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.