Strawberry Fields

[dankrutka]

Glad to see the Oklahoman was able to give Salame some good PR:

In an interview with The Oklahoman, Salame said she is complying with the terms of an agreement with securities investigators with the refund offer and added the development remains on track and that an update on construction plans will follow within the next few weeks.

In a letter sent to investors earlier this month, Salame said she has fully cooperated with investigators and that the $55,000 property purchase in 2015 resulted from erroneously drawing payment from the Strawberry Fields bank account instead of her personal account.

None of this is credible. We all know no construction plans are coming. Lackmeyer could have at least mentioned she's completely whiffed on every supposed deadline.

[SEMIweather]

Strawberry Fields (development is going to take) Forever

[Pete]

It's also important to note that the City backed out of a $16 million TIF grant for infrastructure improvements. Also, the splashy partnership with national developer JLL seems to be completely defunct. The Oklahoman had a big article about that when announced but has somehow not followed up at all. The SF development is not on the JLL website and I've emailed the partner the Oklahoman quoted and have received no response.

This whole thing looks like a cluster with no forward movement in sight.


BTW, how do you accidentally embezzle $55,000 and then turn around and sell the property you bought with those funds for $412,000 to the same investors a year later?

And she'll pay back her investors "when" she has the money??

Good grief.

[dankrutka]

The fact that the article was as sympathetic to Salame as it was is astounding. Her behavior is criminal.

[Pete]

The fact that the article was as sympathetic to Salame as it was is astounding. Her behavior is criminal.

It's the latest in a long series by Steve Lackmeyer, and they are all the same.

[ComeOnBenjals!]

Disappointing to see this article ^. Was in OKC a couple of weeks ago visiting. This area is screaming for development, such an unbelievable location. Could completely change the feel of OKC's downtown.

[caaokc]

What a hot mess

[Canoe]

It's the latest in a long series by Steve Lackmeyer, and they are all the same.

Someone has to comfort the comfortable.

[OKCfamily]

Whoa, just catching up on all this!! " There are no accidents!" I know several of the plaintiffs and apparently they don't believe Pat Salame"s lies, either. They are pressing forward with their lawsuit and criminal charges. In fact, several of them think she should serve some jail time. The best thing they ever did was file complaints with the ODS. The ODS protects the public! Looks like they protected this group that invested in the first year. These poor investors that have waited for over 8 years to see lots cleared and developed into a huge eye sore on the west side of the Park!

[Pete]

[G.Walker]

So the old Goodwill site is now just a parking lot, not surprised at all. Mazaheri at his finest.

He is the worst.

[bison34]

So the old Goodwill site is now just a parking lot, not surprised at all. Mazaheri at his finest.

He is the worst.

Blame the city for not holding him accountable. People will generally choose the laziest option available, unless held to a higher standard that is enforced. OKC letting him get away with it is the problem.

[TheTravellers]

"Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change."

OKC absolutely needs to hold him accountable, and has needed to for years and years.

[Tyson]

There is so much potential for this land and that picture is sad to look at.

[OkieBerto]

I will say that a ton of people love parking there. When there is a large, crowded event, people take advantage of that parking. I hate that no development is moving right there, but the parking lot is used by a ton of people who drive a long distance to get to it.

[citywokchinesefood]

Which speaks to the fundamental problem with urban development patterns for the past several decades......

The average Oklahoman being a lazy fat ass has more to do with the state or urbanism here than anything else. The concept of walking from downtown to midtown or bricktown is unfathomable to many of the locals I have gone out on the town with. It is honestly kind of pathetic. Walking from uptown to the plaza is treated like sailing across the Atlantic in the 1400s.

[OKCisOK4me]

^^lmao

[ChrisHayes]

While I agree that a lot of people are lazy and don't want to walk more than 10 feet if they don't have to, there's a reality that the bulk of the people don't live within walking distance of downtown, midtown, or uptown. So, parking is pretty essential in the core. That being said, I would love to see something a lot more meaningful than a parking lot on this plot of land.

[April in the Plaza]

While I agree that a lot of people are lazy and don't want to walk more than 10 feet if they don't have to, there's a reality that the bulk of the people don't live within walking distance of downtown, midtown, or uptown. So, parking is pretty essential in the core. That being said, I would love to see something a lot more meaningful than a parking lot on this plot of land.

Fred might just be the wrong guy for that particular tract. He seems to do really well with the suburban/cookie cutter pieces in NW OKC and Edmond, but it’s very possible that he’s just not cut out for urban development in the core.

[Pete]

^

He's a speculator, pure and simple.

He bought and flipped the old Bank of America parking lot to the OKCMOA. He proposed hotels for the big lot east of Oklahoma Ranch years ago, and it's nothing but weeds and mud and is currently for sale. He bought the old lumberyard property and operated an out-of-compliance parking lot before the City forced him to conform. The Goodwill lot is also out of compliance but someone would have to turn him in before anything would be done (you have to adhere to Downtown Design Review and regulations if you convert use). And of course, he is well past several deadlines for developing Goodwill, a property he only got (along with a specific development timeline) because he sued the City over a property of his they took for Scissortail Park; he said in that lawsuit he was planning high-rise housing there and that was about 15 years ago.

He also owns a bunch of frontage along the park south of Social Capital.

[CaptDave]

^

He is one of far too many land squatters in this area. Norman and OKC have several high profile properties in the hands of people with like that......but it's probably asking too much for all developers to be like Gary Brooks.

The city would have been far better off with numerous land owners and developers with a stake in the area west of Scissortail Park than the monolithic entity that is either incompetent or uninterested in anything other than flipping the properties.