WHAT'S IN STORE?
A lease has been signed for a possible northeast OKC grocery
“I'd really like to have it look like an Uptown when you walk in, at least visually. I'd like to have some meat cases like that or deli cases and every time you do something like that it's going to prolong that (renovation time).” Hank Binkowski
A lease has been signed to fill a vacant grocery store and bring a grocer back to t he northeast quadrant of Oklahoma City.
But when exactly that space will be filled remains to be determined.
The newly leased space is part of the Northeast Town Center at 1124 NE 36 and is owned by Charles Shadid. He confirmed Friday that Hank and Susan Binkowski, husband- and- wife owners of several local grocery stores such as Uptown Grocery and Buy For Less, signed the lease for this nearly 20,000-squarefoot property.
In a Facebook video alongside local pastor Der rick Sc obey, the B ink ow skis announced plans to turn the space formerly occupied by a Save-A-Lot into a smaller version of an Uptown Grocery.
This announcement comes following a much bemoaned decision by the Binkowskis to abruptly close the Smart Saver grocery store they owned at 2001 NE 23 earlier this month.
Initially, no explanation was given for the Smart Saver closing.
Later, Susan B ink ow ski took to social media, blaming the store's closing on the condition of the building and claiming the business had “less than five days of safe operational building safety.”
She also stated in Facebook comments she advised city leaders of the building' s condition, but an inquiry with the city's public information office indicated no awareness of the building' s being in immediate need of shutting down due to safety concerns.
Susan B ink ow ski has declined interview requests with The Oklahoman since closing the Smart Saver store.
Now, the Binkowskis claim this transition to bring an Up town to the northeast quadrant was part of the plan this whole time. The couple said the store will undergo some work and open between 30 and 90 days.
“I'd really like to have it look like an Uptown when you walk in, at least visually ,” Hank Binkowski said in the video. “I'd like to have some meat cases like that or deli cases and every time you do something like that it's going to prolong that (renovation time).”
Susan Binkowski said in the video some form of“beautification” would begin in the next seven days at the property.
At the time this article was being prepared for publication, no permits had been filed for any sort of construction at the address.
It' s also not the first time the Binkowskis have engaged in talks about opening an Uptown in the area. Several years ago, at the Smart Saver location, the Binkowskis announced plans that, with assistance from a new tax inc rement financing district and other public funding,
they would build an all new Uptown next to the old grocery and then tear down the old building and build a shopping center around the Uptown.
The plan was similar to what was completed in Edmond and The Village.
The deal started to fall apart when the initial agreed- upon assistance of $8.5 million started to spiral, with the ask going to $10 million. The downgrade in brand turned then-Ward 7
Councilman John Pettis into a vocal opponent of the Binkowskis and with the opening of a SaveA-Lot in are developed shopping center at NE 36 and Kelley, their project seemed doomed.
Save-A-Lot lasted less than a year at the Northeast Town Center, and Pettis is no longer in office. But the project never materialized at 23 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Now, current Ward
7 City Councilor Nikki Nice has voiced concerns on Twitter about the latest B ink ow ski announcement.
“There is nothing to celebrate about a store that closed on their own property to lease from another property,” Nice tweeted. “The community is continuing to be a pawn due to the non investment of those who have no real interest and have to be begged to return to give more crumbs.”