Is It Possible for Oklahoma City to Happen Again

In the old boondocks of Britton, a long fated stretch of storefronts is coming to life. Where there were once seedy bars, passersby now see Zero Tolerance Coffee, Hooligan's Barbershop and Hideout Art. On the same stretch, structure is underway for Venn Pizza and Madhopper Brewing.

Down the street the newly renovated Depression-era Owl Courts cabin is filled with a barbershop, salon and Mash Brother Coffee.

After a deadly wintertime, Oklahoma City is in the midst of an economic rebound, defying the pandemic that has wreaked havoc on economies worldwide.

And while the hospitality and energy industries are still struggling, the optimism for a render to normalcy and economic recovery has some wondering if Oklahoma is virtually to experience a 2nd "roaring '20s."

Happy days certainly appear to be here once again for the Britton corridor, which was once a part of Route 66 that went through the center of the Town of Britton before information technology was annexed into Oklahoma City.

The recovery started shortly before the pandemic and tackled decades of decline reflected by the boarded-upward storefronts and aging sidewalks along Britton Road between Western Avenue and Classen Boulevard.

Similar indications of life are popping up throughout the city.

The metropolis's unemployment charge per unit is at four.7%, seventh-lowest among the land's largest cities and far lower than the fourteen.8% recorded in April. The city's latest sales tax check for February was four.4% college than the aforementioned pre-pandemic period a year agone.

One of the major investors in the Britton revival, Steve Goetzinger, is amidst those optimistic good times are to come up after a twelvemonth of shutdowns and economic hardships.

"I think people are so ready, and at that place is a pent-upwards demand for a render to normalcy," Goetzinger said. "History teaches us that after 1918, the roaring '20s came. Information technology will be like the finish of the 1918 pandemic; people will be ready to leave dine and have fun."

Back to a unlike hereafter

When Goetzinger and several other developers took on the challenge of reviving Britton, the local economy was humming though hundreds of task cuts already were happening at oil and gas companies, including giants like Devon Free energy and Chesapeake Energy.

Chesapeake Energy is a shadow of its onetime self, leaving the nearby Britton District and upscale Classen Curve deprived of thousands of well-paid workers that once filled the Chesapeake role buildings at present for sale.

A contempo forecast by economists Russell Evans and Eric Long for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber reports the city's free energy industry was "hit hard" with more than than 8,000 workers losing their jobs as travel ground to a halt.

Some of those jobs might come back in 2022 if the global economy starts growing, but fifty-fifty so, Evans and Long say local energy employment is unlikely to return to the levels seen in the early 2000s.

In the meantime, the energy jobs keep disappearing. About 500 cuts are expected with Enable Midstream, which was headquartered at BOK Park Plaza, being caused last month by Dallas-based Energy Transfer.

"The pandemic didn't help," said Roy Williams, sleeping accommodation president. "Merely at that place were so many factors driving it beyond the pandemic. I don't think nosotros're through with acquisitions and mergers in the energy industry. If yous don't have the corporate headquarters buying, yous're going to lose. There is nevertheless going to be a shakeout in the manufacture."

Offsetting energy-related job losses are new aviation and engineering jobs taking their place. Evens and Long are looking at an optimistic chore forecast scenario of 3.2% growth or near 20,500 jobs past the end of 2021. This growth, they said, parallels expectations for the nation.

An culling model shows a more than pessimistic start to 2021 with the Oklahoma City area job growth at 1.5% or only under ten,000 jobs added by the end of the fourth quarter. That would leave Oklahoma City with employment notwithstanding below pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Eager entrepreneur

Elijah Vick, owner of Brew Blood brother Coffee Shop, is hoping for the more than optimistic scenario equally he struggles to overcome challenges he has faced since opening at the i truly preserved Owl Courtroom office, one of Britton's authentic Route 66 landmarks.

When he offset started planning the java shop for the 225-square-pes building, his vision was to create a mix of commitment java for nearby part workers and create hub for java and hip-hop lovers.

"I was originally going to brand this a tasting room (with) this thing called open-source coffee where baristas from all over the state come in and showcase their drinks," Vick said. "But of grade, the plague just changed all that. So our niche is that like nosotros take hip-hop lyrics and plow it into nutrient and potable."

For now, the hip-hop lyrics and dreams are limited to branding of his coffees and breakfast items. Simply with springtime weather returning and the connected turn down in COVID-19 cases, Vick is hoping to host a hip-hop event and transition back to at least part of his original vision.

"We switched our business organization model from being a 24-hour interval-to-mean solar day java place to how are nosotros going to support the health intendance workers?" Vick said.

Vick as well is hoping to run across an increase in coffee commitment business generated past hundreds of insurance and medical support workers whose offices are nearby at Britton and Broadway but were allowed to work from abode during the pandemic.

A March survey by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber indicates many of those workers will return every bit long as COVID-19 numbers continue to pass up. Of 237 businesses surveyed, 39% responded all or near of their workers will be returning to their offices while only 5% said their remote operations are not going to modify.

The remaining respondents indicated they will be using work from home options as a means to retaining and recruiting employees. The survey also shows 71% of employees of those firms wanting to become out of the house and dorsum in the office.

"Nosotros were heading in this direction anyway," Williams said. "The pandemic just sped it upward. More than companies were and are looking at remote working and giving their employees more flexibility."

Dreams delayed, dreams realized

Britton didn't stop moving forward when stay-in-place orders were issued early on and limits were placed on public gatherings. Zero Tolerance, which is part java, part artisan chocolates, saw its business abound and is planning to expand its production space in a warehouse beyond the street.

Lisa Lampton Allen, who owns Hideout Art adjacent door to Zero Tolerance, is seeing brisk business with sold-out classes.

In improver to the pizzeria beingness built out and construction starting on the brewery, Goetzinger said he is in one case again in discussion with potential tenants for the Ritz Theater. Before the pandemic hit, he was hopeful to sign a charter with an operator for an event venue.

Todd O'Daniel and Isaac Hines saw their plans to build a pocket-sized craft brewery delayed for months because of slowdowns caused by the pandemic.

"We've been in planning for this for a couple of years," O'Daniel said. "We started out home brewing in the kitchen out of a 5-gallon stock pot. Nosotros took our product to market at the brewer's union for a year. So the pandemic hitting."

The pair didn't surrender, and with support from Goetzinger, construction is starting this month in what was in one case home to the Britton Theater. In about 5 months they wait to open up their tap room, which will have a chapters of 16 to 20 taps, and an outdoor patio. Madhopper Brewing has four brands and taps volition be dedicated to eight to x experimental beers the pair will be featuring.

"We are a craft brewery, a minor craft brewery," O'Daniel said. 'We believe in that location is place for the big guys and little guys. Nosotros are one of the small-scale craft places. We similar the area of Britton, nosotros like where it'southward going, and we desire to be the neighborhood brewery. We want to be a family unit friendly brewery and function of a story."

Planning during the shutdown

The pandemic kick-started Hooligans, which owner Kaylee Wiseman admits might not have go a reality simply for a endmost of barbershops and salons at the start of the pandemic that left her non working but able to pursue a business plan.

"I never thought I would own my own business organization," Wiseman said. "I started planning information technology during the shutdown. That's when I started thinking about doing my own place."

Spending fourth dimension at dwelling with her family unit, Wiseman began to contemplate a future where she could routinely spend weekends with them instead of at piece of work.

She also saw the gamble to provide a hybrid draw that would fit well in a working-class neighborhood similar Britton.

"I liked the catering attribute of Knockouts, and the pampering they offering," Wiseman said. "From there I went to Tom's Barbershop. I learned a lot at that place — it's a hole in the wall, archetype barbershop."

Hooligans, which opened in September, combines the ii approaches. Guests are offered complimentary drinks, including beer and cocktails (limit of two), waters, sodas and juices. A puddle tabular array is offered as a distraction instead of televisions during waits.

Sometimes strangers get acquainted at the table while other times a father and son might take a plough with the pool cues.

"It's a pretty big open space, not crammed, and pool is a game where you can keep a distance from each other," Wiseman said. "Everywhere I've been in that location is a wait, and then nosotros take a puddle table. We can interact with each other again."

Business is good, Wiseman said, but she admits she was scared of another shutdown. But she didn't want to miss an opportunity that will give her barbershop a future brewery and pizzeria as neighbors.

"I only liked this building," Wiseman said. "With the pizza place and brewery going, it looks like information technology might end up being like the Plaza District."

O'Daniel shares that hope.

"The pandemic put a hold on everything," O'Daniel said. "Y'all're starting to see a first on local places opening upwards. This could be some other arts district. I think people are realizing local is where it's at and people don't demand the big box stores."

Cautious recovery

As the first Oklahoma City mayor in a century to deal with a pandemic, David Holt has walked a fine line betwixt being a cautionary voice on keeping the infection charge per unit down and all the same remaining a booster for local arts, dining, shopping and amusement.

Later a brutal winter that saw hundreds of Oklahomans dice from the virus, including some prominent civic leaders, the daily positive examination cases take dropped from thousands to under a few hundred. In one case strained hospitals are almost back to normal operations.

Vaccinations soon will be available to all in Oklahoma Urban center, and current predictions advise a return to some normalcy by summer. Merely variants of the COVID-19 virus remain a business and some states are once again seeing spikes in positive testing.

Crowds are once more seen in Midtown, Bricktown and other popular surface area destinations. It'southward non a total surprise to Holt that an economic rebound might be meeting so apace.

"I experience we need to characterize the pandemic every bit a interruption, not a setback," Holt said. "It stopped us in our tracks, but we tin pick up on a number of fronts when this is over. When this is over is still a question, but we're pretty close. We're pretty shut to people who want a vaccination being able to get a vaccination."

Recovery not certain

Congressional response to the economic crunch triggered past the pandemic is seen as having softened the accident even before the latest $1.nine trillion relief bill signed into law earlier this month.

The federal flow of income support through the expanded unemployment insurance program was more than $four,000 per worker. Direct economic impact payments and Paycheck Protection loans contributed nearly $8,000 and $two,000 per worker, respectively. The combined effect was a 47% spike in personal income amid the recession.

In the forecast prepared for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, Evans and Long caution their forecast is not guaranteed. They warn the local economy remains vulnerable to national and global uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 that may cause a delay in improved economic conditions.

Holt acknowledges the new normal will include challenges faced before March 2020.

"We tend to focus on the skilful things paused that volition render," Holt said. "But there were some challenges we might have forgotten nearly. The shift in oil and gas and what that means for Oklahoma Urban center moving forward hasn't gone away. That's not any longer the predominant driver of everything that happens in Oklahoma City."

The work at diversifying the local economy and transforming the urban center continues. In Britton and throughout the city, those trying to make that change kept going even as the pandemic was at its worst.

"Britton is a symbol of another neighborhood commune coming online during this time in a metropolis that is condign known for its districts," Holt said. "There are lots of things, the Kickoff Americans Museum, Starting time National, that were in the pipeline and that work didn't cease. The champions of those projects were toiling away in the groundwork and kept going."

Staff writer Steve Lackmeyer is a xxx-year reporter, columnist and writer who covers downtown Oklahoma City and related urban development for The Oklahoman. Contact him at slackmeyer@oklahoman.com. Please support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a subscription today at oklahoman.com/subscribe.

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Source: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/03/28/oklahoma-city-economy-shows-signs-recovery-from-covid-19-collapse/4748847001/

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