Developers plan garage for part of KMG complex

By Steve Lackmeyer
Two adjoining buildings are set to be renovated into 70 condominiums.
Developers of the Braniff Towers condominiums confirmed Monday they plan to raze part of the Kerr-McGee office complex and replace it with a 400-space parking garage.

The $29 million Braniff Towers development was first announced in November and represents the first for-sale housing in the downtown Central Business District.

The garage plans are included in an application for a $750,000 loan from the Murrah Revitalization District Revolving Loan Program being considered today by the Oklahoma City Council. The application indicates another $1.35 million will be sought from the downtown Tax Increment Financing district for historic facade restoration. The deal also includes a $752,000 Environmental Protection Agency brownfields grant for asbestos removal.

Anthony McDermid, a partner in Corporate Redevelopment Group LLC., said the garage will be up to eight stories high and would replace a portion of the 135 Robert S. Kerr Ave. building that was once home to the YMCA. Plans call for the two adjoining buildings, one of which was once home to Braniff Airlines, to be renovated into 70 condominiums.

The Braniff Towers development was first announced in November and involve empty properties owned by Kerr-McGee Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Luke Corbett said last month the project is proceeding despite his company's pending sale to Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum.

Plans being submitted to the city council indicate the first floor of the towers will include 15,000 square feet of retail and that the project is being financed by Legacy Bank of Oklahoma.

McDermid said he anticipated renovation of the towers and construction of the garage will begin later this year.

Sounds like a good plan to me. Now if we can get some offices in KerrMcGee tower we'll be set.

Patience Danielson, Patience. Kerr McGee won't be out until September at earliest. Tronox is still occupying it as well. That's over 500 people still in that building.

This is exactly what TIF was created for.

I hope the building which housed the original state legislature isn't lost in this rennovation though (that's the one on the corner of Kerr & Broadway (I think -- I may be thinking about Robinson).

The months-long legal battle over the failed Braniff Towers development ended with a settlement Friday between Kerr-McGee and Corporate Redevelopment Group.

Details of the settlement were unavailable and attorneys did not return calls to The Oklahoman. The case was scheduled to begin pre-trial hearings Wednesday.

Corporate Redevelopment Group filed the $8 million suit a year ago as Kerr-McGee announced it would be acquired by Anadarko Petroleum, based in The Woodlands, Texas. The partnership had worked in conjunction with Kerr-McGee CEO Luke Corbett on the project, which was to result in the conversion of three old buildings into upscale condominiums. Corbett said the project would proceed when the Anadarko deal was announced, but the deal fell apart soon after.

The Associated Press