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I guess it’s no big deal to share some shots I took last night during the debut party for Oklahoma Today’s all OKC issue at the new Iguana Mexican Grill at NW 9 and Broadway. 

Have fun and spot the downtown players … my spottings included Greg Banta visiting with Mickey Clagg (now that’s a discussion I’d like to listen in on), Bert Belanger, who was accompanied by a Houston apartment developer (just visiting, I’m sure), Chris and Meg Salyer, who I’ll bet are simply bewildered by the idea that Steve Mason has taken properties on the verge of collapse and spent millions to bring them back to life (this inside joke is a test on how much you know about the history of Automobile Alley), architect Rand Elliott and his wife Jeanette (still waiting to see what Kerr Park will look like), MidTown’s Arturo Chavez (quit following me!), the usual gang from Downtown Oklahoma City Inc., Skirvin Hilton General Manager John Williams, that crazy river guy Pat Downes, and many more.

Final note: Ah… free food and drink. Sure fire way to get a reporter in the room. This issue of Oklahoma Today is really impressive - it’s a nice recap of what’s going on downtown and throughout the city.

It’s a vision - that’s for sure. How much of it will come true, especially without Greg Banta’s name no longer attached? Hard to say, but Blair Humphreys over at www.imaginativeamerica.com brought this to our attention just as we’re all wondering what’s next for MidTown now that Banta has sold his interests to partners Bob Howard and Mickey Clagg.


Midtown Oklahoma City Animation - by Skyline Ink from imagiNATIVEamerica on Vimeo.

Even if Greg Banta never takes another step into MidTown, his place in the district’s history is already secure. In today’s Oklahoman, I’m reporting Banta’s departure from the MidTown Renaissance development. Partners Bob Howard and Mickey Clagg, whose financial backing was critical to Banta’s success to date, have bought out his interests and they say they are continuing with his vision.

And what a vision it is. MidTown was so bad just a few years ago that St. Anthony Hospital was seriously considering abandoning the neighborhood. Their decision to stay and partner with the city to improve the community was significant. But it was Banta who came in and created a plan to buy up almost all of the area’s flop houses and convert them into offices and housing. Ironically, it’s that initial part of the development has yet to be proven out - much of the property is just about done being renovated. The bigger bounce came with the arrival of Howard and Clagg. They bought the long empty Plaza Court and a string of diliapidated but interesting looking buildings along Walker Avenue and NW 10.

Some properties they bought at slum prices (what they were worth). As word got out, they had to pay more than face value. Either way, this neighborhood is no longer blighted - it’s clearly become an alternative to Bricktown. It’s an entertainment district for locals with no paid parking (though it’s increasingly difficult to find spaces when the district is really rocking).

Of course people will wonder why Banta sold out. Gossip will always follow an event like this. But regardless of how and why, if the folks running the Dean A. McGee Awards are looking for a good candidate for next year’s Neal Horton Award, maybe it’s time to consider a three-way tie.

One must wonder what Banta will do next. There are a lot more properties in the area with different owners that could use his sort of vision. If he can get some of those into play, and Howard and Clagg continue with their development as they say they will, who is to say this won’t end up being a win for everybody?

By the way, having just read www.newsok.com, I can tell you you’ll get more information on this story if you pick up the paper.

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. 

The wait in MidTown is over. McNellie’s is open at the Plaza Court - and everybody can decide for themselves whether this much beloved Irish pub in Tulsa is as great as everyone says it is.

(For what it’s worth, I visited prior to the opening and couldn’t help but be impressed by what these folks have done with the one-time home of Veasey Drugs).

Quick comments about catching dinner last night at 1492 New World Cuisine in MidTown:

- The restaurant was doing great business. Bar had patrons, about half to two-thirds of the dining room stayed full from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m.

- I observed similar business at nearby Irma’s and Cafe do’ Brasil.

- With all the old trees and shrubs removed around the old Osler Building, it’s even more stunning to look at. I was surprised to see a corner front balcony I had never noticed before, and the architecture, well, it’s stunning. Greg Banta has said he wants to convert the building into housing.

- James E. McNelly’s Irish Pub is getting very close to opening. I’ll visit there today and report back.

- Parking, parking, parking. Nobody is charging $5 or $10 to park as they are in Bricktown. But spaces are getting hard to find. Can MidTown learn from what many say is Bricktown’s greatest weakness?

In case you missed it, I got to visit a pretty hip new downtown cafe last week (and by hip, I mean, can you dig it?). Read the story here.

John McBryde barely feels the heat from the oven at his new Prairie Thunder Baking Company in MidTown’s Plaza Court Building. Read the story here.

Watch the video here.

Now is the time to move up to Downtown Oklahoma City! On Saturday, May 3, the Move UP Downtown Living Tour will lead visitors through 11 new or renovated residential developments for sale and lease, with a featured stop at the 2008 Symphony Designer Show House.

This self-guided tour runs from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. and visitors are invited to tour as many properties as they like. The free Move UP shuttles will run a continuous loop of the tour locations until 6 p.m. Stops can be visited in any order. Tour books with maps will be available at each stop. Guests should allow 20 – 30 minutes for each stop they choose to visit.

Free parking will be provided at NW 10th & Robinson across from Hadden Hall, Lower Bricktown lots and the City Center Garage (enter from Park Avenue or Hudson) located at 301 W. Sheridan. Downtown OKC offers over 20,000 lot and on street metered parking spaces for your convenience. Metered spots are free on weekends.

The 11 stops featured on the tour include; Block 42; The Hill; The Sieber; Legacy at Arts Quarter; Carnegie Centre; Park Harvey; Sycamore Square South; Lower Bricktown/Centennial; The Montgomery; Hadden Hall; and Brownstones at Maywood Park and the 2008 Symphony Designer Show House. Click here for a tour map

Tour guests will experience all that downtown OKC has to offer, with restaurants and specialty shops offering tour specials and prizes. As guests visit each property, they are invited to register to win one of many exciting Downtown prizes. The more properties visited, the better the chance to win! Prizes include a $2,000 gift certificate to Bo Concept Urban Design; a “Downtown Test Drive” at the Skirvin Hilton with a deluxe room and dinner at the Park Avenue Grill; and gift certificates and passes to many of Downtown’s finest eating establishments and exciting attractions

The 35th annual Symphony Designers Show House and Gardens, a project of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, will feature the new downtown construction of the Brownstones at Maywood Park. Admission to the Symphony Designer Show House is $15.00 each and no children under 8 or cameras are allowed. The Show House is open until 3:30 on May 3. The Show House opens runs through May 18.

The Move UP Downtown Living Tour is produced by Downtown OKC Inc. and sponsored by the Downtown Business Improvement District, The Oklahoman, Downtown Magazine and the Downtown Developers. Supporting sponsors include Bo Concept Urban Design, Downtown Urban Neighbors (U.N.) and Red Prime Steak.

SoundBites Concert Series Tomorrow! The John Arnold Band

Both kinds of music, country and western, will fill the Downtown spring air today as the The John Arnold Band takes the stage to entertain downtowners on their lunch break The band won the $50,000 national Dodge-Wrangler Country Showdown and has toured across the US with Ricky Skaggs and Exile. They have opened for such artists as George Strait, Steve Wariner, Marty Stuart, Reba McEntire, Michael Martin Murphey, The Bellamy Brothers, The Judds, T. Graham Brown, and many others.

SoundBites concerts happen Fridays in May and June from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. in Couch Park, located between Broadway and Robinson at Robert S. Kerr, adjacent to Kerr Park.

SoundBites concerts include:

May 2…..John Arnold Band
May 9…..The Bluecats
May 16….Camille Harp
May 23….Horseshoe Road (Steve’s note: these guys are good - future national showcase performers good)
May 30….Starkweather Boys
June 6…..Shakespearean Afternoon Delight by Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park June 13…..Aranda
June 20…..Groove Merchants/SoundBites at Sunset 4:30 – 6:30

Hungry downtowners are encouraged to visit one of the many fine SoundBites restaurant partners to grab a lunch to go and enjoy the tunes. These restaurant partners are offering a special $5 “SoundBites2Go” lunch special! Couch Park features tables with umbrellas and cozy shaded seating areas and is the perfect spot for a midday Downtown retreat from the office.

To take advantage of the SoundBites2Go $5 lunch specials, visit the following:

Quizno’s………………110 N. Robinson….232-7773
Sub Stop……………..120 N Robinson…..232-3332
Interurban……………..204 N. Robinson….235-4448
City Bites……………..211 N. Robinson….232-3322
Ground Floor Café…..211 N. Robinson….232-2233
Crave……………………211 N. Robinson…..606-6691

SoundBites in the Park is presented by the Downtown Oklahoma City Business Improvement District, managed by Downtown Oklahoma City, Inc.

For more information regarding SoundBites in the Park or the BID, contact Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. at (405) 235-3500.

In case you missed the Saturday story…

Downtown spreads out
Housing developers tackle their projects on small lots of land
By Steve lackmeyer
Business Writer