Another Incredible Video by William Hider
It’s hot outside. Television is a wasteland taken over the Kardashians and Truumps of the world. Sit back and instead enjoy this incredible film produced by William Hider showing Bricktown of yesterday and today. I promise, it’s one great video and one the Bricktown Association might want to add as a permanent addition to their website.
Danger Warnings in Bricktown?
An interesting conversation is taking place over at www.okctalk.com about America’s Pub in Bricktown. I wonder if anyone in Bricktown is aware of this discussion, or what it could mean to the district if this situation is true and blows up.
Some Quick Bricktown News
I’m working on a story for Tuesday about two potential developments in Bricktown. I say potential because after talking to involved parties, neither deal is ready to go. Gary Berlin has desired to convert the upper floors of his Oklahoma Hardware Building for a couple of years. Chris Johnson, who has gained control of the vacant land across from the JDM Building and along Mickey Mantle Drive (across the canal from each other), is looking at creating parking and retail – a proposal that may or may not encounter some difficulty at this week’s Bricktown Urban Design Committee. Anderson owned land in Bricktown before, even once spoke of going a canal side hotel or retail development, but never seemed to get beyond the business of doing paid surface parking.
Both projects are being proposed as a means to see whether they are financially feasible, and this step does not, by any means, guarantee that either will be done.
Count me as one who will be surprised if both plans proceed as fully envisioned at this moment, within the next year. Of course, I could be wrong.
Texadelphia Responds
Yesterday I wrote about how some Bricktown restaurants and bars seemed to be playing into the stereotype of Oklahoma City as a town that shuts down at 10 p.m. The following is a response from the owner of Texadelphia:
My name is Manny Leclercq and I am one of the owners of the Texadelphia in Bricktown. I want to first apologize to Steve and the customers who had this experience in our restaurant. It is our policy to keep our doors open to customers past the normal closing time when there are special events that might dictate that, and this should have been one of those events. We are fervent supporters of the Oklahoma City Thunder and have been as excited about the current state of our team and our playoff run, as most of you all are. We are even a proud advertising partner with the OKC Thunder through the Bricktown Association. In the past, we have hosted official Budweiser Thunderstruck Event watch parties, which we promoted through social media, and although this Tuesday’s game was not promoted as one of these events, we should have remained open.
Unfortunately, a critically poor decision was made by someone on our management team in closing down before the end of the game, and we have already address the situation with our team.
As some of you might already know, on many of the evening Thunder home games, we are open 2-3 hours past our normal closing time (as late as 1am at times). With many of the away games, especially during the playoffs, we have remained open past our official closing time when there are customers still enjoying the event. We want to promote the Downtown/Bricktown area as the fun, family-friendly social destination that it is. Texadelphia is uniquely fortunate to have world class sporting events in it’s backyard, and we try to celebrate that with the other Oklahomans who enjoy it as much as we do. Please understand that the poor decision by one of our staff members does not reflect on our true sense of civic pride, and our genuine excitement to actively support our home team and the wants/needs of our customers. We are local owners with strong ties to this city, and we are excited to be doing business here.
I can assure you that this sort of occurrence will never happen again, and we hope you will allow us to prove it at some time in the near future. Our goal is to provide our customers with great food, drinks and customer service, in a fun, social setting, and we fell short in this instance. We are looking forward to watching the Thunder play again this Thursday (and we will be staying open for the duration of the game!)
Sincerely,
Manny Leclercq
Texadelphia Social Grill
The Out-of-Towners
The upper deck of the Bricktown Ballpark will soon be covered with tarps with advertising.
Bricktown Ballpark. I know it’s a name that is endeared in the community. Many of you do as well. But once again, there’s an effort to do away it. First we saw Southwestern Bell Park. The city revolted. Then there was a compromise offered by the owners of the RedHawks – Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark – that was accepted and embraced. Then onto SBC Bricktown Ballpark, then on to AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.
All along there has been a quiet understanding – keep the name Bricktown Ballpark and everything will be fine.
Now the fad of corporations paying big bucks for naming rights is over (aren’t we all excited about the improvements over at “Oklahoma City Arena”?). The RedHawks were bought by out-of-town owners, Mandalay, and they are making changes as detailed in today’s Oklahoman.
Welcome to RedHawks Ballpark. This is a move by owners who may or may not realize the change in name from the Oklahoma City ’89ers to RedHawks back in 1998 itself wasn’t the most popular move. But no matter. The new owners also are closing off the upper deck that gave residents pride in this new stadium – one that may be minor league, but thanks to the seating capacity and the upper deck, just felt major league.
I suspect that if a survey were to go out, neither change would get a ringing endorsement by local baseball fans or the community at large. But maybe I’m wrong. We’ve seen the out-of-towners come into town making such changes before – there are those who would say just look at First National Tower as example of owners who charted new directions based on their own views of the world, locals be damned, and then faced the consequences later on.
What do you think?
Bricktown Art Festival – Unwelcome Business?
So the Montage Festival folks won at City Council this morning over the Bricktown Association when it comes to closing Mickey Mantle Drive for an entire weekend this summer for a for-profit art festival.
The vote was divided, 6-2, and the Bricktown merchants and property owners made it clear they are not happy with the Montage company closing down a main arterial street for so long.The Bricktown Association indicated today they were willing to go with several different compromises. The Montage company did not at any point in the conversation indicate they were willing to budge from their demand the street be closed all weekend.This having been said, how will this bad blood impact the festival and those who choose to be a part of it? The Bricktown Association could launch its own arts festival that same weekend on the plaza of Mickey Mantle Drive and the ballpark – allowing vendors to set up their tents for free, and thus diluting the business model for Montage. Or they could set up a music festival on the ballpark plaza or Mickey Mantle Plaza or even on the adjoining private property. Or they could simply set their lawn sprinklers on full blast, and if it sprays onto the street where the artists’ booths are, well, it’s summer and the grass does need water.
The Bricktown Association could go a different direction by reviving its Taste of Bricktown to be held in the ballpark plaza at the same time as the art festival and assisting the organizers in keeping the booths open later in the evening – thus making this an event that truly benefits everybody concerned.
In talking with one veteran observer of the entertainment district, one is reminded that any of these responses wouldn’t be shocking. And in Bricktown anything is possible.
And The Answer Is …
Avis Scaramucci
The parking lot with the $20 parking is attached to the Rock Island Plow Building, owned by Bricktown Association chairwoman Avis Scaramucci. The irony is, of course, that it was Avis who led the charge against $20 parking arguing it gives Bricktown a bad image to locals and visitors.
I talked with Avis today, who responded she was surprised by the $20 charge. She said she contracts with American Parking to operate the lot, receives a flat sum each month with any profit pocketed by American Parking. She says she still thinks $20 parking signs hurt Bricktown’s image, and said she will talk to the operator. She said she didn’t have any control over the operator’s price controls and wasn’t aware of the charge because she doesn’t drive along Reno Avenue.
When asked further about this question of control, she did acknowledge she has the option of terminating her agreement with the operator. I’ll be interested in hearing what more she has to say after talking with American Parking. What’s interesting is that Brent and Brett Brewer were tagged with being behind these charges, when in fact, I can’t say I’ve seen them go with $20 parking since the association members and parking operators agreed to cap their charges at $10. Now, to be fair, keep in mind that Avis has donated a lot of her time and resources to Bricktown, making it better, and her pride in the district can be seen from the moment someone drives by her restaurant, sees the elaborate landscaping, and then for anyone who goes inside and sees one of the nicest establishments in Bricktown.
I can’t imagine she’s too thrilled with American Parking right now. So what happens next?
$20 Parking Returns to Bricktown
$20 parking returns to Bricktown
A couple of years ago, Bricktown merchants and property owners banded together behind association chair Avis Scaramuci and director Jim Cowan and tried to address complaints about parking once and for all. For years the district had argued it was not a real problem, it was a perception problem. It was Scaramuci and Cowan (who left as director last summer) who realized they shared responsibility for that perception problem.
So what did they do? They first tried a half-hearted merchant validation program. I say half-hearted because Jim, toward the end, would admit promotion and explanation of the program to visitors could have been better. The district then stood together and promised to end $20 parking. They also teamed up with the Thunder during its first-ever home game – a night when every space downtown was expected to be taken. They provided free parking – free – at the Bricktown garage and the lots along Main Street. And guess what? Dozens of spaces went untaken.
From that point on, the number of emails, calls and comments I received complaining about parking in Bricktown dropped significantly.
But now the $20 parking is back … care to guess who owns this lot? (MORE TO COME)
More Thoughts on the Convention Center
A couple years ago, before voters approved MAPS 3, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber hired consultants to look at potential sites and talk to meeting planners, visitors. Their preference for a new convention center? They liked the Cox Center’s proximity to Bricktown and they wanted to see a new one with similar proximity. They liked having Bricktown as an amenity.
Now locals are chiming in, via a poll conducted in this week’s Gazette. Their preference? You probably guessed it… they want to see a new convention center near Bricktown. they’re also not too keen about the potential of the city paying for a new conference hotel.
This and That
Could signage like this be helpful to "upper" Bricktown as well?
Lot’s of miscellaneous items today.
Item No. 1
The above signage ought to go a long way in promoting tenants in Lower Bricktown. But the question remains – if signage like this is ok in upper Bricktown, which enjoys the advantage of free parking and one sane owner and developer, than why can’t one be used to promote the restaurants and retailers along the Bricktown Canal north of Reno Avenue?
Item No. 2
Devon released renderings about a year ago for the auditorium that will be built at the corner of Hudson and Sheridan. Sometimes it’s the finer details that prove to be interesting. From the rendering submitted recently to design review it would appear that architect Jon Pickard is once again nodding to a bit of downtown’s Art Deco heritage by going with the sort of lettering for the auditorium entry that, at first glance, hearkens to the Civic Center and First National Tower.
Speaking of Devon tower (which we now know will be referred to as Devon Energy Center), here’s the latest view from the OKC Skyline cam at www.newsok.com/okcskyline:
Item No. 3
Final thoughts…. seems as if the dream scenario of a real local station being allowed to exist in this market is was just that – a dream, albeit one enjoyed for real for little more than a year at 105.3 FM. The corporate types have done what they do, and now the real Spy can only be found at www.thespyfm.com. I’m not sure what the corporate folks are thinking, but in the age of the Internet they won’t fool followers of Ferris O’Brien for long. They will abandon the radio station and follow him to his online station. This begs the question though – can Ferris pull it off online only?
Photo suggested by a local obscure social blog.
Here’s my thought – and from what I learned today, it’s something that’s been talked about: move The Spy to The Oklahoma Hardware Building in Bricktown, home to the increasingly awesome and inspiring ACM@UCO. Ferris would be attached to some of the city’s best aspiring musicians and might even have an “in” on doing live broadcasts of masters classes guests (Jackson Brown was the latest visitor, with prior guests including Roger Daltrey). Imagine a lecture given by Chris Martin going over live…
