OKC TownCenter
Iron will: OKC TownCenter acquires Flatiron District property
Posted: Monday, September 27, 2004
By Steven E. Wedel
writers@okcbusiness.com
Great things usually happen with planning and organization. For the principle members of OKC TownCenter LLC, the seeds of those well-laid plans are beginning to bear fruit.
The company, whose principals are attorney Bert L. Belanger, oilman William P. Garrett and architect Anthony McDermid, closed on a deal Aug. 17 to buy seven properties valued at $1 million from TexOk Properties LP. The deal closed 10 days earlier than expected.
The purchase of this property in Oklahoma City’s “Flatiron District” gives OKC TownCenter the first 15 acres of a planned land bank acquisition that should eventually include about 50 acres of land in downtown Oklahoma City, north of Bricktown, Belanger said.
Garrett said the mission of OKC TownCenter “…involves the assemblage of underdeveloped property” bordered by I-235 on the east, Reno Avenue on the south and Broadway Avenueto the west. The land will be developed as an urban town center comprised of mixed-use projects.
“Our design is to control as much land as we can, close to 50 acres,” Belanger added. “It will take some time to assemble it, but we have a master plan for what we’re trying to do.”
The master plan includes the formation of Brownstone LLC with McDermid and Garrett. Brownstone is the entity involved in buying property for OKC TownCenter development. Belanger said the company is looking to create a town center with a village green, retail businesses and housing.
“By controlling the area, it tells the marketplace where the housing will be, which dictates where the retail will be,” Belanger said.
As the entire town center project unfolds, Belanger said he expects to see people of different income levels returning to downtown Oklahoma City to call the area home.
“I don’t think it will all be high-end housing, but it will start that way because the market is so starved for to-buy property right now,” he said.
Belanger said planning will start very quickly for 12 to 20 brownstones on the corner of N.W. 3rd Street and Walnut Avenue. He said he anticipates construction starting on the first prototype in the late fall of this year.
OKC TownCenter also has contracts pending on four other parcels of land in the area known as “The Triangle,” a larger area of which the Flatiron District is a part. The Triangle district gets its name because of the triangle shape created by its three boundaries of E.K. Gaylord and interstates 40 and 235.
Belanger said OKC TownCenter will work with both public and private stakeholders to continue its land assemblage efforts.
Until recently, Belanger was chief legal counsel of ERC Properties, Inc, a regional leader in multifamily and residential land development. Garrett is a principal of Garrett and Company, which owns several local businesses and has long had land investments in Oklahoma City. McDermid is a principal of TAP Architecture, and Oklahoma City-based design firm active in several high-profile projects, including the I-40 Corridor Beautification Plan.
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It's great to see the progess on this project! Starting construction late fall? Nice. I look forward to seeing how this project progresses and how it affects the areas around the FlatIron district as well as what kind of retailers it attracts. This is essentially the link between Bricktown and Automobile Alley.
How exciting!
Luke
Originally Posted by Patrick
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