California company buys downtown OKC building for $475,000

1200 N Robinson
2/13/2007

By Heidi Rambo Centrella and Pamela A. Grady
The Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture today sold the building at 1200 N Robinson to a Los Angeles entity for $475,000.

The same California outfit purchased the Lawyer’s Title office building in Midtown last fall for $1.4 million.

Avraham “Avi” Shemuelian who represents the California-based company dba Lawyers Title Building LLC, says they purchased the building because of its “beauty.”

“It’s a piece of art,” Shemuelian said.

Shemuelian said they have not officially selected an architect for the project, and plans are still in the preliminary stages.

“We want to see some preliminary ideas from architects,” he said. “We have received some sort of plan for what the foundation (Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture) has had in mind for the building, but we will probably want to change some of it."

Lawyer’s Title Company closed the deal. And financing will be provided by a local institution, Shemuelian said.

Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture purchased the 20,780-square-foot building, which was built in 1930 and has remained vacant for approximately 20 years, in 1999 for $350,000.