More on Proposed SandRidge Demolition of Old Kerr-McGee Properties
The newspaper had a pretty good display today on the SandRidge project, but space didn’t allow for every photo to be printed or for everything I wrote.
So let’s start with a visual inventory first.
I love this card, because it shows Kerr-McGee when it was still alive and vibrant. To the left you see the east facade wall of a parking garage and offices that in later years boasted the Sonic name where Globe Life Center is shown. Kerr Park stands in front of the garage. SandRidge Energy and Chesapeake Energy are planning to tear up the park and build an entirely new one that would also include the adjoing Couch Drive Park. SandRidge wants to tear down the garage and build a multi-story building that would have a restaurant and retail opening up to the park. The building would also be home to a fitness center, auditorium and rooftop basketball courts. Immediately to the right of the garage you can see the former YMCA building.
SandRidge officials wanted me to describe their demolition plans as targeting three and not four buildings. So why did I report four? Because this building, which merges into the old KerMac Building (shown on the far left) is indeed a separate building, having once been home to the YMCA.
I’m not sure the loss of either of these first two buildings will prompt much shedding of tears. But here comes the part I know will trouble some folks….
The India Temple Building before being hidden by concrete facade, undated photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society
The India Temple Building, is, from all the research I’ve done, the oldest significant structure still standing downtown. Built in 1902, the building once housed the state legislature. And either in the 1950s or 1960s, Kerr-McGee, with the assistance of Frankfurt-Short-Bruza, did this:
Yes, it's really the same building.
SandRidge Energy could have torn all of these buildings down, no questions asked, as recently as four years ago. But the creation of the Downtown Design Review Committee ended the days of demolition without public input. SandRidge must get permission first from the committee. If the committee votes against any of these applications, SandRidge can either comply with the order or appeal to the Board of Adjustment. And if that appeal is not upheld, the company can then take the matter to district court.
So let’s delve further into the India Temple Building before moving on to the final structure. SandRidge CEO Tom Ward calls this building as it appears now an “eyesore.” I doubt anyone would argue that. But is the real building, one that would be a magical recovery of our past (ala the Skirvin), just waiting to be rediscovered and brought back to life?
The old roofline of the India Temple Building can still be seen by those who take the time to look for it.
Architect Anthony McDermid was once part of a team chosen by Kerr-McGee to redevelop these old buildings into housing. The team did a lot of work – they obtained TIF money to tear down the old YMCA building and replace it with a modern garage for the Kerr-McGee workers and the future residents of the Braniff Tower and neighboring KerMac Building. The deal fell apart just as they were about to seek building permits. From the start, McDermid shied away from stating any plans for the India Temple Building.
Three years later, McDermid admits they likely never would have pursued housing for the 107-year-old building.
Here’s what didn’t make today’s paper:
The building at 111 Robert S. Kerr, would, at first glance, seem to be most historic property on the block. The building, built in 1902, briefly housed the state legislature and its ornate façade, if it still existed, would be a unique reminder of an era that was removed entirely during the Urban Renewal era.
But McDermid, who surveyed the buildings extensively, said he came to the same conclusion reached by SandRidge Energy – the former India Temple building was too far damaged by Kerr-McGee to be restored.
“We even had someone from the State Historical Preservation Office look at it,” McDermid said. “He came, we walked the entire building and evaluated what was going on with it. It had been so altered – a new floor had been added into the two-story lobby, it had been torn up inside, and while we never pulled the outside panels, we had eyewitness reports the exterior features had been sawn off.”
McDermid has no involvement with SandRidge Energy, the campus makeover, or any of the old buildings. So one might conclude he’s a good neutral judge of whether the India Temple Building could be brought back to life.
Consider this account by yet another team of respected developers who looked at the building in the early 1990s:
Mark Ruffin, Nicholas Preftakes and Jim Parrack looked at the odds of renovating the buildings and walked away.
“The bones weren’t really that conducive,” Ruffin said. “They had low clearance heights, they had significant asbestos issues. From a functional standpoint, they just weren’t that conducive.”
That’s a lot of damning expertise. And yet something else makes me wonder if more should be known before calling out the wrecking ball. Consider the testimony of a dying man I reported in a column three years ago as McDermid’s housing project was falling apart due to the demise of Kerr-McGee:
I wanted to share Bob Maidt’s story at a triumphant moment. Maidt and his son Bob Maidt Jr. were veterans in the plastering business, and I was first introduced to Bob Maidt Jr. when he helped me understand the pros and cons in the use of EIFS stucco in new construction.The visit about the Kerr-McGee campus building would be their last. That night, Maidt Sr. died. Ironically, the story that sparked the Maidts’ visit had been written a couple weeks earlier — intended to run at a later date. Had the story been delayed one more day, the information needed to restore the India Temple building to its original facade might have disappeared forever.
In March, I wrote a story about a building on the Kerr-McGee campus that was to be part of a condominium development. At first glance, the building at Broadway and Robert S. Kerr Avenue in Oklahoma City is hardly spectacular. But developer and architect Anthony McDermid was aware that the concrete facade covered up a historic facade that dated back to 1902. The building, far from a forgettable Urban Renewal addition to downtown, is a true gem — and its restoration would give back a bit of history in an area that lost much of its past in the 1960s and 1970s.
But McDermid had no information on how the fake facade was added or whether the original India Temple facade was still intact. Before and after photos were printed with my story, and Bob Maidt Jr. immediately recognized the project as one completed by his ailing father. Maidt Jr. later e-mailed saying he approached his father, who was bed ridden, and memories started to flow.
The elder Maidt, 82, had been released from the hospital a couple of weeks earlier, with doctors telling the family they could do no more to relieve the man’s failing health.
“He did most of the Kerr-McGee work, so I figured it was his job,” Maidt Jr. said. “I went over in the afternoon, after work, and he seemed pretty excited. It perked him right up — put a gleam in his eyes. He said, ‘Oh yeah, I remember doing that.’”
Maidt Sr. not only recalled the job, but also told his son where to find the job files and photos of the new facade’s installation. The original building, he said, wasn’t seriously damaged during the 1960s-era renovation.
For Maidt Jr., the conversation was a chance to relive the days when the pair worked together, running the family business. Their plastering business had been started a century earlier by Maidt Jr.’s grandfather’s uncle, Albert Maidt (who also was one of the founders of Twin Hills Golf and Country Club). The family business had passed from one generation to another until it closed in 1997.
When I last spoke to Bob Maidt Jr., he indicated the paperwork and plans from the job were safe and could be provided to anyone wanting to delve deeper into whether the building could be saved. SandRidge reports the building’s facade was shaved off and is lost forever.
These two accounts, at first glance, appear to be in direct contradiction of each other. And as we know from the example set by Steve Mason along NW 9, what may appear to be a hopeless cause may simply be a question of commitment. I don’t think anyone would blame Tom Ward or SandRidge for wanting to get rid of the India Temple Building. But it’s up to the members of the Downtown Design Review Committee (some of whom read this blog) to decide how much dillegence is needed to see whether the India Temple Building, as with the original first two stories of the Skirvin, can be restored.
And now for the final target for demolition – the old KerMac Building. Standing at 135 Robert S. Kerr Ave., the 11-story, 155,911-square-foot building was built in 1921 and was once Kerr-McGee’s headquarters.
The old KerMac Building, once home to Capitol Federal Savings and Loan, shown center, with the Braniff Building to the left. Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The KerMac Building would be removed under a plan by SandRidge Energy to create a new southwest entrance to its tower.
McDermid’s one concern with the SandRidge plan is the old KerMac Building. He knows it can be salvaged – it was part of the Braniff Towers project. And even today there are developers who have make their interest in converted to housing known to SandRidge.
So the building can be salvaged, and there are good prospects for adaptive re-use. Further, SandRidge Energy plans to create an open plaza where there is now a strong urban streetfront. The entrance would create a gap – the sort of thing that pedestrian consultant Jeff Speck described as a sap on walkability and urban life.
Folks, this is the plan. But it’s not final, and there’s a process ahead for determining whether some, all or none of SandRidge’s planned demolition comes to pass. In my stories today, I quote historian Bob Blackburn in pointing out that preservation doesn’t mean saving EVERY old building. Let the discussion begin.
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Comments
Great piece, Steve.
A couple of things:
First, the India Temple building served as the temporary quarters for the Oklahoma Legislature From 1913-1917, until the State Capitol was completed, so that’s 4 years of state government, after Oklahoma City became the capital city, are involved, not a small chunk of time. And like you said, and also as far as I know, this is the oldest standing building in downtown Okc. Given that double whammy pair of distinctions, if it is salvageable (as you queried), it would be a great shame to see it go.
Second, the original Oklahoma Savings & Loan. Its 1st 3 stories were constructed in 1926 and 5 stories were added during 1928-1929. At some point, at least by 7/1938, it became Capitol Federal S & L, which continued to be true at least until 2/1957.
What is “new info” to me is that this building was ever used as a YMCA and how the above facts dovetail into its use as a Y. The now-demolished “new” Y opened in 1952 at 5th & Robinson, and an older one was destroyed as part of the Braniff Building construction in 1930-31. Soooo … when was it that this building was used as a YMCA? I’ve not been able to find anything about that.
If the facade can be removed from the India Temple building, I think it would be a terrible shame to tear it down. I realize it’s more expensive to renovate than to build new, but we’ve lost so many downtown buildings to urban renewal. And, as someone said elsewhere, nothing should be torn down unless there are plans and knowledge that building on that site will proceed immediately. These are uncertain economic times, and it would be a terrible shame to create empty space.
I’m not sure Oklahoma City needs any more “open” spaces. Except for an urban plaza strategically located and suited for urban needs. I don’t think we need to ruin a wonderful piece of historic architecture and a strong urban streetfront in order to accomplish that need for public spaces.
This is incredible. Sonic builds its own corporate HQ in Bricktown, then Devon commits $750m on its corporate HQ. Now, SandRidge raises the ante by another $300m.
I agree that demolishing a historic building should not be done unless it is beyond repair, but a corporation does not spend this kind of money on its HQ, only to move to Houston in a few years, like so many energy companies in Tulsa have done. This represents SandRidge’s commitment to OKC.
Which leads me to a “what if” moment.
What if, other companies’ HQs were relocated to downtown? Companies like MidFirst, Cox, or if we could lure an out-of-state company to relocate their Corporate HQ? Their commitments to Downtown could be equally awesome.
I am very weary of the open lawn that is being created by the destruction of two buildings adjacent to the Sandridge Tower. It would leave an open lot, this is what I presume Steve is talking about when he says plaza, that goes straight through to AT&T. I do not like that and I strongly oppose that.
Also, this new “multi-story” building that is to replace the 14 story parking garage and offices better had not be a few floors. If they’re going to tear that pretty big building out, they need to replace it with a similiarly significant development. Putting a basketball court on top isn’t going to makeup for a 5 story building.
But. I’m going to hold my tongue as I really am not informed of the plan yet and like Steve said, these are not final plans. This is exciting news however.
Following up on my above comment, today I’ve (again) learned something I didn’t know. The Y wasn’t part of the Oklahoma Savings & Loan. The YMCA, built in 1918, was at 125 NW 2nd, and it served as the YMCA until 1952 when the new Y opened at NW 5th & Robinson. Link to early YMCA postcard. Link to the part of Vanished Splendor that describes the postcard.
I worked in the India Temple building back in 2006, working as a contractor for Kerr McGee’s legal department. This was right at the time when they were spinning off their chemical division into Tronox (and negotiating their sale to Anadarko, as we later discovered). I’m not an engineer or an architect, but I spent nearly a year working inside that building, and I’m pretty familiar with it.
There’s little left inside to show its historic value. It looks much like any office building. There are asbestos issues, the floors need support (you can’t set too many file cabinets in one spot). But the elevators still work, it’s connected to the Conncourse, and the lights and plumbing are still functional. Plus, there’s a lot of history there. The 4th floor is where the Kerr McGee execs used to take their secretaries for various… indiscretions. There was even an old mattress still on the floor there back in ’06.
Personally, I think there’s a large enough entrance to the Kerr McGee plaza. There’s no utility gained by tearing down one of the oldest buildings in the city. There’s definite history in this building, even if it doesn’t show on the inside. Let’s renovate it and turn it into something useful, rather than tear it down. Sandridge isn’t Devon, and they’ve had some serious money issues lately. I doubt they’ve got their new planned construction totally financed already.
Steve, great article on the history of these buildings! One possibility Tom Ward could consider for the India Temple building. See if he could get it registered as a National Historic Landmark, and then get tax breaks or other funding to renovate the building and restore the former glory. I personally would like to see the interior of the building. I worked at KMG in the 90s but never had the opportunity to see the interior of this building.
[...] aesthetically to remove the building simply to increase the visibility of the new SandRidge plaza. Steve Lackmeyer noted a few weeks ago: [T]he building can be salvaged, and there are good prospects for adaptive re-use. Further, [...]
[...] Lackmeyer’s December 6, 2009, blog article contains a fascinating bit of discussion from architect Anthony McDermid (also a member of the [...]
Steve,
Do you think you could get those plans from Bob Maidt Jr. of the facade on the India Temple building?
A star reporter like you can do it!