Young buyers offered alternative downtown: Maywood Park
By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer



Development of Maywood Park in the Flat Iron district enters a second phase next month with construction starting on condominiums aimed at a market demanding lower-price downtown housing

The $14 million, four-story Lofts at Maywood Park, developed by Ron Bradshaw, will be built on the north side of NE 2 between E.K. Gaylord and Oklahoma Avenue. The flats, priced at $126,000 to $304,000, are being introduced in response to buyers who have expressed frustration at housing in other developments selling at more than $250,000, said Bradshaw, who is developing the complex with his son, Jason Bradshaw, and Pat Garrett.

About half of the Lofts at Maywood Park units will be priced less than $200,000, with payments designed to be "one step up” from an average rental rate for downtown apartments.

"We wanted to develop a product to meet financing points of the younger buyers,” Ron Bradshaw said. "When we started the Brownstones (on NE 3) on the high end, we always intended to surround that with a mixed product.”

The complex will include a first floor for offices and retail. The development's designer, HSE Architects, is among its potential office tenants.

"We're offering an alternative for smaller users who are being pulled to the suburbs because they want to own their own space,” Bradshaw said. "What we're offering includes spaces as small as 1,500 square feet.”

Construction is expected to start by May on the 55-unit complex, which would be built above enclosed parking for residents and commercial tenants. The designs are influenced by surveys of 20-somethings interviewed during conceptual development, Bradshaw said.

Their responses? They want bigger bathtubs, patios, a fitness center, sauna, and a lounge and public grill on the top floor. The complex will include all of the requested amenities, as well as separate storage lockers. The design is more contemporary than the Brownstones at Maywood Park, currently under construction, though the brick color will match those on the more expensive housing.

The units will be fully finished with granite kitchen countertops, appliances and wood flooring. Balconies are available with each of the five floor plans.

Bradshaw estimates the lofts will be completed by mid-2008, while the brownstones will be completed by June. Both the lofts and brownstones are designed for continued expansion along NE 2 and NE 3.

As part of the development, Bradshaw said the group is buying Willards Roofing, 100 NE 4, and providing the company with a new location in Del City. The metal building is slated to be razed this summer, and the property will be included in future development.

The Brownstones at Maywood Park are among four downtown housing projects under construction with most prices at $200,000 and up. Block 42, the Brownstones and The Centennial are all scheduled for completion later this year. Work is also under way on the Central Avenue Villas. Other announced projects include Overholser Green at NW 13 and Walker and several smaller MidTown area condominium developments by Greg Banta.

Brett Hamm, president of Downtown Oklahoma City Inc., agreed downtown has a pent-up demand for entry-level housing. He added the emphasis on higher-priced housing the past two years has been intentional.

"When you're developing a market, you have to start on the high end and work your way down,” Hamm said. "It's very difficult to start low and work up. So that's why we've started the way we have. ... But we've been anxious to see these other price points come in. We need to have a diversity of all income brackets, and not just one.”

That is pretty exciting. This looks like a cool project. Another piece of the puzzle.

Metro, This is the project I talked about earlier.

I coulb be wrong but some deduction tells me that the 1500 units will be around the 126-150 range. With those amenities and the location, I think that's a good deal. This will be great for professional singles and dual-income-no-kids households. And, honestly, with no grocery service and no high end retail to date, this is the market that I think the area can already serve satisfactorily with just the netertainment and work options.

I would be surprised if this wasn't a success in sales and in also injected some life in to the neighborhood.

If these sell quickly -- and I bet they do -- it's likely to kick off a whole new round of residential development at the lower price ranges.

The cool thing is that we now have a whole range of products, which not only gives buyers some real choice but also allows the market to be tested to see where the most demand may be.

Will also make it easier for future developments to get financing.

We've had renderings of these on OkMet for a while. They've been under "2nd and Oklahoma Lofts," I think, if you're interested in seeing some earlier renderings. We will have to update the title to Lofts@Maywood.

shane, quit stooping so low and promoting your site on a competitors site. because of you and Spartan doing such, I won't visit your site.

kim, i figured that this is what you have been waiting for them to announce however you couldn't say anything. I knew it was coming for about a year know, just hadn't seen the renderings. McDermid and Garrett have been talking about it for quite some while and have told me about it. Glad to see it finally be announced.

And all! NOTICE HOW FAST they are starting (In May) and completing the project. Not like the Good Old Boy project Overholser Green that will be built in 4 phases over 4 years and most likely not even start construction until sometime next year!! Glad to see quality developers building quality projects and not tying up public tax money for 4 years that won't even benefit the public. At least this private project has a retail element.

Sorry, there is the post from Patrick on our forum telling everyone to check out OKCTalk, and that we were working together to spark conversation about Oklahoma. I figured it had become a mutual relationship. I misunderstood. I'll refrain from posting relevant references in the future. And OkcTalk can refrain from plagiarizing OkMet. I guess.

Free boards competing for what? We all enjoy talking about the progress in OKC. I hate to break it to you, both boards are made up of the same people. I read both everyday.

It is cool to see the momentum pick up in the Triangle. Thanks to all the "insiders" that have continued to feed the mass of OKC fanatics that read this board. I look forward to watching the progress in OKC.

I've know about this since 'nam.

Oh good God. I should announce that me and Patrick have a tentative affiliation agreement underway. Take that and shove it metro.

Besides rumors I break on my site sometimes wind their way on here same as rumors broken on here wind their way over there, why not give credit?

Shane has over 100 posts on here and I have almost a thousand ... again. We both have more posts here than OKC Talk admin, or even members, combined, including members like wsucougz and bombermwc that mostly spend their time at Met.

But my point is why can't we all just get along? Every time you, metro, bring this up to smear Shane or I is just awful considering I don't even know what I did to you.

So that said can me and Shane go back to posting like normal on here, or do we need to keep addressing this?

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Keep away from Miss Margarita Mean...

We were so busy bickering that we forgot this post. There will not be 1,500 units in this development ... the 1,500 number is square footage count. They will range greatly, starting around $150k to $300k but a clear majority will be below $200k. So there you are mostly correct, my friend.

I think that the Brownstones at Maywood Park will be the one to inject life into the area, as those will be finished soon, this hasn't broken ground yet. Also there is Central Park Villas, Block 42, and others.

The Brownstones is supposed to have almost 100 separate brownstones when finished.

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Keep away from Miss Margarita Mean...

Shane and Spartan you're more than welcome here.. I think we all have the best interests of OKC and through open discussions and information, our city can benefit from the knowledge shared.

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" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

FWIW.

metro, if you have a problem with another member's post, please report it using the red icon at the top of the post.

In regards to okmet, I offered to trade links with them. I think both sites are important and useful in different ways. Ours focuses more on providing residents of OKC a place to come and talk about issues. They focus more on the state.

Needless to say, I did make a post over there advertising our site, but that was done, more to see how willing they would be to join us in sharing links.

I've been trying to take the high road here, as Doug has suggested in the past.

Both me and Patrick, or at least myself, have been under pressure from other members too to keep it classy. It just looks ugly when this feud used to rear its ugly head and now that we're no longer doing that crap I am so glad.

That's why I find the return of the feud so despicable and offensive.

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Keep away from Miss Margarita Mean...

It was certainly unnecessary and very juvenile.

In my defense I wasn't the only one suggesting about competitor's tactics. In fact I was far from the first. I'm usually just the one that gets the blunt of it, but that's ok.

You're just the first one to start spilling your hate over to my other admin. That's when you cross the line buddy.

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Keep away from Miss Margarita Mean...

I like peanut butter.

This will be a great addition. Still wouldn't mind seeing some more rental options as well.

I didn't think that there were 1500 units. I was talking about the 1500 square foot units of the development.

They said they were offering units "as small as" 1500 square feet. The use of the phrase "as small as" suggests that 1500 square feet estimate is probably at the lower end of the sizing. They listed the started asking price as $126,000. So, I took the low end price and combined it with the low end square footage, and deduced in my original post that "the 1500 units will be around the 126-150 range."

Granted, there is some reading between the lines there, but I was just trying to say that seems like a good price range for that size given the location and the amenities included.

I will try and remeber to label my figures completely in the future (my high school physics teacher would be very frustrated). Sorry for the confusion.

I agree. I wonder if some management companies are purchasing any of this property to rent it out. With long term rates still pretty good, these could result in some good cash flow in the future if the property values (and rents) go up.

I could have sworn I saw somewhere the description of a "studio" at around this price. Am I thinking of something else? 1500 sq. ft. is obviously larger than a "studio." $126,000 would be an awful lot for a studio apartment. Am I thinking of another project? I was certain it was this - but now after reading the thread again, I'm not so sure. I guess the good news is that there are so many developments, we can't keep track of what is what. Who would have thought?

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As far as rentals, I don't expect a lot of new projects, but it would be nice to see more lofts in the upper floors of Bricktown and Midtown buildings.