Council backs Citizens Tower rezoning
by Darren Currin
The Journal Record
7/21/2004

Plans to redevelop the Citizens Tower office building into an upscale condo development took another step forward Tuesday with approval by the Oklahoma City Council.
During its biweekly meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to approve rezoning the 117,220-square-foot building from C-4 general business to PUD planned unit development, which will pave the way for work to commence on retrofitting the property.

Developer Richard Tanenbaum plans to start work on redeveloping the office space into upscale residential condos within the next two months. The project will be similar to his renovation of the 500 W. Main building in downtown into The Montgomery luxury apartments.

In addition to the condos, documents filed by Tanenbaum with the Oklahoma City Planning Department show that he also intends to maintain the attached arcade for retail space as well as preserving the lower level jazz bar.

Located at 2200 Classen Blvd., Citizens Tower was acquired by Tanenbaum at auction in April for $825,000, far below the Oklahoma County assessor's $1.8 million assessment.

Constructed in 1966, the building was designed by Bozalis and Roloff in the style of noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

At the time of sale, the building was only 25 percent occupied.