100 N. Broadway (http://goo.gl/maps/UWFbl)
cost=$27,900,000 1/23/04
start=1970
finish=1972
height=500 feet / 36 floors
sq. feet=540,605

http://www.okctalk.com/images/wikiphotos/chase1.jpg
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bombermwc, couldn't agree more!



Cotter suggested Elliott’s design would have been akin to the glass Pyramid designed by I.M. Pei outside the Louvre, and noted many French citizens objected to the modern addition outside the historic museum.
And comparing it to the Louvre in Paris? Sorry Jamesy boy, but downtown isn't the wild west, Liberty Tower isn't an international icon nor a museum, and downtowners and many citizens DO want the new entrance to the underground built. I can't wait until the day someone else buys this tower. First thing they should do is jackhammer his logo out of the marble floors and remove the statue to himself. #loser

It really does need some updates on the exterior of the tower. Maybe new, modern glass installation? Or perhaps, being wishful, a total refacade of the entire building to bring it into the 21st century. This tower is still going to be the tallest for-lease office building in Oklahoma City and it needs to mirror that. It's not ugly, but it's not beautiful by any means either.

I agree about the facade update. Changing the glass (alone) from black to light blue would do tremendous wonders for the city's tallest for-rent skyscraper.

In fact, I would also like to see KMG with new glass. Just a light blue hue tint would do it, nothing drastic.

I agree, Chase isn't brutally ugly nor is KMG (which is better looking than Chase), but neither Chase nor KMG are OKC's beauty queens - but simple facade makeover would seriously update both skyscrapers. (chase being most in need imo).

The guy seems like a hayseed to me.

Cotter suggested Elliott’s design would have been akin to the glass Pyramid designed by I.M. Pei outside the Louvre, and noted many French citizens objected to the modern addition outside the historic museum.

Clearly his cultural jack-assedness is showing. The people of Paris also hated the Eiffel tower, and the Centre Pompidou when they where built. Now they are iconic to the city and the people there love them including I.M. Pei's Louvre Pyramid.

Two things

1. Chase Tower IS ugly. It always has been.
2. I was just thinking last night the pyramid outside the Louvre looks out of place - way out of place.

What a pompous A-hole. It's truly scary that he owns nursing homes. God help the people who live there. As for the Chase tower he's not only hurting OKC, he's hurting himself. What an opportunity he missed out on. If only OKC would shut off any access to the underground from his building and build a new grand entrance elsewhere.

:ou Replace the Texas with Cotter

He has every right to do with his property whatever he wants to do with it within the limits of the law. I don't see the big deal here. Clearly, if he turns down free improvements from the city on his land, he's in all likelihood not making the best of business decisions, but being the owner, those decisions are his to make.

I agree Midtowner. The part I got most irritated with was his dealings in cherokee.

He has every right to do whatever he wants with the Chase tower....it doens't mean we have to like it though.

As to his dealings in Cherokee, I can certainly see Cotter's point. The town did just about everything it could do there to ensure that Cotter didn't buy that hospital property, starting up a much-needed business in town (a move which at first glance looks incredibly dumb) and may very well have been a personal slight.

In the same situation, I don't know if I'd behave differently than Cotter has.

That said, I don't see why the city doesn't just condemn the buildings as blighted and auction them off to another developer. It must not be that big a deal.

Was it the town or the county? And if it was the county, is it fair to punish the town?

Was it the town or the county? And if it was the county, is it fair to punish the town?

It was the county. Sometimes you take political leverage however you can get it.

So the following would be incorrect:

"The town did just about everything it could do there to ensure that Cotter didn't buy that hospital property, starting up a much-needed business in town (a move which at first glance looks incredibly dumb) and may very well have been a personal slight."

I'm not so sure Oklahoma City would be happy with being judged by what Oklahoma County does. I'd be curious as to whether the same could be said about Cherokee.

I'm not so sure Oklahoma City would be happy with being judged by what Oklahoma County does. I'd be curious as to whether the same could be said about Cherokee.

The bottom line is that Cotter will be fine with or without those buildings. He will, however, give the people of Cherokee a reminder of how their county officials really let them down.

Like I said, if the city really wanted to fix the situation, they could just condemn the property. I doubt the fair market value for a couple of run down buildings in downtown Cherokee adds up to much at all.

Ah, but here's the rub: it's my understanding that only the county can condemn in this case... and well, Mr. Cotter has painted a pretty ugly picture of how that county operates. It's weird - a small town is punished for what the county is doing.
I don't know what's going on there, but in general, over my 20 years of reporting I've not seen more waste, corruption and time wasted on personality politics than in county government.

Steve, I'm pretty knowledgeable about eminent domain. I can't imagine that a municipality can't condemn derelict buildings like this if they are considered blighted.

Two things

1. Chase Tower IS ugly. It always has been.

Seriously? Just how is it ugly? Want to give us a vivid description of how you think the building is ugly? Enlighten us....

Seriously? Just how is it ugly? Want to give us a vivid description of how you think the building is ugly? Enlighten us....

I can't define ugly, but I know it when I see it. Chase Tower is ugly. It is 100% devoid of any architectural details. It is an uninspired black rectangle. I’ll bet the architects spent more time planning the elevator shaft that they did on the façade and shape of the building. The Sandridge building is also a large box but at least the windows change patters on the way up.

It appears OKC and Tulsa had a contest to see who could build the ugliest building as their cities tallest – and OKC won. Hands down, I might add.

Mid, I don't know any of the ins/outs of the Cherokee property disagreement. However, it may be that the property is not city governed property, even if inside the city limits. I think it's possible for a parcel to be county or state controlled even if 100% bordered by city controlled property.

I also could be dead bang wrong.

I can't define ugly, but I know it when I see it. Chase Tower is ugly. It is 100% devoid of any architectural details. It is an uninspired black rectangle. I’ll bet the architects spent more time planning the elevator shaft that they did on the façade and shape of the building. The Sandrirge building is also a large box but at least the windows change patters on the way up.

It appears OKC and Tulsa had a contest to see who could build the ugliest building as their cities tallest – and OKC won. Hands down, I might add.
It could also have been "value engineered" into ugliness but more than likely it was just designed to the style of its era which was more of a "minimalist" thinking in that time. I know there are plenty of those in Dallas, I worked in one of them that was just a plain, 40 story box all the way up. They redid the base 10 years or so ago and at least made it mush more attractive at street level.


Mid, I don't know any of the ins/outs of the Cherokee property disagreement. However, it may be that the property is not city governed property, even if inside the city limits. I think it's possible for a parcel to be county or state controlled even if 100% bordered by city controlled property.

I also could be dead bang wrong.
I think that is the situation with the Tulsa Fairgrounds, it is/was only under the jurisdiction of Tulsa County at one time.

The story of Chase Tower's original development and construction is quite colorful and surprising. We'll have it in our Skirvin book coming out next month.

The story of Chase Tower's original development and construction is quite colorful and surprising. We'll have it in our Skirvin book coming out next month.

Why, was it supposed to be round but they cut corners to save money - and voila - a box.

Kerry, if you look at the design, it's inspired by the World Trade Center. That may seem laughable now, but, if you look at it closely, you can see what they were attempting (likewise, First National was inspired by the Empire State Building and Oklahoma and Corporate towers were inspired by the triumph of mediocrity).

Actually, I can see where the Chase building resembles the former WTC but it is still ugly. I actually thought the WTC was a bit bland as well. If those towers were half their height would they have been iconic? No.

As for First National, it looks a lot more like the Chicago Board of Trade Building than anything.

Without cheating - what building is this a photo of?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Cbot-close-night.gif

didn't the guy that designed the chase tower also do the WTC isn't this suppose to be a smaller version of WTC

i think its cool we have to buildings downtown that are similar to 2 of the most reconizable builings in NYC (before 9-11)

those two being chase tower and first national maybe im wrong if so please correct

Actuallly, the Bank of Oklahoma tower in Tulsa was designed by the same architect who designed the World Trade Center in New York. The architect's name was Minoru Yamasaki, an American of Japanese descent. There is a strong resemblance in the two designs. However, I personally do not see any resemblance of Oklahoma City's Chase Tower to the World Trade Center.

Taurus, you're correct. I didn't mean to imply that the developer of Chase Tower (originally Liberty Tower) did a good job at mimicking WTC. But I do know the developer at that time was shooting for that look.

cool thanks guys for the info....I actually think like most with the proper lighting the chase can look better
I like all the lighting were starting to come with at nightime now downtown(chase with the white at the top and FNB's changing schemes) very colorful a giant leap from how it use to look when I was a kid
hopefully the devon tower will really light it up !!

Am I the only one who actually likes the way Liberty/Chase tower looks? It's supposed to look boxy and free of embellishment - Very 60's-70's International. If the building is ever updated, I hope they only change the glass and not the entire look of the building. There is no reason to "update" the building. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

I agree with rononnie1, the building is not that bad. Bad is the Oklahoma Tower as well as the current Devon building. To me those are UGLY not the old Liberty Bank Building. I can see updating the plaza, but not necessarily the building. Perhaps some interesting lighting would be great at night. The owner seems to have an inflated ego, reminds me of someone with the Napoleon complex. Maybe he has other short comings in other areas.

Oklahoma and Corporate Towers, though not anything great, are at least better than Chase (rufuse to use Cotter's name). At least OK Tower has the blue color. Combined with the blue and white schemes of the library and the Galleria garage, it looks pretty cool, especially at sunset. And Corp. Tower has that weird shape. Much more interesting than the bland Chase Tower.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3545/3397309451_8828a88242.jpg

I can see the inspiration in the design from the WTC, but the BOK building definitely is very close to the WTC buildings.
Anyway, thank GOD for Larry Nichols building a taller, sexier building than Chase tower. Why would some chillbilly put up a statue of himself...especially in some broke a$$ 70's tower? That's like me buying "junior's" and putting up a stalinesque / husseinlike monument to celebrate just how lame I am.

PATHETIC!

If I could put it metaphorically:

If downtown were made of shoes, Chase Tower would be an old leather work boot with ripped soles and broken laces. That nasty brown has got to go. So do the crappy shades in random windows.

I worked at Liberty Tower for 10 years in mechanical operations and have been all over that building. It saddens me to see it fall into the hands of this redneck. On a side note, it is interesting to note that Klay Kimker, who works for Devon and is overseeing the construction of the Devon Tower was my boss.

"Anyway, thank GOD for Larry Nichols building a taller, sexier building than Chase tower. Why would some chillbilly put up a statue of himself...especially in some broke a$$ 70's tower? That's like me buying "junior's" and putting up a stalinesque / husseinlike monument to celebrate just how lame I am."

Haha!

BTW there was a putting green on the 3rd floor terrace which is where the bank's CEO and president's offices were located as well as executive dining rooms. I would imagine the putting green has been converted into a horseshoe pit and the dining rooms have a full service chuckwagon. YEE-HAW!

If I could put it metaphorically:

If downtown were made of shoes, Chase Tower would be an old leather work boot with ripped soles and broken laces. That nasty brown has got to go. So do the crappy shades in random windows.

Nice analogy

"Anyway, thank GOD for Larry Nichols building a taller, sexier building than Chase tower. Why would some chillbilly put up a statue of himself...especially in some broke a$$ 70's tower? That's like me buying "junior's" and putting up a stalinesque / husseinlike monument to celebrate just how lame I am."

Haha!

Hey, let's not pick on Junior's! That's a wonderful time capsule to 1982 that just happens to have a great crew and food that's still really good (can't beat their caesar salad)

A couple recently attended a banquet at the Petroleum Club and posted a blog entry about it.

when it rains it hales: puttin' on the ritz. (http://whenitrainsithalesblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/puttin-on-ritz.html)

A few interesting photos, for example:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x5i2B9gdDNQ/UIb0aUCcnaI/AAAAAAAAASU/ldHfEiOcVkk/s1600/3download.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ghbsvq3KIEY/UIb0XP7UjrI/AAAAAAAAAR8/LtDDGauO2LU/s1600/11download.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PytewVEJxzA/UIb0ZiUG-6I/AAAAAAAAASI/vaDrVJt3mIU/s1600/2download.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mu_bwj7rJ9E/UIb0iwAWCdI/AAAAAAAAATM/1_2WbPjAs0I/s1600/download.jpg

Looking at recent photos posted on OKCTalk, this city has some hideous parking garages. But some of those views posted above are stunning. Thanks for sharing.

The good news that two garages shown above are both due for renovation.

SandRidge plans to completely renovate the Broadway / Kerr garage they recently purchased, and the massive Santa Fe garage is getting a minor facelift as well.

And the one with the big "5" isn't very visible unless you are in a tall building.

And the one with the big "5" isn't very visible unless you are in a tall building.

What is that, btw? Why is there a big 5 on that building? I've been wondering for awhile.

What is that, btw? Why is there a big 5 on that building? I've been wondering for awhile.

I suspect because it's on 5th St.

I think the address is also 5, as in 5 NW 5th.

I think the address is also 5, as in 5 NW 5th.

Apparently so, as I've come across a close-up pic of the garage front:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb5d6fKZSH1qzggs0o1_500.jpg

Although... I'm still not sure why they're so dad-gummed proud of the address that they felt the need to make it visible for miles around.

Although... I'm still not sure why they're so dad-gummed proud of the address that they felt the need to make it visible for miles around.

Play to your strengths!

Yes, it's 5 NW 5th, and it was renovated a few years ago. I happen to like it, it's very modern.

I'm with metro on this. I've always liked it as far as garages go, and especially after the remodel.

Nice shot from the Petroleum Club:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/665766_461077877263912_1854595477_o.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=461077877263912&set=a.461078110597222.104791.439476469424053)

Taken from a recent awards banquet held there.

The Petroleum Club...no longer looking down on all of Oklahoma City.

$100K building permit today for more improvements to the Petroleum Club.

Fantastic! I'm guessing with Vast and the 50th Floor open across town, they felt like they needed to do something to stay remotely competitive.

They have spent a ton of money upgrading the Petroleum Club just recently, and this is just more investment.

I've always wished this tower could have had a goldish, copper crown topper. Antique almost in style like Mid-Continent's in Tulsa, or even an artistic, sculpturistic one that resembled a teepee so it would be a pointed crown. Since the building is slightly rectangler in shape the ladder would be more difficult. I just think it would surely change the look and feel of the tower alone, let alone downtown from close & far. 3025

Come on guys, it's not that bad. Yes, it's boring, but it's also a classic example of the International Style. That style was the next big thing in its time. If we were in the 70's, we'd be looking at the thing as an example of modern awesomeness.

The same view can be applied to towers like it in every city....boring flat faced wall with what we now call no creativity.

In another 30 years, we'll look back at Devon and have things to say about it. And then in another 50, it will be retro cool again. Remember Art Deco became "old", and now is "historic".

That's just how styles go......

Agreed. As someone who spends way too much time in the building, I'm all for keeping it updated, but I'm not in favor of changing the exterior and common areas beyond refurbishment.

Exactly. It has a sense of history to it.

Maybe it's just me, growing up when I did, but I remember movies from the late 70s/early 80s and anytime they would show New York, they'd focus on those types of buildings. Not the Empire State Building, not the Chrystler Building, it was those tall boxy towers. Those signified "big city" to me when I was a kid. I'd like another half dozen of them downtown.

Does anyone know where I could find archival photos of the interior of the building? I've looked through the OKC Historical Society's web archive, and could find some nice exterior shots of Liberty Tower when it was new, but nothing interior.

Maybe we could have the pier Ferris Wheel put on top of the Cotter tower until the river development gets built lol