Dowell Center

[Steve]

It's stunning up there. Photos of the space are in this post: http://www.okchistory.com/index.php?...aces&Itemid=78

[TeriOKC]

I worked in the penthouse as we called it for 12 years. It was the executive offices for Midland Mortgage. It was spectacular!!

[BoulderSooner]

I believe the garage he is referencing is at 4th & Harvey:

dowell garage moving forward at this weeks planning commission meeting Item 4. B 30

[HangryHippo]

dowell garage moving forward at this weeks planning commission meeting Item 4. B 30

That is one ugly ass garage.

[Urbanized]

Not defending the design, BUT you haven't really seen ugly-ass until you've seen the original garage, now covered by the cinderblock facade you see in that photo.

[HangryHippo]

Not defending the design, BUT you haven't really seen ugly-ass until you've seen the original garage, now covered by the cinderblock facade you see in that photo.

I can't believe the one pictured could be labeled an "improvement." haha

[CaptDave]

I can't believe the one pictured could be labeled an "improvement." haha

It actually is - if you ever get a chance, go around to the back side (west?) and you can see the original structure. It is pretty bad.

[Urbanized]

There is a photo of the old facade somewhere, but when you see it you will likely agree that it is shocking such an abomnination was ever allowed to be built in the first place.

[Pete]

It still has that horrible, dented metal facade on the west and south ends.

[Spartan]

I can't believe the one pictured could be labeled an "improvement." haha

Oh it is

[bluedogok]

I can't believe the one pictured could be labeled an "improvement." haha

It actually is - if you ever get a chance, go around to the back side (west?) and you can see the original structure. It is pretty bad.

Oh it is

I concur.....

[catch22]

From earlier in the thread.

[Pete]

Rick Dowell bought this property in 1995... That's 18 years ago.

During that time, the Journal Record was the only tenant, taking a small amount of space on the lower floors. They have been long gone for a while now.

In 2007, Dowell received a $1,000,000 Brownfields loan from the City of OKC to remove the asbestos. That year in an interview with Steve Lackmeyer, he said he expected to have it all removed within a year. In 2010, Brianna Bailey wrote a story where he says he was still a year away from that goal.

I assume the asbestos has been completely removed, but Dowell has owned this building for close to two decades and it's still completely shuttered.


It's time to start putting some pressure on him to do something with this property. He needs to either get it open or sell it, as it's a huge dead hole in the middle of the CBD and virtually everything around it -- including the streets -- have seen massive investments.

Further, there is strong demand for both housing and office space downtown and yet this property is still sitting there.


And how can an individual afford to sit on a downtown office tower for almost 20 years and not even try to generate revenue? Because he is only paying $9K in annual taxes.

Compare that to the freshly remodeled SandRidge Tower which now pays $248K a year.


This is part of the larger issues discussed in this thread:

http://www.okctalk.com/other-urban-d...buildings.html


The City makes it easy and cheap for owners to sit on properties indefinitely. That absolutely needs to change, and with the local economy raging, the time is now.

[5alive]

Yes!

[wdj]

$9000 in taxes? What a steal.

[catch22]

Richard Mckown said he didn't want to be the last one standing without a chair when the music stops. I think Dowell will be the person standing up, right now is a perfect time to get this building back to life. I wonder if he will get to it too late?

[Pete]

In his last interview with Steve, he said he planned to start leasing in 2013 to small and mid-sized companies. Also said it would definitely remain office space because "that's what he knows".

Obviously, this is not going to happen in 2013, so yet another date not honored. He has also not started work on the parking garage expansion at 4th & Hudson, which may be a blessing because it's hideous. But he's said several times he was ready to start work.

In the past he has always self-financed his projects but if he doesn't have the means to get this building open for business or merely prefers not to borrow money, then he needs to get out of the way and sell to someone who is willing and able.


I assure you that he wouldn't sit on this building for decades if he had to pay taxes on the fair market value of the property. Not only is this a black hole in the middle of downtown, letting it sit idle deprives the City of millions in tax revenues.

[PhiAlpha]

Something has started on the garage expansion. It looked like the site was being cleared the other day. Maybe it started a while ago and I missed something.

[Just the facts]

$9000 in taxes? What a steal.

How is it that the property taxes on a 19 story office building is only 2X as much as the property taxes on my house (even if we are on the same size lot)?

[Just the facts]

In 2007, Dowell received a $1,000,000 Brownfields loan from the City of OKC to remove the asbestos. That year in an interview with Steve Lackmeyer, he said he expected to have it all removed within a year. In 2010, Brianna Bailey wrote a story where he says he was still a year away from that goal.

I think this deserves some kind of investigation. Did he pay back the loan yet?

[Spartan]

Rick Dowell has the resources to pay the loan off, so it's not like either he completes a project or he has to do something fishy. Demanding an investigation in this instance is the kind of thing that damages credibility..

His projects are well-known for being dragged out, moving slowly, and seemingly going on forever. A lot of people don't know this, but he actually has another significant multi-story building that he is currently in the middle of renovating on NW 5th Street, right between the old Cadillac dealership and where Urban Pioneer owns property. He installed a new facade with the faux-rugged limestone aesthetic that he loves, which has just sat there gathering dust since.

Like someone else said though, I saw dirt finally moving on his parking garage expansion while I was in town last week. That is nice because, while the new expansion may be a cheap version of what could only appeal to the architectural tastes of Rick Dowell himself, the current western facade is embarrassing and unacceptable.

[Pete]

The south facade of that garage is many times worse.

You can see dirt moving at this site on this awesome new photo (to also be posted in the Favorite Skyline Photos thread):

[Spartan]

WOW what a great photo... but LMAO at how prominent Legacy is there...

[Just the facts]

Rick Dowell has the resources to pay the loan off, so it's not like either he completes a project or he has to do something fishy. Demanding an investigation in this instance is the kind of thing that damages credibility..

His projects are well-known for being dragged out, moving slowly, and seemingly going on forever. A lot of people don't know this, but he actually has another significant multi-story building that he is currently in the middle of renovating on NW 5th Street, right between the old Cadillac dealership and where Urban Pioneer owns property. He installed a new facade with the faux-rugged limestone aesthetic that he loves, which has just sat there gathering dust since.

Like someone else said though, I saw dirt finally moving on his parking garage expansion while I was in town last week. That is nice because, while the new expansion may be a cheap version of what could only appeal to the architectural tastes of Rick Dowell himself, the current western facade is embarrassing and unacceptable.

He got a $1 million loan from the city and in 2007 said he would be done in 2008. In 2010 he said he was still a year away from finishing. What was he doing with the $1 million from the City during this time and has the loan been paid back? If it cost $5 million and he needed more time then fine, but getting a $1 million loan I assume under the guise that he was actually going to open the place up at some point and then not doing it raises a concern for me.

[Spartan]

Except we overlook things like that all the time..