JENKS, Okla. — A new food hall with 12 local restaurants and a test kitchen could soon be coming to Jenks--but there's one issue: parking.
2 News has reported about Jenks Market before.
Suzanne Brisbane was in downtown Jenks on Friday. Her thoughts proved to be identical to what Bryan Wilks' data is showing him.
Wilks is the founder of the Ten District. Wilks spearheads efforts to rejuvenate Jenks' downtown district based on what residents tell him.
One of his ventures that's gaining a lot of traction lately is Jenks Market.
"On the bottom floor, you're going to have eight restaurant concepts plus a test kitchen," Wilks said. "On the second floor, you have two full restaurant concepts and then on the top floor, you have an event space - a rentable event space."
The 28,000-square-foot food hall will be located between the Jenks Aquarium and the Holiday Inn. Wilks says the $12 million project is fully funded through local developers and investors, but they're at a standstill.
"We just need parking. That seems to be the common theme in Jenks -parking and infrastructure," Wilks said.
Wilks says developers proposed roughly five ideas to city leaders to bring in parking for the food hall, including building a garage, paving a lot, or sharing parking with the Oklahoma Aquarium, but haven't gotten anywhere.
2 News called Jenks City Manager Chris Shrout.
"We don't control that land. That's up to the developer and the aquarium to agree on parking. We've been working with both of them to try and make this project happen and we continue to work on it," Shrout said.
Wilks said parking at the Oklahoma Aquarium is typically under-utilized.
2 News also called the aquarium but didn't get a response.
Brisbane thinks it would be a good concept for Jenks.
"I think it would get more people here," she said. "I think more restaurants would be good."
Wilks says the project has been in the works for more than three years and the data overwhelmingly shows Jenks residents want more local restaurants and family-friendly entertainment.
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