IKEA

[OKC Guy]

If OKC does get an IKEA, I really hope it’s not at Chisholm Creek. My understanding has always been that’s supposed to eventually be a walkable, urbanism neighborhood. Putting a massive, massive big box right in the middle of it with the acres and acres of parking it would need would completely kill the vibe.

Although I agree its not an ideal spot for Ikea (its more eating and entertainment) the walkability ship has sailed. This complex is a huge draw and the only way to get there is by car except a small contingent of local residents who cannot support all of what they have now and have planned in future. Its at a major traffic intersection (turnpike and 235). They can make it more walkable once parked in their complex I agree, but there is and will be a ton of businesses here. I view it like a mini Bricktown away from Bricktown except no clubs. Its in a perfect spot to draw traffic from all directions too. Once the moviepub opens thats more outside area traffic too.

[SEMIweather]

If OKC does get an IKEA, I really hope it’s not at Chisholm Creek. My understanding has always been that’s supposed to eventually be a walkable, urbanism neighborhood. Putting a massive, massive big box right in the middle of it with the acres and acres of parking it would need would completely kill the vibe.

Yeah I'm very doubtful that Chisholm Creek will ever be nearly as walkable as everyone hopes.

[shawnw]

I've always felt the walkability promise was just bait.

[stlokc]

I just went to the Chisholm Creek master plan and saw the map, which still calls for a couple of streets lined with buildings. There’s no way an IKEA could be placed there without giving up on all of that. As Trump would say: “Sad!”

There are several miles of open land along the turnpike further east of that development, and for that matter, up and down Broadway Extension, that would be far better and easier for traffic access also.

[catch22]

Lookup Cascade Station in Portland. It’s a walkable hybrid strip mall/shopping area with an IKEA. They can fit in.

While not walkable, IKEA Centennial (Denver) has practically no surface parking. The showroom/warehouse is built on top of a large two story parking garage.

[stlokc]

No offense Catch22, but I just googled the Portland IKEA and saw a picture with 360 degree view and it looks like a big box in a parking lot. Now, the one with the parking garage has a lot of merit to me (and actually the one in St. Louis has a garage as well), I'm just not convinced they would go to the trouble of doing that in suburban OKC. Even if they did, it would still force them to take away what would be the most appealing part of Chisholm Creek - the "Main Street" feel that is supposed to be coming in Phase 25 or whatever.

If it were ever to go along that corridor, put it east of Costco somewhere towards Santa Fe, there's plenty of open land there. And it will even out the traffic problems a bit.

End of rant.

[jonny d]

Lookup Cascade Station in Portland. It’s a walkable hybrid strip mall/shopping area with an IKEA. They can fit in.

While not walkable, IKEA Centennial (Denver) has practically no surface parking. The showroom/warehouse is built on top of a large two story parking garage.

Cascade Station is not walkable, at least by what this board measures it by. It's in a plaza similar to Midwest City Town Center. IKEA doesn't go in walkable areas.

I do like your pic with the garage under the store.

[stile99]

While sometimes the walkability fans have good points, sometimes I think they're just puking out a word they have little to no understanding of. Case in point, using it in connection with IKEA.

Yes, walkability sure is important for an IKEA. Because that's how EVERYONE gets their BJÖRKSNÄS, MÖRBYLÅNGA, and RÖNNSKÄR home. I mean, how else would you, am I right?

[Plutonic Panda]

As nice as it would be to see Chisholm Creek build the walkable portion shown in the renderings and master plan, I would gladly trade that for an ikea designed around cars. Chisholm Creek is already worlds above any other retail development in the state right now and that’s saying something; IMHO of course.

It’s nice to have walkable developments spread out around the city, but it won’t make or break this one.

PS, their Facebook page says they will announce a new tenant soon.

[OKC Guy]

As nice as it would be to see Chisholm Creek build the walkable portion shown in the renderings and master plan, I would gladly trade that for an ikea designed around cars. Chisholm Creek is already worlds above any other retail development in the state right now and that’s saying something; IMHO of course.

It’s nice to have walkable developments spread out around the city, but it won’t make or break this one.

PS, their Facebook page says they will announce a new tenant soon.

Agree. Without highrises this area is a destination for quite a few miles around. It can’t be Bricktown/downtown and its not trying to be. With turnpike location access that extends the reach of customers. 10 miles on turnpike is faster than 3 or so miles on city roads. And because its an entertainment complex it will draw folks from all over.

My take is Bricktown is nice but if driving from out of downtown area its more a hassle these days due to growth. And Chisholm is growing up at the right time. I think Chisholm will draw people away from Bricktown (for example someone in Edmond decides to go to Chisholm now when they used to go to Bricktown). Chalk will be awesome imo. Movie pub. Golf. Food. Medical. Outdoor. And more.

I really like this complex and the only beef is surrounding roads not being improved “prior” to this complex growth. Thats my one big beef with OKC, we wait until after congestion to deal with roads not before. Same as Paycom, its growth was known ahead and yet city has done nothing. Clogged roads can hurt you economically the same as not enough parking can hurt you downtown (regardless if true or not if people think it does that changes money spending habits).

Due to how our city/ metro is so far and wide cars will be a staple for decades and there is nothing wrong with us admitting and working with it. Mass transit is so far away for most so in meantime we need to embrace cars. And Chisholm does this and I can see much of my own future money being spent here. Same for Costo other side of road.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^^ I echo your concerns about surrounding roads. Very shortsighted move on the city’s part.

[Dob Hooligan]

I blame the developers for the road issue. These are lifelong OKC people who have made tremendous wealth here. They could easily have already paid to put in the turn lane on Penn in front of Freddie’s, taken care of Western south of Memorial, etc. I understand that business is never pay more, or earlier, than required. But Larry Nichols and Devon set the example by fully funding all Project180 street work in the area of their tower in exchange for TIF credits.

[emtefury]

I cannot take it anymore. No one, except the people on the forum talking about walkability, cares about it. The shoppers are going to drive up in their F-150 and SUV buy stuff, eat dinner and drive home. I bet there will be a majority that drives to different places in the parking lot to the different stores so they don’t have to walk.

[kevin lee]

Im trying to figure out if I've every seen anyone carry a bookshelf into a restaurant or just walk around with one in general.

[stlokc]

...which is exactly why a store like IKEA does not belong in a shopping center like Chisholm Creek.

[bchris02]

...which is exactly why a store like IKEA does not belong in a shopping center like Chisholm Creek.

Agree with this. I'm as much of a proponent of walkability as anyone but it doesn't matter for IKEA. What IKEA needs is a lot of cheap land within easy access to a very large customer base.

[d-usa]

IKEA works perfectly fine in a place like this, it just has to be placed in a peripheral area.

[catch22]

No offense Catch22, but I just googled the Portland IKEA and saw a picture with 360 degree view and it looks like a big box in a parking lot. Now, the one with the parking garage has a lot of merit to me (and actually the one in St. Louis has a garage as well), I'm just not convinced they would go to the trouble of doing that in suburban OKC. Even if they did, it would still force them to take away what would be the most appealing part of Chisholm Creek - the "Main Street" feel that is supposed to be coming in Phase 25 or whatever.

If it were ever to go along that corridor, put it east of Costco somewhere towards Santa Fe, there's plenty of open land there. And it will even out the traffic problems a bit.

End of rant.

None taken but I didn’t say the IKEA is “walkable”, but it is in a walkable development and it fits in just fine without impacting the feel of the area.

I’d say the IKEA in Cascade Station is much more pedestrian friendly than the one in Centennial, despite the Centennial building being more “urban”.

[catch22]

Cascade Station is not walkable, at least by what this board measures it by. It's in a plaza similar to Midwest City Town Center. IKEA doesn't go in walkable areas.

I do like your pic with the garage under the store.

I beg to differ, it’s actually a very active pedestrian environment which there are no examples of in OKC. It’s not an urban paradise, but it’s far more pedestrian active than what you can probably assertain from a Google Earth picture.

[Plutonic Panda]

I blame the developers for the road issue. These are lifelong OKC people who have made tremendous wealth here. They could easily have already paid to put in the turn lane on Penn in front of Freddie’s, taken care of Western south of Memorial, etc. I understand that business is never pay more, or earlier, than required. But Larry Nichols and Devon set the example by fully funding all Project180 street work in the area of their tower in exchange for TIF credits.

I agree the developers should have paid for some improvements, but let’s be honest, they’re going to need more than a turn lane.

[d-usa]

It feels like going eastbound on the Turnpike, the off and on ramps should be swapped on May, Penn, and Western.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^^ at a minimum I feel like that, widening the Eastbound Service road(memorial), adding Texas turn around under the turnpike, dual turn and right turn lanes at lights, as well a continuous center turn lane on Western and Penn should be done.

In an ideal world, all roads would be widened to 6 lanes with Penn and Western having landscaped medians and Memorial widened to 8 lanes in immediate area. Western and Penn should also at least get class 2 bike lanes and ROW should also be preserved for a future rail and bike corridor to make future planning for a light rail network easier.

[mgharfeh]

I just went to the Chisholm Creek master plan and saw the map, which still calls for a couple of streets lined with buildings. There’s no way an IKEA could be placed there without giving up on all of that. As Trump would say: “Sad!”

There are several miles of open land along the turnpike further east of that development, and for that matter, up and down Broadway Extension, that would be far better and easier for traffic access also.

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this site but I’ve been following it for years! My name is Majed. I can’t figure out how to post pictures on here from my phone yet but there’s one rendering of Chisholm Creek that’s more updated and slightly different than the rest. It has a squared out area between Argon Apartments and iFly that says “large retailer” and another square just south of that says “movie theater”. If I were betting I would guess that’s the planned location for IKEA. I actually think that’s a great location for it because it’s just off memorial and doesn’t take a large chunk out of the middle of Chisholm Creek where the retail area was planned.

[PhiAlpha]

IKEA works perfectly fine in a place like this, it just has to be placed in a peripheral area.

This exactly

[Pete]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this site but I’ve been following it for years! My name is Majed. I can’t figure out how to post pictures on here from my phone yet but there’s one rendering of Chisholm Creek that’s more updated and slightly different than the rest. It has a squared out area between Argon Apartments and iFly that says “large retailer” and another square just south of that says “movie theater”. If I were betting I would guess that’s the planned location for IKEA. I actually think that’s a great location for it because it’s just off memorial and doesn’t take a large chunk out of the middle of Chisholm Creek where the retail area was planned.

Hi and welcome!

Here is that site plan you mentioned: