Old library turning new page as condos
Council checks out sale, says $775,000 buys vacant building

By John Estus and Bryan Dean

Published: January 31, 2007

The city's old downtown library is on the way to being renovated into urban condo living with street-level stores.

A group backed by Norman Realtor Judy Hatfield will pay the city $775,000 for the building, 131 Dean A. McGee Ave. It has been vacant since the MAPS-funded Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library opened in 2004.

After renovations, the first floor will be available for retail. About 14 condos will be for sale on the third and fourth floors. Private parking will be available on the second floor for tenants, Hatfield said.

"I've already got the vision in my mind because I have been living and breathing it for a long time,” said Hatfield, who runs Norman's Equity Realty and backs Carnegie Centre, LLC, the group buying the old library.

Hatfield plans to name the building Carnegie Centre in memory of the city's first library, the Carnegie Library, which was built in 1901 and demolished 50 years later to make way for the current building.

Hatfield is preparing to ask architects for proposals and hopes to have an artist's rendering of the renovations soon, she said.

The Oklahoma City Council gave final approval to the purchase Tuesday, ending a long struggle to sell the building.

During a 2005 auction, the only bid the city received was lower than the initial minimum asking price of $950,000, and it took two public requests for proposals before the city accepted the Carnegie Centre offer.