I have been away from Okc for 20 years what is the address of the Tower theatre?

425 NW 23rd St.

Tower Theater in Oklahoma City (http://www.okctower.com/)

Thank's wsuougz. Been there many times, brings back alot of memories. Glad it's being saved.

I am so happy to hear that! I have been hoping someone would buy and renovate that place for years. 23rd street is getting much better and this will only help!

Do we have a general idea what the capacity of the Tower would be as a music venue?

Do we have a general idea what the capacity of the Tower would be as a music venue?

I think it is around a thousand depending on how the main floor is set up. There's 250 original seats in the balcony which is going to be restored as is but the main floor is going to get flattened into three or four sections with one step down between them and they can be set up theater style or with table seating. I'll verify the capacity with the owners and post the correct figure if this is very far off. Also, the size of the stage will be increased to improve it as a music and theatrical venue.

It would be a great spot for an updated murder mystery dinner theater concept utilizing modern urban themes . . . Tatooed to death or pierced and hung out to dry comes to mind.

I was up in the second floor office space above the 23rd Street facing retail spaces west of the marquee and it has lots very nice granite or marble wall panels and terazzo stairs and corridor floor that is fabulous. A lot of the original oak flooring can be cleaned up and refinished. The ceilings are about 9' . . . maybe 9'-6" and the 12" square supporting columns have a nice little flair detail at the ceiling. It will make great office space. There are nice windows overlooking the street with some nice urban views. The plans include a Green Room and community conference room up there as well. Anyone interested in talking about leasing some of this retail or office space can talk to Marty Dillon at 409.6907. They are also looking for a solid restaurant tenant and there is space set aside for a good size catering kitchen. Now is the time to get in on the ground floor as they say . . . or the second floor for that matter.

Now that the roofing work has been completed, I anticipate that some other work will get going over the next couple of months . . . . Yeah baby, I'm feelin' it . . . 2009 . . . mighty fine!

Michael

Pray For World Peace . . . pass it on

I talked to Marty and he said that they were gearing this project up. He told me that he has hired Greg Banta to handle the redevelopment and marketing of the project.

Banta's a great person to bring on. Thanks for all the details michael.

I am glad, it is a sad eyesore of a once beautiful facility

WOW, I am really excited about this project. Banta will do an incredible job!

Is Banta a partner now or just the GC? I kind of thought this project was dead in the water and he had previously made comments about getting involved with other urban projects after leaving the Midtown partnership.

Either way, this is a big big deal and I am very excited.

Saw guys cleaning up inside just now. It even looked like Banta was in there cleaning. Wish I had a camera with me.

Don't worry Trison. I had my camera....

So Steve what's the scoop? What's Banta doing?

If Banta's involved in the redevelopment now, that is nothing but good news. Good businessman, good person.

Steve's got an article in today's Oklahoman.

Interesting discussion over there. Naysayers as usual.

Man, the people who comment on Oklahoman stories make me frightened to live here. If I were an advertiser, I would question buying media to reach that audience: angry, racist morons. Of course, they're probably just the people who spend their lives responding to articles. Still, it's pretty scary.

Guru, they're the same people that bitch about parking downtown, yet frequent Quail Springs and Memorial Road every weekend.

:dontgetit

Besides, it's not like the Tower is going to be a mass market venue. Whether it's a music venue, art house theater, or dinner theater, I doubt its offerings are going to be geared towards the people who are for some reason scared of it, anyway. It more than likely will fill the smaller, but still present, entertainment demand that isn't currently being served by megaplexes and Chili's derivatives.

As far any racist sentiments, it just means that when it's open you can hang out there and not have to worry about the racists showing up and ruining the fun. :)

Man, the people who comment on Oklahoman stories make me frightened to live here. If I were an advertiser, I would question buying media to reach that audience: angry, racist morons. Of course, they're probably just the people who spend their lives responding to articles. Still, it's pretty scary.
I have found that the majority of people commenting on newspaper websites (in any city) to be the lowest of the low when it comes to intelligence and attitude. I pretty much never read them as 99.9% of them are utter trash responses.

Taking the tower to platform seating instead of standard auditorim style will definitely give the place an edge that doesn't really exist right now. The possibility for dinner theatre is extremely exciting! It would have been great as regular seating as well, but I think this opens up a whole new world of options for the old girl.

There's a growing theater presence in the area, believe it or not. OCU has a large impact on that. The department of theater has increased it's enrollment by almost 4 times over. With that many students, you know they are going to want outlets to perform on the side. Heck, they already did with OCTC among other known groups. There are other dinner theatres out there in OK, just very many around in town. It would be awesome!

Yeah OKC has a tremendous impact on our theatre scene. In the last year we've had 2 new theatre companies launch in OKC and none have closed.

As a business owner on 23rd street, I am very happy to hear that the Tower is geared up for progress. We would be willing to help out in any way possible to help with the progress of tthe Tower Theater and the surrounding neighborhood.
Shortly after the group purchased the Tower Theater we had gotten involved and the Tower became our original location for Prohibition Room. We were real excited about the renovation. Problem is, they just were not ready for the development. Roughly 9 locations and 3 years later, we located in the Gold Dome.
Fife, Dillon and the Goads are all really nice people and we wish them the best of luck on the project.

Rich

How soon will the mangled marquee be replaced?

I can't wait to see that neon sign in all its art deco glory.

As a business owner on 23rd street, I am very happy to hear that the Tower is geared up for progress. We would be willing to help out in any way possible to help with the progress of tthe Tower Theater and the surrounding neighborhood.
Shortly after the group purchased the Tower Theater we had gotten involved and the Tower became our original location for Prohibition Room. We were real excited about the renovation. Problem is, they just were not ready for the development. Roughly 9 locations and 3 years later, we located in the Gold Dome.
Fife, Dillon and the Goads are all really nice people and we wish them the best of luck on the project.

Rich

Is the Goad involved by any chance Ron?

Is the Goad involved by any chance Ron?

Matt Goad.

Is the Goad involved by any chance Ron?

here's the link to Matt Goad's site. I think the first one I entered took you to a "Legalize Marajuna" site or something.

#!+ (http://www.thehitshow.com)

Is that the Starlight Mints/American Boyfriends Matt Goad?

Is that the Starlight Mints/American Boyfriends Matt Goad?

They did the Mints album cover. It's on their site. #!+ (http://www.thehitshow.com)

Michael

Pray For World Peace . . . pass it on

And, yes, Matt was in the American Boyfriends.

Actually he was in BOTH bands.

When was he in the Mints? Did he record with them?

Drove by this weekend and saw they were putting in a curbed area in front of the Tower Theatre entrance to block anyone from pakring directly in front of it. Also saw for lease signs via Banta on the store fronts to the west of the theatre. Anyone know of any other work going on besides this?

Talked to the owner this weekend. The curb in front of the old Tower sign has been completed and a new sign has been ordered. I can't wait to see it lit back up.

Talked to the owner this weekend. The curb in front of the old Tower sign has been completed and a new sign has been ordered. I can't wait to see it lit back up.

I saw some people working on the sign this weekend. Not sure what was going on, but glad to see progress.

That is going to be amazing to see that neon glowing down the street. I'm quite thrilled.

yeah. this should be awesome.

I hope Marty can pull this thing off... the interior is ratty and will need considerable work. I mean a LOT of work... $$$$. But a really nice 500-800 seat venue could possibly make it here in OkC. The last show I saw there was Tommy Chong a few years ago, and the stage was about to rot away then.

Marty is a great guy, and has lots of band/sound/venue experience. I just hope his money holds out.

Is it only 800 capacity? I think we actually need something in the 1000-1500 range.

It is supposed to be around 1,200.

That'd be perfect, imo.

"a new sign is being ordered"


I hope it's an exact replica, and not just some completely new sign.

It will take some major work to get it back in shape, but I doubt it will be a completely new sign, replica or not.

I posted these in the 23rd street thread, but why not double-post good news?

I was glad to see the following as I drove by today:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/movies/tower_5_28_2009_1.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/movies/tower_5_28_2009_2.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/movies/tower_5_28_2009_3.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/movies/tower_5_28_2009_4.jpg

:cheersmf:

Thanks, Doug!

Marquee revamp conveys sign of Uptown’s progress in Oklahoma City
BY STEVE LACKMEYER
Published: July 8, 2009

The smashed marquee at the Tower Theater is gone and the letters are back in place — a hint that renovations are finally getting under way at the Uptown landmark.

Read the rest of Steve's article at:

http://newsok.com/marquee-revamp-conveys-sign-of-uptowns-progress/article/3383706?custom_click=lead_story_title

Future use of the former theater space won’t be decided until a restaurant operator is chosen, Dillon said.

"If a restaurant operator wants to take on the whole facility, they can lease that, as well as restaurant space,” Dillon said. "Or Uptown Development (Dillon’s development company) is willing to manage and run the theater space. It can run either way.”

That's actually not very encouraging in terms of it being used as a venue. Sounds more like a Will Rogers redux. Just another banquet room...

It'll be nice to have the Tower back in action, especially what it will do for mid-town, but I'm no longer getting my hopes up that it can or will become OKC's premier music venue.

Thanks WarrenG88 for the way you handled posting to the intro of my story without doing a full copy and paste.

Thanks WarrenG88 for the way you handled posting to the intro of my story without doing a full copy and paste.

No problem Steve. I have a lot of respect for what you do and try to help the paper get more readers.

I'm so glad to see this place is being taken care of for real. And with some real future tenants.

I agree that using it as a restaurant isn't really that great, but at least it would get used. Will Rogers isn't exactlly doing poorly you know. I would have loved to have seen it as a music venue, but it's much harder to get stuff going in a place like that. Just having the sign not falling into the road will do wonders!

BDP, well said, I too hope this is not another Will Rogers Theatre part deux.

I remember when my parents took our family to see movies at the Tower in the 50's. I thought the place was beautiful. I have many great memories of the place. Glad to see it's being saved and the surrounding area. To bad some of the other great theatres are gone. There's nothing to compare to today's theaters.

How did the Tower compare to the downtown theaters at that time?

They were all beautiful in their own way, hard to compare. Some were alot older.

Did you know the tower sign was part of the initial lead-in montage for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno?

Oklahoma City renovation update
Published: July 29, 2009

Tower Theater sign gears up for an encore on NW 23

Repairs and repainting of the sign for the old Tower Theater at 528 NW 23, above, continue as work gears up for a makeover of the retail strip. Owner Marty Dillon plans to move his family’s company, Party Galaxy, into 3,000 square feet of renovated space on the second floor of the building when renovations are complete. The $2.5 million project includes a rehabilitation of the theater’s facade and adjoining storefronts.

Steve Lackmeyer, Business Writer

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-renovation-update/article/3388772?custom_click=headlines_widget

Is there supposed to be a video or image above that article? I'm not getting anything in firefox or IE.

that's what I was wondering BDP

Okay. The sign is repaired and the new neon is back up. When are they going to light the dang thing back up? I've been watching all weekend. . .