Wed June 4, 2008

City negotiates with firm to rethink Bricktown's future
Daily Oklahoman
By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

Jim Cowan has spent the past 16 years as a restaurant manager, owner and now director of the Bricktown Association watching growth spurts, controversies, success stories and failures in what is considered the top entertainment district in Oklahoma.

A lot has been said, written and speculated about the district's future — but what it doesn't have, Cowan says, is a current master plan.

That may be about to change, however, as Oklahoma City negotiates a consulting contract with Robert Charles Lester & Co., a 41-year-old real estate advisory firm with offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla. The Oklahoma City Council on Tuesday authorized city staff to begin negotiating a contract with the firm.

"The last master plan was done in the early '90s,” Cowan said. "It is structurally useless. There were facets of it that the Bricktown Urban Design Committee uses today. But otherwise, there isn't that much else being used.”

Oklahoma City Planning Director Russell Claus, who sat on the committee that selected Robert Charles Lester & Co., said he was impressed by the firm's staff and experience. The firm is one of the country's largest real estate consultants with projects that include the $1.2 billion transformation plan for Los Angeles' Grand Avenue district and master plans for the Camden Yards district in Baltimore and the Glorypark development in Arlington, Texas.

Both Claus and Cowan agreed Bricktown is in jeopardy of having too many restaurants and bars — one of the many tasks ahead once a consulting contract is finalized.

"Part of the intent of this plan is to try to seek some diversity here,” Claus said. "We have too many eggs in the same basket,” Claus said. "We want to appeal to a broader sector of the community.”

Cowan noted that despite Bricktown's appearance of success, it's still half vacant. At least a dozen buildings are either empty and/or awaiting redevelopment. And while other districts, including Wichita's Old Town, boast dozens of shops, Bricktown has but a half dozen.

"People scream, ‘We need more retail, we need more retail,' and this is to also look at how we attract that retail, and keep what we've got,” Cowan said. "We want to get retail that will complement businesses already down here.”


One owner expects a fresh perspective
Cowan said he also hopes the master plan will encourage owners of undeveloped properties to move forward with improvements. He said too many owners measure success by the rise and fall of property values and not by leasing activity.
"We have a lot of property owners, and they all have their own ideas,” Cowan said. "But this will give everybody a target and ideas on what to do with everything. "

Chuck Ainsworth, a veteran Bricktown developer who is working with Jeff More on the Candy Factory at 1 E Sheridan, also welcomes the creation of a master plan.

"Sometimes it's that old deal where you're in the middle of it all and you can't see the forest for the trees,” Ainsworth said. "If you bring a good professional group from outside to look at the area, it might provide a fresh perspective. A survey like this might assist or motivate owners to do something with properties that have been sitting vacant for a long time.”

City negotiates with firm to rethink Bricktown's future | NewsOK.com

Well it's about time!

Come down off the rent and you'll have retail.

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Yup. It would be nice to have some "legit" retail...how Kansas City can support all their high-end reatil in the plaza and we don't have any of it is beyond me.

I think Bricktown should take on a little of the Southlake, Texas Town Center feel:

Link

Tons of great stores. Southlake is one of the state's finest communities.

Well we don't want it to look like a modern lifestyle center. There are much better examples of historic districts that have thriving retail. Union Square San Francisco, for example.

I agree with jbrown84... no lifestyle centers!

Retail never left Union Square or downtown San Francisco in general. Comparing downtown San Francsico (one of the great urban centers in the world) and Bricktown is like comparing Neptune and the Earth. But I agree with your premise as far as historic district renovations go.

I'm simply talking about the way it's all put together. It shouldn't look all uniform "planned" like a modern lifestyle center in the suburbs would. It can be planned but it shouldn't look planned.

I think if they were to spark more downtown living by keeping the prices set appropriately to the average income of OKC they would be able to support retail. I just checked out Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm in Allen, TX. Now that is how develop a community.