The old Steffen's Ice Cream building at 101 E Main in Bricktown could soon be demolished to make way for a 95-room Holiday Inn Express.
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The development is set to be reviewed Wednesday by the Bricktown Urban Design Committee, which is tasked with approving new construction and exterior renovations.
The developer, Alex Patel, has owned the Quality Inn Trade Winds, 1800 E Reno, since March 2007. The Quality Inn is just east of Bricktown and Patel said he often hears from guests who say they want to see more rooms available in the entertainment district.
"They want to be near the concerts, the events, the conventions,” Patel said. "There is in place now the new Hampton Inn (opening later this year), the Renaissance, the Colcord, the Skirvin ... but we're trying to appeal to the group that can't afford $200 a night. We're looking at $80 to $100.”
The proposed hotel will be four stories high with 54,796 square feet. The facade, designed by Quinn & Associates, includes brick and synthetic stucco. Patel said the hotel's guests would be provided parking space in the north Bricktown lot operated by Don Karchmer.
Patel estimated his project will cost up to $9 million and said he's eager to get the hotel built so that it might be open by the return of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament in March 2009. Patel said his Quality Inn sold out when the tournament was held at Ford Center last year.
"We've got the plans, and the franchise is gung-ho about it,” Patel said. "We could probably get the remaining plans out three months after getting the OK from the design committee.”
Patel said his purchase of the property is tied to getting approval from the committee to tear down the dairy, which was built in several phases starting in 1916. The building is not on the National Register of Historic Places, and is owned by veteran Bricktown developer Karchmer.
The Bricktown urban design ordinance gives the committee power to veto demolition, but it only discourages demolition if a building is on the historic register or is considered locally to be a historic structure.
Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, said determination of whether a building is historical goes beyond whether it's placed on the historic register. More than a quarter century ago it was Blackburn who was hired by original Bricktown developer Neal Horton to place several other buildings in the district on the list.
Blackburn said considerations include whether a property was associated with a historic person, event or architectural style and whether it has any national, state or local significance.
He said historic significance can be diminished if the building's appearance has been altered. But he also cautioned against considering the building without looking at its place in the overall district. He compared tearing down an old building to chipping away pieces of a mosaic mural.
"This building may not be important individually,” Blackburn said. "But like the Walnut Street bridge, which may not have been significant individually, it is part of the urban landscape that gives all the properties scale, texture and variety. And every piece you lose of that context, you're losing that texture and variety and overall of the district.”
Bricktown, he said, is special because it is a collection of historic buildings.
"Take enough pieces out of that mosaic and you lose your focus,” Blackburn said. "I'm not saying this is going to diminish the context of Bricktown ... but each time you chip away a little bit more at the overall fabric, it affects everything else.”
Jim Cowan, director of the Bricktown Association, said the district is eager to see additional hotel rooms — but as with recent applications for a McDonald's and a Hampton Inn — ordinary franchise architecture might not be sufficient.
"It's a question of tearing down a building in order to make a better structure,” Cowan said. "We'll have to weigh all the merits ... Bricktown is at a point where we as a community can afford to be demanding. It has to be a question of what matches. We're not just desperate for any type of development.”
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I couldn't agree more with everyone here. THIS IS THE TEST for the current crop of city and business leaders. Are you going to make up for the fact that most of OKC's history was destroyed and cling to what little we have left? Or are you going to let somebody like Patel tear out the heart of WHY Bricktown is a success and build a poplar and Dryvit box that is MADE to tear down in 20 years???? P.S. How can $100K of bricks kill a $2M deal????
Ok, if Edmond can take an empty field and turn it into a brownstone community of city style loft condos, then by all means you should be able to take a real brick building and make something useful out of it in which people can sleep. Edmond went out and re-created bricktown. Bricktown should take what they have and work with it. I look back at things that OKC had that never should have been eradicated. The trolley system, the Interurban between Norman-OKC-Edmond, full Sante Fe rail service, the Beverly's restaurants (all are now gone), Queen Anne's, to name a few. If you look at New York City you will see that most hotels within a short driving distance of Manhattan adopted existing structures in which to build. Names like La Quinta, Marriott, Residence Inn. They all built into existing archetecture and I think its great. Of course you do have to get over the culture shock of not seeing your usual cookie cutter rectangular shaped building. When the taxi pulls up in front of something that looks like SOHO, you get worried. But its all good.
Sparky (Mark), Oklahoma City - Feb 9, 2008 11:09 PM
City leaders made their worst mistake in the 1960s by destroying downtown with the idea they could raze older buildings and build some cheap but better looking replacement. We know how that turned out. I'm with every other person who has posted here thusfar. Don't tear down ANY building in Bricktown. Renovate what is there.
The rendering is designed to disguise the fact that most of the building will be fake stucco by coloring it a darker color than usual. The only brick I see is on the corners and the entry. If it's in Bricktown, it needs to be brick. All brick. If the owner can't afford to make it all brick, he's not going to be able to spend money to maintain the building properly either. If he's too cheap to build it in all brick, then he'll cut corners other places. This is a bad idea. There have to be other developers who will stay true to the spirit of Bricktown who could build a hotel here.
Please build within the old dairy! Don't sacrifice that lovely building. It has squatter's rights because it was there long before all of this renovation came about.
I'm in full agreement with all who say, No Stucco in the Brick!! Just take a look at "Nawlins". They have renovated numerous buildings and put in HIE's, and other hotels inside the original walls. No reason the same thing can't be done in Bricktown.
Lotlizard Express vs Holiday Inn Express? Nothing can be more express than a 1 hour room rental. ;) As for the comment, in bricktown it needs to be brick or nothing. They also need more businesses down there, restaurants, shops, possibly a few more bars (almost overdone now), but not just a strip of hotels to feed the events buildings.
Isn't it just a HOOT that this guy actually calls his motel the "Bricktown Tradewinds." 1800 E. Reno is a good 2 miles from Bricktown. He's quite an operator. His main trade is sleaze. He caters to the truckers just for the lot lizard trade. He will bring in a new dimension to Bricktown, prostitution. As operator of the Tradewinds, he showed that he can nickel and dime a motel operation. His property has the lowest reputation of all motels in the city. I hope the city takes that fact into consideration before they approve any of his sleazy building ideas. Patel will bring a new definition to Holiday Inn Express, it will be foreever known as "The Holiday Inn Quickie."
No! I say no to more stucco in BRICKtown. What makes BRICKtown unique are its historic BRICK buildings. This would continue the trend we've started in Lower Bricktown...aka Stucco Town. This would ruin the charm that BRICKtown offers. At least the new Hampton Inn will be mostly brick, with a cuople of floor of stuco. But, this Holiday Inn Express is almost all stucco, with brick on the corners only. NO! I say NO!!!! I'm not opposed to cheaper rooms in Bricktown, but not at the expense of losing the historic charm and "bricks" in BRICKtown. Here's a novel concept.....why not develop the hotel within the old dairy building?
I encourage you to email Jim Cowan, director of the Bricktown Association, and express your disapproval. His email is jcowan at bricktownokc.org.
This is a terrible idea. Bricktown is going to lose it's identity if we allow more fake stucco buildings. Let him build south of Reno, where the buildings are all ugly fake stucco already. If Mr. Patel wants a Holiday Inn in Bricktown, there are plenty of existing buildings that need renovation. Or, let him build a completely brick hotel that blends in with the surroundings. This is only a four story hotel, so unlike the Hampton Inn (which is bad enough), there should be no fake stucco or the building will look completely out of place.
Steffen's Ice Cream at 101 E Main, as shown in this 1946 photo. The dairy operated at the site for several decades. Developers are wanting to demolish the structure and replace it with a Holiday Inn Express. Photo Provided
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I encourage you to email Jim Cowan, director of the Bricktown Association, and express your disapproval. His email is jcowan at bricktownokc.org.