A new jail at Crossroads Mall? Are Penn Square Mall's days numbered? Your questions answered
The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer fielded reader questions Friday during his weekly OKC Central Live Chat. You can join Steve most Fridays at 10 a.m. to add your comments and questions about downtown development.
To be able to ask questions and interact with Steve or special guests, you must have a digital subscription to The Oklahoman and you must be logged in.
Below is an edited transcript of Friday’s discussion:
What is next for the MAPS 4 street beautification projects?
Q: Is there a portion of MAPS 4 funds dedicated to streetscape improvements? When, where at, what can we expect? Lighting, sidewalks and trees are great, but can we expect anything a bit more iconic on some of our main traffic arteries, the Oklahoma City Boulevard and the new pedestrian bridge spanning the Northwest Expressway are a start!
A: We have an array of funding, including MAPS 4, for the improvements you're mentioning with projects including NW 10 and Vermont, NW 39, NW 10, Meridian Avenue, the Plaza District, Paseo, Walker Avenue, Portland Avenue, the Stockyards, Automobile Alley, NE 23 and Britton Old Town. Auto Alley and Britton will be among the more dramatic transformations planned. We're also going to see a major rebuild of Uptown 23rd and creation of a new festival market plaza in Capitol Hill. I believe Britton and the Capitol Hill plaza will be one of the earliest projects, starting this next year.
What's happening with unique property along I-44 Service Road in Oklahoma City?
Q: Years ago, I went to a house party at a very unique property on the I-44 Service Rd just east of Kelley (you could literally jump onto the flat roof from NE 63). I've always been fascinated by the structure but it was recently torn down and development on several lots there appear imminent. What are the plans?
A: I think I know the house you are referring to — it was a 1949 mid-century modern home facing the I-44 Service Road just east of the Kelley and NE 63 intersection. From what I can tell, that house party was probably either in the late 1990s or early 2000s. It was purchased in 1999 by Automobile Alley developer Chris Salyer, who paid $100,000 for the property. It was then bought by the late Aubrey McClendon in 2006 for $175,000. The home was boarded up, surrounded with chain link fencing with no trespassing signs.
The property then sold last year, along with adjoining lots, to what I understand is a holding company of Zerby Interests, which developed Westgate Marketplace in west Oklahoma City and several other prominent commercial and office properties. The Zerby folks have not responded to my call inquiring about this property along I-44.
What is happening with the LED lighting on the Devon Tower?
Q: Do you think with the BankFirst nearing completion soon it will encourage our crown jewel Devon Tower to finally fix their lighting system. It blows my mind how such a beautiful and impressive building can be so dark. It’s gotten to the point I try to look away from it now because it’s that frustrating. LED lights are not that expensive and I am ready to see that place look spectacular again, because it’s truly our centerpiece to show off our skyline.
A: I think it would be great to see the LED lights on the side of the tower working again. Or just work. The truth is they've really not performed as advertised since the tower first opened. I am not aware of any effort to bring them back.
How about building a jail in Midwest City?
Q: It seems to me that nothing says "New Oklahoma County Jail" like the site of the old Heritage Park Mall. The county could even have enough space to build a new Juvenile Justice building. I know it's early in the process, but where else would be a decent candidate for the county's consideration?
A: That's an interesting idea, but it's probably too far away for the courthouse judges, and I'm not sure Midwest City would invite replacing an eyesore with a jail. It's not easy to find 40 to 80 acres near downtown these days. I have one idea, but I'm not sure how this might be received by neighbors. We have scrapyards along Reno Avenue that have been a longtime nuisance to residents of the John F. Kennedy neighborhood.
The area between Reno Avenue, Interstate 235 and Martin Luther King is home to two noisy scrapyards and a lot of vacant industrial land. Would area residents welcome a new jail, with relatively little outside noise, in exchange for the scrapyards?
How about building a new jail at Crossroads Mall?
Q: What about the Crossroads mall location (for the new jail)? Plenty of room and no activity and not really any neighbors either.
A: We have Santa Fe South High School there, so I doubt that would work.
Is Penn Square set to be the next troubled mall?
Q: The retail floors of 50 Penn Place are nearly vacant, your paper reported that Penn Square Mall is slowly emptying out because J Crew and Madewell are leaving with Macys and Penney's hanging on by a thread, yet they are building more retail in the Oak on the SW corner of that same intersection. Meanwhile a few miles away, Shepherd Mall sits half empty. Are we setting ourselves up to have a giant swath of empty buildings in that area? Why not just return some of this to green space or level it for housing or something rather than building more infrastructure to access parts of OKC way out in Yukon, Deer Creek, Edmond, etc.?
A: We're still seeing turbulence with traditional big box retailers and I wonder if we're still building retail designed with 2010 in mind instead of what might be a new reality in 2030. USA Today reported yesterday Bed and Bath is closing stores across the country, including four in Oklahoma. Penn Square Mall is the strongest traditional mall in the metro and has the strongest owner (Simon). I wouldn't describe it as a mall in crisis.
It still seems to draw some healthy crowds. But they will need to reinvent to survive, a step we've seen for the past couple of years at Quail Springs Mall as it added an aquarium and entertainment center. I think we could see some interesting adaptation of properties like Shepherd Mall by converting part of it into housing or senior living (just my opinion, not something that is happening yet).
The second part of your comment relates to ongoing sprawl. I'm not sure we will see a change with that anytime soon.
I did a deep dive into the future of our malls a couple of years ago.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: What is next for Oklahoma City's Penn Square Mall?
