Downtown Growth Moving West
By EMILY RAMSEY
Managing Editor
EXPANDING AREA: David Atkinson, of One Property Management, stands at the southern end of the One Place Tower at 2nd Street and Cheyenne Avenue. The One Place development is almost fully leased, with its newest tenant Oklahoma City-based tea and coffee shop All About Cha, to open in July.
EMILY RAMSEY for GTR Newspapers
Development around the Center has steadily maintained since the event center opened in 2008. However, in just the past year, a number of new developments have opened with more activity to come, including additional residential options and new restaurants.
Among the new businesses calling downtown home are high-end bar Mixed Company, which opened in March, and Naples Flatbread and Wine Bar. Both businesses are within walking distance of the Center.
Naples opened in December at One Place, 201 S. Denver Ave. “We didn’t want to move where everyone else was,” says Naples Co-Owner Jim Wilburn. He expects to see One Place turn into a restaurant destination, which is the exact aim of the individuals of the building’s management company, One Property Management.
“We’ve always been pursuing restaurants as tenants for the building,” says One Property Management partner David Atkinson. “If there’s a variety of restaurants in an area, people are going to be attracted to that.”
A second restaurant set to enter the One Place property is the Oklahoma City-based tea and coffee shop All About Cha. It will open in July at the northeast end of the 17-story tower.
Company owner Chang Yi began the business four years ago in Oklahoma City’s Midtown District, with a Nichols Hills location that opened in January of this year.
When Yi was approached about franchising a Tulsa location, he was open to the idea. “I think the people in Tulsa are open-minded and like to try new things,” he says, referring to the shop’s food and drink menu, with its specific focus on tea and Asian-focused dishes, including sushi.
Alice Yang, who will open the downtown location with her husband, Mike Hung, appreciates both the laid-back ambiance of the shop and its offerings of teas with various flavors and purposes. “If you’re tired or have a cold, there’s a tea for that,” she says.
The office space at One Place is fully occupied with tenants Cimarex Energy, Northwestern Mutual and Check-6. A few spaces are still available on the first and second floors, Atkinson says, which has drawn interest from national and local companies.
One of the remaining available spaces sits on the second floor above Naples, with full windows, offering a panoramic view of the Center and downtown. Atkinson would like to see a patio built on the south wall and hopes to see a restaurant or pub enter the space.
At First Street and Boulder Avenue, construction is underway on 100 Boulder, 18 luxury studio condominiums. The project is planned for completion by the end of July.
Joe Westervelt, with Mapleview Associates Inc., and 21st Century, , are the project developers.
“We have an interest in developing downtown,” says Westervelt.
In addition to adding to downtown’s development, proximity was the other attractive factor, he says.
Units range from 996 to 1070 square feet and feature an east-facing balcony or patio and space-saving amenities such as a Murphy Bed and a Galley Kitchen. Each unit also comes with two parking places in a secured, adjoining parking garage.
Two hotels by Promise Hotels are set to be constructed near the Center: Hampton Inn and Suites, to be located on the southeast corner of 3rd Street and Cheyenne Avenue as part of the One Place development, and the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown at 2nd Street and Cheyenne Avenue.
The Hampton Inn will be 120 rooms and eight stories with retail storefront available on the ground floor. Construction will begin at the end of the year.
The groundbreaking for the Hilton Garden Inn will occur in the middle of 2015. Construction will consist of repurposing the building that currently stands in the location. The hotel will be 134 rooms and seven stories.
Pete “Paresh” Patel, president and of Promise Hotels, anticipates tremendous growth in the area around the Center by the time the hotels are completed in the coming years.
“One Place will be a big draw in the area,” he says. “So much has happened in the Brady, but I think the area around the is the next big area.”
Updated 05-27-2014
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