For local restaurant O’Connell’s Irish Pub & Grille, the beer really may be greener on the other side of campus.
Since the original Lindsey Street location’s demolition more than a month ago, the Campus Corner location known for its green beer is bringing in more business than ever, owner Jeff Stewart said.
“It’s just bigger — it’s much bigger,” Stewart said. “There’s more late-night kids on the weekend — that’s what it’s all about.”
At the new O’Connell’s, which opened in 2008 at 769 Asp Ave., the polished-wood rooms are larger, the patio is brighter and the marble-topped bar is shinier, but the moose head still hangs on the wall in honor of its original location.
Employee Sabrina Wallace began working at O’Connell’s after she graduated from OU in December, several weeks before the original site closed in January.
Things are different now that all business comes to Campus Corner, Wallace said.
“There was a tradition about [the original] that I really enjoyed when working there. The people who come in have been coming in there for years, so it has a homey feel to it,” Wallace said. “It’s interesting to see the two crowds from the old store combine.”
Customers now come in waves of different ages throughout the day, Stewart said. Most of the original’s regular clientele have transferred to Campus Corner since the closing, he said.
O’Connell’s is just one of many restaurants to make the move to the popular corner. Campus Corner continues to expand with two businesses opening in the past two weeks — Blackbirds Gastropub and Pickleman’s Gourmet Sandwiches.
Stewart said he believes two more restaurants — a wine bar and a pizza-slice shop — will open when school starts in the fall.
The recent influx of new and old businesses to the college hot spot is no coincidence, said Stewart, president of the Campus Corner Merchants Association.
“It’s just where all the activity is ... all the student-oriented places congregate in one spot,” Stewart said. “We all feed off of each other.”
Unlike his friends who come in at lunchtime Monday afternoons for the $1 beer, petroleum engineering junior Flint Beard said he comes in for the restaurant’s food specials.
“It’s good for a quick lunch because it’s so close to campus that I can walk over,” said Beard, who had only been to the original when he applied to work there.
The original O’Connell’s, built in 1968 on the corner of Lindsey and Jenkins streets, was demolished March 22 after the OU Board of Regents approved plans to begin constructing a Sooner Housing Center on the property, which OU had owned since 2007.
Construction has yet to begin on the housing center but is moving along smoothly, OU spokesman Chris Shilling said.
The possibility of opening another O’Connell’s in Oklahoma City is in the works, Stewart said.
“I hope we can keep our community impact that we’ve had in the past and continue that onward,” Stewart said. “There’s always gonna be skeletons and good stories and good times over there, but we gotta move on and create new ones.”
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braceyourself 1 year, 1 month ago
"Construction has yet to begin on the housing center but is moving along smoothly, OU spokesman Chris Shilling said."
What does this even mean? How can something be "moving along smoothly" if it's not even moving?