Brown's Bakery's Corner Is Baking Again. The Other Side of Midtown's Roundabout Is Next.
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
At the traffic circle where NW 10th Street meets Walker Avenue and Classen Drive, the two sides look like they belong to different years. On the east side, the old Brown's Bakery building has its floor-to-ceiling windows lit again, and pastries come out of its kitchen before 6 a.m. on weekdays. On the northwest side, the stretch of Classen Drive that used to feed the roundabout is fenced off for construction.
Two separate projects happen to share a traffic circle here, but both came out of one plan. Oklahoma City approved them in the same round of incentives in November 2025, and they were designed to work as a single corner: a bakery and café on one side, and a public park with a small amphitheater on the other. Mezzo Bakeshop finished the first half. Once you see the plan, the construction across the circle starts to look like the second half.
In November 2025, the Oklahoma City Council approved tax increment financing for both projects. According to The Journal Record, developer Chris Fleming of Midtown Renaissance said the incentives make the projects doable in the current economic climate.
The two projects differ in size:
| Former Brown's Bakery, NW 10th & Walker | The Eddie, 1111 N. Classen Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| Project cost | $10.3 million | $21.3 million |
| TIF reimbursement cap | $766,263 | $2,533,025 |
| What was planned in 2025 | Commercial bakery with a front-of-house café, plus a 6,500 sq. ft. retail space in the adjacent former TG&Y building | 48 apartments, 13,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, and a privately owned, publicly accessible park |
| Other funding noted | Historic tax credits | None noted |
The Journal Record explains that TIF is a pay-as-you-go incentive. It reimburses part of the new property taxes a project generates, and it pays only after the work is done. So a finished building is the trigger, and one of the two buildings is now finished.
The Oklahoman first reported on September 19, 2025, that Tori and Chad Arnold, who own the Summer Moon Coffee locations around the metro, were taking over the Brown's building. Mezzo Bakeshop opened on September 12, 2026, which is one week short of a year later.
The Oklahoma Gazette described that year in two stages. First, the landlord completed significant renovations to the historic building. Then the Arnolds received the keys in January and spent the next eight months turning a bare interior into the café. What reopened is a restored ceiling over floor-to-ceiling windows. KFOR reported that the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building already had several earlier lives. The Journal Record reports it was built as a grocery store in the early 1950s. KFOR lists its past tenants as Clyde's Supermarket, then a Salvation Army thrift store, then Brown's Bakery. Brown's was a four-generation family business. It closed at noon on July 8, 2023, after 77 years, as KFOR reported at the time. Before Mezzo opened, William Brown told KFOR:
"It was always my life. That's all I ever knew; was making donuts and talking to the customers."
The Oklahoma Gazette reports that Mezzo began with a supply problem. With eight Summer Moon locations across the metro, the Arnolds had outgrown the commissary kitchen they used for pastries. Tori Arnold described the decision this way: "Why don't we just bring it front-facing?" A family trip to Italy then turned a production bakery into a European-style café.
That makes the corner a production bakery as well as a café. When The Oklahoman first reported the project, it described a centralized bakery for Summer Moon paired with the Mezzo café. General manager Niall Ferguson told KFOR the café is built for regulars and modeled on the casual come-and-go side of European dining: "if you want to stay for a while, we want to build a group of regulars where the guests feel like they're part of our team."
What's on the counter:
Mezzo's posted hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. It's closed Mondays. Because it closes at 3 p.m., Mezzo covers the morning and lunch hours on this corner. The planned park and amphitheater across the circle would add space for outdoor events.
Clay Farha's family has owned the land at 1111 N. Classen Drive for years. The former EMSA headquarters there was demolished in July 2022 for a project called Classen Marquette, and that plan later came back as The Eddie, with Fleming as Farha's partner.
The change you can see from the sidewalk came on March 23, 2026. That day, the section of Classen Drive by the roundabout between Walker and NW 10th closed permanently as construction began, according to KOCO and KFOR. The Plaza Court parking lot can still be reached from 11th Street.
The street closure is part of the design. Fleming told the Journal Record, "we're going to close Classen Drive and create a park in that area, from the traffic circle to Dewey." He said a small amphitheater at the end of the park would be open for public performances, and plans also call for a piece of public art in the center of the roundabout. In November 2025, he expected The Eddie to be finished in the first quarter of 2027. KFOR's March report likewise said the project was set to open the following year.
When it's done, a morning coffee at Mezzo and an evening show at the amphitheater would be across the same circle from each other. Right now, the bakery side is open and the park side is under construction.
The Midtown holiday season this year is spread along a few blocks of NW 9th and NW 10th, not on the plaza that will someday sit across from Mezzo. These are the Merry Midtown dates on the calendar:
The pop-up corner at 10th and Hudson is close to another recent opening. Bar Serra opened its second location at 424 NW 10th St. early this year. KOCO describes it as a greenhouse-inspired restaurant with Mediterranean-influenced dishes and a full bar program.
For gift shopping, the district's 2026 Holiday Gift Guide features Floral & Hardy, Brass Tacks Provisions, Barkeep Supply, Elevate: Pet Boutique, Vacant Wheel Candle Bar, Berks Vintage & Streetwear, Side Quest Game Lounge, Blocworks Midtown and Le Gala. For a group dinner, the Holiday Experiences Guide includes Nonesuch, McNellie's, Fassler Hall, The Hall's Pizza Kitchen, Harvey Bakery & Kitchen, Chirps and Cheers and Cheyenne Sky Studio.
Harvey Bakery & Kitchen's spot in that guide means Midtown now has two bakeries in its holiday lineup this year. The second one is in a building that sat empty from July 2023 until this September.
Do you own property near the NW 10th corridor and want to know what the projects around the roundabout could mean for your block? The Hefner Team at Access Real Estate follows Midtown's redevelopment one project at a time and is glad to talk it through. Work With Us.
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