Magic City Books / Archer Building

[Bamboo World]

FYI, my wife and I were having a drink at the bar at the Rusty Crane when a reporter from Fox 23 came in with a camera and asked us what we thought about the new construction going on across the street.  We spoke to her on camera for about 5 minutes.

Did the reporter happen to mention the excavation along the face of building?  The hole in Detroit Avenue has gotten deep, and I'm wondering why it's so extensive.

[TheArtist]

FYI, my wife and I were having a drink at the bar at the Rusty Crane when a reporter from Fox 23 came in with a camera and asked us what we thought about the new construction going on across the street.  We spoke to her on camera for about 5 minutes.  One of her questions was "Aren't you happy that downtown will have a bookstore?" and I replied that downtown already has a bookstore and mentioned Decopolis by name.  Of course that comment didn't make it to air.

Well thank you so much for the plug!

[DowntownDan]

Did the reporter happen to mention the excavation along the face of building?  The hole in Detroit Avenue has gotten deep, and I'm wondering why it's so extensive.

They did that on all sides so my guess is to seal the basement so it can be used for storage.

[swake]

They did that on all sides so my guess is to seal the basement so it can be used for storage.

Or parking

[DowntownDan]

Or parking

That would be ideal.

[cannon_fodder]

I looked at it last weekend - it appears that they are repairing and sealing the foundation.  I could be wrong, but it didn't look like they were doing any kind of cut to add parking.  I haven't heard that to be in the plans either.  But it would be cool. 

http://www.bookweb.org/news/magic-city-books-open-tulsa-early-2017-35224

[PonderInc]

Foundation repair.

[heironymouspasparagus]

FYI, my wife and I were having a drink at the bar at the Rusty Crane when a reporter from Fox 23 came in with a camera and asked us what we thought about the new construction going on across the street.  We spoke to her on camera for about 5 minutes.  One of her questions was "Aren't you happy that downtown will have a bookstore?" and I replied that downtown already has a bookstore and mentioned Decopolis by name.  Of course that comment didn't make it to air.

Not a fan of Fox23, but that is just pathetic they would not include mention of Decopolis on air.  Beyond tacky.


I finally made it in to Decopolis over the weekend and love it!  William was working on a new canvas - doing some kind of pencil layout work.  It is just a lot of fun to walk around looking at stuff.  Couldn't buy anything this time, but found a couple books that looked interesting, so will be back after payday...   Have told some friends coming in from Texas about it who claim to be big Deco fans, so maybe they will come by, too.

[TheArtist]

Not a fan of Fox23, but that is just pathetic they would not include mention of Decopolis on air.  Beyond tacky.


I finally made it in to Decopolis over the weekend and love it!  William was working on a new canvas - doing some kind of pencil layout work.  It is just a lot of fun to walk around looking at stuff.  Couldn't buy anything this time, but found a couple books that looked interesting, so will be back after payday...   Have told some friends coming in from Texas about it who claim to be big Deco fans, so maybe they will come by, too.

Thanks for the compliments on DECOPOLIS!  Look forward to seeing you again, and your friends!  Oh and the painting is coming along nicely!

[heironymouspasparagus]

Thanks for the compliments on DECOPOLIS!  Look forward to seeing you again, and your friends!  Oh and the painting is coming along nicely!

I will try to get in soon and see it.  Also want a print of Skyport, but old guy on crazy too small income, it may take a little longer. 

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

UPDATE:

Archer Building getting ready to open retail spaces this summer
Some of the names of the Archer Building's future tenants have been on the fence outside the building for months. Others haven't been announced.

The plan is to have them all open by the end of the year, and add a broad swath of retail and artist studio space to a burgeoning Brady Arts District.

One wave of retailers will open this summer, including the Goods Bodega, Guitar House of Tulsa and Made: The Indie Emporium Shop, which will move from the Philcade Building in the Deco District and then use its current location for a different concept.

A larger group of retailers and restaurants are expected to open this fall, including Lone Wolf Banh Mi, Press Cafe x Yoga, Magic City Books, Glacier Confection, a board game cafe and sports bar  concept called Shuffles and a restaurant from local restaurateur Tuck Curren.

Ground floor retail and restaurants aren't the only thing the $17 million renovation project from the George Kaiser Family Foundation boasts. There will be 35 artist work spaces and 14 studio apartments for artists in the two-story former warehouse at 215 E. Archer St.

Strange Donuts and Holy Mountain Records, which had previously announced locations in the Archer Building, will not be tenants.

More local businesses

In a section of downtown filling up with GKFF projects, the Archer Building is, to at least one future tenant, a "missing piece of the puzzle."

"If you look at traffic flow for example on First Friday, ... it should be such a busy, bustling thoroughfare to connect stuff over by the ballpark like Living Arts, and restaurants over there to Guthrie Green," said Thom Crowe, who with wife Christine Sharp-Crowe owns Made.

He added: "Right now, you can sort of walk between an office building and now an abandoned Spaghetti Warehouse Building parking lot. The restaurants and the shops that they're putting in there perfectly fit. It's like completing the puzzle in Brady Arts District."

Crowe said the new, larger space will allow his wife to get back to what she started the business for: encouraging fellow makers and teaching classes. The current location, he said, meets an interest in greeting cards and Tulsa-focused wares because of its proximity to the downtown cluster of hotels.

Crowe noted what the nonprofit has done for business owners and development in downtown.

"If you look at the Brady Arts District and the shops, Antoinette's, 36° North, the small businesses that are there starting up or just having a place to go work, Ida Red and us — it's really giving people an opportunity that otherwise, they wouldn't be able to have or it would take a lot of finding investors or getting a lot of other financial burdens.

"They're really making it possible for smaller businesses in Tulsa to thrive."

Residential doughnut

Photographs of signs line the blank white walls of an artist's studio on the second floor of the Archer Building. The room, among close to three dozen on the second floor, is where Joel Daniel Phillips, with a maroon ball cap perched on his head, paces and contemplates the stories behind the signs he found along Route 66.

Phillips is from Seattle and lived in San Francisco before coming to Tulsa as a Tulsa Artist Fellow. He receives a $20,000 stipend plus room and board. The signs are a departure from his typical work, which has been "drawing my neighbors."

In downtown Tulsa, he has noticed he doesn't have a lot of neighbors. Tulsa's population density is a like a doughnut, he said, with a hole in the middle. And so he's drawing the signs because they drew him in. Some are existing businesses. Others have seen time pass them by.

To Phillips, they are an acknowledgement of Tulsa growing around them, a clue to how big and empty Oklahoma is compared to the density of the Bay Area.

Artists like Phillips are part of GKFF's proposed solution to the lack of downtown density, Phillips described. The fellowship program, in addition to attracting artistic talent to Tulsa, is also intended "to people" the Brady Arts District.

The building itself was renovated with an eye toward improving the walk-ability of the Brady Arts District.

Aaron Miller of GKFF, who has a degree in metropolitan strategic development, said he hopes the Archer Building becomes a gateway between the burgeoning Brady Arts District and the Greenwood District.

The building, he explained, was originally built because of its proximity to the railroad tracks and then, as the car became the preferred method of transportation, the Archer Building was preserved by lack of use.

Rent for retail tenants, Miller said, is below market rate to give small businesses and entrepreneurs the ability to take advantage of the location in the Brady Arts District and because of requirements of the New Market Tax Credits that were used for the project.

Tulsa County property records show the building is owned by the BOKF Foundation, which is the nonprofit arm of BOK Financial. George Kaiser is the majority owner and chairman of BOKF.

Miller said the foundation has signed a long-term lease with BOKF to use the building.

He said the building is aimed to give downtown a "different type of retail" with a customer who is comfortable walking a few blocks.

"The Archer Building is another step in the right direction to make downtown Tulsa a walkable neighborhood."

Archer Building tenants

Summer 2017
The Goods Bodega: The Goods will be a corner market with food and convenience items.
Guitar House of Tulsa: Guitar House has provided vintage and rare guitars to the Tulsa market since 1964.
Made: Made is a modern handmade boutique with a goal of bringing thoughtful, functional design to our local community. Made also serves as a place for Tulsa's creatives to gather in a hybrid retail, classroom and studio space.
Fall 2017
Press Cafe x Yoga: Press is a minimalist coffeeshop with an adjoining hot yoga studio. Press is also a recent winner of Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation's Startup Series.
Lone Wolf Banh Mi: Lone Wolf will open a full-service restaurant offering their famous banh mi sandwiches, kimchi fries, fried rice bowls and more.
Magic City Books: Magic City Books is a new, independent bookstore operated by the nonprofit Tulsa Literary Coalition.
Glacier Confection: Glacier's much larger secondary location will feature an educational component in addition to bean-to-bar production on-site.
Shuffles: Shuffles is a board game cafe/bar offering a full restaurant, coffee shop and bar. Along with a sizable "open box" board game library, a retail space will allow you to take game and accessories home with you.
Tuck Curren restaurant: A new, to-be-named restaurant concept by Tuck Curren, chef and owner of Biga and Local Table, will also open in the Archer Building.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/archer-building-getting-ready-to-open-retail-spaces-this-summer/article_a28a2c91-4e2a-56eb-a580-7c15c7a74795.html

[Tulsasaurus Rex]

Strange Donuts and Holy Mountain Records, which had previously announced locations in the Archer Building, will not be tenants

hmmm  

Also, that says it will be a "second" Glacier location. We discussed earlier how that's silly and Glacier should just move.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Owner of Biga to open jazz club and restaurant in Tulsa Arts District

Two-story jazz club and restaurant opening in Archer Building, Glacier chocolate opens soon


The next food places in the Archer Building are expected to open within the next two months.

Glacier Confection is nearing completion of its second Tulsa Arts District location. The new store will have chocolate production facilities, a classroom area and a full bar in an open concept that will be visible to everyone in the building.

"If all goes well, we hope to be open sometime this month (March)," owner Bill Copeland said.

Tuck Curren, owner of Biga Italian restaurant, said he expects to have Duets, a jazz club and restaurant, open in the Archer Building sometime in April.

"It will have a jazz club on the bottom floor and a New American restaurant on the second floor," Curren said. "We will be able to seat 120 upstairs with the outside patio and 120 in the club. The club will be booking some nationwide jazz acts, as well as local talent."

A board game café called Shuffles also is expected to open in the Archer Building in the near future.

The Archer Building is on East Archer Street between MLK Jr. Boulevard and North Detroit Avenue.

Other food spots already are open in the Archer Building, in addition to some specialty shops.

Places to grab a bite, a cup of coffee or a glass of wine include Lone Wolf Banh Mi,

http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/scene/restaurants/owner-of-biga-to-open-jazz-club-and-restaurant-in/article_b849dad2-d474-568b-96e9-48c909eb4c7d.html

[SXSW]

This is an exciting new development, lots of good places in there and activates a former blank wall along Archer.



Anyone know what tenant(s) the Brady Flats will have on the corner of Archer & Boston?  Now we just need those parking lots redeveloped between Boston and Detroit.

[Conan71]

I'd be curious to know how far the Brady District would have developed thus far without the investment of the GKFF.  Think about it, they've got a huge stake in the district.