Helm Farm: An Urban Infill Gem Hidden in Plain Sight
The odds are high that most OKC residents don’t know where Helm Farm is, even though they’ve likely driven past it hundreds, even thousands, of times. On the other hand, you can’t have a hidden gem that’s not hidden, right? The micro-community is named for Helm Street, which is only two blocks long — but its endpoints are some of the busiest stretches of NW Classen Blvd. and N. Western Ave.
“It goes from 50th to 39th, I believe, from Classen to Western,” says developer Jarred D. Smith of Flip OKC, who’s building a set of new residences in Helm Farm. “We’ve got several houses going in there on 42nd Street and then a little kind of pocket neighborhood that’ll be more of a lock-and-leave, zero lot line neighborhood with six houses going in right there behind Musashi’s off Military.
“It’s probably the greatest location in Oklahoma City,” he continues. “I mean, walking distance to Western and all the shops there — food, bars, shopping, coffee, pretty much anything and everything you need there. Then the next street over is Classen, which will get you to [the Northwest] Expressway and get you all the way downtown to pretty much anywhere, and you can jump on I-44 and 235 within five minutes.”
The project is taking place in three different stages: Phase 1 is five striking Tudor-style homes between about 2,400 and 3,000 square feet; Phase 2 is a set of six slightly smaller houses, about 2,000-2,200 square feet. “The cool thing about those houses,” Smith says, “is that they all will have primary suites on the first floor. We designed those specifically for anyone that may be downsizing or wants to have a master (downstairs).” Phase 3 will return to the Phase 1 blueprint, including detached garages that open onto Helm St. “Everything we have planned is single-family homes; Phase 1 and Phase 3 do have the option for an accessory dwelling unit above the garage,” Smith explains.
Delays have become de rigueur in these trying times — Smith noted that they’ve been waiting to receive an order of windows for more than a year now — and the original timeline for the project has been adjusted somewhat, but by the time you’re reading this issue, he hopes to have two houses in Phase 1 close enough to completion that visitors can get a feel for the architecture and aesthetic of what will soon be a very cool little micro-neighborhood. You’ll just have to know where to look.