address=600 NE 4th (http://g.co/maps/e3m6m)
sq. feet=6,000
acerage=.13

|image=http://www.okctalk.com/images/wikiphotos/morgan1.jpg

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County Assessor Record (http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/AN-R.asp?ACCOUNTNO=R022800625)
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Building permit today to convert this little historical building to a residence.

The under-construction OIPA building is immediately west.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/600ne4b.jpg


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.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/600ne4.jpg

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.

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.

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

The other buildings are at NE 4th and Laird (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ne+4th+and+laird+oklahoma+city&hl=en&ll=35.471514,-97.497375&spn=0.007331,0.009645&sll=35.469524,-97.500456&sspn=0.000651,0.000603&hnear=NE+4th+St+%26+N+Laird+Ave,+Oklahoma+City,+Ok lahoma,+73104&t=h&z=17). 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.

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.

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 (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=North+Lindsay+and+NE+2nd+Oklahoma+City+NW&hl=en&ll=35.469522,-97.500454&spn=0.007541,0.009645&sll=35.469524,-97.500450&layer=c&cbp=13,316.19,,0,9.52&cbll=35.469524,-97.500456&hnear=N+Lindsay+Ave+%26+NE+2nd+St,+Oklahoma+City,+ Oklahoma&t=h&z=17&panoid=cdSll6dnTs3wIYcm01lb1A).

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.

Dang. Forget the Powerball...

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

The under-construction OIPA building is immediately west.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/600ne4b.jpg


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.

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.

March 10 2012

Morgan Building

http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhider/sets/72157629190536578/

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7203/6823967184_818576ff89_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/6970087753_0b343e7b7d_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6823967486_7f938e7004_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6970090641_b0d73cc388_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6823970440_2180e508df_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/6970094221_0c181e3f45_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7205/6970095261_6f0d3b9c8b_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6823973242_65ba742a98_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6970096217_5727bcde53_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6970096493_83cedeef2c_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6823974446_558094edc6_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6823974714_a5909b76c2_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6970098209_f293a01d0a_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6823977996_6e66da422b_b.jpg

Those purple flowers sure are pretty!

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

:tiphat: 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.....

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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/historic-health-clinic-to-be-revived-as-office-and-loft-space/

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/600ne4b.jpg
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 ?

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

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...

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.

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. :Smiley122

This property was actually sold in February of 2014 so hopefully the new owners will move forward with a responsible renovation.

I noticed something new this morning as I drove by; the front door now says "Scissortail Realty Advisors" on it. However, the lettering on the door was done with those really cheap self-adhesive letters and numbers, like you'd buy from Lowes. Nothing else has changed on the exterior.

I can't find too much about this company, and their website isn't working, either, but it looks like they work in residential properties and have 30 houses listed for sale. I have no idea if Scissortail is connected at all to the listed owner of the property - "Kronos Enterprises, Inc" - but it appears Kronos is/was a broker for residential properties also, so it is somewhat possible.

It will be interesting to see if Scissortail decides to do anything to restore this property... I am really, really hoping they will. It would be so awesome to see this building restored to a condition similar to the historic photo at the top of this thread - and with the OUHSC campus growing like it is, I'd bet that could turn into some prime real estate for an awesome restaurant, retail, or more.

This building has changed hands again - this time, it appears for the better; In August, Scissortail Realty flipped the building to "1946 Investments, LLC" which is tied to JHBR Architecture in Film Row. It appears that JHBR plans to renovate the building, then move into the top floor. The ground floor appears to be planned as leasable tenant space, with the bricked in windows and awnings restored to look very similar to the postcard picture of the building above.

I am unsure if this means JHBR plans to vacate their recently renovated space in the Ice House Building in Film Row.

Here's some drawings of their plans I found on Behance from a principal architect at JHBR:

http://www.okctalk.com/members/baralheia-albums-morgan-building-picture11654-exterior.jpg
http://www.okctalk.com/members/baralheia-albums-morgan-building-picture11655-interior-2nd-floor.jpg
http://www.okctalk.com/members/baralheia-albums-morgan-building-picture11656-interior-2nd-floor-2.jpg

For comparison, this is the current state:

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/development-buildings/11657d1445457414-morgan-building-morgan.jpg

For the record, this is being done by the same firm that drew up those plans to turn Lincoln Plaza into a Wyndham Hotel and Conference Center, as well as the architect for the Norman Regional HealthPlex, the Norman Regional Moore hospital, several private residences immediately south of OUHSC, and the IT building for Moore Norman Technology Center.

Oh man, what I relief. I had assumed that one would be land on someone's demo list at some point in the not too distant future. Score one for adaptive reuse.

JHBR sold their building on Film Row; I had a story about this:

OKCTalk - PR firm buys key Film Row property (http://www.okctalk.com/content/134-pr-firm-buys-key-film-row-property.html)


They did an awesome renovation at their previous place and thrilled they will be taking this on now. What a great turn of events.

Oh man, what I relief. I had assumed that one would be land on someone's demo list at some point in the not too distant future. Score one for adaptive reuse.

I actually had a feeling of dread when I saw this thread had new posts...

This will be a great project for JHBR.

Dang. Forget the Powerball...

Does anyone know how the building got its name?

Does anyone know how the building got its name?

Explained in post 19 above... Morgan Building - OKCTalk (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Morgan%20Building&page=1#post519704)

Thanks for the link, Pete... I must have completely missed that. I'm really looking forward to what they will do with this building!

OKCTalk - Historic Morgan Building to get new life as architectural offices and lease space (http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=216-Historic-Morgan-Building)

Pete, your article mentions that preliminary renovation work has commenced here, but I can't find any permits at all in the system for this building. Are they using a different address than the one from the county assessor? Or by preliminary work, do you mean stuff that doesn't require a permit (throwing away trash, taking down the corrugated metal over the windows, etc)?

Yes, basic clean up and some light demo. Currently we are working with Wallace Engineering (structural engineer) to make some modifications to the existing structure. Once the plans are set, we will proceed with submitting remodel plans to the city and pulling the appropriate permits.

Nice! Thanks for the info. I drive by your building almost every day on my way to work and it will be so much fun to watch this building transform. It's going to be so cool when it's done! Do you have any rough guesstimate on when you think the full-scale renovations will begin?

Nice! Thanks for the info. I drive by your building almost every day on my way to work and it will be so much fun to watch this building transform. It's going to be so cool when it's done! Do you have any rough guesstimate on when you think the full-scale renovations will begin?

Hopefully soon :)

$50,000 building/renovation permit submitted to the City just before Christmas in 2015, which is currently working it's way through the review process. Looks like work will begin here very soon!

$50,000 might gut the building.

Or it could be a typo.

They just filed a building permit to start on the first floor.

Nice to see lights on in the second level, as the architecture firm is in there working around the mess and renovation.

Drove by yesterday and the doors were all open and people were in there working on it. Things seem to be moving along on it.

Yeah, they've had the doors open and doing work for the last week or so. I'll snap a pic today if I can - not much to see yet though.

Work continues on this building. For about the last week or two, they've had City Glass installing new windows in the second floor between the glass block sections. I'm a bit disappointed that they decided not to go with steel casement windows like the originals, but the new windows do look nice. Several weeks ago they were installing new A/C units as well. I'll get a pic or three of it today if possible.

http://newsok.com/legacy-revival/article/5511121

Looks like they couldn't save those cool old windows:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/4th111116.jpg

Drove by this building the other day. The metal doors are gone and have been replaced with windows. If the building is not complete, it looks to be real close.

Drove by this building the other day. The metal doors are gone and have been replaced with windows. If the building is not complete, it looks to be real close.

Canopies / signage / parking lot / landscaping / interior build out are all still in the works

Been meaning to snag a few exterior shots for the board; the new windows look so much better than the cinder block from the highway!

Not a big fan of the dark bronze windows they installed.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/morgan061717.jpg