I really like the look of Wiggin's proposal (second rendering).


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MidTown housing proposals unveiled
Development could bring condominiums, business

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

The old Mercy Hospital site in MidTown could become upscale condominiums or a mix of apartments, condominiums, retail and a hotel if one of two competing proposals unveiled Friday are accepted by the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority.

The agency issued a request for proposals earlier this year for the property at NW 13 and Walker, which was cleared in 2002.

Proposals submitted were:

•Mercy Park: 111 apartments; 22 for-sale condominiums; 23,725 square feet for restaurants and shops; and a 72-room hotel. The development would be built above a 305-space underground garage. The development group is Mercy Developers, consisting of Marva Ellard and Robert Magrini (who are renovating the nearby Sieber Hotel) and electrical contractor and housing developer M. Paul Iser. The estimated development cost is $48.3 million and the developers are seeking $1.8 million in tax increment financing.

•Overholser Green: 109 condominiums built in a series of four- to eight-story buildings above an approximately 220-space garage.

The developer is Wiggin Properties, which owns the 101 Park Ave. building and is converting the Mayo office building in downtown Tulsa into housing.

The estimated development cost is $61.3 million and the developers are seeking $3.5 million in tax increment financing.

Urban Renewal executive director JoeVan Bullard said a cursory review Friday indicated both developments are within guidelines set by the agency’s request for proposals.

"We wanted some housing in there,” Bullard said.

"We’re not looking for offices. But it can be a mixed urban development with housing. So that opens it up for a heavy mix like that being proposed by Marva Ellard or to just housing like that being proposed by Chuck Wiggin.”

David Huffman, a partner in Wiggin Properties, said Overholser Green is intended to reflect on the spirit of nearby Heritage Hills and one of the city’s early prominent families.

"It is a name that reflects the quality of the project, the neighborhood history, and the background of Overholser being one of the founders of Oklahoma City,” Huffman said.

"This really is in the Heritage Hills neighborhood and the Overholser Mansion was one of the charter homes in Heritage Hills.”

Overholser Green would include flats, all accessible by elevators, with underground parking.

The complex would include four buildings, three built four stories high, a third at NW 12 and Walker at eight stories.

The design, by Architectural Design Group, calls for a classic style reminiscent of Regency architecture in Britain. Materials would include cast stone, stucco, ironwork and metal roofing

Prices would range between $340,000 and $742,000. The Wiggin proposal proposes paying $1 million for the property.

"What we’re proposing would be the nicest condominiums in Oklahoma City,” Huffman said.

The Mercy Park proposal calls for a restaurant, deli, shops and a grocery to face NW 13 between Dewey and Walker. Condominiums would face Walker while apartments would be built along NW 12 and Dewey. A hotel would be built in the center of the development, with underground parking serving the entire complex.

The buildings would range between three and six stories high.

"Our goal with all this is to design a project that has 24-hour-a-day life to it,” Ellard said. "It would allow employees of the medical institutions to live closer to work.”

Ellard said the market rate apartments would range between 900 and 1,200 square feet.

"We see them being leased by an RN who works at one of the hospitals who might send her child to Villa Teresa or a young couple who are just starting out.”

The design by Brad Lechtenberger and his firm Damen-Lechtenberger calls for the use of brick, stone, cast stone and glass for the facade, and window and door openings that mirror construction in the surrounding neighborhood.

"It’s designed after the commercial architecture of the 1920s and ’30s,” Ellard said. "It’s kind of like the small building portion of the Sieber Hotel and other buildings around downtown.”

Both projects are vastly different from a previous development proposal submitted by Nicholas Preftakes in 1998. The $11.8 million proposal, the first downtown area housing attempted by Urban Renewal in 20 years, called for 16 two-story town houses, 72 city villas and 52 apartments.

The project was cancelled in 2002 after Urban Renewal commissioners refused a request by Preftakes to acquire a duplex just south of the site. That duplex, once criticized by neighbors as a public nuisance, is now being renovated into law offices.

Ellard and Huffman agreed the Mercy Hospital site has grown in value in the past decade. Ellard noted many of the area’s problem properties are now being renovated by developer Greg Banta.

"You have St. Anthony development, the health science area, the energy downtown, and this property is in the center of three,” Huffman said. "They are three major employment bases for Oklahoma City. It’s a great site.”