Mideke Building

[Architect2010]

[template=]
development
|category1=Housing
|category2=Bricktown
|category3=Current
|category4=
|
|project=
|address=100 E. Main
|status=under renovation
|owner=Andy Burnett / Zach Martin / Gary Berlin
|cost=$2 million
|architect=
|start=
|finish= 1919
|contractor=
|height= 5 stories
|sq. feet=55,096
|acerage= .50
|other=Top 3 floors to contain 30 apartments
|
|image=
|


[/template]
Information & Latest News

6/3/14: $4 million building permit application
3/14/14: Tapstone to anchor office renovation
5/7/13: Renovation set to start on Mideke Building
4/8/11: According to the April 8th 2011 Agenda for the Bricktown Urban Design Commission [1st link on agenda], the MidekeMercantile Building at 100 E Main will have its third and fourth floors converted into residential use. The east side of the building will recieve 3 balconies on the third and fourth floors, with sliding entry ways built in replacement of the current brick facade.
Links

County Assessor Record
Gallery

[Spartan]

That is awesomeness. Finally some residential in Bricktown. They look like quasi-loft units with an open floor space, so I think these will attract some interesting people. I forget who owns this building now? Did Pitman buy it from Cotton?

[betts]

I know originally these were to be unfinished lofts, to be built out by the tenant. I don't know if that's changed at all. I agree. It will be nice to see housing in Bricktown.

[CaptDave]

I love the corner 2BR units. If only the kids were all in college or on their own.........

[Pete]

Really, really hope this happens and is successful.

All those building in Bricktown and almost all of them are empty other than the main level. Hopefully, this project will lead to many others.

[Rover]

This is really good news. Perhaps all those just holding property there expecting it to escalate will actually make significant investments to add to the utility of the buildings and help create the increased value. This has been an underutilized building where previous owners have tried to get by on the cheap and wait for someone else to make it valuable for them. New life in the heart of Bricktown will be great for the area.

[Pete]

The Academy of Contemporary Music has to help here... They bought their building, are expanding and bringing lots of younger people into the area.

Also, the recent successes in Midtown have provided a blueprint on how to take an older building, renovate it and still make money.


It's really amazing that after all this time, most those Bricktown structures are still largely vacant.

[Rover]

Too many local "developers" don't want to actually develop. They want to buy and hold property until someone else makes it more valuable for them. Too often they do the minimum to try to create enough cash flow to hold on until the area has created the price rise for them then they will bail. Very few actually seem to have a vision and an ability to assume risk. We have a lot of bunters and need home run hitters. It may take out of state companies to finally do that.

[ljbab728]

Too many local "developers" don't want to actually develop. They want to buy and hold property until someone else makes it more valuable for them. Too often they do the minimum to try to create enough cash flow to hold on until the area has created the price rise for them then they will bail. Very few actually seem to have a vision and an ability to assume risk. We have a lot of bunters and need home run hitters. It may take out of state companies to finally do that.

You could be correct, Rover, but I would much prefer that it be done by local developers. OKC has not had the best of luck with many out of state developers in downtown buildings.

[betts]

Here's part of a story by Steve that discusses all of the Bricktown developments being considered:

Gary Berlin, meanwhile, is teaming with veteran homebuilder Ron Walters to look at whether they can convert the fourth and fifth floors of the Mercantile Building at Oklahoma Avenue and Main Street into apartments. The pair will submit their plans Wednesday to the Bricktown Urban Design Committee as an early step toward determining whether the project is feasible. They want to create 10 apartments on each floor, with balconies proposed to be added for several of the units. The floors currently are vacant, and a big challenge Berlin has faced is how to add a required new interior stairway while keeping the development within its budget. Other questions they hope to resolve are whether they can get permission to add windows on the building's east and south facades — mimicking changes made two years ago on the nearby Candy Factory Building. Their tentative plans call for the apartments to range from 700 to 1,400 square feet, with rent between $1,100 and $1,700 a month. If the project proceeds and is successful, Berlin said he may pursue adding a penthouse to the rooftop.



Read more: http://newsok.com/developers-confirm...#ixzz1OZ3GFE8x

[mcca7596]

I'm afraid that price range would still be a little too high for most of the younger set. I'm very confident they would quickly fill up though.

[ljbab728]

I'm afraid that price range would still be a little too high for most of the younger set. I'm very confident they would quickly fill up though.

You're right that students from the School of Rock won't be flocking there but even at that price range it should be popular with a certain segment of the population. For moderately priced housing to be feasible directly in Bricktown would require very small units.

[Spartan]

I'm afraid that price range would still be a little too high for most of the younger set. I'm very confident they would quickly fill up though.

I wonder how many roommates could fit in one of the 1,400 sf units. That much square footage for $1,700/mo is a good deal.

[bombermwc]

Tell me the last time some college kid could afford 1700/month. Like I've complained for years, housing downtown still has a long way to go for anything but the upscaler. I had a 2 bed 1.5 bath townhouse that I paid just at 500 a month in MWC...still only a 20 minute commute on a bad day. Had a nice fenced area with plants (grew all my own herbs then) with a creekside view so I looked a trees from my porch/bedroom. Nice big living room. Washer/dryer in the apartment not a laundry center. So it was built in the 70's...i had nice quiet neighbors, fairly speedy maintenance, non-annoying office folks. That's what a college kid is looking for....cheap.

[Spartan]

Tell me the last time some college kid could afford 1700/month. Like I've complained for years, housing downtown still has a long way to go for anything but the upscaler. I had a 2 bed 1.5 bath townhouse that I paid just at 500 a month in MWC...still only a 20 minute commute on a bad day. Had a nice fenced area with plants (grew all my own herbs then) with a creekside view so I looked a trees from my porch/bedroom. Nice big living room. Washer/dryer in the apartment not a laundry center. So it was built in the 70's...i had nice quiet neighbors, fairly speedy maintenance, non-annoying office folks. That's what a college kid is looking for....cheap.

Well, bomber. When I was at OU I rented a house for around $1,200/mo and had two other roommates. We split it 3-ways which worked out to be $400/mo. So basically it was a nice house with friends as roomie's in a nice Norman neighborhood, for less than you paid in MWC. The moral of the story is that if you're willing to think of creative ways to pay for housing, even in college, you can afford to live somewhere nice. Even after you've graduated, if someone is living in NYC there is no way they won't have at least one roommate in their NYC loft anyway.

[Pete]

A rendering from today's Oklahoman:

[Rover]

Tell me the last time some college kid could afford 1700/month. Like I've complained for years, housing downtown still has a long way to go for anything but the upscaler. I had a 2 bed 1.5 bath townhouse that I paid just at 500 a month in MWC...still only a 20 minute commute on a bad day. Had a nice fenced area with plants (grew all my own herbs then) with a creekside view so I looked a trees from my porch/bedroom. Nice big living room. Washer/dryer in the apartment not a laundry center. So it was built in the 70's...i had nice quiet neighbors, fairly speedy maintenance, non-annoying office folks. That's what a college kid is looking for....cheap.

This is the problem thinking. As an example, a friend of mine has a son who wants to be an actor and moved to NYC. The cost was not a barrier. He works 2 and sometimes 3 jobs and has roommates. All this to be WHERE he wants to be to fulfill his vision. Whether it is a student at the music academy or a young professional working at Devon wanting to be able to spend extra time at work to progress and less time on the roads, it is going to be people who are driven to be there and are creative about it who will have to drive the demand. If the only desire here is to get cheap housing close to cheap drinks, to lay by the pool and get drunk, then it will not be a place where the "creative class" will want to wind up. The price isn't the problem, but the motivations may be. Let's not create a class of people setting the tone for our city where cheap is the only thing that is king. Getting what you want usually takes sacrifices and compromises. Doing little and getting a lot real cheap is not what the truly leadership class of college kids or young professionals is about.

By the way, $1700 does not really buy "up scale" for that kind of footage and location. The bar is higher than that.

[Chautauqua]

They have those middle units configured all wrong, in my humble opinion. Kitchens are in the back of the space, beds in the front. The living areas should have views and access to the light... Bedrooms can be dark.

There are ways around the fresh air requirement. Just look at the Mayo Hotel conversion.

[bluedogok]

Too many local "developers" don't want to actually develop. They want to buy and hold property until someone else makes it more valuable for them. Too often they do the minimum to try to create enough cash flow to hold on until the area has created the price rise for them then they will bail. Very few actually seem to have a vision and an ability to assume risk. We have a lot of bunters and need home run hitters. It may take out of state companies to finally do that.

I know that is one thing Dr. McKean was hoping what he did with JDM Place would do, spur other owners to "raise the bar". He was disappointed that it did not hapen.

[mcca7596]

Steve or anyone else, didn't this pass the Bricktown Urban Design Commission? I'm just wondering what the chances are of seeing work begin on these in the next 2 years, as Steve had said don't hold your breath that it would actually happen when the story came out.

[Steve]

Um.... don't hold your breath. But now you should hold your breath. Maybe (why do you people put me in this position?!?!???)

[mcca7596]

LOL, so you're saying there's a chance.

[UnFrSaKn]

[OKCisOK4me]

How did I know your post was gonna be a pic from the Oklahoma Historical Society?! ;-)

[Pete]

Something brewing again with this building...

After several proposed residential projects for the top floors, it appears another one is in the works.

Marva Ellard and Andy Burnett recently approached the Downtown TIF committee about apartments.

Very preliminary but they may purchase this structure then renovate the upper floors for rental units.


Hopefully more will shake loose after the first of the year.