City Jail

[Pete]

At yesterday's City Council meeting, Marva Ellard spoke briefly about a proposed new timeline for renovating the jail.

Councilman Stonecipher said he would like to see more detail in her plan and the matter was deferred to the next meeting.

[Pete]

City council voted to deny the motion that would have sent the demolition request to the Downtown Design Review Committee.

Marva Ellard said she is still interested in trying to renovate it.

For the demolition motion:
McAtee
Stone
Stonecipher
Greenwell

Against:
Cooper
Hamon
Nice
Greiner
Holt

[David]

Interesting vote breakdown.

[Ross MacLochness]

Sometimes I get the impression Greenwell votes the way he does to spite the new council members. He gets really worked up about some strange things.

[HOT ROD]

City council voted to deny the motion that would have sent the demolition request to the Downtown Design Review Committee.

Marva Ellard said she is still interested in trying to renovate it.

For the demolition motion:
McAtee
Stone
Stonecipher
Greenwell

Against:
Cooper
Hamon
Nice
Greiner
Holt

Nice to see Greiner step to the other/right side - he's a millennial too you know, interesting that Stonecipher voted for demo since he's been on the youth side so often.. ..... Not surprised at all on the others in favor or against.

Good that Marva is getting a shot at it. I'm all in favor of demo of the old "new" police hq and the old courthouse - i hope they get turned into a nice garage with street fronts that could be city services; but the old old police headquarters/jail needs to be preserved in some way.

Couldn't they purpose some of the mental health facilities in there?

[Pete]

Nice to see Greenwell step to the other side, interesting that Stonecipher voted for demo. ..... Not surprised at all on the others in favor or against.

You mean Greiner, not Greenwell.

The 4 that voted for the demolition are pretty predictable. I'd still like to see evidence that Stonecipher is more in the center as some here have claimed.

[Urban Pioneer]

Couldn't they purpose some of the mental health facilities in there?

Our new (old) MAPS 4 sanitarium? It architecturally does look the part.

[HOT ROD]

yep, our own "Bellevue Hospital". hehe

[Pete]

Looks like this building is going to be demolished after all.

City Council deferred this item to Dec. 22 when they will vote to start the process for demolition approval from the Downtown Design Review Committee:

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The Old City Jail Facility (“Jail Facility”), located at 200 North Shartel Avenue, was built
following the issuance of City and County bonds that were approved in 1935, together with a
federal matching grant, which were also used to construct the Civic Center Auditorium, City Hall
and Oklahoma County Courthouse.
The six story Jail Facility is comprised of approximately 41,310 square feet with a partial half
basement, two elevators, only one of which may be operable, with floor plates equaling 6,885
square feet. The floor heights vary in the Jail Facility as floors 1-2 have at least eight feet of ceiling
clearance and floors 3-6 only have a clearance of 6’10”, rendering it difficult and expensive to
rehabilitate.
On July 1, 1997 (Item VIII.I 1. and 2.) The City entered into a Jail Services Agreement with the
Board of County Commissioners of Oklahoma County and Sheriff of Oklahoma County, effective
July 1, 1997 to house prisoners that were arrested on City charges at the Oklahoma County Jail.
After July 1, 1997, the Old City Jail was no longer used to house persons arrested on City charges,
however the City Marshall’s Office did continue to occupy office space in part of the Jail Facility
until June 14, 2013. From June 2013 until present the Old City Jail Facility has been abandoned,
sat vacant and has fallen into further disrepair becoming a home to pigeons and others, and would
most likely be considered dilapidated.
On June 20, 2017, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was advertised to redevelop the Old City Jail,
which resulted in only one proposal being submitted by Gator Industrial, LLC, even though eightynine potential proposers viewed the RFP online. On November 7, 2017, the City Council rejected
the proposal from Gator Industrial, LLC for the redevelopment of the Old City Jail and authorized
staff to re-advertise the Request for Proposals.
DEFERRED TO DECEMBER
22, 2020
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In response, a redevelopment group called Allied Redevelopment L.L.C., headed by local
developer, Marva Ellard, submitted a response.
Subsequently, a Review Committee consisting of representatives from the Planning, Police,
Finance, and Public Works Departments, along with representatives from the City Manager’s
Office and Municipal Counselor’s Office reviewed the proposal and submitted follow-up questions
to the prospective developer regarding the developer’s plans for the Old City Jail. After much
review and deliberation, the Review Committee recommended designating Marva Ellard as the
conditional redeveloper of the Old City Jail. It was conditioned on Ms. Ellard submitting a
reasonable redevelopment proposal. On April 10, 2018 (Item VII.AI.) City Council approved a
Resolution to conditionally designate Marva Ellard, owner of Allied Redevelopment L.L.C., as a
potential and conditional redeveloper of the Old City Jail, subject to the final determination and
approval of the final proposed development by the Mayor and Council. The Resolution also
authorized and directed the City Manager or his designee(s) to conduct negotiations with the
conditionally designated redeveloper for a period of ninety (90) days in an attempt to reach an
agreement as to development plans, financing arrangements, price contingencies, and other terms
and conditions, and if satisfactory, present an economic development contract for sale of land and
the redevelopment of the Old City Jail to the Mayor and Council for review and consideration.
On August 13, 2019, at the request of City Council, demolition of the Old City Jail was placed on
hold, and the City Manager and City staff were directed to work with Marva Ellard, as the
conditional developer who expressed an interest in redeveloping the Old City Jail into some viable
and economically feasible use (Item No. VII.AR.).
After almost two years of discussion and negotiations City staff has been unable to reach an
agreement with Marva Ellard to redevelop the Old City Jail.
While the structural condition of the Old City Jail may be considered by some as fair, there are
significant environmental and mechanical issues with the structure, including the existence of
asbestos, along with failing or failed water, sewer, and electrical systems that all need to be
replaced and there are numerous other issues with the building as well. Over the years the Old City
Jail has been allowed to fall into further disrepair and has not been used for any significant purpose
since 2013.
The construction of the new Municipal Court Building and the new Oklahoma City Police
Headquarters caused the loss of at least 235 parking spaces for the City’s public safety campus,
which also served the public doing business with Municipal Court. There is a critical need for
parking to support the City’s five building public safety campus, consisting of the
Communications/911 Center, Municipal Court/Criminal Justice Center, Police Headquarters,
Police Property Facility and Police Forensic Laboratory. The demolition of the Old City Jail would
provide an opportunity to increase the number of surface parking spaces available to the public.
Funding has previously been set aside to demolish the structures replaced by the new Police
Headquarters and the Municipal Court Building and the Old City Jail.
City staff, based on a recent appraisal of the property with the Old City Jail, and based on
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information previously provided by Marva Ellard, as to the costs of redevelopment, find that
redevelopment of the Old City Jail into a viable and economically feasible use is not possible
without significant economic development incentives in the form of land and cash that would most
likely come from the City’s general fund. Therefore City staff, based on its analysis of the
condition of the Old City Jail, the needed economic development incentives needed to make
redevelopment possible, and in consideration of the need for additional parking, recommends that
City Council determine that it is time to proceed with demolition of the Old City Jail. A resolution
directing staff to ap

[shawnw]

I cannot believe that the "need for additional parking" is still a factor in tearing down buildings in this city, especially downtown.

[Pete]

And NOW economic development incentives are a big negative?

Tens of millions flow for any project the city really wants done. And they've wanted this thing demolished from the outset.

[SoonersFan12]

It is sad to see it go but it is a good thing since they keep failing to negotiate for almost 2 years so they will never come to an agreement so it is time to demolish the building for a parking space so everyone can move on

[shawnw]

This building is from "MAPS 0" along with city hall, county court, and municipal auditorium. If you take this building now then none of them are safe with a little neglect, and that should be an appalling thought.

[5alive]

^^^^

[Laramie]

This building is from "MAPS 0" along with city hall, county court, and municipal auditorium. If you take this building now then none of them are safe with a little neglect, and that should be an appalling thought.

Tell me more...

OKC upgraded municipal auditorium (currently Civic Center Music Hall) in the original MAPS initiative; also recently recall this proposal in October 2020: https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/dev...ack=super_blog

As for the old city jail, why would you need it (Eyesore). IMO there isn't anything significant about this structure other than it once being used to transfer those in temporary incarceration across the street to the county.

Too many bad memories of this place during the late 60s integration.

Demolish it and burn it. And when you're through with burning it--burn the ashes...

[Jersey Boss]

^^^ yep

[warreng88]

Being sent to city council tomorrow. I engaged with Allison Bailey on twitter about it yesterday and she has some great ideas for the space. But the city is refusing to say how much they would sell it for. I would guess it would be a win-win for the city if they could see to sell it. The property tax revenue would be substantially higher as a building versus nothing (a parking lot that they own) and the city arts parking garage is at or below 50% last time I checked and that would increase revenue there as well. We really have to get away from the idea of parking right next to where you work downtown and not be expected to walk.

[artynok]

Those wanting to rehab the building, how do you get past the 6 foot 10" clearance on the top 3 floors? I'm not an engineer, but I would think you would almost have to demolish those floors. After adding modern HVAC, fire sprinklers, etc, I don't see a practical use for a space that is so short on height.

[shawnw]

Those of us that live in the Regency deal with much lower ceilings in parts of our apartment (entry hall and bathrooms due to what might be retrofitted HVAC).

At work much of our building has ceilings under 7'. We've even had a tenant that was taller than our ceilings. Thought he'd balk at wanting to rent when he saw the ceilings. He was like, it's like this everywhere, I'm used to it.

Just saying it happens, people make it work.

[warreng88]

Those wanting to rehab the building, how do you get past the 6 foot 10" clearance on the top 3 floors? I'm not an engineer, but I would think you would almost have to demolish those floors. After adding modern HVAC, fire sprinklers, etc, I don't see a practical use for a space that is so short on height.

I talked to Allison about this and those areas could be used for storage. That's not uncommon to have basements or shorter floors for storage especially older buildings. And I am not sure as I haven't ever been in the building, but I don't think that many are that low.

[onthestrip]

I thought there was talk before of simply cutting the floors out creating a 13-14 ft ceiling.

Also, kind of funny that no TIF money is available for this when there's been countless other projects that questionably got tif money.

[warreng88]

The decision has been deferred until 12/21/2021. This gives Marva time to figure out a gameplan for the redevelopment.

[bombermwc]

Tell me more...

OKC upgraded municipal auditorium (currently Civic Center Music Hall) in the original MAPS initiative; also recently recall this proposal in October 2020: https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/dev...ack=super_blog

As for the old city jail, why would you need it (Eyesore). IMO there isn't anything significant about this structure other than it once being used to transfer those in temporary incarceration across the street to the county.

Too many bad memories of this place during the late 60s integration.

Demolish it and burn it. And when you're through with burning it--burn the ashes...

Given that, i wonder if there's any interest in turning it into a museum for civil rights?

[Laramie]

Given that, i wonder if there's any interest in turning it into a museum for civil rights?

Just want to applaud the council for taking their time; being in no hurry to make a quick decision.

As far as a museum for civil rights bombermwc, city could use one because there is a lot of history that could be catalogued. Would prefer something closer on sight to the FAM museum near the old fairgrounds (Douglass High School). MAPS 4 has $25 million in funds for the Freedom Center an Clara Luper Civil Rights Center.

The trouble with the old jail site that some might question would be locking the famous civil rights leader's legacy up and entombing her memories in the very place that silenced her movement.

Seriously don't care what the city does with the old jail; if they can salvage it (Diversion Hub) and turn it into something useful like a MAPS 4 project; go for it. The Freedom Center & Luper museum project needs to be built on the eastside--preference at the old Freedom Center site 2609 N Martin Luther King Avenue or vicinity.

[Rover]

Given that, i wonder if there's any interest in turning it into a museum for civil rights?

What a great idea. Kuddos for thinking of it.