Residents to move into West Village as construction continues
The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer took questions from readers in Friday’s OKC Central Live Chat with Congresswoman-elect Kendra Horn stopping by to take a question. You can join Steve’s Q&As on Fridays at 9:30 a.m. and submit your questions about the happenings in and around downtown Oklahoma City. Q: What’s next for Bricktown? It seems to be faltering lately. Will the streetcar help? A: The challenge in Bricktown is what it has always been — property owners who are not developers and who have inflated expectations on rent and sale prices. With all the new hotels and apartments and office activity, Bricktown should be ready to boom. I’ve been covering Bricktown for almost a quarter century and I’ve written two books about the district. I love Bricktown. But that won’t prevent me from being honest about its challenges. Property owners keep going back for the easy, fast money with nightclubs that are only open three days
a week and only after 8 p.m. That leaves Bricktown with dark dead zones that add to the feel of stagnancy.
We shouldn’t need a streetcar to make Bricktown vibrant. It has all the right ingredients to thrive. But without naming names (oh, how I really want to), the best way to move Bricktown forward is to get three of them to sell at a reasonable price to real developers.
Q: Steve, if you can ask Kendra Horn a question, please ask about how she feels about federal help with transportation projects for the 5th District including rail and highway funding.
Kendra Horn: “I think we’ve got some real challenges with infrastructure. We have to make sure we are talking about highways and public transportation, but infrastructure also should include the electrical grid and water. It must all come together because we are so dependent on all these things.”
Q: When will the first people move into the West Village apartments?
A: I just talked to developer Andy Burnett.
Here is what he said: “Residents are moving in later this month. We are going to be putting the finishing touches on the garage over the next four months which will include two large murals by Denise Huong. We will be putting up quartz and steel around the garage similar to what we did at Barrios (in Midtown) with the art murals in the middle. The lights will be going up around Jones Assembly, the streets will reopen, and it will start to feel like a neighborhood.”
Q: With the Boulevard now being open, has there been any contact with developer Randy Hogan about selling off the surface lots in Lower Bricktown for redevelopment purposes?
A: Not yet. Some of that land is being eyed for a rerouting of Oklahoma Avenue after U-Haul effectively killed efforts to have a direct connection for Oklahoma Avenue.