Slow and steady: Developers right to be cautious

Published: October 6, 2008

When it comes to adding nightclubs in Bricktown, guardians of the district prefer a slow and steady approach. We share their cautious bent.

Bricktown is a fabulous place to spend an evening, with its restaurants, clubs, movie theater, canal and ballpark. The Oklahoma City Thunder will only add to the fun — construction of Michael Murphy’s Dueling Pianos, a club set to open in November, was based largely on the city landing the NBA team.

But it’s a potentially fragile environment. The West End in Dallas was once hugely popular; now it’s nearly deserted, the product of poor decisions and planning.

Bricktown Association Director Jim Cowan is excited about the addition of Michael Murphy’s and another club in the pipeline, Coyote Ugly. Cowan also remembers the troubles of 2006, when shootings occurred in Bricktown, and he was around many years ago when the district had more bars than restaurants and shops. Thus his preference to move deliberately when adding bars.

We’d normally say just let the free market do its thing. But Bricktown is home to two facilities paid for by the taxpayers — the ballpark and canal — and is a short walk from a couple of others (Ford Center, Cox Center) that were built with or refurbished with the public’s money. Those investments need to be protected.

Cowan put it best: "I’m not saying we shouldn’t have any or no more — but we should be careful to have too many.”

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