Farmers market district

[5alive]

^^^^

[Pete]

There is a new place going in called Atomic which features a DIY garage for motorcycles and a bar.

Not sure if it's the same people, but very similar to the Oki Moto project that was on Linwood.

[Pete]

Large Farmer's Market tract seeking multi-family rezoning

The new owners of a 14-acre tract are taking steps towards rezoning that could lead to high-density housing in the Farmer's Market District.

The site was formerly home to the original Oklahoma City streetcar maintenance facility but had been largely vacant for some time. In recent years, there has been significant cleanup and removal of old utility lines in advance of putting the property up for sale.

The current owners are a charitable trust. The property is now under contract to an entity headed by Richard Moyer and J. Patrick Donnelly. The purchase price is unknown but it was listed for $5.5 million.

Thursday, the Riverfront Design Committee gave their approval to change the zoning on the parcel from industrial to R-4, which allows for the maximum density of residential units.

Attorney and developer Bert Belanger told the committee the new owners are just starting the process of meeting with architects and thus far do not have a specific development plan.

Belanger has been a part of many multi-family developments in Oklahoma City and owns other properties in the immediate area.

The move comes after the completion of the new Oklahoma City Boulevard which runs to the north of the district.

Belanger also mentioned he has been working with the city to possibly close Exchange between Reno and the Klein/ SW 3rd intersection. Once a direct connection between downtown and the Stockyards to the southwest, Exchange was turned into a dead-end just south of Reno as part of boulevard construction.

The rezoning application will now move to the Planning Commission and City Council will have the final vote for approval.

This property recently sold for $3 million. Buyer is the owner of Dynamic Gaming Solutions, located in OKC and provides machines to casinos.

I haven't seen any additional movement on the proposed apartments; I suspect they are awaiting the MAPS4 stadium decision on location.

[Bowser214]

Wow. I mean lots of future development! I hope they all come to fruition.

[shawnw]

Wasn't this the proposed soccer stadium site? If so that indicates it's not chosen?

[Pete]

Wasn't this the proposed soccer stadium site? If so that indicates it's not chosen?

There are 3 finalists:

[shawnw]

Right, but if the farmers market site is selling/rezoning to residential, is that an indication that it is out of the running?

Or am I confused about the location of this within the fm district?

[Pete]

Right, but if the farmers market site is selling/rezoning to residential, is that an indication that it is out of the running?

Or am I confused about the location of this within the fm district?

It was rezoned some time ago, something initiated by the group that had it under contract and now is the owner.

I'm sure the apartments are Plan B if it is not chosen as the stadium site.

[Plutonic Panda]

Pete, is there any ETA on when a site might be chosen?

[Pete]

Pete, is there any ETA on when a site might be chosen?

Next month the MAPS 4 board should announce the order these projects will start and be implemented.

Everyone wants to go first but you can count on the Fairgrounds Arena being one of the first.

[riflesforwatie]

From a connectivity perspective, this tract is a mess. There's going to have to be quite a bit of infrastructure investment to make either the soccer stadium or housing work here. Their graphic shows 4,300 cpd on Exchange Ave. - I wonder if that's pre- or post-Boulevard. Anyway, ideally you'd want to narrow SW 3, Exchange Ave., and Klein Ave., so that this tract is less divided from the Public Market building and the district as a whole, but there are industrial neighbors that run big trucks through the SW 3/Klein/Exchange intersection somewhat regularly, which means you have to maintain quite a bit of pavement to allow for wide turns.

If you chose the site for the soccer stadium, you'd need a fair amount of parking and good vehicular access. ODOT owns the land immediately to the south and east. I have no idea if it would work, but if you could extend SW 5 west of Western Ave. through that ODOT land up to a future stadium, that would help a lot to get people on and off I-40 and potentially allow for narrower streets/better pedestrian and biking connections to the Farmer's Market District.

If they go down the housing route, you have to ask yourself who really wants to live next to a major highway - without the benefit of immediate access to said highway - or, for that matter, concrete plants and truckyards?

Edited to add: Their proposal to close Exchange Ave. between Reno Ave. and SW 3 is a good step but it doesn't really help this property itself, unless coupled with some additional steps. But maybe they have something in the works - I don't know!

[Pete]

7-11 is planning a new store on the NW corner of Reno and Western:

[Anonymous.]

Well that's a bummer for that fantastic corner. But hey at least it looks like it will be the nicest gas station in the area - which pretty much guarantees that the blue VP Fuel or whatever at Classen and Sheridan will close down, which opens that land up for better use.

EDIT: Also the Conoco across the street will probably close.

[shawnw]

Pretty sure this supplants the conoco.

[Plutonic Panda]

Jesus man how hard is it to put the parking behind the store? That’s all they have to do in this situation to make a much more urban feel why is that so hard to do. OKC needs to impose an ordinance to require parking to either be structured or place behind the building and mandate a front entrance in this case it should be at the corner.

[Pete]

^

You would also have to put the pumps behind the store and then make the north side the entrance, making the streetside the back of the store.

What you describe makes zero sense for a gas/convenience store.

[Plutonic Panda]

I didn’t realize it had pumps I just figured a 7 eleven doesn’t usually serve gas around Hollywood but everywhere else it does. Ooff.

At any rate I figure it could still be done but even in downtown LA and SF they build them like this. I just didn’t see the pumps at first.

[Pete]

The pumps are clearly shown on the site plan I posted above.

[Plutonic Panda]

In the site plan but not the rendering. As I said there are no 7 elevens around me that have gas pumps which is why I saw that and made the assumption there wouldn’t be any gas pumps. I’m glad downtown is getting another gas station though.

[TheTravellers]

In the site plan but not the rendering. As I said there are no 7 elevens around me that have gas pumps which is why I saw that and made the assumption there wouldn’t be any gas pumps. I’m glad downtown is getting another gas station though.

It's pretty much completely opposite here - very few 7-Elevens *don't* have gas pumps. NW 36th/Penn, NW 59th/May, and maybe a few others that are old and in residential neighborhoods instead of on a main thoroughfare.

[Pete]

[shawnw]

What are the odds they have insight to the future soccer stadium location?

[Pete]

What are the odds they have insight to the future soccer stadium location?

The committee hasn't even started to meet and the stadium is at the tail end of the MAPS 4 timeline.

I doubt this move is in any way related.

[PhiAlpha]

^

You would also have to put the pumps behind the store and then make the north side the entrance, making the streetside the back of the store.

What you describe makes zero sense for a gas/convenience store.

Conceivably you could put the store on the corner with the pumps on the side and around the back to make it more of an urban design...which would look nicer though I doubt 7-11 does that very often.

[Plutonic Panda]

I suppose it could create an issue with the trucks that have to refuel the gas. Personally I’ve never seen a fuel station with the pumps behind it but I’m sure they exist somewhere.

It would be nice to see that petrol station across the street redeveloped into a flat iron building and Exchange tied into Reno and western via a new roundabout.