Brictown Coney and Pub......local (Oklahoma City, Thomas: estate, jobs, home)

[happytown]

Hot Dog!
Bricktown cafe tames design fuss to allow opening

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer


Bricktown's newest restaurateurs have spent the last six months trying to "tame” a storefront that was the ire of fellow property owners and yet carry on an inside design that they admit is decidedly "eccentric.”

Spanning only 1,150 square feet, the future Bricktown Coney and Pub at 212 E Sheridan is one of the smallest structures in Bricktown, but its construction lasted four years — almost twice as long as the time spent building the 20,000-seat Ford Center.

"We hear all the time — ‘when are you going to open?'” said Dena Shackelford, who along with fiance Thomas Lindley is hoping to end the suspense later this month. "If the door is open or even unlocked, people come in here just to see what's inside.”

And what's inside may be unlike anything else in Oklahoma City — at least not since the days of Molly Murphey's. Visitors entering the doors are stunned by what they see — Christmas trees and toys on the walls, rocking horses and Red Baron planes hanging from the ceiling, and an assortment of signs, mementos and carvings that could fill a football field of garage and estate sales.

"When people come in, they're like kids again,” Lindley said. "Everybody can relate to something in here.”

That same eclectic design, once applied to the building's 11-foot-wide storefront, led to a months-long stand-off with a Bricktown Urban Design Committee that became fed up with the previous developer's work. In 2005, they even contemplated declaring the unfinished building dilapidated so it could be demolished by the city.

Marsh Pitman, a member of the committee that regulates designs for facade renovations and construction, said the building's previous developer, Scott Millington, repeatedly failed to follow design guidelines for the historic entertainment district.

"He proved to be incapable of finishing the project,” Pitman said.

Millington, an architect and assistant professor at OSU-Oklahoma City, concedes he might not have been a good fit for Bricktown. He said he didn't realize the area had design controls when he bought the private alley next to the Power Alley Parking Garage, and thought he had the freedom to complete the building on his own timetable.

Millington said he started buying doors and mirrors simply to make the inside of the small building appear bigger than it is. But after a few trips to antique stores, his imagination soared. He even rescued liquor bottles from the trash bins to incorporate into mirrors on the building's second floor.

"I kept on going and going,” Millington said. "I thought about Molly Murphey's, and this was the same kind of idea ... I had gotten to be so much a part of this.”

Millington said he tried to "please City Hall” when the Planning Department, representing the design committee, questioned his building's facade.

"My mistake was not finishing the front, leaving it halfway done,” Millington said. "It got pretty ratty.”

After repeated confrontations with the design committee, Millington said he is "ready to get out” and is prepared to sell the property to Lindley and Shackelford after they successfully open for business.

Lindley and Shackelford say they weren't aware of the building's past controversies until they were almost ready to open.

Lindley was a respiratory therapist, Shackelford worked in information technology and both were burned out on their jobs. Now they are pursuing their dream of opening a restaurant. They consulted with friends Rod and Randy Meyer, who operate The Mantle, 201 E Sheridan. The brothers showed the couple several Bricktown properties, but the two would-be buyers didn't like anything they saw until they gazed at the incomplete building across the street. The interior excited Lindley, but Shackelford, a self-described "minimalist,” wondered how they could keep track of the hundreds of collectables spread throughout the restaurant. Lindley added to the clutter, displaying childhood toys and wooden carvings bought in Branson during his youth.

He even tried to continue Millington's work in the second floor bar area, building a 4-foot-deep brown shag-rug covered couch area they call "Sasquatch.”

"If this thing shows up in our home, there might be some issues,” Shackelford joked as Lindley showed off his creation.

The couple said they were told by Millington the city was requiring exterior changes. Only after completing an agreement and spending several months finishing the kitchen, dining area and second floor bar, and obtaining all licensing did they learn of the ill will between Millington and the design committee.

The pair went to John Calhoun, an assistant city planner who oversees design applications and spent hours going through all aspects of the building's exterior designs. Wednesday, they met with the committee and agreed to final changes to open for business.

The committee's objections, which had once included rear gates, front brick designs, windows and roof design, were addressed and whittled down to an 1880s-style door frame, the color of front light fixtures and the addition of a rear second-story railing. And they also have to eliminate a "cherub” unanimously derided by the design committee.

As they finalize their menu, which will range from hot dogs to fried pickles and stuffed olives, the couple hopes curious onlookers will continue to stroll through the front door and out the back.

"This will be a fun, family atmosphere,” Lindley said. "I'm sure it's something people will remember.”

[peggydavis]

Great post, Happytown. Sounds like a place I would like to go and have a coney, mustard and onions please. Maybe a root beer float too.

I'm sorry they had so much trouble, but in a historic district things must be preserved. That's the point of having a historic district, isn't it? At least the new owners had a good attitude and it seems that everything will work out.

[Jammie]

Did somebody say, "Root beer float"????

[happytown]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Did somebody say, "Root beer float"????

Root beer float...Yummmm!! I need to check out many of the new places around bricktown/downtown/AAlley.

[case44]

Well, gang, I think it's time to get back to Bricktown. Save me a float, will you?

[happytown]

Originally Posted by case44

Well, gang, I think it's time to get back to Bricktown. Save me a float, will you?

I recently made a visit...finally. Its been a long time since I have been to BTown. Dogs were great....enjoy.