Can OKC regulate Airbnb influx? Future of Northpark Mall? 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. Right now, you can get unlimited digital access to all of our content for $1 for three months.

Below is an edited transcript of Friday’s discussion:

Can state lawmakers learn from Oklahoma City's transformation?

Q: Oklahoma lost Tesla, Panasonic, and Volkswagen. The state was runner-up on all of these. State Senate Pro-Tem Greg Treat, in comments, has tried to equate these events to Oklahoma City losing out on maintenance facilities from both American and United Airlines, and wants to study possible solutions. 

In my opinion, Oklahoma City's solution would not work on a statewide level. United Airlines said, "There's nothing to do in OKC". We don't know what these EV companies have told our leadership. Is Sen. Treat really thinking about MAPS for Oklahoma? 

A: I have written extensively on MAPS and the transformation of our city over the past 30 years, including "OKC Second Time Around," "Operation Scissortail," "Skirvin" and two books on Bricktown.

I say that because I believe I can say I know a few things about what really happened with the failed attempt to lure a United Airlines Maintenance Center with the promise of 4,500 high-paying jobs and how that failure was the win that revived Oklahoma City, via MAPS, from the doldrums of the 1980s oil bust.

Yes, the state can learn a lesson from Oklahoma City, which has propped up the state and kept it from going into freefall in terms of economic growth and population.

Let's save some time here. The lessons are simple. Incentives alone are fairly worthless. You have to invest in quality of life. You have to show you value education and diversity to retain younger residents. You have to build your workforce. You have to have trustworthy leaders who want to get things done.

What historic OKC properties are in jeopardy of being destroyed?

Q: What's the next historic or architecturally significant place that will be torn down to put up an OnCue? 

A: I suspect you are referring to the loss of Founders Bank at Northwest Expressway and May Avenue and possibly the older homes at NW 13 and Classen (the most significant home there burned down before the deal was done).

We do not have any information on any deal pending for the First Christian Church site that was demolished a few months ago at NW 36 and Walker Avenue. I am not aware of any other historic landmarks in jeopardy of being torn down.

Make Martin Luther King Avenue a tourist corridor?

Q: Thanks for your article on Reno Avenue between Bricktown and First Americans Museum. It reminds me that there's a dual-entry ticket available for it and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum (historically ironic). If they're selling many of the dual-museum tickets, the easy route (between them) is along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. The museums might hand out a guide to the history and culture (and food and shops) along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue between Interstate 40 north to NE 63. 

A: Good points. And our local tourism industry is continuing to look for ways collectively promote our city instead of just each individual attraction.

Can cities and towns regulate Airbnbs?

Q: Here in the People's Republic of The Village, there are actually several people running for one ward seat on city council. The big issue is housing; how many houses being bought up by outside interests turning houses into rentals, leading to a less permanent citizenry who are less interested in hyper-local issues. Apparently, The Village government/city council doesn't keep records of Airbnbs or how many housing units are rentals. What are best practices for relatively small towns (surrounded by the big city) for monitoring proportion of rentals, and hoping for more permanent residents? And who's behind the West Village OKC website? Don't they know that the capital-T The Village has a bohemian "West Village"? It’s west of May Avenue to the shores of Lake Hefner Parkway - ya know, the Uptown Grocery neighborhood. 

A: OK, let's just take on the issue of Airbnb. It's not a bad thing overall. But when you have an area flooding with these short-term rentals, you can drain a neighborhood of stability and community. Yes, it's advisable for any town or city to come up with ordinances and tracking for short-term rentals. Oklahoma City restricts these rentals in historic neighborhoods and I imagine The Village could take a similar approach.

On the whole "West Village" thing... Downtown OKC Partnership decided it would attempt to rename Film Row after the commercial development on the west end of that area. But this is for the purposes of the business improvement district funded through property tax assessments.

I'm continuing to call the area Film Row.

Effort to replace abandoned public housing with new affordable apartments at 'a standstill'

Q: Are there any plans for the northeast corner of NE 23 and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue? And what about the neighborhood of duplexes to the north owned by Oklahoma City Housing Authority? It seems they’ve moved everyone out so what plans do they have for those? 

A: Part of this question is easy to answer, the other part, not so easy.

First, the easy part.

The Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority recently purchased the northeast corner of NE 23 and Martin Luther King from Susan Binkowski using MAPS 4 beautification funds (as approved by voters). Urban Renewal and the city will then work on how best to bring this corner, once home to a Buy for Less grocery, back to life. I suspect there will eventually be a request for development proposals, but I can't rule out a community-based future use.

The duplexes you refer to are known as the Northeast Duplexes located east of Martin Luther King on NE 26, NE 27 and NE 28.

The Oklahoma City Housing Authority is in the middle of converting public housing complexes into voucher-based housing and the Northeast Duplexes were set to be torn down and replaced with a mix of different-style affordable housing units.

The authority had federal funds lined up and just needed quick approval of city bond money that was reserved for such projects.

This was way back in 2019, before the pandemic, and before we saw a sharp increase in interest rates and construction costs nationwide.

If it had gone according to schedule, construction would have started in 2020 and the renamed Creston housing would be open now and providing much needed affordable housing.

But that didn't happen.

Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Nice, who represents the area, reported getting complaints from residents who were relocated from the aging duplexes. Nice put a hold on the request for bond money as she challenged the housing authority to explain how they treated residents and why they couldn't have staged construction to minimize displacement of residents.

This went back and forth for quite a while. I called Nice, prior to the chat, to get her take on all this. She has not called me back. But I did get to talk to Mark Gillette, director of the housing authority.

He reports that the National Housing Trust dollars allocated for development came with a deadline - a use or lose requirement. By the time the city council approved the bond money, the national funding deadline passed and the $4 million was lost.

Meanwhile, construction and interest rates start climbing. So the cost of this project is higher than it was in 2019. The authority will need to apply again for the federal grant. But as I understand it from Gillette, the local funding must be secured first.

Gillette insists the housing authority did everything right with its relocations, that residents were given a choice of moving to a different part of the duplexes not timed for the first phase of demolition, or to move to other public housing or to use vouchers. By far, Gillette said, most chose the vouchers and the authority has documentation from HUD saying the relocations were done correctly.

"We are at a standstill," Gillette told me this morning. "It's very difficult for us to take a unit that we told HUD is beyond repair and to come back in and say we can rehab this unit and make it OK. Those units are in such disrepair that we need to start again."

More:COMPLEX CONCERNS: Public housing is disappearing as solution as unmet demand rises in Oklahoma

Three years later the project has the bond money from the city, but costs are up and the federal dollars are gone. Gillette is hoping to get ARPA pandemic recovery funding and some of the MAPS 4 affordable housing money to restart this project. But even that is far from certain as the housing authority is continuing to face criticism from Nice.

If the requested money is approved by the city council, Gillette says demolition of these increasingly blighted properties could begin this summer with construction to follow.

But that's a big "if."

Is Northpark Mall still a retail center?

Q: I went to Northpark Mall the other day and was surprised to see that a lot of the store fronts are open again. I did notice that most of them are now services rather than retail stores. Is that the future of malls - people will buy goods online but go to malls for services? BC Clark is pretty much the only high end retailer left there so I wonder how long they will last in that location. 

A: It's been a while since I've visited Northpark other than a quick stop at Ron's for lunch. The website indicates the mall still has several upscale stores and it's also home to Hamilton's, a popular upscale restaurant. The mall is unique in that is locally owned by Tom Morris, who also owns Quail Plaza at May Avenue and Hefner Road. The mall is obviously not the size of Quail Springs or Penn Square, and that's a good thing considering the challenges faced by malls over the past decade.

Mall owners are being forced to adapt to changing shopping patterns, however, and Northpark is no exception to that. I don't know if service retailers are a part of the future mix.

Is Mayfair Village turning into a row of fast-food restaurants?

Q: Is it really progress to tear down half of Mayfair and replace it with multiple fast-food sites? I guess if that's the only use for property, then so be it, but I was hoping for something more than that and a giant gas station there. The other renovations are great, however; especially the southwest corner where Empire Slice went in. I love how they returned that to its original look. 

A: Some of the fast-food sites are to be built on a block to the north of Mayfair that was once home to Central Presbyterian Church. But I understand your concern. I really loved the southwest corner renovation as well and hoped it would continue for the rest of the development. Instead, we're seeing more of a pad site approach to the project.

Mayfair is still home to Michael's and will soon add Rockler Woodworking and Hardware to its mix. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more upscale tenants like Rockler in the future. But the overall design of Mayfair probably isn't what some people expected or hoped for.

Why is the Foodies Diner in Midtown still abandoned?

Q: What did they tear down and what is going in on the corner of about 11th and Hudson, just a few blocks south of the old Foodies Diner, which is looking pretty bad these days? 

A: I believe you are talking about the northwest corner of NW 11 and Hudson Avenue. The corner has been vacant for years - long enough that I can't remember any structure being located there. Pivot Project is building a four-story office building at the corner.

The old Foodies Diner is a more complicated matter. Those who have followed me over the years know I love that old Valentine diner regardless of its neglect. A young couple took the diner and made it into something special, the community embraced it, and then that couple for whatever reason decided to go for a bigger space along Interstate 240 that came and went fairly quickly.

In the meantime, another party got access to the diner, gutted it, and then their project fell apart. Once gutted, the diner fell out of compliance with modern code requirements. The Pivot Project has a long-term lease for the structure, but the costs of renovation are prohibitive due to the need to address the restroom situation not meeting code. The Pivot Project is hoping some operator with the resources to address the code issues can take on this historic gem. But otherwise, we wait.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Can Oklahoma follow OKC's MAPS transformation? Your questions answered