mile had their meters pulled off their house in that mess, so it cost OG&E and every person a pretty good amount. Great for the electricians to get the work to put the meters back on, bad for the people losing $300 a pop to do it.

[mmonroe]

A friend of ours on W Jacobs had a new pole actually fall in the last thunderstorm and it snapped the new wire from the house. They are still without power and the crews are doing nothing to fix it.

[T-rex]

our neighborhood got new poles/wiring this past spring
first work done(on my service anyway) in 32 years, except for repairs for ice/wind damage

[woodyrr]

It's not in the OM, but an abandoned house on the northwest corner of Stansell Dr. and Reed Pl. was torn down late last week. That makes three in the Traub addition.

[mmonroe]

There is one more house that was torn down last week in the OM, i'll have to get an address.

[Stew]

The house demolished on Lilac was bought by MWC two years ago. The plan is for the city to construct a new house on the lot IAW with one of the designs in OSM study. I don't know if the same is true for the house on lockheed.

[mmonroe]

that reminds me, does anyone know when they'll have the "Sample Block" done or where it is for that matter,

[Lauri101]

Have they even started? I have no idea - will have to drive around and see if I see any activity. Wonder if Lilac will be sample block? Sure are a lot of vacant houses from Lockheed to W. Rickenbacker

[bombermwc]

Seeing empty lots actually makes me feel better about it. That means they've been actually doing something....buying up the bad properties they can to clear them.

Keep this in mind as well....if you get two of those lots together, you actually can have a good sized lot for a ~2K sf slab. So really, the city stands the chance of being able to put in some homes that are more than the little 800ers that are in there. Some of these homes would require more money to remodel and add to (for the new plans) than to toss and start over.

The next step will be to convince people to buy them once they are built. So the infrastructure (sidewalks and sinage) really need to be done first and they need to ensure that they don't have too many of them available at one time. You don't want the market saturated. Once new ones go in, the old ones aren't going to sell anymore either.

It's just odd and i'm not sure how this public/private partnership is going to work out. There's going to havae to be a LOT of effort on the city's part to convince owners to do things. And whatabout those that already did work? My sister and her husband just finished adding on to their home and had already renovated it from the top-down. Shoulnd't they get some credit for that?

[Corndog1]

they will get the credit of having bought at a low price and then having the city help renovate a neighborhood that will surely improve value of the home and area around it. I see what your saying, but you rarely get anything for coming early to the dance. Kinda like all the folks who have put in tornado shelters and now they cant apply for the credit since it is done, wait to draw your number or just pony up the money and do it yourself. I paid and just did mine, but i know others that are waiting in hopes of getting the credit someday. Just glad to hear folks are spending money and improving that are a little.