As you cruise the streets in Downtown OKC, be sure not to miss the neighborhood along North Broadway Avenue from West Park Place (just north of 10th Street) to NW 4th Street.  This area is known as Automobile Alley, is a District building on the history that in its heyday was the automotive marketplace in Oklahoma City.  Once home to more than 50 cars dealerships and their related services, the district today is thriving.  New businesses, residences, restaurants, and galleries are relocating to the area, drawn by the creative reuse of existing buildings, contributing to the development of an urban, mixed-use community.

The April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Downtown Oklahoma City damaged more than 350 building in the area.  Following years of steady economic decline along Broadway, Automobile Alley was a true crossroad, and the catalyst for economic recovery was to be found in this tragedy.

Oklahoma City’s Mayor, Ron Norick, brought together property owners, architects, urban planners, and engineers to join forces and envision the “front-door to Downtown” as a mixed-use neighborhood.  This meeting of the minds initiated the development of the Automobile Alley Main Street Program, and saw the creation of a public/private partnership that since 1996 has resulted in the private investment in excess of 30 million.