Dowell Center

[UnFrSaKn]

Is the original exterior still intact beneath the cladding that currently covers it?

The original facade was destroyed.

[bombermwc]

I guess I totally misunderstood all of the work that had been going on with this building over the last few years. Was all that time spent only on the exterior? I could have sworn people claimed all over this forum that Dowell was leased out for residential a long time ago (and I seem to remember arguing that wasn't the case and was berated for it).

[HangryHippo]

The original facade was destroyed.

Will, I only see a broken image icon. Can you please repost your photo?

[Pete]

Office ambitions: Dowell Center renovation could alleviate space shortage
By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record May 4, 20150


OKLAHOMA CITY – Finding Class A office space, especially downtown, can be difficult. Dowell Properties President Rick Dowell wants to make it a little easier.

In April, he purchased the American Fidelity Assurance Co. property, 2000 N. Classen Blvd. While he’s working on finding a tenant for those three office towers, he is also renovating the Dowell Center, a vacant tower at 222 N. Robinson Ave. Once the center is renovated into Class A office space, Dowell will have about 500,000 square feet of office property on the market.

“We’re gutting the (Dowell Center) down to its bricks,” Dowell said. “The building will be separately metered, with each suite having its own heating and air unit.”

He said some suites will be a full floor, while others will measure only about 2,500 square feet. The building’s floor plates range in size, with the first floor measuring 8,900 square feet, the second at 9,000 square feet, the third to 18th floors at 10,000 square feet, and the 19th floor measuring 6,400 square feet.

Dowell plans to start interior demolition by the end of May. That work is expected to take a couple of months, and then he will build it back, floor by floor, based on leasing.

He said the city’s work on Couch Drive is scheduled to finish by June. Work on Central Business District streets, as well as asbestos in the building, kept him from renovating the center earlier.

“We held off on it because you couldn’t get anyone to go into the building with all the chaos going on,” he said. “The space (The Journal Record) was in (on the first floor), we could have leased that four times. But we couldn’t get anyone in there with this mess out on the street.”

Dowell Properties purchased the building in 1995 for $350,000 at a county auction. Dowell spent three years and $3.5 million removing the asbestos. The Journal Record moved in shortly after he purchased the building. The newspaper needed a new home after being displaced by the April 19, 1995, bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The publication left in 2006, and the building has been vacant since.

Price Edwards & Co. Broker Tre Depuy said once the building is renovated, the vacant space will create a big bump in the office market.

“If you haven’t included the space in your (market reports), you’re talking about adding 190,000 square feet to the market, which is about 4.5-percent increase in vacancy,” he said. “That’s pretty significant. Anytime anything shifts 4.5 percent the other way, that’s something to keep your eyes on.”

He said he doesn’t expect Dowell to face any problems leasing it, with companies being displaced from the First National Center, and other businesses trying to get into downtown.

“If he’s going to start renovating and putting people into the building, he legitimately feels like he’ll have no issue,” Dupuy said.

CBRE Vice President Jim Austin said the only challenge he sees with the building is the smaller floor plates, which would require users to take up more floors if they wanted more space. He said if Dowell can bring it up to Class A quality, it will be quickly leased.

[Pete]

Building permit application filed yesterday for this project.

Spoke to Rick Dowell and they will start gutting the building as soon as it's issued, which shouldn't take long.

The hold up has been the work on the adjacent Couch/Kerr Park, which is now months behind schedule.

Should take 2-3 months to complete interior demolition then they will start to finish office space for tenants.


Finally, this building should start coming back to life.

[Urbanized]

I wonder if he'll reface it with cinder block. Or maybe refit it with the the faux Doric column treatment.

[Pete]

The only change to the exterior will be some minor modifications to the top couple of floors.

Will be really nice to see this place finally come back to life. Been a dead hole for far too long.

Even though the parking garage is controversial, it is attached via the Underground system and that combined with reasonable rates means this building should fill up pretty quickly.

[Pete]

Walking by the Dowell properties in the "Midtown Plaza" area I finally put my finger on why they feel so cold... The windows are all so dark, the buildings look empty when in fact they are all quite full. Creates the feeling of a completely dead area.

[HangryHippo]

That's a good point, Pete. I've noticed, but hadn't *realized* until you pointed it out.

[Just the facts]

Compare that to The Drake at sunset.

[Urbanized]

Dark-tinted windows are the devil when it comes to sidewalk interaction. They're well-intentioned (energy savings, etc), but misguided. ESPECIALLY north- and even south-facing façades, which get little or no direct sunlight. Perhaps the best example of this that I can think of is Painted Door Gallery, which is RETAIL with windows that you can't see into until after dark, and even then not well. The windows are north-facing, under an overhead canopy, and are shaded 24/7/365. I'm certain that those windows have cost them many, many tens of thousands in sales over the life if the store.

But these Dowell buildings bother me even more, because of what was ripped out to put those in. The old Fred Jones Lincoln-Mercury building was a wonderful mid-century place with beautiful retail windows, and the old Bob Moore Cadillac had beautiful casements that were tossed in favor of these blind eyes. If you want to see how powerful casement restoration can be for a building like this, check out the Buick Building at 10th and Broadway, or Tapstone's new HQ, or the work being done at 21c.

The windows in these Dowell projects are an abomination, and should never have been allowed by the UDC.

[Pete]

Yeah, until I actually walked around there I had no idea how much those windows completely suck the life out of the area.

You would swear those buildings were all empty and even maybe abandoned when in fact they are all quite full.

[Pete]

Yeah, until I actually walked around there I had no idea how much those windows completely suck the life out of the area.

You would swear those buildings were all empty and even maybe abandoned when in fact they are all quite full.

And BTW, those photos were taken in the middle of the business day with those buildings completely full of people and all the lights on.

[Urbanized]

The top photo you posted (old FJ L-M) shows the south-facing windows on 4th. The only time direct sunlight might creep into those is in the dead of winter, when sunlight and warmth would actually be beneficial. Sometimes our reliance on new technologies has made us lose our collective ability to simply build/remodel things intelligently.

[Urbanized]

I've preached about windows quite a bit on this site before, and the responses generally show how many people don't "get it." They get far more concerned with brick, EFIS, etc., and generally accept that old windows = bad and "modern" windows = good, though it is nowhere near that simple.

In the case of these buildings, the windows make up roughly 50% (or more) of the total façade area. As far as design elements go, they are INCREDIBLY important, perhaps even the MOST important in some cases.

[HangryHippo]

I've preached about windows quite a bit on this site before, and the responses generally show how many people don't "get it." They get far more concerned with brick, EFIS, etc., and generally accept that old windows = bad and "modern" windows = good, though it is nowhere near that simple.

In the case of these buildings, the windows make up roughly 50% (or more) of the total façade area. As far as design elements go, they are INCREDIBLY important, perhaps even the MOST important in some cases.

Your preaching about windows and Rover's preaching about window AC units have really opened my eyes to details that seemed fairly trivial before, but make a world of difference.

[Spartan]

Is anyone surprised that design review in OKC didn't do its job?

[GoThunder]

Noticed there is now scaffolding up around part of this building.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
I saw the same thing. It was only a small section of scaffold; my guess is that they were doing a materials inspection of some sort, but the good news is that would indicate movement toward renovation. Of course if they add more scaffolding it would mean renovations of some type were actually underway.

[PhiAlpha]

^^^^^^
I save the same thing. It was only a small section of scaffold; my guess is that they were doing a materials inspection of some sort, but the good news is that would indicate movement toward renovation. Of course if they add more scaffolding it would mean renovations of some type were actually underway.

The lobby lights have been on for the last few nights as well.

[Pete]

According to Mr. Dowell, the plan all along has been to start the demo work floor by floor once the Kerr / Couch parks were finished.

That was supposed to happen about a year ago and even the last "dead-set promise" was for October and the fences are still not down.

[kevin lee]

So this is an exterior renovation also?

[Pete]

Just took this:

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
Like I said, probably materials fact-finding.

[Urban Pioneer]

Glad to see this. Rick has always said that he would start when the parks and the building next door were finished. This has been a long time coming though!