“When you have names like Wiggin, Tanenbaum and Ellard thrown in, you know the competition was going to be tough,” Brooks said. “I told my team we needed to bring our ‘A-game' like we never had before.”
When selected in August 2011, Brooks promised an aggressive schedule, starting construction in 12 months. He missed that mark by one month — a delay he said was caused by the time needed to get financing.
The turnaround, however, is among the quickest in the history of the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority and included extra steps of meetings with area residents, submitting to independent architectural review by the firm RTKL and acquiring approval from the Downtown Design Review Committee.
“I obviously had my sales and marketing hat on, and that's OK,” Brooks said. “But I think everyone is happy.”
Brooks estimates the project will be completed within 22 months.
“I think we're a piece that MidTown was missing in terms of size and scope,” Brooks said. “MidTown has everything else in terms of housing, services, retail and restaurants.”
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