Between now and spring 2027, Penn Square Mall adds a nail studio, an arcade, the first North Italia in Oklahoma, Athleta, The North Face and a two-level Barnes & Noble. The openings come one at a time over roughly six months. Over those same six months, two road projects on routes into the area are set to keep going: the May Avenue bridge over NW Expressway and a street closure at NW 50th Street and Classen Circle. For anyone in Belle Isle, the mall reached by car next spring will have a different store list and different traffic patterns than the one there this week.
None of it opens on a single date. Each opening, and each project, has its own schedule.
The Order Things Open
KOCO reported the additions on October 5, 2026. Some dates in that report differ from what Simon, the mall's owner, lists on its own store pages. Here is the current schedule, earliest first, as of today.
| What | Where in or at the mall | Expected | Source of the date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swarovski | Lower level, Center Court | Already open, labeled "Just Arrived" | Simon mall homepage |
| Oh My Nail | Lower level, JCP wing | October 20, 2026 | Simon store page |
| Kawaii Klaws arcade | Lower level, Macy's wing | November 1, 2026 | Simon store page |
| North Italia | Outside the mall, own exterior entrance | December 1 or December 16, 2026 | Simon says Dec. 1; KOCO says Dec. 16 |
| Athleta | First floor | No date announced | KOCO |
| The North Face | 4,000 square feet | No date announced | KOCO |
| Barnes & Noble | 17,000 square feet, two levels, with café | Spring 2027 | KOCO |
The two lower-level openings come first and are close together. Oh My Nail is expected in the JCP wing on October 20, and Kawaii Klaws, an arcade, follows in the Macy's wing on November 1. Both are lower-level tenants, in opposite wings, opening twelve days apart. That puts two new reasons to use the lower level in place before the holiday shopping season starts.
North Italia Faces Outward
The December opening has the most effect on how the property gets used. KOCO describes North Italia as a chain known for handmade pasta and pizza, and says this will be its first Oklahoma location. According to KOCO, the restaurant sits outside the mall, and renderings show an entrance visible from the outside.
The address doesn't change. Penn Square is still 1901 NW Expressway. An exterior entrance does mean a dinner reservation there no longer requires walking through the mall's interior. Diners can park, eat and leave without passing a single store, which makes the restaurant work as an evening stop on its own as well as a mall stop.
The opening date is still unsettled. Simon's store page lists December 1, 2026. KOCO's October 5 report says December 16. If you're planning around the opening, say for a holiday dinner with visiting family, the gap between those dates matters. Booking for the later date is the safer bet until the restaurant confirms one.
The Larger Stores Arrive Last
The three biggest additions are the furthest off. Athleta is planned for the first floor and The North Face is building a 4,000-square-foot store, but neither has an announced opening date. Barnes & Noble is the largest of the group, with 17,000 square feet across two levels and a Barnes & Noble Café, and KOCO puts its arrival in spring 2027.
KOCO also reported that mall representatives declined a closer look at the projects and said they would share updates as more information comes in. So the spring date for the bookstore, and the openings that don't have dates yet, are projections. The sequence is clear even though the exact days aren't. Small lower-level tenants open this fall, the restaurant opens in December, and the large-format stores arrive as winter turns to spring.
That spring window matters because it's also when the road schedules come up again.
The Roads Are Under Construction on the Same Schedule
The Oklahoman's September 23 roundup of street closures lists road construction at Northwest 50th Street and Classen Circle, permitted to run until April 30, 2027. In that list it is one of only two projects with an end date past 2026. Most of the other north-side closures it lists were set to end in September, October or December. The roundup lists the location and end date but doesn't say what the work is or who is doing it. Until a public source explains it, the April 2027 end date is all that's confirmed.
The other project is bigger. The City of Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation are replacing the May Avenue bridge over NW Expressway, the road that carries the mall's address. Work started on May 26, 2026, and the northbound May Avenue ramp closed that day. The southbound ramp closes intermittently as crews need it. According to the City, the finished project includes a new diverging-diamond interchange.
Reports differ on when the bridge will be done:
- At launch in May 2026: the Oklahoman described it as a project lasting about two years.
- June 18, 2026: News 9 reported that May Avenue over NW Expressway would close, with drivers routed onto temporary detour ramps, and that the work was expected to continue into 2028.
- August 19, 2026: the Oklahoman reported that officials still believed it could be finished in 2027.
No later public update was available as of early October, so the bridge should be treated as a 2027-or-later project. The practical point is simple. North Italia opens and Barnes & Noble arrives while drivers on NW Expressway are still using detour ramps at May Avenue, and while NW 50th at Classen Circle is still listed as closed.
What's on the Calendar This Month
October already has a few dates worth knowing, and they don't depend on any of the new stores.
- Belle Isle Library, through October 11: Maker Made: Embroidered Handkerchiefs runs as an all-day activity for teens and adults from October 1 to 11.
- Belle Isle Library, Wednesday, October 7, 9 to 10 a.m.: Fall Wiggly Wednesday, for children from birth to pre-K and their caregivers.
- Penn Square Mall, Wednesday, October 28, 5 to 7 p.m.: Fall Fest, with indoor trick-or-treating, photos, balloon twisting and face painting.
Fall Fest lands eight days after Oh My Nail's expected opening and four days before Kawaii Klaws. The mall's lower level will have one new tenant open for the event, with another due the following weekend.
The Trail That Hasn't Started Yet
One project near the neighborhood has no schedule at all. On April 3, 2026, The Journal Record reported that the paused Deep Fork Trail had been rerouted to the north side of the river, running along the river and I-44 and then along Grand Boulevard toward NW 63rd Street. The proposed trail is 4.3 miles long. That report said construction might begin sometime in 2026, but only after engineering and cost analysis. No confirmed start date has been published since. For now it's a proposed route on a map.
The Dates to Keep
To recap the timeline: the lower-level openings come on October 20 and November 1. North Italia opens in December, on the 1st or the 16th depending on the source, through its own door facing outside. Barnes & Noble's two levels arrive in spring 2027. The NW 50th and Classen Circle closure is permitted through April 30, 2027, and the May Avenue bridge is expected to finish in 2027 or 2028, depending on the report.
Whenever new stores and restaurants open near home, it's natural to wonder how they affect what your own property is worth. If you'd like a clear read on your Belle Isle home as Penn Square changes around it, West Real Estate Company can prepare one with you, calmly and in detail. Request Your Home Valuation.
