Widgets Magazine
  • Hotel development recommended for former OKCPS HQ

    Oklahoma City Public Schools has been working with the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority (OCRA) to find a buyer and redeveloper for its old headquarters building at 900 N. Klein.



    After receiving three ambitious plans as a response to a request for proposals, OCRA will recommend to the OKCPS board that a hotel project be selected for redevelopment of the large property just to the west of Western, formerly home to Roosevelt School but more recently used by school administration.

    The recommended project would convert the main building into 109 hotel rooms with a pool, performance space and three food and beverage concepts.

    The smaller structure would become a creative workspace for local businesses.



    The newly-formed development group called Carpathia includes Elliott Nelson of the McNellies group which operates 19 restaurants in Oklahoma; four are in Oklahoma City. The team also includes Warren Ross and Casey Stowe, both based in Tulsa with several commercial mixed-use projects to their credit in that area.

    The project would be named The Theodore and design work handled by Mass Architecture with the intention of marrying the historic architecture with contemporary finishes.

    Hotel rooms on the third and fourth floor would be developed with the ability to convert to multi-family apartments if the market demands it. The old auditorium would be restored into a performance space that could serve as a movie theater, community meeting space, concert venue, or lecture hall.


    A proposal was also received by east coast developer Far Wespen which owns a good deal of adjacent property between Western and Classen. As we previously reported, Far Wespen is in the process of selling a large parcel for senior housing and had planned to bridge the old school with new development to the west.

    The third proposal was from a group led by Marva Ellard which envision housing on the site.

    The Carpathia proposal will only move forward after the approval of the OKCPS board.















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