Urban board OKs land for 99-room Bricktown hotel

By Steve Lackmeyer

Published: June 19, 2008

The Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority on Wednesday approved selling land at Lincoln Boulevard and Reno Avenue for construction of a 99-room Candlewood Inn and Suites.

Urban Renewal director JoeVan Bullard said the sale of the property, across from Bass Pro Shops, is conditioned upon actual construction. Bullard said the development agreement won't allow the buyer, Shri Krishnapriya Hospitality LLC., to "sit” on the land and then sell it to another buyer.

The deal was assembled by James Durocher, a retail specialist with NAI Sullivan Group, and developer David Box, who previously bought an adjoining parcel. Because the public land has limited access to Reno Avenue and adjoins Durocher and Box parcel, Urban Renewal can sell its land without issuing a request for proposals, Bullard said.

Durocher said construction should start by mid-2009. He sees the proposed hotel serving Bricktown visitors, the Oklahoma Health Center and the downtown convention market.

"We're starting to get a lot of convention business and these hotels are getting booked up,” Durocher said. "If there are two conventions in town, there is no place to stay.”

Durocher said the project, estimated at $10 million to $12 million, will be submitted next for review by the Bricktown Urban Design Committee. He promised the hotel, being designed by Quinn and Associates (which also designed an upcoming Bricktown Holiday Inn and Express), will "meet or exceed” the district's standards.

Bricktown Association director Jim Cowan said the district can support more hotels even as construction continues on a 150-room Hampton Inn next to the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. A Residence Inn opened last year in Lower Bricktown, and a Holiday Inn Express is planned for Oklahoma Avenue and Main Street.

"This doesn't surprise me at all,” Cowan said. "It just goes to show that there is a lot of interest in Bricktown.”

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