Strawberry Fields

[Canoe]

That's true but even Social Capital is really struggling. I was in there on a beautiful Sunday evening when the park was very busy and there weren't more than 30 people in the entire place.

SF has at least consolidated what were dozens of small lots and fragmented properties. Down the road, that will help the area to develop, even if they don't do the work themselves.

I wish crowd funding were an option. Right now only the rich can benefit. I know you can invest in a project, but it would be nice if the corporation would sale shares at say $10,000 a piece to raise capital and get these projects moving. I bet alot of middle class families would be interested in this option if strawberry field was capable of pulling it off.

Otherwise let the sale to someone that can develop the land instead of just sitting on it and making the citizen of OKC wait a decade to see something developed on it.

[Oski]

I wish crowd funding were an option.

I like that idea, instead of sitting on my hands hoping for something to happen in my lifetime, I’d chip in to help make it happen. Heck, I’d vote for a 5 cent sales tax increase if I could, just to see changes come 5x faster, before my kids all leave for college.

[riflesforwatie]

I wish crowd funding were an option. Right now only the rich can benefit. I know you can invest in a project, but it would be nice if the corporation would sale shares at say $10,000 a piece to raise capital and get these projects moving. I bet alot of middle class families would be interested in this option if strawberry field was capable of pulling it off.

Otherwise let the sale to someone that can develop the land instead of just sitting on it and making the citizen of OKC wait a decade to see something developed on it.

I agree with you and I'm wondering why or how we got away from the days when development could happen on an individual scale. If you look at the original plat for Oklahoma City, or basically any American city west of the Appalachians, you'll see tiny lots. Even in valuable urban areas those lots are much more affordable to individual professionals or small syndicates of individuals than entire city blocks. Do architects and tradesmen not want to work on smaller projects? Do city governments not like to zone for or approve those sorts of projects? Maybe banks won't lend for them? It's genuinely baffling, because places where that style of development has been preserved are universally more pleasant for pedestrians and more economically vibrant. Even when block-scale or half-block-scale developments include ground-floor retail (and they all too often don't, in our neck of the woods), they are but a shallow imitation of the real thing.

[SEMIweather]

I wish crowd funding were an option. Right now only the rich can benefit. I know you can invest in a project, but it would be nice if the corporation would sale shares at say $10,000 a piece to raise capital and get these projects moving. I bet alot of middle class families would be interested in this option if strawberry field was capable of pulling it off.

Otherwise let the sale to someone that can develop the land instead of just sitting on it and making the citizen of OKC wait a decade to see something developed on it.

Somewhat of a different situation than you're talking about, but I think we'll eventually see several concert venues saved in this way once the pandemic is over.

[catch22]

I wish crowd funding were an option. Right now only the rich can benefit. I know you can invest in a project, but it would be nice if the corporation would sale shares at say $10,000 a piece to raise capital and get these projects moving. I bet alot of middle class families would be interested in this option if strawberry field was capable of pulling it off.

Otherwise let the sale to someone that can develop the land instead of just sitting on it and making the citizen of OKC wait a decade to see something developed on it.

As much as I like the idea, and would find a way to invest also : unfortunately, I feel it just gets too many hands in the pot. People with no commercial investment experience thinking because they chipped in 10K that they have some control or say in the project. After everyone gets their say we end up with a development that looks like this

[onthestrip]

I wish crowd funding were an option. Right now only the rich can benefit. I know you can invest in a project, but it would be nice if the corporation would sale shares at say $10,000 a piece to raise capital and get these projects moving. I bet alot of middle class families would be interested in this option if strawberry field was capable of pulling it off.

Otherwise let the sale to someone that can develop the land instead of just sitting on it and making the citizen of OKC wait a decade to see something developed on it.

You're better off investing $10,000 elsewhere. GIving money to a group who is paying a high premium for non-income producing property, sitting on it for who knows how long and then having to pay good money for new construction in an area that isnt well developed or mature isnt going to make for a good investment. Not to mention the developer fees you'll be paying out of that $10,000. Feel bad for anyone who has invested here. Going to be a long time until a payoff.

[LakeEffect]

You're better off investing $10,000 elsewhere. GIving money to a group who is paying a high premium for non-income producing property, sitting on it for who knows how long and then having to pay good money for new construction in an area that isnt well developed or mature isnt going to make for a good investment. Not to mention the developer fees you'll be paying out of that $10,000. Feel bad for anyone who has invested here. Going to be a long time until a payoff.

[HOT ROD]

I mean, is anyone surprised that this was nothing more than a slideshow of shiny new things in order to flip these properties?

CORRECTION :

..... .. a slideshow of shiny new things in order to TRY TO flip these properties

[Oski]

I wish this project will be taken over by top developers such as Simmons Property Group or The Cordish Companies.

[Southsider2]

Steve had some info on his live chat seemingly from Pat regarding the property taxes. She stated that essentially yes they’re behind and they have a plan in place to get it taken care of. The other interesting thing is the Parkside Retreat parcel is apparently going to have 174 condos if anything ends up happening there. There’s a lot of IF’s with this but just wanted to pass along the info. See Steve’s live chat for the exact dialogue.
(https://oklahoman.com/article/567186...teve-lackmeyer)

[Pete]

I hope the tax situation is soon resolved but what else are they going to say other than 'we are in the process of working it out'?

As far as the old Goodwill parcel, that is owned my Mazaheri after bringing suit against the city for what he said was inequitable payment for property they took for Scissortail Park. It's not owned by the Strawberry Fields group outright like 97 other properties on the west side of the park, although there seems to be some degree of cooperation between the two groups. When Mazaheri took ownership from the city, he was contractually obligated to develop the property in a short period of time. I posted a while back that the plan has always been for mid-rise condos. And Mazaheri has paid all his property taxes.

And BTW, that question was asked in his chat based directly on info only researched and reported here, but Lackmeyer often edits out any reference to OKCTalk before posting a question in a petulant act of hostility. Many questions in his chat originate from work done on this site and it is never credited.

[Pete]

I really need to start fact-checking his chats.

He says:

She responds there were no liens, only delinquent 2019 taxes. If I remember correctly, a lien in the filed in the fourth year of delinquency, not the first.

This is directly from the public notice published by Oklahoma County:

Notice is hereby given that, under authority and
direction of O.S., Title 68, § 3101 et seq., the
hereinafter described lands, lots, tracts and parcels
of real estate, all situated in Oklahoma County,
Oklahoma, now has a tax lien for unpaid ad valorem
taxes and/or special assessments. Further, if the
lien remains unpaid for a period of three years or
more, as of the date such taxes first became due
and payable, this property will be sold at public
auction unless the delinquent taxes, interest and
penalty are paid in full prior to the time of the tax
sale.

[Canoe]

I wonder how she knows so little about the tax law.

[BoulderSooner]

I wonder how she knows so little about the tax law.

i wonder how the downtown reporter allows people to mislead his subscribers

[LakeEffect]

I really need to start fact-checking his chats.

He says:



This is directly from the public notice published by Oklahoma County:

To be fair, he's writing in a chat, not for an article, and he says "if I remember correctly," so he's not stating its the 100% fact. Also, he's got the general gist of it; I'd presume he's mixing up the term lien and the subsequent sheriff's sale. Looking at the definition, he's only off 1 year. That's definitely not something you'd expect the average person to know by heart.

[Pete]

To be fair, he's writing in a chat, not for an article, and he says "if I remember correctly," so he's not stating its the 100% fact. Also, he's got the general gist of it; I'd presume he's mixing up the term lien and the subsequent sheriff's sale. Looking at the definition, he's only off 1 year. That's definitely not something you'd expect the average person to know by heart.

His chat transcripts get published just like an article and I doubt the average person makes much of a distinction.

As I reporter, if you don't know you shouldn't make a statement. And you absolutely should not be posting statements from someone else without doing your own research and context, which he does ALL the time.

And the gist of what he wrote was that this was no big deal, no tax liens when there are for 93 properties. So the premise is completely wrong and based on protecting a developer who has fed stories to him. And he contradicted accurate and detailed work I had painstakingly researched and documented, which is why the question was asked in the first place.


This goes far beyond this one chat and when you spread disinformation of your own or from someone else (again, happens ALL the time) you should be corrected and called out.

Getting correct information out should always be a priority over a 'friendship' and this is where the OKC Twitter Clique does our community a terrible disservice. He is never held accountable and instead because he is corrupt in a way that benefits many of his apologists, we are left with good ol' boy PR instead of honest, fact-based reporting.

The way he has covered this development (and many others where he befriends his subjects in order to be fed stories and does nothing but PR in return) and then written about it is a classic case in point.

There are so many other examples and people generally know -- especially the ones who willingly manipulate him -- but most benefit and thus continue to exploit. This is all very bad for OKC.

[G22]

Based on your statements, I can't tell if they are one year behind or three years behind?

If this is year three when do they hit year four and what specifically triggers the auction?
When they reach year four, if they pay year one, does that kick the can down the road for another year? If not, can they stay right at that three-year mark and just pay taxes just in time every year.

Also, please don't get in the mud. Your work speaks for itself. If you take the high road and keep doing great reporting people will understand where to get .

[Pete]

Based on your statements, I can't tell if they are one year behind or three years behind?

If this is year three when do they hit year four and what specifically triggers the auction?
When they reach year four, if they pay year one, does that kick the can down the road for another year? If not, can they stay right at that three-year mark and just pay taxes just in time every year..

They never paid the 2019 taxes, so they are behind one year. There are now tax liens on 93 of their 97 properties, implemented earlier this month.

If this current lien is not resolved by the 3rd anniversary (which in this case will be Sept. 2023) then the properties will be sold at sheriff's sale. With the lien in place, there are issues in getting financing and selling the property, as the lien would have to be first resolved.


The important thing in all this is that they are behind and owe the county a bunch of money. Over 70% of property taxes are used to fund public education. And of course, this is a signal that they are having financial problems -- hope they get it worked out.

[Pete]

Also, please don't get in the mud. Your work speaks for itself. If you take the high road and keep doing great reporting people will understand where to get .

You are right and I let 99.8% of this stuff go; people would be absolutely shocked to know a lot of what goes on; there has to be a limit.


And I will say it's a very odd dynamic in OKC that people *hate* confrontation and thus it allows for all types of craziness by people willing to test then fully exploit that; and it is detrimental to the community.

I've asked a lot of the leaders in this city, "If something terrible was happening in OKC, how would we know?" The universal response: 'We wouldn't'.

I try and do my part (TEEMCO, Farmer's Bank) but the Oklahoma uses their ample power and platform to first promote then protect lots of corruption.

[Southsider2]

This could mean absolutely nothing at all, but it appears the Strawberry Fields Website is no more. (https://www.strawberryfieldsok.com/)

[shawnw]

it at least means that whoever is managing their IT is not on the ball

[David]

Sometimes that happens because you stop paying your IT, which seems likely for a group that is also known to be behind on their taxes.

[shawnw]

Yes but I've also seen people just forget. Domain renewals. SSL renewals...

I know much of that is automatic these days, but........

[David]

Assuming I'm reading the data right their domain got renewed back in April, so that part should still be good at least.

https://www.godaddy.com/whois/result...ryfieldsok.com

[Pete]

It looks like they haven't paid their hosting company.