"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
2 January 2005Reno-vationsI've fretted before about the sad state of Heritage Park Mall, on East Reno west of Air Depot. The humongous Simon Property Group, which also owns Penn Square and two Tulsa malls, seemingly had lost interest in the place, and the number of tenants kept dwindling. Simon has now officially bailed out. Dillard's and Sears will retain their equity in their respective stores, and the vacant Montgomery Ward store was spun off separately. I know nothing about Dan Dill's DDDD Corporation, which bought the mall for the fire-sale price of $4.1 million, except that it recently sold two Tuneup Masters locations in the city for $900,000, and that it's set up a limited-liability company to own the mall. Leasing will be handled by Sperry-Van Ness of Irvine, California, which opened an office in downtown Oklahoma City in 2004. Logically, the first step will be a facelift, probably with a new logo. For the city of Midwest City, which has been spending big bucks to improve its facilities — about $20 million went into the Atkinson Plaza replacement project — this has to be some sort of good news. Posted at 6:22 PM to City SceneI was speaking with my son on the phone New Years' Eve night. He was saying there's a flea market in there. Geepers. And, I'm telling you: if a 16 year-old boy won't "shop" there, then they definitely need a transfusion of SOMETHING, stat! :) Again, I thank you for the MWC updates. Posted by: Margi at 12:13 PM on 3 January 2005The Midwest City Chamber of Commerce is running a big promotional scheme these days called "East Is In," an effort to raise awareness and drum up some business on this often-forgotten side of town. There are some definite patterns emerging: business growth is primarily on MWC's west side (Sooner Road is the city boundary), but most of the new residences are going in on the east side, towards Choctaw. (See eastisin.com.) The new stuff on SE 29th should be quite nice, though it will cut off abruptly after a mile or so because of Tinker proximity-to-flight-path requirements. (As noted earlier, the car dealership just east of Midwest Blvd. is being evicted.) Charles, tell me that my beloved El Chico's is still there in Heritage Park Mall -- my first employer, where I got hired on just so that I could be near Babs (of Conversation Station fame), where many other "firsts" occurred! Posted by: David at 10:19 PM on 3 January 2005You kidding? El Chico probably makes more money than Dillard's in that mall. *whew* Maybe I really *can* go home again. Posted by: David at 10:27 PM on 4 January 2005 |