Midwest City, Sooner Investment to partner on new commercial development

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

Midwest City will get outside help developing property near SE 29th St. and Douglas Blvd.

The Midwest City Memorial Hospital Authority recently approved an agreement with Sooner Investment LLC to provide predevelopment services for future commercial development.

The Hospital Authority currently owns about 13 acres on the south side of SE 29th St. and west of Douglas Blvd. The Authority plans to close on the 1.75-acre property at the southwest corner of SE 29th and Douglas. That will give the Authority about 15 acres of prime commercial real estate that it hopes to develop into a first-class shopping center, said Robert Coleman, economic development director.

Under the agreement, Sooner Investment will manage and direct zoning, engineering, design and permitting for commercial development. The cost of the work is estimated at just under $510,000.

The Authority Trustees, which include the city council members, approved the agreement by a 6-0 vote at the March 25 meeting.

Coleman expects the development will include several restaurants. He said Sooner Investment has one potential business lined up for about 1.6 acres. The unnamed business could sign a contract within a few months, once the property is rezoned.

“They don’t want to be the only one out there and they want to see the zoning out of the way and subdivision completed,” Coleman said about the potential suitor.

Sooner Investment will continue recruiting potential businesses.

“If they bring more back to us, we’d look at doing a bigger deal,” Coleman said. “But until they can bring something exciting, then we’re content holding the land.”

The Authority purchased much of the property as a potential site for a movie theater. Those plans fell through when the Regal Warren was developed in the Sooner Rose Shopping Center, near SE 15th St. and Sooner Rd.

The Authority recently agreed to buy 1.75 acres at 8912 – 8920 SE 29th St. near the southeast corner of the intersection, through an assignment of commercial land contract with Sooner Investment.
Sooner Investment in 2022 signed a contract to buy the corner property but has been unable to secure a potential tenant for the site. They later put money down to extend the original contract until April 2025, but the prospect that they had been courting decided to delay expansion plans.

Midwest City has partnered with Sooner Investment on commercial projects in the past including Town Center Plaza and the Sooner Rose Shopping Center.

The Authority agreed to buy the property for $2.6 million plus closing costs.

The Hospital Authority is a public trust that was created and established for the use and benefit of the beneficiary (the City of Midwest City), to finance, operate, construct and administer hospital facilities, and for public purposes such as economic development activities.