4 E. Sheridan

[Pete]

Don Karchmer has submitted design plans to add stair towers to the old Oklahoma Harwared Building he owns at 4 E. Sheridan with the intention of leasing the previously vacant top 3 floors -- each 7,860 square feet -- for office space. The ground floor has been home to the Melting Pot restaurant for about 10 years. Karchmer acquired this building and the surface lot directly east in 1995.

The last rendering shown below is from a proposal in 2008; the new design will be similar but revised.

Still hearing that Karchmer will also ultimately develop the adjacent surface lot into structured parking with retail / restaurant space on the ground floor.

Brickopolis * Bricktown Events Center * Bricktown SpringHill Suites * Bricktown Towers * Bricktown Shakeup (under contract) * Candy Factory * Hilton Garden Inn * Holiday Inn Express * Hyatt Place * Karchmer Garage * Kd's Restaurant * Mideke Building * The Plow * StarFlyer * Staybridge Suites * Steelyard

[UnFrSaKn]

It's the blank, windowless east facing side in the first photo.

[shawnw]

Nice, activating empty top floors. Hope the trend continues.

[Pete]

If/when the floors above the Spaghetti Factory get developed, that won't leave much in the way of vacant upper floors in Bricktown.

[warreng88]

After this is done, will Henry Hudson's and Spaghetti Warehouse be the last two remaining buildings in BT with the top floors not developed? Are the businesses above Zio's? Rock Island Plow is being developed so I don't consider that one.

[LuccaBrasi]

It would be sweet of the Spaghetti Factory building, aka, the Oklahoma Furniture Manufacturing Company, would be developed.

[HangryHippo]

After this is done, will Henry Hudson's and Spaghetti Warehouse be the last two remaining buildings in BT with the top floors not developed? Are the businesses above Zio's? Rock Island Plow is being developed so I don't consider that one.

I was surprised that Henry Hudson's didn't replace the wood window coverings above their new space. That would help the look tremendously, hopefully just until it could be converted to usable space.

It would be sweet of the Spaghetti Factory building, aka, the Oklahoma Furniture Manufacturing Company, would be developed.

It's a shame this building is being so underutilized. I don't know what it would be like living above Spaghetti Warehouse, but I would love to see that building turned into lofts/apartments. It's a beautiful building.

[PhiAlpha]

After this is done, will Henry Hudson's and Spaghetti Warehouse be the last two remaining buildings in BT with the top floors not developed? Are the businesses above Zio's? Rock Island Plow is being developed so I don't consider that one.

Well there is the U Haul building, but I guess that doesn't really count.

[Pete]

Bet you a Coke that Tapstone ends up taking the upper floors of Spaghetti Warehouse in the near future.

[Urbanized]

Well there is the U Haul building, but I guess that doesn't really count.

Also...upper floors there are fully utilized. Just not like a lot of us would like to see.

The Pittsburgh Plate Glass building has some un-utilized upper floor space, but the owner has hinted recently at a rebranding and further redevelopment of the building.

[warreng88]

Also...upper floors there are fully utilized. Just not like a lot of us would like to see.

The Pittsburgh Plate Glass building has some un-utilized upper floor space, but the owner has hinted recently at a rebranding and further redevelopment of the building.

Which one is that?

[Pete]

Which one is that?

101 E. California:

[urbanCOWBOY]

Nice! Excited to see new renderings soon. Hope that they are improved upon. The original design is very funky, but I am sure that it was produced quickly. I won't discredit ADG without giving them a chance. Make it awesome!

[Pete]

There is likely to be a multi-story parking garage on that side so whatever is done there won't be very visible for long.

[LuccaBrasi]

There are a few things to consider when building above an existing restaurant space. Per code, whenever you have 2 different types of occupancies, ie, office above a restaurant, there must be a fire rated floor assembly separating the two. Some of the wood constructed buildings in Bricktown would not have that rating, therefore, any development of the upper floors could not occur until the floor between 1 and 2 was rated. That's not necessarily an easy task logistically, or, financially, but is doable via a variety of methods. If the building was concrete when it was built, that separation is not an issue as the concrete would meet the separation and the differing occupancies is not an issue. That could possibly be why you have not seen more development above existing restaurants. It's not a deal breaker, just an added cost for the building owner/developer. Just something to keep in mind.....

[Pete]

^

Very interesting!

Thanks for that great insight.

[Pete]

We now have the full information for the planned renovation of this building.

In addition to adding the external stairwells and matching windows to the east side, they are also creating a landscaped space between the building and the parking lot to the east that is also owned by Don Karchmer. Currently, the parking spaces butt right up against the building.

We have heard that that lot will become structured parking with retail on the ground floor, and these plans would certainly support that development.

[Pete]

$1.9 million building permit application today for this project.

Should be starting very soon.

[Pete]

They's started construction on the stair tower on the east side of the building. Thanks to shawnw for the photo:

[Anonymous.]

Oh yea, I forgot this was a thing. I saw them tearing up the sidewalk before St Patricks day and was wondering what was up. Good deal.

[John Knight]

I took this last weekend but forgot to post it:

[Spartan]

OKC needs design guidelines for these stair towers. This is a recurring issue I am noticing on a ton of projects.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^
Besides the fact that what you see is not the finished product (see above), those stairs are not really designed to be exposed like that for the long term. Ultimately the will be obscured by multistory structured parking/mixed use to the east.

[Pete]

Sign proposed for the west side of this building:

[Spartan]

^^^^^^^^
Besides the fact that what you see is not the finished product (see above), those stairs are not really designed to be exposed like that for the long term. Ultimately the will be obscured by multistory structured parking/mixed use to the east.

Got it. Why are we building so many "temporary" developments in Bricktown?