I don't usually listen to the radio but I did this morning and heard a recap of business either in the Blue Dome district or coming soon. One mentioned was a new liquor store--did I miss a thread on this? Any details?
It was an interview on KRMG with Michael Sager. He was asked about new restaurants coming to Blue Dome. They talked about the two new BBQ restaurants, and a liquor store coming to the area. I believe the liquor store is part of the Lofts he is building on 1st street.
Quote from: RecycleMichael on September 02, 2011, 08:50:56 AM
It was an interview on KRMG with Michael Sager. He was asked about new restaurants coming to Blue Dome. They talked about the two new BBQ restaurants, and a liquor store coming to the area. I believe the liquor store is part of the Lofts he is building on 1st street.
Which means it's not happening.
"Building", he must have a different meaning for that word than the rest of us.
In the Sager Dictionary "Building" means "half finished".
Quote from: rdj on September 02, 2011, 10:25:51 AM
In the Sager Dictionary "Building" means "half finished".
... and years of no progress.
Quote from: DTowner on September 02, 2011, 12:23:11 PM
... and years of no progress.
Not so hasty...the rat's nests are well finished out and quite elaborate.
I thought he was in foreclosure?
The myopia you all are displaying on this thread is part of the problem in this town. I am just saying. You can choose to perpetuate the negativity or you can actually do something about it. You choose.
If he can pull it off, that's great. The permit on his door is from 2004.
Quote from: Kenosha on September 02, 2011, 01:15:28 PM
The myopia you all are displaying on this thread is part of the problem in this towm. I am just saying. You can choose to perpetuate the negativity or you can actually do something about it. You choose.
Its earned.
Quote from: Kenosha on September 02, 2011, 01:15:28 PM
The myopia you all are displaying on this thread is part of the problem in this towm. I am just saying. You can choose to perpetuate the negativity or you can actually do something about it. You choose.
I'm not sure how cynicism born of experience and disappointment is myoptic. It is a building with great potential, but years of failure and wasted millions in city money make any grand promises or predictions by the developer responsible for such failure to be an invitation for snark.
Quote from: Kenosha on September 02, 2011, 01:15:28 PM
The myopia you all are displaying on this thread is part of the problem in this towm. I am just saying. You can choose to perpetuate the negativity or you can actually do something about it. You choose.
Sager? Is that you?
Quote from: swake on September 02, 2011, 09:52:19 AM
Which means it's not happening.
"Building", he must have a different meaning for that word than the rest of us.
"You keep using that word..."
(http://l.yimg.com/eb/ymv/us/img/hv/photo/movie_pix/mgm/the_princess_bride/_group_photos/andre_the_giant7.jpg)
Quote from: Kenosha on September 02, 2011, 01:15:28 PM
The myopia you all are displaying on this thread is part of the problem in this towm. I am just saying. You can choose to perpetuate the negativity or you can actually do something about it. You choose.
On almost everything else happening development wise in downtown we are almost annoyingly optimistic, I don't see how having little faith in a development that's been under construction for six years, and is now in foreclosure, is suddenly creating a negativity problem.
Quote from: Hoss on September 02, 2011, 02:12:34 PM
"You keep using that word..."
(http://l.yimg.com/eb/ymv/us/img/hv/photo/movie_pix/mgm/the_princess_bride/_group_photos/andre_the_giant7.jpg)
"I dont think that means what you think that means" + 1 Hoss. That was great.
So I have to say, there are no new permits up on the glass, but, It does seem that there is SOME movement. There were people doing some work in there today. Let's see what the next few weeks hold. Also, if you read the article, it seems to me that he is talking about S&J oyster company. Which would be pretty damn sweet. :)
Here's the article:
http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/big-changes-coming-tulsas-blue-dome-district/nDczT/
It's a pretty good read if you're interested in the Blue Dome District. It does at least seem like he's pretty close to having at the least 1st floor occupied. Hopefully the whole project is finished soon.
Quote from: ZYX on September 06, 2011, 06:54:21 PM
Here's the article:
http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/big-changes-coming-tulsas-blue-dome-district/nDczT/
It's a pretty good read if you're interested in the Blue Dome District. It does at least seem like he's pretty close to having at the least 1st floor occupied. Hopefully the whole project is finished soon.
I like how he said it's "In The Raw" without actually saying it. They've been circling the blue dome area for years looking into options, but haven't landed yet. It would be a good deal for Sager's project.
Quote from: sgrizzle on September 07, 2011, 10:54:42 AM
I like how he said it's "In The Raw" without actually saying it. They've been circling the blue dome area for years looking into options, but haven't landed yet. It would be a good deal for Sager's project.
Actually, the article says "formerly resided in Brookside". That sounds a lot more like "S&J" than "In The Raw."
Quote from: DTowner on September 07, 2011, 11:00:24 AM
Actually, the article says "formerly resided in Brookside". That sounds a lot more like "S&J" than "In The Raw."
It also said this,
QuoteDeveloper Michael Sager, the man at the center of the Blue Dome District and its heart and soul,
.
Quote from: Townsend on September 07, 2011, 11:06:59 AM
It also said this, .
Yeah, that sentence made me wonder if Sager had written the article.
Sager suffers from math issues. Albert G's has been on Harvard for about 19 years not 25. What I heard on the radio suggested the "Brookside eatery" had been around 35 years. S & J, as I recall opened in 1982 or '83.
Certainly, he'd never exaggerate. Let's just hope he gets his damned project finished soon.
Quote from: Conan71 on September 07, 2011, 11:24:26 AM
Sager suffers from math issues. Albert G's has been on Harvard for about 19 years not 25. What I heard on the radio suggested the "Brookside eatery" had been around 35 years. S & J, as I recall opened in 1982 or '83.
Certainly, he'd never exaggerate. Let's just hope he gets his damned project finished soon.
At the risk of sounding myoptic, or perhaps downright pedantic, I put all Sager and Sager related projects in the "sounds nice, but I'll believe it when I see it" category.
Would someone like to give me some background on the board's feelings towards Sager? Seems he's been coming up a lot lately. I've met the guy one time and he seemed real nice.
Quote from: Nik on September 07, 2011, 03:46:13 PM
Would someone like to give me some background on the board's feelings towards Sager? Seems he's been coming up a lot lately. I've met the guy one time and he seemed real nice.
His failure to complete a project that has been under construction since like 2006 is the main contributing factor. It wouldn't be such a big deal if he wasn't using taxpayer money.
Quote from: Nik on September 07, 2011, 03:46:13 PM
Would someone like to give me some background on the board's feelings towards Sager? Seems he's been coming up a lot lately. I've met the guy one time and he seemed real nice.
Nice guy. It's the lofts. Makes me wish the money had gone elsewhere.
Quote from: Nik on September 07, 2011, 03:46:13 PM
Would someone like to give me some background on the board's feelings towards Sager? Seems he's been coming up a lot lately. I've met the guy one time and he seemed real nice.
He's very nice. Even throws down a nice spread during the Blue Dome festival.
Long on vision, short on cash and ability to finish projects on time when he's dealing with his own money and borrowed money ostensibly.
When Lee's first opened, Adam told me Sager helped move his project along a lot quicker than it would have gone otherwise as he knows how to navigate the system with the city.
S & J story:
Per Tulsa World FB:
QuoteDiners still craving the oysters, crab cakes, gumbo and etouffee from the old S&J Seafood Cafe & Oyster Bar have something to celebrate.
S&J, which disappeared from the restaurant scene seven years ago, will return next spring in the Blue Dome District downtown.
It will occupy the ground floor of the First Street Lofts, 320 E. First St., also scheduled for a spring opening.
Michelle and Howard Smith opened the first S&J in 1983 at 3301 S. Peoria Ave. and closed the last one in November 2004 at 3629 S. Peoria Ave.
Howard Smith is serving as a consultant to the new ownership, headed by Bill Parkey.
Smith, Parkey and Michael Sager, building owner and developer of First Street Lofts, met for an interview Friday at the site of the new S&J.
"I was a minor partner with Bill's dad, Ike Parkey, at my first Tulsa restaurant, Across the Street, in 1968, so I've known Bill all his life," Smith said. "I didn't have to close S&J, but I was ready to retire, and I just didn't want to transition ownership until I found someone I really trusted to do it right."
Parkey, whose father also owned the Silver Castle restaurants in Tulsa, said he originally approached Smith about a different restaurant concept. He said he had been in the organic beef business in Craig County for 17 years and was ready for a career change.
"I ran across the original Silver Castle franchise records, which my mom had kept in a box all of these years," Parkey said. "I first talked to Howard about what it would take to open Silver Castles again. The conversation then evolved into reviving S&J instead."
The new restaurant, projected to seat 212 in 5,000 square feet, will have an enclosed courtyard full of green plants facing First Street, a bar area and private dining room.
Smith and Parkey said they intend to retain most of the original menu.
"I was going over the recipe cards with Bill, and it looks as though we will be able to keep most of the items," Smith said. "I almost forgot about the chicken wings before the wife of a friend of mine reminded me they need Parkey said he already is looking forward to Mardi Gras in 2013 and a crawfish festival next year.
"We have some great special events we plan to develop," Parkey said.
Smith and Parkey said rumors about an S&J revival already have led to former employees inquiring about returning to the restaurant.
For many years the building housed Monger Fixture Co., Sager said. More recently it held Finales restaurant, which closed a few years ago. Sager said S&J will share the ground floor with a boutique liquor store, and the upper floors will hold 27 lofts.
"I'm just proud to have something to do with bringing S&J back," Sager said.
Its 310 E First St
Putting a new Restaurant in a building that is currently in foreclosure.. Nice!
Quote from: CharlieSheen on September 16, 2011, 03:49:03 PM
Its 310 E First St
Putting a new Restaurant in a building that is currently in foreclosure.. Nice!
Strange that the T.World article never mentioned the foreclosure issue. Since it says the 310 lofts will be open next spring, has the foreclosure issued been resolved?
Quote from: DTowner on September 16, 2011, 04:06:12 PM
Strange that the T.World article never mentioned the foreclosure issue. Since it says the 310 lofts will be open next spring, has the foreclosure issued been resolved?
Not sure if the foreclosure has been resolved.
This is from 4/28/2008 :)
"Michael Sager's plans to convert the former Jacobs Hotel into lofts and retail space have moved a lot more slowly than the developer expected.
But conversion work for the First Street Lofts is finally under way in earnest — a gigantic hole punched into the west side makes that clear.
"We're putting in a 16-foot-high glass wall," Sager said. "It'll overlook some of the best of the Tulsa skyline."
Sager said administrative matters slowed the development of the building at 310 E. First St. after a ceremonial jackhammer ceremony was held in March 2007. But the red tape has been cleared and workers are expected to finish the first loft by fall, with the residential side of the project completely done within a year. "
Hope it happens as quickly as it says in the article, but I'll believe it when I see it.
I saw sager meeting with a group of 3 men as I drove by today. Not to mention ther has been a bunch of work goin on on the first level.