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Thread: Tower Theatre

  1. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Thank goodness. I hate those parallel parkers along 23rd anyway. They don't look before they open their doors, and half of them don't even park next to the curb so then you have to swerve to miss them, all the while being crammed in because of the median landscaping!

  2. #77

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Uptown update: Wednesday, January 9, 2008


    Slowly but surely for theater, owners say
    Owners of the Tower Theater along the NW 23 Uptown corridor say they still are planning a $2 million renovation despite continued delays.

    Scott Fife and partners Marty Dillon, Matt Goad and Terri Sadler-Goad bought the theater and adjoining store fronts at 425 NW 23 in November 2005. At the time they hoped to start work within a few months, with the theater reopening as a performance venue with adjoining restaurants and a coffee shop.

    But their plans were delayed as they worked with city and state officials on tax credits, federal empowerment zone and Route 66 grants. Fife said Tuesday they since have been approved for tax credits, but are working with a potential investment partner with more experience in property management.

    "It's been a slow go,” Fife said. "But things are moving forward.”

    From Staff Reports

  3. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    So far it really seems just like all the other supposed restore jobs at the place. Talk for months and months and months, but nothing ever happens.

  4. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    It's interesting to note that the Sieber Hotel went through five years of delays before it finally got started.

  5. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Quote Originally Posted by bombermwc View Post
    Thank goodness. I hate those parallel parkers along 23rd anyway. They don't look before they open their doors, and half of them don't even park next to the curb so then you have to swerve to miss them, all the while being crammed in because of the median landscaping!
    Perhaps you should drive a more narrow vehicle or choose an alternate route.
    The Old Downtown Guy

    It will take decades for Oklahoma City's
    downtown core to regain its lost gritty,
    dynamic urban character, but it's exciting
    to observe and participate in the transformation.

  6. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Or maybe the idiots that park along there should just use their brains and pay attentino when they get out of their cars??? Hm.

  7. #82

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    bombermwc, the median and urban design is for a reason, to encourage slower, more aware traffic as well to enhance the urban beauty. Park of the urban lifestyle and environment is to encourage pedestrianism and to use less space.

  8. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    That's fine, but don't swing your door open when there's a line of cars coming...wait until there's an opening in traffic. I've actually seen doors torn off cars on 23rd before from these morons.

    I know people are capable of paying attention. Those folks in the big box trucks from the hotel/motel resellers do a better job of parking and pulling in/out than people in normal size vehicles!!!! Seriosuly, I don't worry about driving next to the box trucks, but someone in a Honda Civic...that makes me nervous.

  9. #84

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Is this project still alive??

  10. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    it's going very, very slowly, but from what I hear, yes, it's still alive. I'll check in soon with the owners.
    -Steve

  11. #86

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve View Post
    it's going very, very slowly, but from what I hear, yes, it's still alive. I'll check in soon with the owners.
    -Steve
    Seeing the Will Rogers marqee refurbished and lit up has me excited for the day when the Tower marqee is back.

    I assume the slow pace is due to the historic tax credits...

  12. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    The pace is excruciatingly slow due to several factors, but in general it is the complexity of all aspects of the project. The good news is, as they say, that the project is still moving forward, but don't expect any big announcements before mid-summer.
    The Old Downtown Guy

    It will take decades for Oklahoma City's
    downtown core to regain its lost gritty,
    dynamic urban character, but it's exciting
    to observe and participate in the transformation.

  13. #88

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Quote Originally Posted by The Old Downtown Guy View Post
    The pace is excruciatingly slow due to several factors, but in general it is the complexity of all aspects of the project. The good news is, as they say, that the project is still moving forward, but don't expect any big announcements before mid-summer.
    It's mid-summer - any updates?

  14. #89

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    I have heard that the current ownership group is trying to sell the theater.

  15. #90

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Yes, it's listed for sale on loopnet.com - the MLS of commercial real estate.

    How disappointing.

  16. #91

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Wow. What a bummer. Not a good news day today. Banta's buildings for sale and Tower Theatre.

  17. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Oh, I don't know about that. The building sales involving MidTown may turn out to be pretty good news. I'll try to report on that this next week. As for the theater, Scott and his crew are great folks, very likeable, had very admirable ideas and they were talking to the right people. But at the end of the day, they had no development experience, and that's a tough place to come from when you're tackling such a tough project. If they sell to the right people, it might not be a bad thing. I'm curious whether the folks in Heritage Hills and other surrounding neighborhoods will take a pro-active stance and help recruit the right people to buy and fix up this strip.
    Old Downtown Guy --- this is where you're supposed to speak up and let us know what you think!

  18. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Well just like I thought, the people crapped out and wasted time and money and didn't do anything. So where was that support you were touting DowntownGuy? I'm so tired of people not committing to this project. Yes its going to cost a lot of money. You should know that going in. Either put the money in it or don't start. People just keep wasting time holding on to the place while someone else could have been working on it.

  19. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Old Downtown Guy has put a lot of time and effort into this without any compensation or any promise of return other than an improvement to his neighborhood. I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong here - but a tightening in the finance market has made development difficult for even the most experienced developers. How is it fair to berate ODG?

  20. #95

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    The credit markets have affected everyone, we have had several office projects put on hold down here in Austin because of it, even with large multi-national developers because they can't get the financing to move forward. Even though our economies in OK and TX are doing pretty well, since so much of the finance world is national or worldwide now that puts strains on the financiers who have to cover for losses in places like California and Florida. One of the disadvantages of global finance instead of local finance.

  21. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    it sux for my partners and i because the electro lounge (where we do our wed. night weekly) was planning on moving into the tower complex. however, we should have our own place soon. i was really excited about this tho.

  22. #97

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Hmm, I wonder how long it will take for someone else to buy the Tower and finally renovate it? I'd like to see it become a music venue with a bar/lounge. Getting the Tower renovated and being used again, and the sign lit back up, really is the KEY to revitalizing the 23rd street corridor IMO. With such nice neighborhoods on the north (Edgemere Park) and south (Mesta Park/Heritage Hills) I've always wondered why this strip was so rundown as well as the few blocks on either side of it??

  23. #98

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    I wonder if we need to see more new infill development -- which is generally cheaper and thus easier to make cash flow and get financed -- before some of the redevelopment makes more fiscal sense.

    Renovation by it's nature is almost always more expensive and risky than something built new. With the plentiful big gaps in and around Midtown, we may need to see more density (and thus scarcity) for some of these projects to happen.

  24. Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Quote Originally Posted by bombermwc View Post
    Well just like I thought, the people crapped out and wasted time and money and didn't do anything. So where was that support you were touting DowntownGuy? I'm so tired of people not committing to this project. Yes its going to cost a lot of money. You should know that going in. Either put the money in it or don't start. People just keep wasting time holding on to the place while someone else could have been working on it.
    Thanks for your interest in this project. If it turns out that uneducated opinions will actually accomplish anything, I'll let you know.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve View Post
    Oh, I don't know about that. The building sales involving MidTown may turn out to be pretty good news. I'll try to report on that this next week. As for the theater, Scott and his crew are great folks, very likeable, had very admirable ideas and they were talking to the right people. But at the end of the day, they had no development experience, and that's a tough place to come from when you're tackling such a tough project. If they sell to the right people, it might not be a bad thing. I'm curious whether the folks in Heritage Hills and other surrounding neighborhoods will take a pro-active stance and help recruit the right people to buy and fix up this strip.
    Old Downtown Guy --- this is where you're supposed to speak up and let us know what you think!
    First, the people who presently own the Tower have poured their hearts and pocket books into this project. They have a good design from Brian Fitzsimons and very workable business plan. However they have not been able to attract the necessary financing to continue the revitilization of this important landmark building.

    A group consisting of members of surrounding neighborhoods met a couple of months ago and will be getting back together in the next few days to discuss the opportunities we have to make the Tower project more attractive to a new developer.

    I will continue to post on this thread as I have anything relevent to report. Thanks to everyone that has expressed their support of and concern for 23rd Street.
    The Old Downtown Guy

    It will take decades for Oklahoma City's
    downtown core to regain its lost gritty,
    dynamic urban character, but it's exciting
    to observe and participate in the transformation.

  25. #100

    Default Re: Tower Theater to be renovated

    Thanks for your efforts, ODG.

    Sounds like you have the best interests of your neighborhood and the broader community at heart and OKC needs more concerned and activist citizens like yourself.


    I'm sure this project will happen at some point, it is just going to require some patience. The most important thing is that it is preserved.

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