KOCO reports the construction of the new intersection starts tomorrow.

How many lanes are we looking at up there at Penn?

They're not able to widen Memorial because the city doesn't own anymore right-of-way.

They're just going to construct Texas turn-loops at the intersection.

Actually the project announced on Channel 5 wasn't the Texas turn loop addition. That project hasn't been funded yet. The city plans on adding designated right turn only lanes, similar to Broadway in Edmond and some exits off NW Expressway. This way cars wanting to turn right on red aren't stopped by those waiting at the red light.

Actually the article makes a mistake.....this addition will be a 3rd partial lane. There are currently only 2 lanes on each side of Memorial.

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"Penn-Memorial Road Construction Frustrates Retailers, Drivers
City Begins $1M Project To Add Right Turn Lane At Intersection

POSTED: 5:12 pm CST January 19, 2005
UPDATED: 9:26 pm CST January 19, 2005

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Road work at the congested intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Memorial Road had some northwest Oklahoma City business owners and drivers bracing Wednesday for even tougher traffic.

As Eyewitness News 5's Kevin Tomich reported, the city will add a fourth lane for right turns only on each side of the Kilpatrick Turnpike over the next three months. City leaders said they think the expansion will relieve some of the trademark congestion at the heavily traveled intersection.

But until April, the outside lanes at the intersection will be closed down occasionally, creating what retailers say will be more gridlock than ever.

At the recently opened House of Bedlam restaurant and sports apparel shop, managers and wait staff are already preparing for the worst. Waitress Monica Pina said that she fears the city road project could sack her profits by at least $10 a day.

"We get a pretty good crowd for lunch," Pina said. "I know I depend on this job a lot, and it's going to hurt me. It's going to hurt me with my bills."

At a cost of $1 million, the city began adding a right turn lane Wednesday on Penn from each side of Memorial and lengthening the southbound left turn lane.

Driver Regina Smith said she thinks the city project is right on target.

"Traffic's heavy here ... it's really heavy, so it needs some extra lanes," Smith said. "I think it's great."

Gil Fisher also drives in the area often. He said it only takes a few minutes to realize why something must be done to ease traffic at the intersection.

"If you're coming down Memorial, you're stuck at the light with all the traffic," Fisher said. "If you're wanting to go right, you can't because all the traffic's trying to go this way -- and then you have all the traffic coming off the Kilpatrick Turnpike."

But the same drivers also promised to take the city's suggested detours on May or Western avenues -- a decision that makes business owners cringe.

Pina said she believes people will start avoiding the intersection -- and a stop in the House of Bedlam.

"I hope they get it done as soon as possible because it's going to be an inconvenience for me and a lot of people," Pina said.

The project was susposed to start in November, but cold weather prevented the pouring of concrete. It was delayed again during the holiday shopping rush.

City officials said April 19 is the target date to get all the work completed. Once the lane addition project is over, the city will install a permanent U-turn lane for traffic coming from the west to get onto eastbound Memorial Road."

Thank you very much for clarifying that. I too was thinking that their funding requirements there hadn't been quite fulfilled.

I thought I would post this here, since its involves Memorial Rd.

Retail center bought for $48 million

By Richard Mize
The Oklahoman

A real estate investment trust paid an "eye-popping" $48 million for Quail Springs Marketplace, one of Oklahoma City's few retail "power centers," the broker said Friday.

New York-based New Plan Excel Realty Trust Inc. bought the 294,720-square-foot shopping center in the heart of the thriving Memorial Road corridor. It was the trust's first purchase here.

The center, southwest of Memorial and Pennsylvania Avenue, was the kind of retail property institutional investors and investment trusts are looking for, said Jeb E. Blacketer of CB Richard Ellis-Oklahoma, which handled the sale for the seller, Quail Springs Marketplace LP.

"This is a very significant deal, not only for the type of property but the price. It's an eye-popping price," Blacketer said of the sale, which closed this week.

The sale price came to $162.86 per square foot. Blacketer said it might be a record for Oklahoma. He declined to reveal the principal behind Quail Springs Marketplace LP.

The shopping center was developed by Eliot Barnett, associated with Sapphire Properties in Dallas and has not changed hands since it was developed from 1998 to 2002.

"I'd say this is probably the biggest shopping center sale in the state, excepting enclosed malls. I can't think of anything else," Blacketer said.

Finding experts not associated with the transaction to put the sale in context was impossible late Friday. Many local retail property specialists were en route to Las Vegas for the spring convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers, which starts Monday.

Blacketer said the "aggressive" price -- about $20 million more than the property's county-assessed value of $27.2 million -- rode several different kinds of pressures on the retail property market.

Capital, still smarting from the dot-com bust and leery of common stock, is looking for real estate to buy, he said, especially retail property with proven, reliable income from national tenants. Still historically low lending rates are making such investments especially attractive, he said.

Quail Springs Marketplace's tenants include Ultimate Electronics, PetSmart, Old Navy, Michael's, Ross Dress for Less, Office Depot and Starbucks -- each one a destination.

Having an adjacent Lowe's, which was not part of the sale, adds traffic to the area, just across Memorial from Quail Springs Mall and across Pennsylvania from a cluster of retail businesses around the Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam's Club.

"The valuation for property like this today is really at an all-time high," Blacketer said.

Oklahoma usually isn't "on the top of the list" for the kinds of retail investors who bought Quail Springs Marketplace, mainly because the state has few such properties, he said. Comparable centers in the Oklahoma City metro area include Kimco Realty's Parkway Plaza in Norman and Zerby Interests' Westgate Marketplace near Meridian Avenue at Interstate 40. "Credit of this quality and product of this quality," Blacketer said, "is appealing to (investors) in New York, Chicago -- Singapore."

BricktownGuy, I read that. Being in real estate I find it pretty interested. That is an insane amount for OKC. I just hope it doesnt spur more suburban sprawl in N. OKC and detract from downtown. Its good and bad news for OKC. I also suspect it will drive property values up significantly for frontage on Memorial.

The Quail Springs corridor remains to be a very hot region for growth. And the ingredients are all there. The area is anchored by a super regional shopping mall, along with several more retail clusters, a huge cluster of apartments, a major office park and rapidly growing housing developments. And these housing developments are not low income, either. It is not surprising that an investment company paid that kind of price for this type of subregional market.

It is the type of economic activity I expected to see in this particular area. It won't be long before ODOT begins widening State Highway 74 to a four-lane divided highway from Memorial to NW 206th. Neighborhood development will continue to grow west. I expect this region to be completely developed by 2009. Pennsylvania may have to be widened to six lanes for about two miles. This particular street is in need of repair anyhow.

My only problem with their new right turn only lanes is that they aren't big enough. So, they don't really do much good, unless you just happen to be very close to the front of the line. Maybe they can't do it, but they need to widen Memorial to 6 lanes and make the Kilpatrick free so that people will get on it. A west on/off ramp at May would also help.