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More for Myriad Gardens: $6.9M parcel of land purchased for expansion
By Brianna Bailey
Oklahoma City reporter - Contact 405-278-2847
Posted: 05:56 PM Monday, October 25, 2010

OKLAHOMA CITY – Myriad Gardens has purchased a $6.9 million chunk of downtown real estate on the corner of Reno and Hudson avenues that includes the historic Vitagraph film exchange building and an adjacent brick structure that houses La Luna Mexican Cafe.

The acquisition also includes a 7,000-square-foot parking structure. The three buildings are all located just west of Myriad Gardens across S. Hudson Avenue.

The purchase will help Myriad Gardens relocate some of its operations that have been displaced as part of a $38 million makeover it is undergoing, said Brent Bryant, business manager for Oklahoma City’s finance department. The massive overhaul, slated for completion in spring 2011, is mostly funded by Project 180.

For now, there are no plans to tear down any of the buildings or relocate La Luna, Bryant said.

“At this point and time, the plan is to utilize some of the existing vacant space and put employees there to help support Myriad Gardens,” Bryant said.

As part of the renovations, Myriad Gardens will have a new southern entry point that will dislocate some of the botanical gardens’ behind-the-scenes operations, Bryant said.

The old Vitagraph building, 123 S. Hudson Ave., will be used to house Myriad Garden offices, Bryant said.

The structure was renovated in 1990, according to property records, and its original masonry exterior has been covered with stucco.

Built in 1922, the two-story, 12,600-square-foot Vitagraph building once housed one of the city’s film exchanges.

“At that time, films were very explosive and there is a vault in the building where these film reels were stored,” said Oklahoma City attorney Armand Paliotta, who represents the buildings’ previous owners, Hudson Reno LLC.
Paliotta could not immediately comment on the details of the sale.

Hudson Reno LLC is managed by Oklahoma City businessman Richard R. Dunning, according to property records. The Oklahoma limited liability corporation purchased the three buildings in 2001 for $1.4 million from Fred Jones Properties, according to property records.

Dunning could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

The Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust gave the Myriad Gardens Foundation a $5.5 million loan to help finance the real estate purchase.