The death of Mike Samis has reminded me of something, and I am hoping someone on this thread can square my recollection:
In the mid-1990s the First National Center was sold, IIRC, to Mike Dillard from Century Martial Arts Supply and Mike Samis? I'm 99% sure on the Mike Dillard part, it is the Mike Samis that I am unsure of. Since there was no mention of that in any of the stories I read about Mr. Samis dying, I am second-guessing my memory.
The rest of the story, as I recall, was that Dillard & partner bought the First National Center and an affiliated parking garage. They kept the parking garage, and donated everything else to Feed the Children. At the time, I was a neighborhood friend and acquaintance of Richard Cain, who owned the Aberdeen Apartments at 15th & North Robinson. Because I was a real estate and business rube, I asked him what was the reason for the deal? He said he guessed the parking garage cash-flowed and was the main thing they wanted out of the purchase. The tax benefit of the donation to Feed the Children made the transaction much more attractive.
The
When limestone slabs fell off the First National Center in 2018, it was a sign more work was needed than anticipated
https://oklahoman.com/article/567513...an-anticipated
This building is going to be incredible. I can't wait until it's finished.
First National Center & BancFirst Tower will make an immediate impact on the skyline once these to projects are completed.
Pete, you should take your drone up there to that scaffolding at the top and see what's cooking.
It's really not that interesting; just making sure the limestone is attached properly:
Any idea when the building was last given any attention top side
I am so sad that I probably will never be able to afford a place in this building... short of winning the lottery or something
There would have to be a full blown 5 alarm fire before I would step foot on that fire escape.
Light bulbs are a whole different story.
Here’s a nice write up about some of the history and progress being made:
https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/dev...ack=super_blog
I’m not sure if this has been posted here before but a website for the residences portion is now live:
https://liveatthefirst.com/
I love this project so much. I'm happy Gary is seeing through his vision for the property, he's a standup guy and knows how to get things done. I've heard quite a bit about the financing of this property and it makes my head spin. These will test the top end of the rental market but I think the apartments will actually do quite well. It will be interesting to see how the hotel does given the market disruptions but I see it doing solid as well. This should continue bringing life to the core.
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