Mideke Building

[Urbanized]

If those names were involved it would indeed be exciting. I've noticed considerably more activity than on the upper floors in that building over the past few months; lights, open windows, etc. I figured something must be bubbling.

[Anonymous.]

Any new details yet this year?


Would be really cool to live here as long as you won't be hearing/feeling the thumping from CityWalk down below.

[UnFrSaKn]

Steve Lackmeyer: Building owners interested in renovating upper floors of Bricktown's old warehouses | News OK

We also are set to soon see housing developed in the upper floors of the Meidike Building at 108 E Main. Brent Brewer is eager to develop the upper floors of the former Hunzicker Brothers building (home to Peachwave and Captain Norm's). The upper floors Spaghetti Warehouse, meanwhile, are only undeveloped because efforts to do deals with the out-of-state owners to date have been unsuccessful.

He misspelled "Mideke", formerly the home of the Mideke Supply Co.

[betts]

Any new details yet this year?


Would be really cool to live here as long as you won't be hearing/feeling the thumping from CityWalk down below.

I was up on the roof for 4th of July and got to tour the top floor. There are some great views up there and really nice space and windows. It reminds me of what the Guardian space must have looked like pre-reno.

[UnFrSaKn]

Downtown Oklahoma City civic leaders watch pace of housing, hotel development | News OK

[Urbanized]

I'm sure Steve can dig it up somewhere, but back around 1999 or 2000 OCURA sponsored a study that concluded downtown OKC had unsatisfied, immediate demand for as many as 6000 units (or perhaps people, which would of course be a bit different but would still equate to a large number of units). That is, if those units magically appeared overnight they would be immediately absorbed.

That was LONG before downtown boasted its current amenities and cool factor.

I'm not too concerned about housing being overbuilt; my only concern would be that developers would stifle the market by building tone-deaf product like some we've seen in the past (not naming names).

Regarding hotel saturation, I think we're far from that point based on the relative difficulty you'll have securing a room downtown these days. Last week I had a business guest in town, and he had a horrible time finding lodging, including being kicked out of the Sheraton mid-stay (he agreed to it when booking) to accommodate a guest with a pre-existing reservation. Properties are consistently quite full, and prices are quite high compared to the rest of the market.

I also doubt the economy choices currently coming online will have any negative impact on the outlook for a convention hotel. I think they will actually be more complementary to than competitive with.

I do think as Mike Carrier suggests that new properties downtown might start stealing business from outlying hotels, which is a different concern.

[Just the facts]

Lost in the above discussion was the addition of housing to the top 3 floors of the Mideke building.

OKC Central: Mideke building may be turned into houseing | NewsOK Videos

Now back to the addition of 1,000 units in a single development. If that is a real project someone is looking at that it will be a real game changer for downtown and the downtown adjacent neighborhoods because those 1,500 people will bring with them a lot of demand for local goods and services which will in turn make urban living even easier for the next wave of suburban refugees.

[ljbab728]

Steve's updated article about this proposal. The video was in a previous link.

Apartments seen for Mideke building in OKC's Bricktown | News OK

[Pete]

I moved a ton of posts here:

http://www.okctalk.com/general-civic...on-center.html

[Pete]

So, Marva Ellard & Co. are looking to buy the top three floors and turn them into 30 apartments, while the current owners retain the bottom two floors.

Very creative approach and one I hope to see more of in Bricktown, especially if this project is successful (and you can bet it will be):

[AP]

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

[betts]

Having been inside the top 3 floors, I can say that it reminds me of the Guardian, pre-reno. So, I would guess the housing might look a lot like those lofts, which are great looking.

[AP]

I wonder what the pricing will be like when it's all said and done.

[Anonymous.]

This building is BEGGING for a rooftop deck/entertainment space.

[Pete]

This is suddenly a hot corner...

This project, the Holiday Inn Express under construction directly north and the Sherman Iron Works & Foundry building under renovation directly west. And the newly opened Skinny Slim's is just a block to the east.

Would love to see the old foundry part of the Sherman complex sold to a bar/restaurant group, as it's fantastic space and would really help bring Main Street alive.

[Just the facts]

This project received $500,000 in TIF funding from the City yesterday.

[Urbanized]

As a mostly-untouched corner of the district, for quite some time I've felt Main Street was Bricktown's last, best chance to "get it right," from the outset, and then to have that hoped-for success spill back into the rest of the neighborhood. Perhaps this is the tipping point. There's no question in my mind that Main is the district's best opportunity to connect to and improve its reputation with locals, considering it is currently the physical buffer between BT and so much new housing.

[BDP]

As a mostly-untouched corner of the district, for quite some time I've felt Main Street was Bricktown's last, best chance to "get it right," from the outset, and then to have that hoped-for success spill back into the rest of the neighborhood. Perhaps this is the tipping point. There's no question in my mind that Main is the district's best opportunity to connect to and improve its reputation with locals, considering it is currently the physical buffer between BT and so much new housing.

Totally agree. It's got some smaller storefronts too, I believe. Great opportunity to connect with the locals in Deep Deuce as a compliment to Bricktown's tourist approach. I believe a gateway is supposed to be built from DD into bricktown, which would pretty much dump you onto Main, but I believe the Aloft was charged with contributing to it. With their latest watering down of the project, I'm not sure what will happen with that.

[Anonymous.]

There is a BBQ place in Dallas [Butcher Shop Steakhouse] that has a massive corner-lot outdoor patio that is very open and you can actually walk right up to the patio to be seated (without having to go inside the actual restaraunt). It has a staging area near the street below where local bands/artists can rent it out and hook up their equipment and play in the evenings. We were there in the heat of summer last year and the ambiance was amazing - people standing on the streetside listening, restaraunt patrons waiting to be seated listening, and people enjoying the evening outside. It was a very busy corner that would otherwise be dead without this patio and staging area. (Across the street is also a Spaghetti Warehouse).


I can only wish for OKC to have a similar establishment/area somewhere in the Bricktown - Deep Deuce transition area where a high pedestrian traffic area is developed into something special. Keep in mind, Main St in BT is not a high-auto traffic street, it would be perfect for this type of setting.

Locations that could pull this off that come to mind are the building adjacent Micky Mantle bridge [opposite side of Skinny Slim's].

[Rover]

Why isn't Pearl's this type of place? Strategic corner. Space to do it. Already has "docks".

[PhiAlpha]

This building is BEGGING for a rooftop deck/entertainment space.

I've been up on that roof...great veiws of the CBD, Bricktown, and Deep Deuce. Woud make a cool venue.

[BoulderSooner]

timeline middle of may to 1st of june to start 1 year time frame for construction

[Praedura]

Heyerdahl posted a nice big pic of the building over at skyscrapercity. It's a good one, so I'll post it here too.



Photo taken by Rick Mattioni in August 2008.

[bombermwc]

I'm really excited about this one. This is exactlly the type of thing Bricktown needs to have happen more often. We have SOOOOO many structures that sit with a restauruant on the ground floor, and nothing up above. It's so much wasted space and such a missed opportunity from the mixed-use density perspective as well. Take the Spaghetti Warehouse right next door. So many floors of bricked over windows....such a waste.

If we had more of this type of development encouraged and assisted by local government, we could really help round out the downtown residential market as well. We might finally see something other than upscale going in for a change as well. We all seem to hate The Centenntial with it's unholy stucco, so why not take such a classic building like this, and help it out?

The downside is the amount of work that is involved in turning warehouse space into residential space. So much infrastructure to rip-and-replace. But it's totally worth it in the end!!!!!!

[OKCisOK4me]

Much agreed. Bricktown needs to have as much urban residential as possible. What would be great is to see that body shop in east Bricktown close down and have a grocery store go in there.