$8 million mixed-use development planned for Automobile Alley
by Brandice J. O'Brien
The Journal Record
12/23/2005

OKLAHOMA CITY - Another mixed-use development is planned for downtown Oklahoma City. Investors David Box, Roddy Bates, Mike Dillard and Chris Bolding intend to renovate 1101 N. Broadway, formally the Buick Motor Co. building, into high-end lofts above retail or office space.

The Urban Design Committee approved the estimated $8 million project Wednesday and construction documents are 85 percent complete.

Inspired by Greenwich Village in New York, 35 units are planned ranging in size from 500 to 2,400 square feet, the largest being a penthouse, and will cost between $1,000 and $5,000 per month.

"It's going to be all first class with stainless-steel appliances, moldings and a garden on the second floor on the north side just like you see in Greenwich Village," said Box, an investor and one of the developers on the project. "It's New York City meets Oklahoma."

"I'm a little stunned at those high residential rental rates; it's by far the highest I have heard in Oklahoma City," said Marva Ellard, co-developer of The Hill at Bricktown. "I heard the finishes (will be) very, very nice and it would set a new high for residential rent rates in the Oklahoma City market.

"The more quality housing in downtown, the better for everyone," Ellard said. "We'll almost have instant neighborhoods in downtown. I think that's healthy."

Although rents will be high, project officials said there is a market for upscale apartments downtown.

"They're that much better than anything offered in downtown right now," said Bruce Bockus, president of Bockus Payne Associates Architects and an architect on the project. "The attention to detail is very much scrutinized. The level of finish and its quality sets them apart from what's available."

Project investors are applying for historic tax credits. There are also plans for a restaurant-bar known as The Chandy.

The investors, doing business as BBD Investments, bought the 59,500-square-foot building in 2004 for $950,000. An additional 4,500 square feet will be added for the project.

Box credits his high-rise dreams for the four-story building in Automobile Alley to the developers with prospective projects that came before him. Without projects including The Hill at Bricktown, The Triangle and Block 42, downtown Oklahoma City wouldn't be a developing market, he said.

The building at 1101 N. Broadway was built about 14 years after the original Buick Building at 508 N. Broadway to increase space for the dealership.