Q: Is there still a plan to build apartments across from Scissortail Park?
A: I’m assuming you are asking about the apartments announced earlier this year by builder Scott Holsey. The unnamed development at 1100 S Robinson Ave. will consist of 52 apartments and 11,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. A second phase of development is planned on the south half of the block, which Holsey is expecting to close on buying by late October.
The first phase, meanwhile, is about to go to the planning department’s design review committee in the near future.
Holsey reports “We’re moving pretty quick. We will be turning dirt by January.”
The first new development along the former Hub Cap Alley, a 52-unit apartment building with ground floor retail, is set to start construction at 1100 S Robinson Ave. later this year.
Q: What is the latest on the triangle-shaped block in Midtown, the apartments and closure of Classen Drive?
A: Clay Farha tore down the former EMSA headquarters at 1111 Classen Drive in 2022 and originally planned to start building Classen Marquette in 2023. The four-story building was to abut Classen Drive, across from the Plaza Court Building. Plans called for 16,000 square feet of ground floor retail space with 60 apartments on the upper three floors.
The block remains undeveloped, but I expect we will hear an update soon. Midtown Renaissance joined up with Farha and design and planning is ongoing. Expect some changes to the original plans.
Q: Assuming all things are the same in a few years, who do you see as the front runner to have the naming rights to the new arena?
A: That’s a good — and difficult — question to answer. Paycom was a great name because they are a major Oklahoma City-based company with national operations. I don’t think we know all that transpired behind the scenes leading up to Paycom ending its naming rights agreement when the current venue is replaced.
I don’t think we will see another energy company stepping up like Chesapeake Energy, which had naming rights prior to Paycom. Car companies are in distress. Retail is in distress. So, I don’t see a deal coming through with either industry. Sonic no longer has real ties to Oklahoma City. Could there be a cryptocurrency name attached? Who knows. I guess what I’m saying is, I’m not sure we will see a quick and easy replacement for Paycom.
More: Why OKC Thunder’s new arena having fewer seats isn’t cause for concern, much less alarm
The east frontage of the future home of the Thunder consists of a parking garage and mechanical equipment screened by landscaping as shown in the newest renderings released by the city.
Q: As much as I love the new arena and the design, I am disappointed in the space around it. I was hoping for more arena involvement on the rest of the space. The loading docks takes up 1/8 of the street frontage that could have been better used. Like the Chase Center in San Francisco, they could have done the loading docks underground, disguised by another building to keep the street frontage for a better use. Am I alone in this thinking? Over thinking it?
A: I don’t think you are overthinking it. The city recently released a new batch of renderings that show an arena frontage facing east toward Bricktown that is downright hostile to pedestrians walking between the arena and the entertainment district. This is not a project that is subject to citizen scrutiny like what we’ve seen with MAPS projects. The Thunder have a lot of say over the design, so I’m not sure we’ll see any big changes with what we’re seeing to date.
Q: Are you hearing anything about Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Operation Safe activities coming to OKC? What is the status of the reporting on OHP limiting their activities in the metros?
A: Let’s first get past the branding and understand what is involved with the governor’s sweep of homeless camps. When Oklahoma City removes homeless camps, it does so with housing and case workers ready for those displaced.
Stitt’s sweep did no such thing. Highway patrol troopers went through the camps located on state property in Tulsa (mostly along highways), forced the camps’ residents to leave, and trash was hauled off. Also keep in mind, this is all occurring as we’re seeing significant cuts in funding to mental health services and agencies dealing with the homeless (the cuts coincide with ongoing tax cuts). Meanwhile, the camps in Tulsa were not prohibited from locating elsewhere in Tulsa on property not controlled by the state. So we’ll have to see whether anything really got accomplished.
More: Gov. Stitt launches Operation SAFE: How many are homeless in Tulsa, OKC? See the data
I asked Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt about whether we’re going to see the sweep hit locally and the future of highway patrol operations. He said “the official answer” to sweeps starting in Oklahoma City is “no,” and nobody else at City Hall has been contacted about new sweeps.
As for the highway patrol ending operations, Holt believes they can’t do so following an attorney general’s opinion that they must continue law enforcement in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
“The attorney general opinion,” Holt said, “has the force of law.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder arena naming rights? Operation SAFE? Your questions answered