Western redux
Retail, housing, office space is planned for a rundown section of Western Avenue.
A rundown stretch of Western Avenue just west of Midtown is set to be redeveloped into a mix of housing, restaurants, retail and offices.
Shyon Keoppel has built several modernist homes in the urban core and is partners with restaurateur James Vu in La Brasa, a restaurant near NW 25 and Classen, and Kong’s Tavern at NW 10 and Walker. His latest project may be
his most ambitious yet, transforming a stretch of Western Avenue between NW 11 and NW 13.
Keoppel started developing properties in Midtown about two years ago, first tackling a home at 524 NW 8 that was long used for drugs and prostitution. After initially trying to restore the house, he concluded the exterior was too far gone to save and instead built a modern contemporary home similar to others being built in Midtown.
“Midtown has skyrocketed in price, so I figured what would be next is Western Avenue,” Keoppel said. “I think this will be very much like Midtown. It has a lot of traffic and there is more visibility.”
Keoppel first bought the southwest corner at NW 13 and Western Avenue, which was cleared of structures several years ago and now is home only to a large billboard. He then proceeded to buy one lot after another until he secured the entire west side of the street between NW11 andNW13.
When Keoppel started acquisitions, the one stable business on the stretch was Urban Art, a glassblowing shop and gallery at 1218 N Western Ave. Fat Dog, a popular restaurant and bar with a patio that welcomes dogs, then opened at 1234 N Western Ave.
“It’s more motivation that there is someone there trying,” Keoppel said.
And as the street evolved, so did Keoppel’s plans for his growing ownership along Western.
Chelsea and other plans
That plan includes the $10 million Chelsea, which will anchor the development with construction set to start in early 2018. The corner of NW13 and Western, with its slopetowardthe street, will see the billboards torn down and replaced with a four-story retail and office building.
A two-story building will be built immediately south with the ground floor to be home to retail and the second floor to be home to four 1,500-square-foot residential lofts. That building will front a two-story garage.
Thenext propertymoving south along Western was previously home to a denture production company and has since been renovated into retail space. The timing, however, is too early for retail in that building, Keoppel
said, so for the interim it will be leased to the nonprofit Dress for Success.
Vu, meanwhile, is set to partner with Keoppel in opening up The Rabbit Hole eatery in a decadesold white block building at 1101 N Western Ave. The building, which still has the faded sign of “Beauty’s Cafe,” was empty and boarded up for decades.
The Rabbit Hole is set to open in early 2018.
“It’s an Austin-style concept,” Keoppel said. “You buy from a food truck out back, come inside and eat.”
Keoppel’s broker and partner, Richard Labarthe, believes the timing is right for development along Western Avenue and Classen Boeulevard.
“Classen is the artery that connects Midtown and downtown with northwest Oklahoma City,” Lebarthe said. “And along Classen, you get into all this cool stuff. We’re at a connection point where you have all the investment going on around Film Row and then south you have Blair Humphreys, Wheeler and also Farmers Market.”