Morgan Building

[Pete]

address=600 NE 4th
sq. feet=6,000
acerage=.13

|image=

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Building permit today to convert this little historical building to a residence.

The under-construction OIPA building is immediately west.

It was built in 1946 for use as retail downstairs and a health clinic upstairs. The building is solid and the current owner has down considerable work on it. There is a dry basement of 1,450 sf. The history of this building is worth noting. It was the first health clinic for black Oklahoma Cityans. All the businesses on the first floor were owned by Blacks.

[Urbanized]

That is fantastic! I literally drove by today and was reminded of how much I like that building and would like to see it brought back into use, and more importantly, not randomly demolished. There are some other intriguing little commercial buildings along that same stretch of 4th.

[Dubya61]

Hurry, Urbanized. Find another building you like and drive past it, wishing it well. You may be just the thing that OKC needs to drive around.

[Urbanized]

I need to wish that I win the Powerball, as long as I'm on a winning streak.

[Urbanized]

The other buildings are at NE 4th and Laird. Rough, rough shape but obviously little jewels, probably with interesting pasts. I'm not as good as Phil at posting photos from Google Maps, but if you click on the link and go to street view you'll see the places I'm talking about.

[betts]

That is fantastic! I literally drove by today and was reminded of how much I like that building and would like to see it brought back into use, and more importantly, not randomly demolished. There are some other intriguing little commercial buildings along that same stretch of 4th.

Totally agree. And some are for sale. Love the old movie theatre and a couple of the other buildings on 4th.

[Urbanized]

Really I find that whole neighborhood south of NE 4th pretty interesting and think it has long-term development potential. It is almost completely cleared out and only a few buildings remain, but look at it on the map and wrap your head around how convenient it is to HSC, Bricktown, and downtown at large. The other thing is that there are a couple of interesting structures remaining, like this one.

[Pete]

That really is a cool little neighborhood with lots of potential.

The HSC is only going to expand that way and it's almost as close to all the downtown amenities as The Hill.

[Urbanized]

Dang. Forget the Powerball...

[CaptDave]

Building permit today to convert this little historical building to a residence.

The under-construction OIPA building is immediately west.

This is very cool. I have often wondered how much it would cost to purchase and renovate a building such as this. There are several on the northeast side of the CBD that look interesting. My gut tells me it is likely far beyond my means sadly.

[Pete]

The building permit was for $200K and a bunch of work has already been performed.

They were trying to sell it for a reduced $385K (with no HVAC system) but when that didn't happen, decided to renovate it.

It also has virtually no parking or other land... To buy, renovate and operate this property would probably push total cost to close to $1 million. And people wonder why these buildings sit empty for decades!


It has 3,000 square feet on each of two floors plus a 1,450 sq. ft. basement.

[UnFrSaKn]

March 10 2012

Morgan Building

http://www.flickr.com/photos/william...7629190536578/

[blangtang]

Those purple flowers sure are pretty!

[CaptDave]

They would say, "Look at me, I'm a talking wall."

Good one JTF.

Those photos only make me think the Morgan Building could be converted in to a really cool home or business/residential combo. Maybe if I win a huge lottery prize.....

[UncleCyrus]

That is fantastic! I literally drove by today and was reminded of how much I like that building and would like to see it brought back into use, and more importantly, not randomly demolished. There are some other intriguing little commercial buildings along that same stretch of 4th.

Yes! What you said!

[metro]

Question: do we k ow if it's being remodeled for single or multi-family residence?

Also, if the city would be more proactive about code enforcement, we wouldn't have buildings that get this far gone.

[betts]

Were you out shooting photos this morning about 9 Will? I saw someone doing so when I was going to work, as I decided to drive by and see which buildings were for sale. I think something should be done to preserve those buildings.

[Just the facts]

Do you even notice how much cooler these old buildings get the closer you get to them?

[UnFrSaKn]

Were you out shooting photos this morning about 9 Will? I saw someone doing so when I was going to work, as I decided to drive by and see which buildings were for sale. I think something should be done to preserve those buildings.

Yeah, that's a coincidence.

[warreng88]

Historic health clinic to be revived as office and loft space
Published on March 16th, 2012
Written by: Brianna Bailey
Journal Record


OKLAHOMA CITY – A local property management company has plans to revive a historic but long vacant building that served as the city’s first black health clinic during segregation.

Situated on a hill adjacent to Interstate 35 and Lincoln Boulevard the Morgan building at 600 NE Fourth Street has dramatic views of the Oklahoma City skyline.

Oklahoma City-based Domain Properties, Ltd. purchased the building last week for an undisclosed sum and plans transform the top floor into a residential loft and lease the first floor out as office space.

“We plan on it being a little jewel of the city,” Kellie Fuhrman said, property manager for Domain Properties.
The company finalized the purchase of the building on Thursday and has already had interest from prospective tenants, Fuhrman said.

Dr. C. Wesley Morgan built the 6,000 square-foot brick building in 1946. Morgan ran the city’s first black health clinic on the second floor of the building. The first floor was leased out to various shops* at at time when NE Fourth Street was home to a thriving black business district. The building also has a basement that was once used as a meeting place for the black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi.

Morgan and his wife died in the 1970s.

Johnny Ray Ross of Pierre Part, La., purchased the Morgan building from the doctor’s son in 1995 and once had plans to renovate it as his personal residence.

He decided to sell the building after moving from Oklahoma City to Louisiana, he said.

“I wanted a building in downtown Oklahoma City,” Ross said. “At the time, I could have bought anything in Bricktown for $50,000 or less, but I wanted up on the hill,” he said.

The building has been vacant since the 1980s, Ross said.

http://journalrecord.com/2012/03/16/...nd-loft-space/

[Larry OKC]

It was built in 1946 for use as retail downstairs and a health clinic upstairs. The building is solid and the current owner has down considerable work on it. There is a dry basement of 1,450 sf. The history of this building is worth noting. It was the first health clinic for black Oklahoma Cityans. All the businesses on the first floor were owned by Blacks.

Have a question: based on the pic and the quoted blurb I take it that this was a building owned by the Black family and contained businesses that served the African-American community ?

[Pete]

I don't think the Black family owned the building, just the retail businesses on the ground floor.

[One Dot Less Than Nine]

I talked with Johnny Ross about 4 years ago when I was interested in purchasing the building...the price he quoted me was "oh...2...3...4 million..."

A bit of a character.

Saw the inside of it...its going to take A TON of work to rehab. Theres even a "bar" in the basement that he said used to be a hangout for the knights of columbus.

The sad thing is that when Johnny Ross purchased that building, all of the original interior, doors, woodwork, desks plumbing fixtures etc. were in tact. he removed and discarded ALL of that

Ill do some digging, I may have some pictures of the interior of it somewhere...

[baralheia]

I drive by this little building every day on my way to work and I sure would love to see something cool happen here. The original facade of this building on the first floor is especially neat, and it would be really awesome to have some light retail here, like a flower shop, convenience store, or a restaurant - though I do know the lack of parking makes those uses difficult.

Sadly, almost three years after the last post in this thread, though, the building looks more or less the same... Nothing appears to have been done to it.

[Spartan]

This is one of those projects that seemed too good to be true, but if the OUHSC and Chamber (maybe even State Govt?) get serious about wanting connectivity to downtown, it will be inevitable.

Maybe it will even get torn down for a new spec development, if the building owner plays their cards right.