Patrick
09-03-2004, 10:34 PM
Hey everyone.....guess what? The old restaurant supply building next to the Coca Cola Events Center has been purchased by an investor and will be turned into a market place style shopping complex, like West End Market Place, or like The Market, just west of Quail Springs Mall.
Also, downtownguy made a slight mistake in his blog today, I just wanted to make sure people weren't confused by it, since I know most of you read it daily. He said that this Bricktown Market Place would be similar to the Quail Springs Market Place. For those of you that are familiar with the Memorial Rd. area, you'll know that Quail Springs Market Place is the name of the strip shopping center which include Lowes, Ultimate Electronics, Michaels, Paper Warehouse, Office Depot, Pets Mart, Akins, Ulta, Old Navy, Ross, etc.
Obviously, we wouldn't want Bricktown to have a strip mall. Anyways, what he really meant was "The Market at Quail Springs", or simply known by it's title, "The Market". The Market contains several small unique vendors and is located in the old General Cinema's Building, just west of the mall.
Regardless, this is great news for the retail sector in Bricktown.
Here's the article from today's Journal Record:
"Midwest City investors buy Bricktown site for bazaar
by Ted Streuli
The Journal Record
9/3/2004
General consensus among those involved in downtown Oklahoma City real estate is that Bricktown needs more places to shop. It's going to get some.
Midwest City investors bought a two-story, 40,000-square-foot building at 401 E. California Ave. last week for $1.35 million. In it, they plan to create Bricktown Marketplace.
"Bricktown Marketplace is going to be retail shops, like a bazaar, with a couple of restaurants in the corners," said Al Sahil, a principal in the deal with Joey Chiaf, John Chiaf and Bob Dillon.
Sahil said the space would accommodate about 100 vendors and that it would be modeled after The Market at Quail Springs. And Bricktown needs retail, Sahil said.
"They need something for families to go in and shop," he said. "Right now, you go, have something to eat, walk around for 20 minutes and you're done."
Frank Sims, executive director of the Bricktown Association, agreed.
"That's the one element that we're missing is multiple-retail establishments," Sims said. "We've got - on the canal right now - four retail stores that range from American Indian artwork and jewelry to T-shirts. Clearly, I believe there's a real opportunity with the volume of people that come through Bricktown every day for retail to succeed."
Brenda Workman, who specializes in the mid-city area for the chamber, said a retail center at that address would benefit from shoppers patronizing Bass Pro Shops across the street, the area's largest retail drawing card.
"We need more retail down there," Workman said. "It fits in with our economic development goals and it would provide an alternative retail experience that could draw people to the area and provide more to do. We want to diversify our central city economy and it would fit, especially right across the street from Bass Pro."
Sahil said his group got a good deal on the building at $67.50 per square foot based on the structure's footprint, but the company plans to spend about $2 million for renovations.
"It's one of the last buildings that was available," said Sahil. "We did very good on the building. I'm surprised that building didn't sell earlier."
Workman said that Bricktown property values have increased 235 percent since 1999. By comparison to other recent sales, Sahil's group bought well. The building at 108 E. California Ave. - on the canal - sold for $104.76 per square foot recently, while three buildings in the 300 block of E. Sheridan sold for $76.92, $69.23 and $86 per square foot.
The E. California Avenue property will be the third Bricktown renovation project for Sahil and his partners and is expected to be ready to occupy in April.
"I envision that to be a higher-end marketplace," said Sims. "The people coming through here aren't looking for garage sale items. To be successful they'll have to have a quality product."
Also, downtownguy made a slight mistake in his blog today, I just wanted to make sure people weren't confused by it, since I know most of you read it daily. He said that this Bricktown Market Place would be similar to the Quail Springs Market Place. For those of you that are familiar with the Memorial Rd. area, you'll know that Quail Springs Market Place is the name of the strip shopping center which include Lowes, Ultimate Electronics, Michaels, Paper Warehouse, Office Depot, Pets Mart, Akins, Ulta, Old Navy, Ross, etc.
Obviously, we wouldn't want Bricktown to have a strip mall. Anyways, what he really meant was "The Market at Quail Springs", or simply known by it's title, "The Market". The Market contains several small unique vendors and is located in the old General Cinema's Building, just west of the mall.
Regardless, this is great news for the retail sector in Bricktown.
Here's the article from today's Journal Record:
"Midwest City investors buy Bricktown site for bazaar
by Ted Streuli
The Journal Record
9/3/2004
General consensus among those involved in downtown Oklahoma City real estate is that Bricktown needs more places to shop. It's going to get some.
Midwest City investors bought a two-story, 40,000-square-foot building at 401 E. California Ave. last week for $1.35 million. In it, they plan to create Bricktown Marketplace.
"Bricktown Marketplace is going to be retail shops, like a bazaar, with a couple of restaurants in the corners," said Al Sahil, a principal in the deal with Joey Chiaf, John Chiaf and Bob Dillon.
Sahil said the space would accommodate about 100 vendors and that it would be modeled after The Market at Quail Springs. And Bricktown needs retail, Sahil said.
"They need something for families to go in and shop," he said. "Right now, you go, have something to eat, walk around for 20 minutes and you're done."
Frank Sims, executive director of the Bricktown Association, agreed.
"That's the one element that we're missing is multiple-retail establishments," Sims said. "We've got - on the canal right now - four retail stores that range from American Indian artwork and jewelry to T-shirts. Clearly, I believe there's a real opportunity with the volume of people that come through Bricktown every day for retail to succeed."
Brenda Workman, who specializes in the mid-city area for the chamber, said a retail center at that address would benefit from shoppers patronizing Bass Pro Shops across the street, the area's largest retail drawing card.
"We need more retail down there," Workman said. "It fits in with our economic development goals and it would provide an alternative retail experience that could draw people to the area and provide more to do. We want to diversify our central city economy and it would fit, especially right across the street from Bass Pro."
Sahil said his group got a good deal on the building at $67.50 per square foot based on the structure's footprint, but the company plans to spend about $2 million for renovations.
"It's one of the last buildings that was available," said Sahil. "We did very good on the building. I'm surprised that building didn't sell earlier."
Workman said that Bricktown property values have increased 235 percent since 1999. By comparison to other recent sales, Sahil's group bought well. The building at 108 E. California Ave. - on the canal - sold for $104.76 per square foot recently, while three buildings in the 300 block of E. Sheridan sold for $76.92, $69.23 and $86 per square foot.
The E. California Avenue property will be the third Bricktown renovation project for Sahil and his partners and is expected to be ready to occupy in April.
"I envision that to be a higher-end marketplace," said Sims. "The people coming through here aren't looking for garage sale items. To be successful they'll have to have a quality product."