Sunday Flashback: J.D. Lobb and Broadway Reunion
Broadway Reunion Developer Regroups
By Mary Jo Nelson
Sunday, September 16, 1984
The economic environment is the main reason his Broadway Reunion market center hasn’t been able to get going, developer J.D. Lobb contends. But he sees other factors, too.
“I took a tremendous risk. I feel terrible that what I have tried to do hasn’t worked,” said Lobb, who bought up 26 properties between NW 7 and NW 10 along Broadway in an attempt to revitalize the once-booming automobile row.
“I don’t know where to start. It’s a combination of a lot of things, but the economic environment is the biggest thing,” he said in an interview.
“By the time these things came on line, things were winding down, not up.”
Lobb has found no problem at all arranging financing for undeveloped properties, he said, but Broadway Reunion was “a one-man show.
“I had no big investors. I had a limited amount of capital to start, but the lenders were interested in seeing if I could acquire enough (properties) to make it feasible. Once I put the package together, because of the economic situation, they were unable to finance it. Most lenders had troubles of their own by then.”
Without blaming city officials or business leaders, Lobb said another part of the problem lies with Oklahoma City itself.
“The whole focus has been northwest,” while downtown was allowed to deteriorate, he said. “Downtown hasn’t done any good because they let everything go northwest.”
He doesn’t affix blame. “Oklahoma City is a new city and people here like the shopping malls and the convenience of the strip (shopping) centers. It’s all new to them. They like the enclosed malls and the air conditioning.”
On the other hand, he said in older cities he sees people who prefer rehabilitated areas, the historical zones, with arts and crafts and street performers.
“I think that’s coming, but we’re not ready for it yet.”
Lobb also believes his project was hurt by Broadway’s past reputation for prostitution, drugs, assaults and other criminal activities once common in the neighborhood.
“The stigma of the area was hard to overcome,” he said. He said he never got far enough to follow a master plan designed by The Benham Group to transform three blocks of neglected Broadway buildings into a marketing center.
“I was always out trying to raise money.”
Five of the first six restorations were to bear antique car titles, in deference to Lobb’s hobby of collecting old cars. The centerpiece was to be the old Earl Hotel, constructed as the St. Nicholas Hotel in 1910 by an immigrant Greek Orthodox family. Its original name was revived. The St. Nicholas Building was cleaned of its grime and the interior was rebuilt.
Benham’s master plan called for a pedestrian skywalk to cross Broadway just north of NW 8, a small park, an open mini-mall, early 20th century lamposts, carriage lanterns, canvas awnings, courtyards and plazas.
Last year, landscaping began, bright awnings sprouted and some businesses moved in. Brick exteriors were painted on several structures, most of them dating to the 1920s or earlier. A station to handle the downtown bus trolleys and their passengers was an early step. A courtyard with benches and planters was developed to serve as a passenger waiting area.
One big success story in Broadway Reunion is John Hoke Ltd., occupying the 18,000-square-foot Stutz building at NW 8 and Robinson.
Hoke, who publishes two magazines and is an automobile broker, did almost $4.5 million in his first year of buiness in the location, Lobb said.
But almost as quickly as they had appeared, some project tenants moved out. A few weeks ago, a foreclosure action was filed in district court.
Lobb says he may be down but he is not out.
“The knee jerk reaction is over. I think I’ll be able to hang in.”
To give himself capital for the project, Lobb plans to sell several of his 26 Broadway structures. The first move in this direction came this past week, when he sold the Stutz building to its occupant, John Hoke & Co. The selling price was $500,000.
Hoke also took an option to buy several other buildings on the east side of Broadway.
Lobb is proud that his one-man renewal project “accomplished a lot.
“I feel I have done some good. I cleaned up Broadway and I changed the atmosphere a little bit.”
Now, “I’m trying to regroup and reorganize. I’m not playing dead.”
With the Central Expressway under construction and scheduled to come within two blocks of Broadway Reunion, Lobb remains confident the area holds “tremendous potential.”
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I forgot to mention: JD also purchased the old AAA Root Beer place at the NE corner of Broadway & NW 13th, the one which once had a huge barrel on top of the building which dated back to the 1920s when it was originally a XXX Root Beer place. Another undone blog article, it is.
I became acquainted with JD in 1982 when, following a divorce, I was looking for an inexpensive place to rent just north of downtown. I sat on the floor watching as JD and his men worked on the interior of the bungalow I was going to rent from him at the northeast corner of Robinson & NW 20th in Heritage Hills Addition. In addition to properties in automobile alley, JD had purchased several properties in Heritage Hills East and other near-north locations.
Over the next few years, I became friends with JD as well as his lawyer. Lots of stories to tell. He was quite a character, very much into self-help evicting vagrant occupants of his properties from time to time.
Perhaps the most interesting publicly known tale to tell about was JD’s Gulf of Mexico sailing experience with the Oklahoman’s Gene Murray. Lobb owned a sailing vessel that he’d sold and was transversing the Gulf from Galveston to the Dry Tortugas to make delivery of the ship. Murray was just along for the ride. Weather caused ship damage; the boat began taking on water; they had no radio; the wind stopped and they were in the doldrums as they drifted towards Havana. JD said that, toward the last of this adventure, they could see the lights of Havana.
Eventually, they were rescued by the Coast Guard and lived to tell the tale. The Oklahoman ran a front page story on May 30, 1985. You can read the story here. It is my list of undone blog things to write a bit more about Mr. Lobb.