Broadway Redevelopment

Buildings are bought to be demolished
Steve Lackmeyer

Former sex-offender halfway houses operated until earlier this year by Hand Up Ministries are now owned by Bert Belanger. The properties have fallen into disrepair, and Belanger is planning to demolish them and a neighboring former nursing home this summer. provided by hand up ministries

Belanger, previously a partner in the Maywood Park development and owner of the Momentum Market, confirmed he formed Sebe Holdings and bought several properties along Broadway Drive between NW 11 and NW 13.

Which properties?
Purchases include:

•Former sex offender halfway houses, 1100 block of Broadway Drive, $520,000.

•The former Park Manor Nursing Home, 1210 Broadway Drive, $1,234,000

•Viney's Garage, 16 NW 11, $100,000.

Belanger acknowledged the former sex offender duplexes have been extensively vandalized in recent weeks, and curtains now blow out from broken windows while debris is strewn across the front porches.

"I'm going to knock them all down,” Belanger said. "I've applied for permits and it's all slated for demolition within the next 60 days.”

Site was neglected
Belanger referred to the former garage as a junkyard and promised it, too, will be cleared in the near future.

The purchases will give Belanger control of one of the last stretches of blighted properties visible from Automobile Alley.

A small park separates the lots from Broadway.

"It's a great site, and that park has been unused and somewhat neglected for the last 15 to 20 years,” Belanger said.

"Nobody ever thinks about it, but it's a great 2-acre park that could be something special. We've had lots of ideas, and we're working with all the usual stakeholders.”

Brett Hamm, president of Downtown Oklahoma City Inc., said the area between Broadway and Interstate 235 is ripe for such redevelopment.

"I don't think there is any doubt there are greater opportunities there than halfway houses for sex offenders,” Hamm said.

Wow, almost $2 million for a bunch of tear-down properties.

Really glad to see this as it is in close proximity to all the good things happening on Broadway and that little park is a diamond in the rough.

I believe the nursing home is the large square building on the left, the duplexes are clustered in the middle and the garage is just behind them:

Bert Belanger has always been a forward thinker and made an early mark by acquiring several blighted multi-family buildings in the Paseo over ten years ago and redeveloping them into the Brighton Apartment complex which was the lynch pin of the revitalization of the Paseo Neighborhood and adjacent commercial strip. To add some time context; the OKCity sponsored Paseo Neighborhood revitilization project, the first officially sanctioned OKC neighborhood revitilization project, began around 1985 and still has another five or so years ahead of it before we can really declare victory; almost thirty years.

Belanger's plans for this Off-Broadway area are quite ambitious and will set the stage for the next phase of downtown OKC’s return to a vital mixed-use urban neighborhood. The potentially high number of residential units accompanied by major retail envisioned for the strip between Broadway & I-235 and 13th & 10th could also provide the impetus for the development of a modern transit loop connecting Downtown, Midtown, The OU Health Sciences Center and Bricktown.

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The Old Downtown Guy

It will take decades for Oklahoma City's
downtown core to regain its lost gritty,
dynamic urban character, but it's exciting
to observe and participate in the transformation.

ODG, what type of retail is planned for this site?

As I recall, only residential rental is planned for this first little piece that was the subject of Steve Lackmeyer's article. Large retail is a component in the long range concept as is structured parking and other contributing uses.

On a related note, a collection of small buildings on 9th Street, east of Broadway right at the tracks is being rehabbed by Steve Mason for use by the former chef of the Iguana to locate a new version of his elclectic Mexican restaurant formerly housed on N Western Avenue.

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The Old Downtown Guy

It will take decades for Oklahoma City's
downtown core to regain its lost gritty,
dynamic urban character, but it's exciting
to observe and participate in the transformation.

As more residential properties come on-line, this would make a lot of sense.

It would be great to get a decent percentage of all those working at St. Anthony, the HSC, the state capitol and downtown to live in the area nearby. Best way to do this would be to provide quick and inexpensive mass transport (no gas or parking fees) and allow people who live down there to get to all the amenities.

A certain amount of walking is good but it would be darn tough to walk from Midtown to downtown or the HSC, especially when the weather is hot/cold/rainy/snowy.

10th and Broadway are perfect for a light rail line connecting OUHSC to midtown to lower downtown. The median could be turned into a ROW and there is a fair amount of density. Still could use more though, and this project is a step in the right direction.

I'll post a reply under a more appropriate thread.

__________________
The Old Downtown Guy

It will take decades for Oklahoma City's
downtown core to regain its lost gritty,
dynamic urban character, but it's exciting
to observe and participate in the transformation.

Does anyone else find it interesting kind of creepy that the halfway houses were next to a park?

^I was about to post the same thing. Unsettling, to say the least!

To call that strip of land a "park" is a bit misleading. I believe it is actually leftover median from the trolley line that used to run down Broadway. When the USS Oklahoma anchor and memorial was moved there in 2007 it became more like a park. The halfway houses were there years before the land even resembled a park.

I'm glad to see them gone...

I know that and I think most people do as well, but the fact is that the article stated "A small park seperates the homes from Broadway." I think it could have been a little better writen. They do state the park has been unused, etc for 10-15 yrs.

I had noticed something was going on with these buildings. It is a prime location for residential development, and then that could spread to some cool historic buildings near the tracks that would make great lofts. The one I'm thinking of is painted white and is currently a book depository or something like that.