City Place

[betts]

address=204 N. Robinson
built 1931, now under renovation
owner=Mark Beffort & Roy Oliver
finish=1931
height=440 feet, 33 floors
other=47.9% vacancy; Top 7 floors being converted to residential, Coolgreen's added to street-level (former Interurban space)


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Information & Latest News

Constructed in 1931 by oilman. W.R. Ramsey, City Place was involved in the "Great Race" with the First National Tower to become the first to top out, a race that Ramsey won. Ramsey's fortunes were short-lived, victim of the Depression, and the building was soon leased to the Anderson-Prichard Company (APCO). The building was later leased to Liberty National Bank, who remained its primary tenant until completion of the Liberty Tower in 1971. During Liberty's tenure, a skybridge was constructed at the 16th floor, connecting it to the Dowell Center. The bridge was, at the time, the highest such structure in the world. After Liberty Bank moved out, City National Bank moved in and constructed what was once the building's most distinctive feature, a rooftop marquee, which was removed when the building was renovated in the 1980s. Another unique feature of City Place is the original fire escape, which is still in use. It consists of a spiral slide traveling the full height of the building. This was supplemented by a traditional staircase during Liberty Bank's tenure. Previous names of the building are: Ramsey Tower, APCO Tower, Liberty Bank Tower, City National Tower, and First City Place.



Tenants

• Alexander L Bednar PC‎ -
• Blaney & Tweedy PLLC
• Burch & George PC‎ -
• Daugherty Fowler Peregrin
• Dionisio Leonard‎ -
• Gerald L Gamble Co Realtors‎ -
• Hosty Law Office‎ -
• Jennings Cook & Teague PC‎ -
• Mc Bride Law Firm‎ -
• Mueller Law Firm‎ -
• Schaffer Peter K‎ -
• Slawson Exploration Co Inc‎ -
• T-K Exploration‎ -
• The Law Firm of Pasquali & Palumbo‎ -
• Westport Oil‎ -
• Woods Downtown Floral‎ -

Links

Website
Gallery

"Historic City Place to offer luxury Downtown living."

This is the title of a new article at OKCBiz, but I'm getting an "error on the page" message when I try and open it.

I tried to find an old thread about this, because I remembered this being discussed, but all I could find was this old article. I'm wondering if their plans have changed, or if they're still planning to put one apartment on each floor:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m.../ai_n30901971/

A plan to make the top seven floors of the City Place office building into residential units is not as ambitious a project as it might seem. The top two floors of the 33-story building, at 204 N. Robinson Ave., have already been used as residential units by Globe Life and Accident Insurance Co., which sold the building last week. A group led by Roy Oliver purchased the tower for $4 million. Mark Beffort, with Grubb and Ellis Levy Beffort, handled the acquisition and also has an ownership stake in the building. Globe Life plans to remain in the building under a long-term lease, but will no longer use the penthouse apartments.

"We're going to demo those top seven floors and rebuild them completely," Beffort said. Each floor will be one unit and each will be for sale. Beffort said he and Oliver have not determined yet how much the units will sell for when they are completed, or how much the renovations will cost.

[ronronnie1]

Four million dollars? For City Place tower? That seems awfully cheap.

[benman]

yes, I think the building is about 292,000 sf which is about 13 bucks a foot. Unless theres something really wrong with that building, I think they got an incredible deal.

[Kerry]

Four million dollars? For City Place tower? That seems awfully cheap.

Didn't FNC sell for about $1,000,000 a few years ago when Save the Children bought it?

[benman]

Correction. I just read its 329,830 sqft which is $12.12/sqft. Maybe some serious work needs to be done to it. I have never been in it.

[Pete]

Prices for buildings like this are sold on capitlization rates; the return you can get on the rental/income stream. Since Globe probably has a long-term lease, they are probably not paying a lot of rent and those small, chopped-up floorplates mean that rents will always be somewhat limited.


But I love the idea of the residential units. I wonder if any will have balconies?

[warreng88]

"Historic City Place to offer luxury Downtown living."

I tried to find an old thread about this, because I remembered this being discussed, but all I could find was this old article. I'm wondering if their plans have changed, or if they're still planning to put one apartment on each floor:

Here is the original thread:

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...ed-locals.html

Here is the thread I posted in May:

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...en-floors.html

[BDP]

Has there been any information on pricing or when they will be offered?

[bluedogok]

That building has pretty small floorplates, makes it harder to market, When I worked there we had the whole 27th floor and only had about about 10 employees at the time with room for some expansion, but not much. Most property people are always looking for the big fish and those are more attractive to the investors in those buildings.

There are also all sorts of accessibility and life safety workarounds because it is such an old building, the city has agreed to most of these but it makes it harder to market to potential tenants. To bring it into modern compliance would eat up a bunch of rentable space.

[kevinpate]

Never knew there was residential on the upper floors. Not in my plans or budget, but that would have some interesting views.

[ronronnie1]

I've been to the top floor, and yeah, it's pretty small. It would make a cool penthouse though.

[Spartan]

I think OCURA has an entire floor even, if that shows you how tiny the floorplates are as you get above the ground. The lobby is an amazing Art Deco gem. The elevators are breathtaking. I'm a big sucker for that kind of stuff. I would kill to be able to live in that building and ride up those elevators all the time in and out of my home.

[RedDirt717]

How cool is this. Sounds exactly like something I'd like to look at when I'm 30-40 years old, assuming I don't marry a girl that's cut out for the burbs.

I've got 4 more years of school left to get my 4th degree, definitely not something I can afford now.

[bluedogok]

One of the things that I was told about the building is that it was designed by the same firm that did The Empire State Building and some of the marble in the lobby was from the same quarry. I liked working in the building, it definitely had some "unique" qualities.

[Martin]

^
correct me if i'm wrong but i thought that story was linked with the first national building.

-M

[bluedogok]

I had heard CityPlace, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was the other way around.

[betts]

The article can be viewed now. Here's part of the information about the apartments, which are indeed at City Place:

http://www.okc.biz/article/01-25-201...wn_living.aspx

The building’s six luxury residential units, each of which will range between 3,200 to 5,000 square feet, are currently under construction. The 32nd and 33rd floors will become one entire unit totaling 5,000 square feet, with 3,000 square feet on one floor and 2,000 on the other. Each of the remaining five floors will consist of one unit per floor. All six units, when completed in late June, will be available for sale.

“A few months ago, we demoed everything and started the build back,” Beffort says, adding that interior designer Carson See of Sees Design has been retained to assist with the luxury units, as well as to correct lighting throughout the building’s lobby areas. “The first unit will hopefully be done in April, and we anticipate to begin selling the top units in May.”

Beffort says the building is gaining interest from prospects wanting to view the residential units. However, he stands firm on not showing any of the units until they are completed.

“Oklahoma City doesn't have anything like this (high-rise residential living) to offer, and we just think that there's going to be some demand for it,” he says. “To me, this is going to be the most awesome residential living experience that you can get, similar to what you can get when you're in New York, Chicago or Atlanta or some other 24-hour city. I think Oklahoma City is on the cusp of being ready for that."

Plans are to wrap up construction throughout the building’s main lobby by the end of the month.
Construction is underway for the interior parking garage on the east side of the building. Each resident will have access to one space in the garage, which will have an entrance on Park Avenue and exit on Couch Drive.

"We've already submitted our plans to the city for the parking area, and the Downtown Review Committee has made some suggestions, which we're going to do," Beffort says. "So we plan to do more work ... to complete the garage sometime in March.”

[HOT ROD]

wow, this is great news.

I wonder, though - why they don't do more than just the top 7 floors. Why not all of the small floorplate floors; the whole tower portion. Wouldn't that be the top 20 floors or so?

Then, they could upgrade/redo the low rise portion of the building with it's MUCH larger floorplates - bringing that portion up to B or even perhaps A. Add in retail storefronts (again) to the street with say pharmacy and 7-11 and mom/pop restaurants.

Then, OKC would have it's first Mixed-Use skyscraper and City Place would truly be a CITY in it's own right (similar ideal to John Hancock supertall in Chicago)..

[betts]

Maybe they're waiting to see if the first 7 sell. given the economy. I like having a front door that is on the street, as I have a dog. If I didn't, I'd seriously be looking at those. Carson See is a really good decorator, and I bet they'll look great.

[fuzzytoad]

“To me, this is going to be the most awesome residential living experience that you can get, similar to what you can get when you're in New York, Chicago or Atlanta or some other 24-hour city. I think Oklahoma City is on the cusp of being ready for that."

Its very hard for me to take things like this very seriously.

Especially when what's been said will be used as justification for an insane price that's "similar" to what you get in New York, Chicago or Atlanta.

Until OKC *does* become a 24-hour city, and until places exist where residents of these units can walk to buy groceries, or walk to entertainment, or shop without having to drive for 30 minutes, the experience is going to be nothing like New York, Chicago or Atlanta.

[betts]

I doubt prices will be similar to New York, where $1,000 a square foot is peanuts. You can walk to all your entertainment from City Place, I guarantee you, but I agree about shopping and groceries. We definitely need a small grocery store downtown, and I thought we were going to get one in the Flatiron building, but obviously the economy ruined those plans. Grocery delivery might be a profitable business downtown at some point, though.

[BDP]

without having to drive for 30 minutes,

I agree we need some grocery options downtown for long term viability, but you can get to Homeland at 16th or Wal-Mart Market at 23rd and Penn in much less than 30 minutes from the core.

But, yeah, the whole key to urban living is how much more convenient it is than suburban living. If you can walk a couple of blocks to get daily items and then maybe drive somewhere to get weekly or specialty items, then I think OKC will be ready for real downtown living. And from there it could grow exponentially, and maybe a full service grocery store will become interested.

[betts]

I'm excited about the news we're getting a convenience store in the Santa Fe Plaza! It may not be a grocery store, but if I can walk to pick up milk, diet Dr. Pepper's and a few other staples if I run out, that will be a good thing.

[rondvu]

One of the things that I was told about the building is that it was designed by the same firm that did The Empire State Building and some of the marble in the lobby was from the same quarry. I liked working in the building, it definitely had some "unique" qualities.

I don't know about the marble from City Place, but the marble for the Empire State Building came from a small town in Germany called Villmar. I know this because my mother was from this town and I toured the Marble Museum. The Kremlin also has some of the same marble. Per Wikipedia:
Lahn marble
The Marmorbrücke (“Marble Bridge”) in Villmar

* The Marmorbrücke (Marble Bridge) across the Lahn River was built 1894/95. The span is supported by two piers surmounted by three segmental [[arches]; its length to the abutments is 21.5 m. The piers and arches are made out of massive Lahn marble blocks, and the sides are dressed with decorative Lahn marble stones of various kinds. This bridge, an outstanding example of its kind in Germany, has been protected as a Technical Monument since 1985.
* The Unica-Bruch, an abandoned Lahn marble quarry, holds the centre of a 380-million-year-old fossil coral reef (limestone) from the Middle Devonian.
* The Lahnmarmor-Museum, opened in 2004, shows how Lahn marble came into being, was quarried, and was used.
* At the Museum Wiesbaden, many exhibits about Lahn marble are displayed. Moreover, many buildings in Wiesbaden are dressed with the stone.
* The Villmarer Lahnmarmor-Weg offers a glimpse into how the varieties of marble were quarried and processed.
* The marble from Villmar was used in building, among other structures, the Empire State Building in New York City, United States.

[metro]

I doubt prices will be similar to New York, where $1,000 a square foot is peanuts. You can walk to all your entertainment from City Place, I guarantee you, but I agree about shopping and groceries. We definitely need a small grocery store downtown, and I thought we were going to get one in the Flatiron building, but obviously the economy ruined those plans. Grocery delivery might be a profitable business downtown at some point, though.

There already is grocery delivery service for downtown!