Penn Square/50 Penn Place update

[Patrick]

Well new additions are coming to both Penn Square Mall and 50 Penn Place.

1. We'll start with Penn Square Mall. The restaurant pad where Wards automotive used to be will be leased to Carrabba's Italian Grill. This is great news as this will be a new upscale restaurant to the OKC market. They currently have 2 locations in Tulsa.

Here's a menu for the location on 71st in Tulsa to give you some idea of their food and prices: http://www.carrabbas.com/menu/pdf/8701.pdf

Jos A Bank will open at the mall's main entrance in late September.

J. Jill will open next to Pottery Barn Kids in late November (in time for the holiday season).

A temporary zoo store will open at the end of October at the old Kabet's location near JC Penney.

White House/Black Market will open in the "OU/OSU Store Divided" space in Spring 2005.


2. Now at 50 Penn Place.....an Olive Garden restaurant is being built on the east parking lot at 50 Penn Place. This will be the second Olive Garden built on Northwest Expressway, as one is already out past MacArthur.


Looks like there will be a strong presence of Italian restaurants at this part of the expressway: Pepperroni Grill in the mall, Carrabba's, and Olive Garden. Also Zio's is looking at a location near IHOP and the new Amerisuites being built at Belle Isle station, but a lease has not been signed yet.

Penn Square is still looking to fill two other pads on the west side of the oproperty.

[Patrick]

I forgot something.....at Penn Square Mall, a Nestle Toll House Bakery/Cookie Outlet will be opening soon in the center court (under the escalator).

[Luke]

Cookies and Italian food!

Two of my favorites!!!

[BricktownGuy]

50 Penn Place for sale for $31,200,000.

[HOT ROD]

hope somebody with clout buys it and gets some real upscale retail in there. It should be our galleria upscale shopping centre, not just "look" like it.

[BDP]

I agree. And Penn Square is getting choked. If they could find a way to link the two for pedestrian traffic, it could be a gold mine. Penn Square does gangbusters retail despite a very limited selection, both in terms of stores and the offering at the store level. 50 Penn could be a nice alternative for some upscales stores that can't fit in at Penn Square, imo.

[Easy180]

Minor note for Belle Isle Brewery fans...Spoke to the bartender last week and he said they are looking into buying the space adjacent to the bar upstairs and putting in several more vats to increase their beer selection..Finance co next door's lease is almost up

We told him there were 6 of us that would sign off on that deal

[metro]

Patrick, any word from your friend on the latest stores coming to Penn Sq?

[HOT ROD]

Yeah, 50-Penn looks like a galleria style upscale mall from the outside (we know what is in the inside isnt so upscale). Why is that??

Why not make 50-Penn the most upscale shopping in the state? I hope the new buyer could make this happen. It is far underutilized!!!

[Patrick]

Patrick, any word from your friend on the latest stores coming to Penn Sq?

Penn Square is fully leased and currently has a waiting list. What you're seeing right now is stores moving around, and exchanging places, as they renovate into new spaces.

Only new store coming, is another new store to the market...Bandolino, and upscale shoe store.

Businesses currently unique to Penn Square (in other words, not found anywhere else in the metro): Bachrach, Mr. Ooleys, Apple, Coach, Georgiou, Ann Taylor, Cache, Brighton, Godiva Outlet, Nestle Toll by Chip, Pepperoni Grill, Bandolino, Cantina Laredo, Zumiez, James Avery, Rockport, Mimi Maternity, Jason White's Store Divided, Origins (the one at Quail is part of Dillards), Elephant Restaurant and Bar, Cheesecake Factory, Build-a-bear Workshop, Coldwater Creek, Mont Blonc, Precision Time, Sharper Image, Brookstone.

Other upscale stores: Whitehouse Black Market, BC Clark, Kirklands.

[Patrick]

Yeah, 50-Penn looks like a galleria style upscale mall from the outside (we know what is in the inside isnt so upscale). Why is that??

Why not make 50-Penn the most upscale shopping in the state? I hope the new buyer could make this happen. It is far underutilized!!!

I agree. But, putting Metropolitan College into retail space hasn't helped the mall any.

[jbkrems]

Patrick, you forgot Banana Republic isn't anywhere else in the Metro. They have two stores in Tulsa, though, for whatever reason.

[John]

Isn't a Swarovski crystal store opening up at the top of the center court escalators?

[HFK]

Yeah, 50-Penn looks like a galleria style upscale mall from the outside (we know what is in the inside isnt so upscale). Why is that??

Why not make 50-Penn the most upscale shopping in the state? I hope the new buyer could make this happen. It is far underutilized!!!

As I recall, many years ago, it was very upscale: it had a Ralph Lauren store, and I don't mean an outlet, and fine restaurants. I remember taking a date to a restaurant before a performance of the Nutcracker one Christmas season, maybe 20 years ago: I'd scoped the place out the week before, during lunch, and the prices seemed high, but within my grasp. But I guess I was too green to consider the difference between Lunch and Dinner menu costs... We arrived for Dinner, and Dinner for two nearly broke me. It was many years before I returned, : by then the restaurant, and Ralph Lauren, were long gone.

[okclee]

I too remember the days when 50 Penn was considered the most upscale mall in Okc. It would be nice to see the return of 50 Penn as being such.

[ksearls]

I used to be the marketing director at 50 Penn back in the days when we had Mondi, Williams-Sonoma and Ann Taylor and then later on when it was dying a slow death.

Retail there will never happen without a significant investment and remodel on the entire property. That would mean spending as much as the building is worth. Retail was an afterthought and the building was never designed to accommodate today's retailers. That entire building is a dinosaur and the only way to make it financially feasible was to turn much of the retail center into service businesses.

[y_h]

I used to be the marketing director at 50 Penn back in the days when we had Mondi, Williams-Sonoma and Ann Taylor and then later on when it was dying a slow death.

That sounds like it was right about the time I lived near there (1990-91). At that time the center was still "anchored" by a small, upscale department store which I believed was called Park and Co. Harolds hadn't yet remodeled and was operating two stores - the "traditional" business attire shop and an Old School shop across the atrium (which I presume was where the Polo Ralph Lauren Store once was?). Full Circle books was in a much cozier quarters on the third floor but was still a very cool bookshop.

Retail there will never happen without a significant investment and remodel on the entire property. That would mean spending as much as the building is worth. Retail was an afterthought and the building was never designed to accommodate today's retailers. That entire building is a dinosaur and the only way to make it financially feasible was to turn much of the retail center into service businesses.

Sadly, that's pretty much what I thought when I returned to OKC last November after a twelve year absence. As a way of background, my wife and I enjoy spending some long weekends in Chicago and always wind up on the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue) which is chock full of urban shopping arcades not unlike 50 Penn. The last few times we've been up there I've noticed that a number of them are having a hard time holding on to tenants, especially upscale national retailers. On the Mag Mile, most of the really big names want street exposure and the less prominent or prestigious brands don't want to be situated in a small center, especially if it's not anchored by a "destination" retailer (most of which have street access and don't require patrons to enter the arcade proper). Rest assured, if these small shopping centers are having trouble in one of the country's grandest retail districts you can understand why 50 Penn poses some specific challenges.

While I love Harold's (even though I'm pissed that they discontinued handling men's clothes in their St. Louis location), I just don't see it as the type of "destination" anchor that's going to pull a lot of other upscale retailers into the center -- it certainly hasn't to date. It's going to take the pull of a major national player to commit to the center and justify if not pick up the costs to do a major, major rehab of the property in order to make it viable as a complement to it's larger neighbor across the expressway. Otherwise I think the types of retailers that would generally populate a center like 50 Penn are going to locate in one of the new lifestyle centers up north or perhaps wait to see if further expansion is done at PSM.

Frankly, I think the only savior for 50 Penn's chances to be a major retail player would be for Nordstrom to commit to taking down at least 60% of the space on each of the three retail floors. This would probably justify the investment in the costs necessary to rehab the entire arcade, more than likely including the relocation of the existing tenants (or a buyout of some leases) and major work on the parking situation. Given the abundance of available land in the metro area and the emergence of new shopping districts, I think the prospects of this happening are pretty slim, but at least it's some food for thought and kinda fun to play around with.

[ksearls]

Yes, I'm sure the retail broker for 50 Penn says a little Nordstrom prayer every night!

[jbrown84]

Before they built the Olive Garden, I always thought it would be a huge boost to 50 Penn to build a Nordstrom or similar dept. store onto the east end of the building, similar to what Penney's did with Penn Square. Too late now.

[Patrick]

Isn't a Swarovski crystal store opening up at the top of the center court escalators?

Yes, next to Bandolini.

And, yeah, I forgot Banana Republic. Sorry.

[Patrick]

50 Penn's main problem is that all of its recent owners have been more focused on leasing out the tower, and have neglected the retail mall in the process.

And, I think it could do well without anchor tenants. Shoot....look at Northpark Mall. It's doing pretty well, and it doesn't have any anchor tenants.

[HOT ROD]

ya, that ist what I am getting at. Kim, it shouldn't be too hard for 50 Penn to get some support if some boutique type upscale stores (Ann Taylor Loft and the like come to mind) were to come in there. Sure, a Nordstrom at 50 Penn would be a godsend as it would be the ONLY store in the state. But I think as Patrick said, if the center had the right upscale small boutiques not already in Penn Square, the whole area could feed of itself as a retail district - and surely those signs on the building would draw people of Nichols Hills (and other affluent areas) into the center.

There has to be another reason for 50 Penn's lack of success. Could Penn Square have cannibalized 50 Penn? If so, why didn't 50 Penn go after other upscale retailiers? Im not so sure Im convinced the building needs a major reconstruction as you suggest - it just needs to be updated to feel more OPEN and then slots could be created and the owners could fill it up.

Anyways, does anyone know how to get in touch of the owners of 50 Penn? I'd love to share some ideas with them (as Im sure Patrick, Kim, Y-h, and others of you might also).. 50 Penn is such a visible landmark and already "looks like an upscale galleria," why not make it happen....

In fact, on my recent visit to the city - my girlfriend didn't want to go in there because she was "convinced" 50 Penn was an upscale galleria out-of-her-price range, and we're from Seattle (joke, ha ha).

I did not correct her, since I want people to have a positive opinion of OKC and more importantly - I had not been there in sooo long (and back then it was very upscale).

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Y-h, I also like the Magnificent Mile - Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago (State Street as well). In fact, I will most likely be moving there pretty soon. Not necessarily the Mag Mile but the new southern part of Michigan Avenue in South Loop, downtown. Chicago is AMAZING!!! I wasn't aware of any shakeups in Mag Mile though - you certainly wouldn't know it based on the crowds!!!!

[okclee]

That is interesting that your girlfriend thought upscale in regards to 50 Penn. I know many people that think that 50 Penn is an upscale only type of shopping, somehow 50 Penn has that image of being an upscale galleria shopping mall.

If 50 Penn were to ever become a true shopping mall, they could offer free shuttles, that would run every 10-15 mins., going back and forth between Penn Square and 50 Penn.

50 Penn definitely has loads of potential and possibilities.

[jbrown84]

If Penn Square has such a long waiting list, I don't know why 50 Penn can't get some of those.

[HOT ROD]

That's true and VERY VERY INTERESTING jbrown,

if Penn Square ist full and has a waiting list so long, why doesn't 50 Penn go after and get those retailiers? Especially the small/upscale ones?

All it would take is 10 or so small boutique specialty stores then 50 Penn could be called the metro's most exclusive and upscale galleria style mall.

I also think 50 Penn could try to attract a major upscale book store not yet in the metro (Im not sure what's already in the metro). That would ensure the crowds probably better than Nordstrom would (esp over time) and all of the small retailiers could benefit in the process.

WHO IS RUNNING 50 PENN??? THEY ARE WASTING A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY... Can somebody contact them or send me their name/info?