The mall portion was later shut down and replaced with a Burlington store. 

“At some point, a number of these older centers just need to be repurposed, whether that means torn down for a new center, or re-imagined, an example being Mayfair,” Parrack said. “Half of that center has been torn down and part was remodeled.” 

Mayfair Village, built in 1948, was one of the city’s earliest suburban shopping centers. The retail hub was built along both sides of May Avenue between NW 47 and NW 48. Some pieces of the shopping center were torn down and replaced with new buildings, notably Mayfair Market, which made way for a CVS, and a nearby shopping strip that was torn down to make way for an Aldi grocery store. 

An extensive rebuilding of the shopping center followed its 2020 purchase by Caleb Hill, Nick Preftakes and Mark Ruffin. They renovated some of the buildings and then cleared other sections that were then redeveloped as fast food restaurants and a gas station. 

“More centers are going to have to be redone like that,” Parrack said. 

Jason Little and Charles Lewis with SHOP Companies recently brokered a $17 million sale of four buildings that make up the heart of the reimagined Mayfair to a real estate investment arm of Humphreys Companies. He said the shopping center has just one vacancy — a Starbucks that closed as part of a national shutdown of some of its locations — and that lease continues. 

When that lease transitions to a new tenant, Little said he expects the former Starbucks will lease for close to $50 a foot. He credits that price expectation to the efforts undertaken by Hill and Preftakes. 

“You’re talking about an asset that when they acquired it had single digit rents,” Little said. “By bringing new construction and historic architecture together, they’ve been able to create something marketable.” 

In other areas of town, Parrack said west Oklahoma City, more recently, has had the lowest vacancy rate, which he sees as a reflection of new housing in the area especially near Yukon and Mustang. He said Moore and Norman continue to thrive with little old retail and ongoing construction of new retail. 

Parrack said the metro’s three malls are performing at different levels. 

“Penn Square continues to do the best sales of any of the local malls. Simon owns it and Simons knows what they’re doing. But even at Penn Square there are some temporary tenants that Simon controls. And I think they realize that in competition with OAK they are needing to invest some money in the mall.” 

Quail Springs Mall, meanwhile, is a step down in sales, Parrack said.  

Sooner Fashion Mall in Norman is the smallest of the three, and like other smaller malls, is struggling.  

“It shows with them in that they have more vacancy than the other two,” Parrack said. “It doesn’t help that they have a Sears that has been closed for all these years.” 

Parrack does not expect the city to see another dying mall like Crossroads or Heritage Park anytime soon. 

“The thing with malls is even when they die, they take forever to die,” Parrack said. “It’s kind of a gradual thing. Their business slacks off. They lose a couple of tenants. But all bigger retail centers have these tenants with co-tenancy clauses that if certain tenants leave or the occupancy goes below a certain level, then tenants can pay half rent or a percentage rent.” 

Newer mixed-use developments like OAK, Chisholm Creek and The Half are being well received by the market, though Parrack notes The Half, leaning more toward entertainment than retail with a mix of offices and apartments, is less cohesive than the other two destinations. 

“It’s hard to walk from one deal to another at The Half,” Parrack said. “It’s more of a destination with each of the tenants there. But it is in a great location. The people that are there do well. OAK is something we’ve never had before, and it’s the closest thing we have to Utica Square in Tulsa.” 

The demise of brick-and-mortar retail prompted by Amazon is greatly exaggerated, Parrack said. 

“The last holiday sales period saw 75% of sales being at brick-and-mortar stores,” Parrack said. “That percentage for holiday sales has held steady for a while and I think most of these retailers have figured out the optimal way for them to continue.”