One side effect of Oklahoma City’s urban renewal has been a booming food truck industry.
The popular monthly H&8th festival closes out its seven month-long 2014 season October 31, and last month a permanent food truck park opened along NW 10th Street between the Midtown and Automobile Alley areas of Oklahoma City.
The Journal Record’s Molly Fleming reports a second permanent home for mobile meal merchants will soon open across town.
Farmers Market District attorney Bud Scott is working with Farmers Public Market building owners Burt and Jody McAnally to create a food truck park on land they own in the district. The property is directly east of Urban Agrarian, 1235 SW Second St., and northwest of the Farmers Public Market building. At the new location, food trucks will have access to electrical outlets, grease traps and a gray-water disposal site. There will also be an 80-by-40-foot pavilion with a stage. The area will be dotted with landscaping from Farmers Market District business Pam’s Plants.
The new park is designed to be more family-oriented, with a stage for live entertainment and room for up to six food trucks that can lease a spot for three or six months. It’s slated to open in November at the same time as the new Power House Bar.
Burt McAnally said he and Jody are excited to see the district’s new life. The couple bought the Farmers Public Market building in 2002. “We’ve dreamed about this,” he said. “Our original vision was not of renovation but of restoration."
'We've always been hopeful, but we didn't have the same smile on our faces that we do right now.' - Burt McAnally
Even with two parks, a popular festival, and a new app to find food trucks in Oklahoma City, there’s still no sign of market saturation. It’s a flexible, low risk/low overhead way for aspiring entrepreneurs to enter the restaurant industry.
It’s also indicative of a broader trend across Oklahoma City – residents who want to live in a neighborhood close to work, with entertainment nearby. The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce says these districts need to be developed as about 30,000 new people move to Oklahoma City every year.
Scott said the Farmers Market District is in a prime spot as the city develops west. He said the district still has many properties available for investment. “With the successful buildup of the Farmers Market District, it’s a sound link in a chain that runs from Stockyards City to downtown and to Bricktown, so it’s a little more cohesive, as opposed to being cut off like it’s been for quite some time,” Scott said.
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