Development set to resume at The Collective
Construction is set to resume this spring on The Collective, a food hall and bar that is designed to bring life to a longtime eyesore in the heart of Midtown.
Permit applications filed with the city call for a series of seven kitchens, a rooftop patio and bar that will be operated by Truong Le, who also operates Chicken and Beer in Uptown and Covell Park in Edmond.
“It’s a collective of kitchens with different types of food,” Le said. “Once this goes public, we assume there will be a long line of people wanting to come in with this being a turnkey solution, just bring knives, pots and pans and go to work.”
Only one chef, Vuong Nguyen, is likely to get one of those slots. It was Nguyen who teamed up with Le in starting up the original Guernsey Park, an Uptown restaurant that recently closed.
The Collective represents an evolution of plans for the onetime service station at 308 NW 10. The three adjoining buildings date back to 1923 and the property once was home to a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership. But the building was boarded up for more than 20 years, filled with junk and surrounded by abandoned
vehicles until it was purchased last year by Northline Development.
Northline Development cleared out the junk, restored the windows and doors, added a fresh coat of paint, and then paused. The project initially was planned to become home to a restaurant.
Le had one point talked to Northline Development partner Kayla Baker about opening a Korean BBQ chicken restaurant, and it was when she attempted to resume that discussion that the idea for the Collective was born.
Le had a new idea. “I had traveled to New York and California,” Le said. “Food halls are becoming big out there. This helps not only the chefs and small-business
people, it makes sense for us in the bar business and real estate side.”
Le is hoping to start auditioning possible restaurants for the Collective to coincide with construction of the rooftop patio and front courtyard this summer.
“We will set up an audition set up over several days,” Le said. “We will have people to overlook the business plans and we will hand pick people who will go in and set up shop.
It’s important not just to get chefs, but to get chefs with business minds.”
Concepts, he said, could include everything from breakfast or lunch fare to dinner and cocktail operations.
“We want to see newer concepts that are out there and don’t want to miss out,” Le said. “We don’t want people competing against each other. We want to vet out the folks who will work out best.”