Office Buildings
Historical
Central Business District


no



Address: 111 Dean McGee (http://goo.gl/maps/P8csO)
Built: 1905
Demolished: no
Floors: 7
Sq. Feet: 40,656
Acreage:
Architect: William Wells

http://www.okctalk.com/images/wikiphotos/pioneer2.jpg


Information & Latest News
The expansion of Oklahoma City during the 1920s was reflected in the growth of the telephone company. As more people arrived in the booming city, more telephones were installed, new equipment was purchased, and new employees were hired. To house the expanded operations, Southwestern Bell constructed the sixteen story Telephone Building just north of the Pioneer Building. Designed by Solomon Layton, the buff-brick structure included set-backs, a tower, and ornate terra cotta. (Blackburn, Henderson and Thurman 72)

The telephone came to Oklahoma City in 1893 with the arrival of the Missouri-Kansas Telephone Company. For about ten years this firm held a monopoly, but then came competition: Pioneer Telephone Company, a new and energetic organization which in a few short years had swallowed up a number of the small town exchanges, and now was challenging Missouri-Kansas for the city's telephone business. For a time it was necessary for citizens to subscribe to the services of both companies if they wanted to insure communication links with all other residents and businesses in town, but in 1905 this inconvenience was eliminated when Pioneer bought out Missouri-Kansas. Three years later the surviving company moved into this new headquarters building at Northwest Third and Broadway.(Edwards and Ottaway, Vanished Splendor 85)
Links
County Assessor Record (http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/AN-R.asp?ACCOUNTNO=R010012740)
Doug Loudenback Article (http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtown/vintage/1.murrah.htm)
Tenants
Gallery

This building is getting a good exterior cleaning.

Photo courtesy of Sid:



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer9812.jpg

Guess this is old news for me then. I took some photos today.

October 03 2012

SandRidge Commons (October 03 2012) - a set on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhider/sets/72157631695377555/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8029/8055292614_5bbee181fc_b.jpg

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Bob Blackburn made this a stop on our Spokies History tour on Tuesday. I have always just taken this building for granted but it is really quite striking. He did point out that SWB closed in the windows on the bottom floor I think in the 70's out of fear of the SLA. Imagine the bottom floor with glass windows now instead of the marble that is there now. I believe he also said it is older than the Colcord.

Yeah the Colcord was built in 1910. Considered the "first skyscraper" in Oklahoma City, but the Pioneer was built three years earlier.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Old%20Oklahoma%20City/Pioneer%20Building/pioneerbuilding2.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Old%20Oklahoma%20City/Pioneer%20Building/pioneerbuilding.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Old%20Oklahoma%20City/Pioneer%20Building/SouthwesternBellTellephoneAdministrationBuilding40 7NBroadwayc1928.jpg

Notice the Braniff Building in the background.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Old%20Oklahoma%20City/Pioneer%20Building/pioneerattbuilding.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Old%20Oklahoma%20City/Pioneer%20Building/pioneerattbuilding1946.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Old%20Oklahoma%20City/Pioneer%20Building/pioneerattbuilding2.jpg

Bob Blackburn made this a stop on our Spokies History tour on Tuesday. I have always just taken this building for granted but it is really quite striking. He did point out that SWB closed in the windows on the bottom floor I think in the 70's out of fear of the SLA. Imagine the bottom floor with glass windows now instead of the marble that is there now. I believe he also said it is older than the Colcord.

That was a fun tour. Really looking forward to the architecture tour. Bob repeatedly pointed out that the pioneer building was the first skyscraper, and I love the point he made about how much taller it would have looked at the time it was built being at the top of a hill. So who do we nag via social media outlets to have the ground floor windows restored?

http://newsok.com/sale-redevelopment-set-for-pioneer-building-in-oklahoma-city/article/5513344

What an amazing development. My urbanist dreams for that corner may yet come true....

One of our intrepid OKCTalk posters tipped me off to this but I couldn't figure out the buyers.

The building has been vacant for some time is on a key and highly visible corner.

And, it's beautiful. Very excited about this.

Steve's update.

http://m.newsok.com/article/5543021


Local investors Roy Oliver, Mark Beffort and Andy Burnett closed on their purchase of the historic Pioneer Building downtown and are set to start renovations next week that will include restoring the landmark's first-floor windows.

I talked to Andy Burnett about this some time ago and never posted the plans.

The building is 7 stories; basement will be storage, first floor retail/commercial, 2-7 office space.

Built in 1907 and exterior was completely cleaned in 2012.

They've already filed a building permit to renovate.

I've also heard Tom Ward's new energy company may be the primary tenant.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer2.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer3.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer4.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer5.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer6.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneerfinishes2.jpg

Really love this building and so glad to hear they'll be adding retail/commercial on the first floor!

Same

My OKC dream is finally coming true with the destruction of the marble windows.

At $40 psf, this transaction was quite a steal. Good to see it get new life

Pioneer renovation plan rings true for architect

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record April 3, 2017

OKLAHOMA CITY – Architect Jeremy Gardner has a lot to do at The Pioneer Building, and not much room to get it done.

“The building is built on its property line, so there’s no additional square footage in terms of property to offer for things like transformers,” he said. “The basement juts out into the sidewalk.

There is a lot of property or enclosed space in the right of way.”

He said the floors aren’t big enough to house the heating and air conditioning units because that equipment would take up leasable space. The units will likely go on the roof, but only if their presence will not ruin the building’s look from the street.

Gardner is outlining what changes will be made at the historic building. That information will be sent to the National Park Service, which oversees the federal historic tax credit program.

“It’s sort of an interesting balance of trying to bring it up to code, but trying to see what the existing building has to offer dimensionally,” he said.

Gardner is designing the update for The Pioneer Building’s new owners, Mark Beffort, Andy Burnett, and Roy Oliver. The developers bought the building for $1.6 million and will spend about $9 million on the renovation. Newmark Grubb Levy Strange Beffort broker Brad Rice handled the off-market transaction. He said he approached former owner AT&T when he knew he had some interested buyers.

The first floor will be retail with the blue granite being removed. Gardner said he is outfitting the floor with a gas line so a restaurant could be a tenant.

The second-through-seventh floors at 103 Dean A. McGee Ave. will be Class A office. Each floor measures about 5,000 square feet, and the building will be leased one floor at a time, Beffort said.

This is Beffort’s first venture in restoration involving historic tax credits.

“It’s definitely going to be a very expensive venture,” he said. “What we bought was a shell. We’re completely gutting the inside and putting in all new infrastructure.”

The update includes adding an elevator to the building.

“For as tall as it is, it’s been the most challenging in terms of finding ways to bring infrastructure to it,” Gardner said.

The building was constructed in 1907, according to the documents to get it on the national register.

It was constructed as the headquarters of Pioneer Telephone Co. Architect William A. Wells designed the building. His only other remaining building is the Colcord Hotel.

Gardner said he expects tenants will be able to move into the offices in spring 2018. Beffort said the developers have three different companies eyeing space right now, but no leases have been signed. He said the prospects are existing companies that want to upgrade their image.

Class A office space in the Central Business District is holding strong with only a 5-percent vacancy rate, according to the 2016 fourth-quarter Xceligent report. The CBD is one of the tighter areas in the city.

Beffort said he doesn’t think it will be difficult to lease the building.

“As I get older and I talk to a lot of office prospects, people have a love for history,” he said. “We’re going to maintain the lobby as it has been and was. When you take a piece of history and combine it with where we are today, architecturally it just feels really, really cool. I think we’ll be able to do that here.”

Excited about this one.

To touch on a previous post, Tom Ward's new company, Mach Resources, recently moved into the Dobson building off of Wireless Way.

Has Tom Ward already left the company that he moved into Bricktown? The name is escaping me.

Has Tom Ward already left the company that he moved into Bricktown? The name is escaping me.

Tapstone.

Ward stepped down on Jan. 1st to start a new O&G venture.

Tapstone.

Ward stepped down on Jan. 1st to start a new O&G venture.

That's it, thanks Pete!

Interesting. How is Tapstone doing?

While it is my dream for the marble to be removed from the ground level, I hope they do something interesting re-purposing of that marble instead of just trashing it.

That's it, thanks Pete!

Interesting. How is Tapstone doing?

Tom Ward left Tapstone to start something else a few months ago, so the company Pete is referencing is the new venture he's starting. I think Tapstone is doing fine. I imagine that they may end up flipping the company to a larger E&P in the next few years.

I tweeted this yesterday and thought i had posted here as well, but I guess not.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer042717.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer042717b.jpg

Fantastic!

Would be cool if you could find a pre-marble street level pic to have a "way before" pic as well...

Will posted this on Twitter:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer042817.jpg

Very nice!

I have a great colorized period postcard of this building postmarked 1910 where the sender has drawn an arrow to one of the ground floor windows with a note saying "this is where my office is."

First page has a bunch of old photos.

Marble coming down

Marble coming down

:rock_guit

best news of the day

Even though it's construction lights, really nice to see this building lit up again.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer111017.jpg

Marble coming off windows facing East

14311

14312

Good progress here... You can see the glass storefronts are starting to go in.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer021018.jpg

A gem of a building!

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer040118.jpg

Simply stunning. What an underappreciated jewel on our skyline for all of these years.

The owners of this building need to place a transformer in the park across the street, so the whole thing will get a remake:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer040818a.jpg

Good! If they can just get rid of that f'ning bank they built across the street and replace it with with something like this:

https://merriman-maa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/work-houseman-01.jpg

This building is proposed for Downtown Dallas.

Here are some more renderings of the park:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/783/27511285488_bb30672014_o.png

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/864/40486486275_88fa295534_o.png

Night
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/878/27511326628_aeee237944_o.jpg

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While I appreciate the idea of the O-K-C letters all over that fence, those letters when duplicated and scrambled around like that tend to spell something else, repeatedly.

while i appreciate the idea of the o-k-c letters all over that fence, those letters when duplicated and scrambled around like that tend to spell something else, repeatedly.
l.o.l.

While I appreciate the idea of the O-K-C letters all over that fence, those letters when duplicated and scrambled around like that tend to spell something else, repeatedly.

i did not see that at first... and now i can't unsee it. it's like a monument to tourette syndrome.

I really appreciate the developer taking the time and money to hide the transformer in a creative way. Other developers just plop it right in the middle of the sidewalk with no screen.

While I appreciate the idea of the O-K-C letters all over that fence, those letters when duplicated and scrambled around like that tend to spell something else, repeatedly.

Maybe this should be moved over to the Central Park to compliment Lake Nutsack.

Maybe this should be moved over to the Central Park to compliment Lake Nutsack.

It would take some major balls to make a move like that

While I appreciate the idea of the O-K-C letters all over that fence, those letters when duplicated and scrambled around like that tend to spell something else, repeatedly.

Put this monument at Scissortail Park next to Sack Lake.

Maybe this should be moved over to the Central Park to compliment Lake Nutsack.

beat me too it lol

Are they keeping the Baptist White Temple monument?

Hopefully they at least move it

While I appreciate the idea of the O-K-C letters all over that fence, those letters when duplicated and scrambled around like that tend to spell something else, repeatedly.

I also cannot unsee this now. haha.

The other day, I saw a "for sale" sign on the north east corner of the old SW Bell Building. Any info on this? That building may be the most beautiful building in all downtown.

Glass is going in on the ground floor.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer042218.jpg

Work has started on Pioneer Park:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneerpark050418.jpg

14630

Another closed road!

I'm sure they are digging a connection from Pioneer Park to the Pioneer Building, as the whole reason for the park re-do is the need for the building to have a place for a large transformer. Hence, the big circular screen in the middle of that mini-park.

Also the entire sidewalk in front of Pioneer had been torn out. Not sure why since that was all brand new P180 sidewalk. Looked like they were about to re-pour the concrete though.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/pioneer052718.jpg

Oh, love the windows on the ground level! I don't know how they compare to the historic windows before AT&T filled them in with granite, but I like the way they look and they seem to complement the building well.