Bricktown block sells for $2.6 million more than expected

[Pete]

Would much rather have seen this property go to someone with deep pockets, not a homebuilder from MWC that admits he's out of his realm:





Bricktown block sells for $10.6 million in public outcry auction
Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2005


by Heidi R. Centrella & Pamela Grady

The block in Bricktown referred to as "Bricktown Square" by its owners, the McLain family of Oklahoma City, went for $2.6 million more in an auction today than what many insiders thought it would.

Yesterday, the owners reviewed six sealed bids submitted for the square and at today's outcry auction, of which the minimum bid for the property was set at $8 million, bidding on the property began at $10.5 million.

The property sold, essentially in eight minutes, for $10.6 million to Midwest City homebuilder Jeff Moore. However, the auction lasted 19 minutes as auctioneer David Gilmore attempted to persuade another bidder being represented by Sharon Banta via cell phone, to take bidding to $10.7 million.

Banta told OKCBusiness the person she was conversing with via cell phone during the bidding was California investor Daniel Rafalian.

Rafalian is the principal for Heritage Mall LLC, which owns Heritage Park Mall in Midwest City.

Gilmore stopped periodically between calling for that $10.7 million with somewhat of a stand-up comedy routine, telling Rafalian, via his proxy, Banta, "You'll never know the difference on $100,000 over 30 years. Think about it. It's just paper and ink..."

Still, with no $10.7 million bites, and what seemed like several minutes later, Gilmore attempted to persuade bidders by saying Bricktown is "the place to be" and offering them more time to consider upping the ante.

"Need I remind you, we've got over $900,000 in income on the property's annual income," Gilmore told the crowd. "You can do many things with it. We've got seven buildings plus paid parking. It's a good income."

"It was at this point Moore made his $10.6 million offer."

Two minutes later, Gilmore took off his jacket and jokingly said to Banta, "It's just like checkers, Ma'am. It's your turn. You want to give me the phone? I'll talk to him."

Another representative of Rafalian's in attendance then took the phone from Banta. He was seen shaking his head and was overheard saying, "I think you're making a mistake, but that's just me."

Banta then retrieved her phone, looked toward Gilmore, shook her head and said, "No."

Moore, a Midwest City developer, seemed pleased with his purchase, indicating Christmas had come early this year. However, he would not comment on his plans for the square currently comprised of seven buildings, 106,000 square feet on 2.43 acres and 153 parking spaces.

The property, according to the McLain family, nets $900,000 annually.

Moore admitted "this is a little bit out of our realm," but also said "Bricktown's thriving. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for something that's going to go nowhere but up from here."

[downtownguy]

Don't rush to judgement. Dick Tanenbaum's resume wouldn't have convinced you he was capable of doing what he's done the past couple years if you had looked at it four years ago.

[writerranger]

Let's hope so, DowntownGuy.

[jbrown84]

Hopefully this guy will bring in some good consultants or out-of-state partners that can help him come up with a really good plan. Who knows? Maybe we'll end up with something a lot better than The Factory in the long run.

[Pete]

Tannebaum developed and owned a bunch of commercial buildings and had been in that business a long time.

Building homes is a very different animal... It's not even ownership.


I wouldn't be surprised if he employs a buy/hold and ultimately flip strategy... Unless he brings in a partner.

[Pete]

Here's Jeff Moore's website:

http://www.jeffmoorehomes.com/index.htm

[BDP]

I'm thinking he sits on it, does nothing with it, and takes the appreciation in a few years. He cerainly doesn't sound like a motivated and visionary developer. Scary thing is that he's a suburban house developer.

[HOT ROD]

I'm thinking he sits on it, does nothing with it, and takes the appreciation in a few years. He cerainly doesn't sound like a motivated and visionary developer. Scary thing is that he's a suburban house developer.

That was the first thing I thought of, especially when the paper mentioned him as a developer. I was like, "developer of what??? Suburban houses.. And they let this guy come downtown!!! Great....."

[ccsokc]

Well you never know, he might come up with some very interesting housing (apartments, condos etc) for the property ...OR - (here comes the BAD) - 1.) He could let it sit for a few years, not knowing exactly what to do with it, creating a blight of a VERY Crucial piece of property while every thing else around it develops. 2.) He could miss manage the entire block, causing the business' to leave. 3.) On the same note, he could cause himself to go bankrupt, causing lots lengthy, unknown problems. or 4.) He bought it as an investment and plans to SELL the property off ONE Building at a time, neglecting to think about who he is selling it to or the future of Bricktown. Number 4 in my opinion would be the absolute worst...If I had that entire city block, I would make sure and get some development company in there to handle it right....and I would think long and hard about the MANY options for that block. It has awesome potential, and there is a only in a million chance anything that size in bricktown will ever be for sale again.

[Pete]

Catching the Bricktown Bug

By Richard Mize
The Oklahoman

MIDWEST CITY - Trips to Dallas gave him ample chances to see how restaurants, nightspots, retail shops and more could evolve in a revamped warehouse district, in the West End.

At home, monthly rounds reading meters for Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. -- a way to supplement income from his fledgling home construction business -- gave him ample chances to appreciate turn-of-the-century engineering and architecture in Bricktown.

It was in the early 1990s, when Dallas's West End was hot, and Bricktown, as it's known today, was not -- not really.

That's when Jeff Moore, the newest big-time investor in Oklahoma City's premier entertainment district, caught the Bricktown bug.

It just seemed like he came out of the blue Nov. 15 for the high-profile auction of a solid city block, including Abuelo's, Bricktown Brewery, the Daiquiri Zone -- and room to grow -- at a high-profile auction commissioned by the McLain family, who long owned it.

By then, Moore, 43, had had his eye on Bricktown for most of his adult life.

Bricktown's incarnation as a place to play took off just as Moore's home-building business started to work, just as construction and renovating houses and land dealing started to build the equity he later would flop down to make the big Bricktown buy.

"I thought, 'What an opportunity. If it works in Dallas, it can work here,'" he recalled this week in an interview in a new home he just finished in Jaycie Place, a small upscale housing addition he named for his daughter, Jaycie, 15. (His other daughter, Lexi, 10, has her own namesake, too: Lexington Heights, a neighborhood of patio homes.)

Moore's winning bid for the McLain property was $10.6 million -- plus a buyer's premium that brought the total investment to $10.9 million. He stepped up to the auction block by himself, although he now is considering partnering with others to develop the property.

He was unfazed by the wallop the local economy will take when General Motors closes, eliminating 2,600 jobs. Had that bad news come before the Bricktown auction, Moore said, "I still would've bought it because I believe in it."

He said those who went before in modern Bricktown inspired him.

"What (Jim) Brewer did, and French Hickman and those guys," Moore said, referring to early Bricktown boosters and investors, "they all had a vision. The city had a vision."

Moore's plans for the property, bounded by Main Street, Sheridan Avenue, Oklahoma Avenue and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks, aren't set in stone.

But they are set in Bricktown-red brick.

"We don't want to change anything overnight," he said. "They're great tenants, and I like what's there. We just want to add to what's there."

Housing is a definite possibility, not surprising considering Moore's main business is home building. But people should expect nothing drastic.

"I love the loft apartment idea -- in the heart of Bricktown," he said. "And who knows, we might find a way to turn the Bunte building into a hotel."

That would be sweet for a local guy -- Midwest City's Carl Albert High School, Class of '81 -- who remembers the sugary-smelling candy that the McLains made at Bunte Candy Factory through the '80s at 1 E Sheridan, one of the buildings he now owns, where his mother used to work.

"You can't go in there and build a bunch of new stuff," he said. "I love taking a new piece of ground and turning it into something beautiful, but you can't do that in Bricktown. A lot of people have said, 'Are you going to knock the buildings down and build housing?' Well, we're not going to do that. You couldn't do that."

Of course, the Bricktown Urban Design Committee, which keeps a tight rein on renovation projects, would see to that.

The design committee is an arm of government that limits what can be done. Other arms of local government, however, such as the Tax Increment Financing District, create opportunities that Moore said he is considering.

Details will come later. In the meantime, with $900,000 per year in income coming from existing tenants, Moore could take his time in deciding what to do next with his own solid city block of Bricktown.

"I thought, 'What an opportunity. If it works in Dallas, it can work here.'"Bricktown property owner Jeff Moore.

[Julie]

It sounds like this guy has big plans (and big dollars)
Selling for 2.6 million more than expected is a huge margin!

[Karried]

Very true Julie, I hope he has both!

Welcome to the boards - please feel free to contribute freely, we love input and ideas..

[okclee]

Any info on the latest with this deal?

I heard that there were problems with financing for the auction purchase. Therefore the sell of the "Bricktown Square" did not happen. Any truth to this rumor?

[BricktownGuy]

See here for your answer:

http://www.okcbusiness.com/news/news...68&newsid=6381

[metro]

I talked to one of his cronies yesterday. Supposively he's got a project similar to the Factory in the works. I have yet to see it. The guy has NO experience in urban development, just like Hogan.

[okclee]

At least Moore will have the Bricktown association to deal with unlike Hogan.

Another question, why is it that Moore like Hogan want to go to Dallas or Ft. Worth and bring back ideas for Bricktown?

Can these guys not go any further away than DFW?

[TStheThird]

Having no experience is not the problem. The problem is having no vision.

[BDP]

Another question, why is it that Moore like Hogan want to go to Dallas or Ft. Worth and bring back ideas for Bricktown?

This is a good point. I think it's good to look at those markets, as we probabaly lose more human resoruces to them than any other markets (that's a guess, I have no real data to back it up). It's good to look at them and ask "why are people leaving to live there"?

But, in the end, the goal is not to match them, but to surpass them, or at least do something as good, but different. They have the money, the resources, and the population base. If a developer just tries to match those markets, I can guarantee you those markets will have something nicer by the time the development here is finished.

I think you look at the region to see what it doesn't have as much as what it does. You combined the good things into one development and go beyond the region for unique inspiration. Ultimately, you want to be able to say to people looking to live in the region "hey, we have something no one else has".

I still think that The Factory development would be great center piece for Bricktown and be just the ting to put it back on track. I think it had some great vision and combined a lot of good things about urban living into one development. Seriously, the guy wouldn't have to work that hard. Just build the Factory already and don't waste a year looking at Ft Worth for inspriation.

[Patrick]

You guys hit the nail on the head. I will give Moshe Tal some credit here.....when he looked for something urban, he went to Baltimore.

[Popsy]

Moshe Tal deserves no credit. He had nothing working. It does you a disservice to continue hyping him.

[jbrown84]

I agree that he should just go ahead and build The Factory as it is already planned. Although I could stand for it to have more brick in it.