Spring Creek Village in Edmond

This was in today's Oklahoman.

http://www.newsok.com/article/132446...=business/main

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Planned Edmond development seeks high-profile shops
By Tricia Pemberton
The Oklahoman

A $7 million shopping center will join a sister concept at the intersection of 15th Street and Bryant Avenue in Edmond - this one on the northwest corner.

Spring Creek Village of Edmond has different owners from Spring Creek Plaza, on the northeast corner, but it will be very much the same type of shopping center, owner Charles Ballenger said.

“We’ll be soliciting pretty high-profile type retailers,” he said.

With room for about 18 to 24 retailers, Ballenger said he is seeking lease agreements from local and national retailers such as BC Clark Jewelers, Balliet’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Williams-Sonoma, Ralph Lauren, Banana Republic, The Gap, Pottery Barn and others.

Mark Inman, with CB Richard Ellis is handling leasing for the center.

Ballenger said when he and his brother, Thomas, purchased about eight acres at the site and approached the city of Edmond with the idea of building a shopping center, they were met with concerns from the city council and the planning commission about a single-elevation building that would look too much like a strip mall.

Working with local architect George Winters of Studio Architecture, the Ballenger brothers came up with three buildings built on varying elevations to match the topography of the site.

Oscar J. Boldt Construction will build the center.

“We embraced everything the council wanted us to do. We’re going to do business in their city, and we didn’t want to be adversarial,” Ballenger said.

“We will be using territorial architecture with Victorian influences, not unlike downtown Edmond and a lot of towns throughout Oklahoma. We are keeping with indigenous materials. We’ll have some water fountains we think will add a lot to the aesthetics.”

Ballenger said he drew inspiration for the center from malls such as ones in Westlake Village, Ca., Telluride, Colo., Utica Square in Tulsa, and Spring Creek Plaza across the street.

Ballenger’s plan also met the approval of previous property owners.

Wanda Cantrell, past executive director of the Edmond Chamber of Commerce from 1991 to 2000, said her family had owned property on the corner since 1944.

“We grew up there. When my dad deeded the land to my brothers and sisters and I, he made the comment, ‘Maybe somebody will build something we’ll be proud of.’

“This was the best opportunity in terms of the kind of development we really wanted to see there. Mr. Ballenger’s vision for an upscale center was exactly what we wanted,” Cantrell said.

With the plan approved by both the Edmond City Council and the Planning Commission, the Ballenger brothers have begun grading work at the site and expect construction to be completed by late November or early December.

The Ballenger brothers have done business as Ballengers Furniture in Oklahoma City since 1965.

Charles Ballenger said they are very committed to Oklahoma City but were drawn to Edmond because of the city’s demographics.

Ballenger said he used statistics from the Edmond Economic Development Authority: Nearly half of Edmond’s residents, 48 percent, over age 25 have a bachelor’s degree; The 2003 estimated median household income of $57,352 is higher than the 2003 national median of $43,318, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In addition, Edmond is No. 3 on the Top 100 Places to Live list, according to relocateamerica.com, Ballenger said, just behind Venice, Fla., and Paragould, Ark.
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Sounds good.

Wish something like that would have been put downtown. I suppose in time it will.

I really like the way that the city of Edmond uses their leverage as a city to push for high quality development. I really wish Oklahoma City would be more strict in their development codes. Seems like OKC just issues a building permit to anyone and everyone. That's the reason the Wal-Mart Super Center on Danforth has a sea of trees around it, while those in OKC have seas of concrete around them. Oklahoma City needs to get tougher with developer and demand more.

Anyways, it will be interesting to see what tenants move into this development. For some reason I doubt Saks will move in there......they told me last year our market dynamics didn't meet their requirements. But, hey if Edmond can attract a Saks, I'm all for it! A 4th BC Clark location would be interesting. I just hope they don't close North Park, their lowest performing store.I wouldn't be surprised if Balliet's closed their store at 50 Penn Place...they've been looking to move somewhere for a few years now. But even if they locate a store in Edmond, I bet they still keep a store at 50 Penn Place. Edmond needs high scale development, but I hope it doesn't steal opportunities away from Oklahoma City. It doesn't appear to though, because about everything that's moved to Spring Creek has also moved to Penn Square.

Keep an eye on Balliet's and BC Clark. I'll be interested to see if they close any stores with this move.

According to the article, construction is supposed to be completed by "late November or early December." Any Edmondites have news on this? Which retailers have and have not committed? When will the shopping center be open?

I talked with Jim Clark, owner of BC Clark...he told me the story was false.....he is not opening any new locations. Also, the owner of Balliets said the same. They're not moving from 50 Penn Place nor are they opening any new locations. I found out much of the info. in this article was either stretching the truth or not true.

Anyways, this development is happening, but don't look for it to be complete by later this year. That's a long stretch.

Interesting. Can anyone from that area tell us what it looks like now? Has construction even begun? How complete does it look? Thanks.

I'm going up to Edmond this week.....possibly tomorrow. My fiancee has been wanting to go to Ann Taylor Loft there at Spring Creek Plaza. I'll give a report after we go up there this week! If anyone else has been in that general vicinity, i.e., Midtowner up at UCO, please feel free to give us an update.

Immortal has discovered the first tenant for Spring Creek Village will be Starbucks.

My Starbucks contact said Anthropologie is going in too. My life will be complete if that's the case, LOL>

Boy, that's original.

This market is definitely getting oversaturated when it comes to Starbucks. Seems like there's one on every corner.

Well, in Edmond there is. But it's like 7-Eleven--you can have one on every corner and it will do fine. People like Starbucks. And it's upscale enough that it doesn't bother me that there will be one in SCV.

Not even close, when compared with other cities.

You are SO right, Patrick. This market and every other one I seem to visit.

We have to get one downtown. The reason, I don't know why.

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asta2
I wrote them about a store in Edmond and this is what they have to say. I know this belongs in the Edmond part of the site but noticed this thread was in the OKC part of the site so here you go.....


Hello,

I apologize for the inconvenience, but I do not have any information that an Anthropologie Store will be opening in this area before 2008.

If you require additional assistance or have any other questions, please contact us at service@anthropologie.com.

Please include this email with your reply.

Sincerely,
Melissa Jeffers
Anthropologie

The key there is "before 2008." Tells me there will be a store located there by 2008. It will take a few years to completely fill that development.

The reason is that there is a demand. It will be awhile. They have not even started construction yet. Any other news on the new tenants of Spring Creek?

Ballenger's Furniture, as Mr. Ballenger is developing the property...

We were told Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, and more stores of that quality when the project was getting underway, but who ends up in the spaces is yet to be seen.

That was overamibtious reporting on the writer's part. He/She also claimed were were getting a BC Clark, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Balliets, etc. there. Thus far, all of those companies have denied that. BC Clark and Balliets have both said they're not expanding. I'd still say in the future there might be a good possiblity of getting the Williams Sonoma chain up there though.

This issue was discussed more than a year ago. I used to work for Williams-Sonoma regional office which also includes Pottery Barn, West Elm, and all their other chains of stores. None of their companies were scheduled and to my knowledge are still not scheduled for any new stores in Oklahoma. If someone is confirming they are coming, it's bunk. I'll check into it more and see if I can find anything different though.

Jack, I have to disagree with you on this one. Your right, the key is before 2008, not so much that there will be a store there by then, but it simply means not before then. Most companies don't have an indefinite expansion calendar. They have a one year or two year calendar of all the "proposed" or "planned" stores. This simply means we're not on their radar at the current time. I'm sure we will have a good chance the next go around between 2008-2010. I'm pretty sure the shopping center will be well full by 2008 although they might bump an existing tenant not wanting to renew their lease or they might locate elsewhere.

On a sidenote, there is location in the metro that Anthropologie is interested in placing a store.

John,

Did you read my post above about Anthropologie? I asked them about the possibility of a store in Edmond or the OKC metro. They said they don't have it on the drawing boards. I hope they are wrong but that was there official statement

I saw your post, that's why I decided to throw out that bit of info. Business is much like poker, you dont want to show all your cards.

Went by there today, and there are permits up for Ballenger's Furniture (the anchor in the middle), Legacy Bank (corner on the west end), and Louie's Sports Grill (east end of middle building).

Is this connected with Louie's on the Lake?