Oklahoma City is overcoming the odds of a bad national economy with construction starting on a new $50 million factory outlet mall.
Officials with Horizon Group Properties admitted Thursday that at one point they lost all of their leases for a factory outlet mall they hoped to start as the national economy crashed in 2008.
At a ceremony Thursday celebrating the start of construction on the $50 million mall at Reno and Council, Horizon Chief Executive Officer Gary Skoien said only two other such developments are being built in the United States.
"You've got a great economy," Skoien said when asked how the project was revived. "I'm constantly extolling the values of Oklahoma City."
The 65-acre, 348,000-square-foot development, The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City, is set to open in August 2011 with stores including Nike, Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Brooks Brothers, Guess, Coach, Chico's, Banana Republic, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour, Levi's and Carters.
The mall will front Interstate 40, which carries 112,000 cars a day and is within a few minutes of I-35 and I-44. The design calls for a shopper-friendly racetrack design with covered walkways and landscaped courtyards. The center will feature a food court, children's play area, stage and fountains.
"We believe that The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City will draw shoppers from a large area throughout Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas," Skoien said. "We are happy to bring the roster of tenants to Oklahoma City, including a number that currently are not present in the market."
Mayor Mick Cornett said he was glad to see Horizon was able to rebuild its list of leases and get construction started. The deal included $8.9 million in economic incentives ranging from infrastructure improvements to $5.5 million in reimbursements for regional marketing costs.
"We've been working on this quite a while," Cornett said. "This is destination retail. It's a reflection on Oklahoma City's economy and all the things we've done. It's taken longer than we thought, but we got it done, which is something in this economy. We rely on sales taxes, so we have to have things like this that will bring in shoppers from outside the city."
SOURCE: NewsOK
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