Developer hopes you drive by these businesses and say, ‘Wow, I wonder what that is?’

Real estate developers generally are more known for understated materials, such as gray metals, warm woods and neutral stones, than pops of eye-catching color.

But Gary Oborny isn’t your typical developer.

First, the chairman and CEO of Occidental Management brought bold colors to his Tyler Pointe development at 13th and Tyler, including lime green, red, orange and a couple shades of blue.

Now, Oborny has commissioned colorful murals for his east-side Auburn Wine & Spirits and west-side Auburn Spirits stores, which will feature designs in lemon yellow and an eclectic mix of oranges.

“We’ve embraced this and had a lot of fun with this,” Oborny said.

“We’ve come up with something that we think is kind of out there,” he said. “There’s out there that’s goofy, and there’s out there that I think is something that is of a quality art piece.”

That’s what interests him, Oborny said.

“Anything that has to do with design for me is an element of business and real estate that is exciting for me.”

The Auburn Spirits at Oborny’s development near Maple and 135th opened in 2008.

The Auburn Wine & Spirits at 320 N. Rock Road opened in 2018. Oborny said it’s doing well but is not as well established. Also, it’s kind of set back from the road.

“We just wanted to give it more presence,” Oborny said.

In addition, he said, “We really have got into that celebrating that local flair and local support.”

Oborny said the stores have always been involved with community events, but the emphasis on local is even more important now that the massive national brand Total Wine & More is in the market.

The kinds of murals the stores will have, with design help from Delilah Reed and painting by Mark Pendergrass, are something that Oborny said a chain store wouldn’t do.

The new colors and designs will be part of an overall branded look for employees’ shirts, signs and marketing.

“These locations need a little pop,” Oborny said. He hopes when the murals are done in the next couple of weeks, people will drive by and say, “Wow, I wonder what that is?”

Oborny acknowledges he’s following a couple other attention-getting paint jobs a few local business owners did, such as the surprising sweet pea green that the late Jamie Coulter painted in 2014 at the building where his Plaid Giraffe is just down from Auburn Wine & Spirits.

He followed James and Monica Smits who used periwinkle to paint the center they used to own where Aspen Boutique is at Douglas and Oliver.

It’s all part of celebrating “that individuality that local business owners have,” Oborny said.

He wants the stores to be involved with future art events, such as getting on the city’s mural tour, and he’ll hold some as well.

“Of course,” Oborny said, “libation will be involved.”