Comments on: Getting Engaged

By: MARSH

MARSH — Mon, 03 May 2010 00:50:46 +0000

I was in Kansas City this weekend staying on the Plaza. It was packed with people on Sunday , many my age, 60ish. We seldom see this age group in Bricktown. I’m convinced free parking is a start to the answer of attracting that group and then retail to follow.
Without free parking through out Bricktown, I don’t ever see significant retail ever happening.
People in Okc will not shop if they have to pay to park to do it.

By: Chad

Chad — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:25:19 +0000

Reggie,

That is definitely an inspiration for us. One of my partners is from Boston originally. I’ve been to Quincy Market a couple of times myself and loved it. I believe that type of FEEL can ultimately be pulled off down here, especially if we can have a critical mass of places like our own.

Now, as a disclaimer, I will again stress that the space, 6,000 feet, low ceilings, etc., is obviously NOTHING like Quincy Market or most of Pike Place Market. But they were inspirations, and show what can be done with stalls and a diverse tenant mix in an area frequented by locals and visitors. The River Market in Little Rock that Jeff mentions is another example, and a place I have visited multiple times over the past several years.

One of the great things I saw in Little Rock, by the way, was a converted warehouse bookstore/coffee shop, whose used books were actually surplus books from the LR library, and whose profits benefit the LR equivalent of OKC’s Friends of the Library.

By: david ball

david ball — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:24:20 +0000

gosh steve, your headline made me think you were about to get hitched…

By: Reggie Jet

Reggie Jet — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:00:17 +0000

Well, Chad, if you’re aiming for an experience like what you can find in Boston at Quincy Market, then I’m on board!

By: Jeff M. Bezdek

Jeff M. Bezdek — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:12:41 +0000

The reality is that this product is borne out of the reality that rents are so incredibly high for commercial space. “Mom and Pop” can’t afford it. Therefore, this is a great solution to carving out a space where they can thrive.

I think that the same some could be said of food. The Little Rock “River Market” (its a public market, is of the same vein in concept.

We should take notice.

By: Chad

Chad — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:41:47 +0000

Steve, would be happy to guest blog about it soon. Although the size/type of space and the transaction aspects are quite different (we serve as the staff for the retailers who rent space), people who have visited Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market in Boston or Pike Place Market in Seattle will understand the FEEL of what we hope to accomplish.

Another place that was an inspiration for us actually existed in Bricktown in the 1990s. Many will remember the Bricktown Mercantile as a place that made you believe the sky was the limit for interesting, local retail in the district. I always felt that place was 15 years ahead of its time and would do incredible business were it open in the district today.

By: Nick Roberts

Nick Roberts — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:21:42 +0000

OKC Talk really is the scourge of the world, though..

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:56 +0000

On a flight from LA to Denver about a year ago I happened to be seated next to a very attractive woman. In conversation I found out she was a buyer for Nordstrum’s. After some conversation I asked her about the possibility of them locating a store in the OKC metro. After she quit laughing she informed me that there was a zero chance of that happening. I then pressed the subject, giving numerous references to our cosmopolitan coming of age. There were quite a things about OKC she was not aware of but still saw no way that a store of Nordstrum’s reputation ever locating in OKC. We have a lot of work to do.

By: Michael Herndon

Michael Herndon — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:59:39 +0000

Slim. That’s not what was said. It was said big retailers aren’t going to be downtown for the near-future. It will be a couple years before we can even begin to build up some quality retail.

You are being a bit sensitive about this. A bit too much. Very few people out of that whole thread called it a “flea-market”. And there were a lot of concurring opinions with yours.

You’re making it seem everyone single poster at OKCtalk are online trolls.

By: Slim

Slim — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:57:41 +0000

I guess the smart folks at oktalk were not present at the ULI study.

Big retailers ain’t coming to downtown OKC.