Dog Days of Summer
It’s hot out there. But downtown is still moving forward at a fast clip, and I guess, so must I. As I’ve reported before, more hotels are likley to be announced, most of them in Bricktown.
More housing is coming too – and much of it will be targeted to the pent-up demand for downtown homes priced at less than $200,000.
I’m also beginning to see signs that the folks in Bricktown may be awakening to reality – let’s wait and see of course – but surely a decade of demanding $20 a square foot and not getting it should be a loud and clear answer from the market about what is and isn’t realistic.
Had a nice visit with the owner of Lit Clothing, which opened up in The Centennial. Overall, Lower Bricktown still isn’t hitting the retail mix I know some leaders hoped for several years ago, but it’s getting closer to offering the sort of diversity that’s been missing from Bricktown since day one.
I talked with Chuck Ainsworth, and yes, that is construction you can see starting up in what will the American Banjo Museum. Now, if only someone could close a deal to have the Mickey Mantle Museum. Then we would really have a regional tourism destination.
Automobile Alley is still humming along. I visited with Steve Mason yesterday and I’ll have a story on that soon. I also visited with Marva Ellard, and things are going nicely with her redevelopment of the Sieber Hotel. The Sieber family is still very emotionally attached to that old building and it’s not unusual to find one of them driving by … veeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy sssssssssssllllllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwlllllllllllyyyyyyyy.
Marva is definitely one of those folks I’d call a “building hugger.” I asked her what she thought about Bert Belanger tearing down the old sex offender houses and plans to tear down the boarded up nursing home on Broadway Drive. Her response was ho-hum at best… I’m not hearing from any people who really consider these properties a big loss.
That’s it for now. Sorry for the dearth of posts this week.
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Comments
Nope, you’ve not missed anything yet. Consider this an insider’s tip – a benefit of reading OKC Central – you’re likely to see some announcements soon.
soon, as in months, weeks, or days?
haha you know we hate being teased but love it at the same time, and i think you get the same enjoyment out of teasing!!!
Any midrises Steve? I was informed there were to be some midrises announced for the Deep Deuce/Maywood Park area, but they never came.
I guess i’ll just have to wait unpatiently. 
Things are starting to heat up again downtown. Its been moving quickly, but at a quieter pace. Now some big announcements are coming soon, and they’re gonna be LOUD.
how about an RSS feed option to the blogs?? Or an email option to be updated about specific blogs being updated??
Nice to hear about property owners in Bricktown realizing that they can’t demand sky high leasing prices…
Michael (Thomas), I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit uninformed about how the RSS feeds work, but I think there’s one in the right column. It it’s not working, let me know and I’ll get the smart folks to look at it!
-Steve
Sorry (unpatient) Michael! I didn’t answer your question… jury is still out on whether we’ll still see mid-rises in the Flat Iron.
I know if you download FIrefox you can just lick on the orange RSS button in the toolbar. OKCCentral’s seems to be working fine!
I don’t know much about banjos; look forward to learning more!
Steve, what’s this talk about lower-priced housing? Can you give more details? Have I missed something in the news?