Norman developer blowing dust off of old downtown OKC library
The Journal Record
December 21, 2007


This rendering shows the intended outcome of a $10 million renovation of the old downtown Oklahoma City library. Dubbed the Carnegie Centre, the building’s development plan was approved Thursday by the Downtown Design Review Committee. Courtesy rendering



OKLAHOMA CITY – Judy Hatfield doesn’t look much like a librarian. Likewise, when she finishes renovating the old downtown Oklahoma City library building it won’t look much like a library.

What it will shape up as over the next few years is a condo, office and retail project with a sleek glass and steel exterior at 132 Dean A. McGee Ave. Hatfield estimates the project will run more than $10 million for the renovations.

The building was built in 1951 on the former site of the city’s first library. It has been vacant since 2004 when the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library was completed.

Hatfield, principal of Norman-based Equity Realty, received approval for her plan Thursday at the Downtown Design Review Committee meeting. Dubbed the Carnegie Centre, Hatfield began the process several years ago to acquire the library and in January the City of Oklahoma City agreed to sell her the building for $775,000. Hatfield said the deal is expected to close next month. At that point she said asbestos abatement will begin immediately followed by demolition and the start of construction.

The project is set for completion in early 2009. One of the terms of the sale was the city’s commitment to clean up the building and remove old library shelving. Hatfield said she is pleased with the city’s cleanup efforts.“Everything we’ve asked them to do that we thought was fair they’ve done,” Hatfield said.

The plan calls for 18 condominiums with five one-bedroom units and four two-bedroom units on each of the third and fourth floors. The second level will be secured parking and the first floor will house retail space. Hatfield said a local bank has signed a letter of intent to occupy some of the first floor space. The lower level will be designed for nine office condos and a fitness center. Hatfield said all of the spaces will likely start at about $155,000 and go up to $750,000.

Beck Design has been selected as the architect for the project and the construction work will be completed by Nabholz as well as Hatfield’s sons Dak and Dray Hatfield.

Brett Hamm, president of Downtown OKC Inc., said the project is impressive and will make good use of an old building in the core of downtown.“This is exactly what we want to see and what we want to encourage in downtown is taking what may have wound up as unusable space or Class C office space and convert that to residential and mixed use,” Hamm said. “That’s exactly what the Carnegie offers.”

Now that the project has passed the Downtown Design board the real work can begin on Hatfield’s vision to breathe new life into the old library. “We’ve spent many, many hours because we want it to be right,” she said. “We want it to fit, we want everybody to be proud of it and we want it to be another crown jewel in downtown, but it’s going to be a lot of hard work.”

The rendering looks good. So "lower level" refers to a basement I assume?

Impressive transition from the crap look it was before. HUGE High-5.

That is crazy.. That black car in that render looks just like my car... How odd...

nice, get er dun!

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Oklahoma City, RENAISSANCE CITY!

I thought that huge, ugly, basically windowless tower was part of the library building too...is it not?

Nope, at&t.

Not bad!

Your car is pixelated and has paint covering the windshield?

WEIRD!



That library looks pretty cool too.

I think that it was always assumed that AT&T or someone else who may work with AT&T would want to buy the old library due to its proximity to AT&T (and the fact that it barely has windows so in theory it would be easy to keep cool if a good AC system was in place.

They are going to have to do a lot of work inside that building though...and looks like they will actually put windows on floors on the west side besides the 4th floor (no other floors have windows on that side).

Things seem to be moving along. I think work should begin very soon.

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Has anyone been by lately? This is the one project I always forget to drive by when in this part of downtown.

i drove by, didn't see much goin on.... saw the rendering on the outside, thats about it, but that was a few weeks ago

Here's a video interview with Judy Hatfield from Newsok.com:

NewsOK.tv

Here's the crux:

1. Floors 3 & 4 will offer about 24 residential condos ($275K for 800 sq. ft.!!!)
2. Basement will feature office space for sale
3. First floor will have retail
4. Second floor will have parking (one space for each residential unit)
5. Roof will be a shaded patio.
6. Have pre-sold a few units but need to sell at least seven to start construction

You can see floorplans, pricing and more here:

Equity Realty :: Carnegie Centre

Looks like these are about $200 to $340 a square foot, which is not dissimilar to the other nearby lofts and townhouses.

Too rich for my blood.

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ProjectOKC.com

The Lofts at Maywood are about $220 per sq. ft., Central Avenue Villas are about $230 and Carnegie Center condos are all over $300 per sq. ft.; some close to $350. PLUS, they plan to charge $37,500 per parking space.

Hope they sell them but this project was announced 9 months ago and has only pre-sold a couple of units.

It's a nice location but the building is only 4 floors in the middle of taller structures, which means you don't have much of a view.

Those condo prices are laughable. I will be extremely shocked if they sell. If the market will support such prices, why haven't we seen a new-construction high rise condo tower?

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It's way too ugly to be the most expensive condo project downtown.

I really like what they are trying to do, with retail on the ground floor and parking above, then the condos, all with balconies and access to the roof-top patio.

But that's just too much money at this point. Especially since there are few windows in that building -- most of the rooms won't get any natural light.

I think they would sell if they'd drop prices down to the $225 per square foot range, inclusive of a parking space.

When I talked to Ms Hatfield during the dowtown living tour I got the impression that a potential buyer was buying the interior box that would later have to be finished by the homeowner. It was very expensive if you factor in the cost of finishing the space.

Well that makes it even more ridiculous.

When downtown developers run out of these "money is no object" folks, they're going to be in for a rude awakening. This has to be a pretty limited market.

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Carnegie construction may start in October
Oklahoman

Conversion of the former downtown library at Dean A. McGee and Robinson avenues into the Carnegie Centre condominiums, offices and retail complex is on track to begin next month, developer Judy Hatfield said Tuesday.

Hatfield said that because of tightening in the financing market, she had to presell eight of the 18 residential units before beginning the $10 million renovation. Hatfield said she has presold two units and is negotiating three more sales.

"I think we'll have enough sold that we can start by the end of this month," Hatfield said. "That puts up opening by fall of next year."

Hatfield said the building permit is ready, and the only code issues involve going to court to allow for the occupants to own the residential balconies instead of the balconies being subject to revocable permits. Hatfield said she also has an arrangement with Republic Bank of Norman to carry buyers in-house at a 6.25 percent rate, 90 percent, 25-year amortized loan.

"They have the appraisals, they know the project," Hatfield said. "They're more familiar with it than the buyers, which is a heck of a concept."

For more information about Carnegie Centre, go to Equity Realty :: Main.

From Staff Reports