A Vision for the Future

MIDTOWN Oklahoma City: Revitalization Strategies & Plans responds to the growing phenomenon of the population’s return to the inner city. A key to success will be the creation of lively, visually exciting, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use urban environment, offering housing types that will appeal to a variety of life styles, ages, and income levels. In this new environment, urban living, businesses, and retail services are all located within a comfortable walk of each other. Active pedestrian street life, including sidewalk cafés and locations utilized for outdoor events and festivals, creates an interactive and enjoyable public life.

The MIDTOWN Redevelopment Corporation has embraced this new development concept and envisions the future of MIDTOWN as a safe, revitalized, and stable historic community, with quality housing for an economically and ethnically diverse community. In this vision, a hip, energized urban population enjoys exceptional restaurants, stylish shops, and first-rate art galleries, all located nearby.

Community Characteristics

MIDTOWN is a 387-acre area extending from NW 13th Street south to 4th Street and from one-half block east of Robinson Avenue west to Classen Boulevard. The area includes a mix of business and residential neighborhoods along with a significant amount of undeveloped land. The impact of undeveloped properties and the lack of residential developments in MIDTOWN is reflected in the population figures for the area.

Though only 3,500 individuals are reported to live in MIDTOWN (approximately three-quarters of a mile square), some 10,000 individuals live in 3,691 households within one mile of 1100 N. Walker Avenue. Over 77,000 individuals live in more than 30,000 households within three miles of the same location, and over 195,000 live in more than 79,000 households within five miles.

Likewise, a review of the household characteristics reveals that within the immediate area, over 60% of the households are comprised of individuals and 40% are families. Conversely, that
percentage begins to reverse within the five-mile radius around MIDTOWN, as the number of individuals decreases to 47% of the households and the number of families increases to over 53% of the households.

These household figures are consistent with the figures on age distribution and indicate that the majority of the individuals living in the MIDTOWN area are adults of working age. Within one mile, only 10% of the population is under the age of 9, where more than half (54.8%) are between the ages of 20 and 49 and slightly fewer than 8% are over the age of 65. Within three miles and five miles from the 1100 N. Walker location, the percentage of the children under the age of 9 increases to more than 15%. At the same time, the percentage of individuals between the ages of 20 and 49 decreases to 43% and the individuals over 65 increases to more than 13% of the total population (source: Applied Geographic Solutions, Thousand Oaks, CA).