MidTown Smackdown!
Rick Dowell in MidTown Plaza
OK, I really don’t expect a WWE situation at Wednesday mornings BID board meeting. But it will certainly be lively. Let me elaborate: Rick Dowell is a person people either love or hate. I’ve rarely met anyone lukewarm on the guy who knew him. And that, my friends, is OK.
Rick is going to battle over the name for his corner of downtown – a series of properties he has developed around NW 5 and Walker that he has long called MidTown Plaza. But with renewal of the BID and district identities growing in importance, the MidTown Plaza name is drawing criticism from nearby MidTown and now, I hear, from the Plaza District concerned over district confusion.
The trick is Dowell’s property is in the Arts District, but truthfully, I’ve observed first hand that he’s never been embraced by the emerging Arts District. One anecdote comes to mind quite clearly, when a group of Arts District developers and property owners gathered together to form an “arts quarter” and lined the rooftops with year-round light strings to signify their area – work done with grant money from a local foundation. The project excluded Rick, so he decided to spend his own money on rooftop lighting thinking it was an oversight.
He thought the move would endear him to his neighbors, but did the opposite.
So here’s what I wrote about Rick a couple of years ago:
Rick Dowell knows he is not the most popular guy downtown.
He was once an economics professor at the University of Oklahoma, and he still looks more like a member of academia than an urban developer who loves to take risks.
Dowell isn’t being paranoid about those around him. Peers on the city’s Urban Design Commission (of which he is a member) pretty much trashed his MidTown Plaza development. They didn’t like his conversion of the former Fred Jones Lincoln dealership into offices or the two-story office building he built across the street.
He’s about as popular with the preservationists and design professionals downtown as Rodney Dangerfield’s Al Czervik was with the country club types in the movie “Caddy Shack.”
An entirely different story is told by some of Dowell’s tenants and neighbors. They speak glowingly of him and his work. When Larry and Sara Bonnell decided to open an office downtown, their first instinct was to check out what was being offered by their former Norman landlord: Dowell.
The couple last month were the first to sign a lease and move into one of Dowell’s riskier projects — renovation of a seedy old motel into small offices.
To date, Dowell has renovated six buildings along NW 5 and Walker, has repairs under way in two more and has had good luck leasing up much of the space.
A corner that had nothing but boarded up or abandoned buildings is now humming with activity.
Yet when Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. and the Oklahoma City Planning Department recently began a road show recounting all the development that has transpired downtown in the last decade, the presentation included nothing about Dowell’s work. The presentation did include development to the north and south of his property.
So why the disconnect?
The design community takes issue with his renovations. They argue his red clay tile roofs aren’t appropriate for MidTown or its history. They don’t like that he stripped away the 1947 facade at the former Lincoln dealership or used a stone facade for his new building at the same intersection.
Dowell also is derided for slow progress on his two biggest downtown properties — the former Bob Moore Cadillac dealership and the former Midland Plaza building. He’s criticized as being argumentative and stubborn.
But I’ll throw out another theory and wait for an almost inevitable scolding. Dowell isn’t consulting with preservationists or architects on any of these projects — he’s coming up with the design concepts all on his own.
To many downtown insiders, Dowell is a novice putting his stamp on downtown. But Dowell isn’t too concerned with them. He’s moving forward with MidTown Plaza, with or without the downtown crowd. He argues his inspiration comes from his visits to 34 countries and from downtown’s history. He responds he actually admires architects’ work and boasts a home library filled with photos of historic architecture.
Most of the preservationists and architects who privately (and sometimes publicly) bash Dowell share at least one thing in common with their target: They all have big framed photos on their walls, displaying the neon-lit downtown Oklahoma City of a half century ago.
Maybe the ultimate judgment on Dowell should end with a survey of his work at NW 5 and Walker. Whether it meets with everybody’s approval, when combined with development to the north and south, the blighted scar that once separated MidTown and downtown is fading quickly.
So why does any of this matter? Rick Dowell is gearing up to fight BID renewal if his MidTown Plaza id isn’t recognized by the BID itself.
Get a glimpse of his powerpoint: midtown plaza district presentation amended
Read letters of support Dowell is providing to the BID, including a fascinating history of the area: Dowell support letters
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Comments
Mr Dowell, although unorthodox and unapologetic, deserves to be taking seriously for his contributions to the neighborhood. However, MidTown is MidTown and the Arts District is the Arts District…no need to blur anymore already blurry lines with a new neighborhood that will confuse everyone except Mr Dowell.
Steve, this is very interesting. Thank you for covering the issue. Will you be attending the BID meeting?
Kris – Did you say give him props for originality?? This is a big deal because he is stealing a name of another district… the “Plaza District” http://www.urbanpioneers.net
“The Plaza” has come a long ways in the past few years branding itself on 16th and filling up with tenants. Dowell is just doing what he does best: upsetting the community just to get what he wants.
Just looking over the area, it seems like the development in his area fits much better with Cottage District (hate hate hate that name) and Midtown overall. And with his building and renovations, he’s definitely alluded more to Midtown architecture. Only reason I could imagine Arts District wanting it is if they want it for future expansion, new facilities.
I could very well be missing something Arts District-like on fifth.
Wow. He’s keeping things interesting, huh? Hey, while we’re on the subject of naming – it once annoyed me to no end when a hotel at like I-35 and SE 44 was named the BRICKTOWN INN. And, there’s a convenience store off I-40 and Classen??? that tried to scooch in on the Bricktown branding. Poor passerbys. They’d land in one of those places and no doubt ask, IS THIS BRICKTOWN? All that to say, branding is important, and its foundation can’t be economics, but rather core competencies. Great post, Steve. The title drew me right in. =)
I do not like Dowell’s name for that area, but others seem to be acting like 5 year olds. If he is in the arts district, that district needs to suck it up and include him. If Dowell wants to be part of MidTown or some other district, then he needs to convince the powers that be. But whatever district they decide he is in needs to work with him. Otherwise, they look like petty 5 year olds.
I’m at the meeting now – but it’s overlapping Project 180, so that means I’m at the BID but not 180. As for the apartments, no, they did not go through Urban Design because it was prior to expansion of design review for the central business district and arts district. It did go through design review, however, at Urban Renewal.
Casey – My props were for originality of architecture and development in his region of downtown, not for the name he is proposing.
I’m just gonna say it… the Arts District is a joke. It seems pretty grasping to say “Hmmm, what arts-ish stuff do we have downtown?? Gardens… music hall… memorial… OKCMOA. Now let’s FORCE the creation of a district (the largest downtown) to wrap around the CBD in an inorganic fashion.”
Just doesn’t seem right…
The Myriad Gardens, Cox, and Ford Center should be added to the CBD… Film Row can have Stage Center… Film… Stage.. makes sense to me… and north of 4th (including the Memorial) is MidTown.
Even though most people think of the Music Hall as the Civic Center… actually the whole area is and should be called Civic Center.
The already have a real arts district… it’s called the Paseo.
Oh PS… the Legacy at Arts Central (gag) should be razed.
I agree with Kris, he did something long before anyone else did and I credit him at least a little with Midtown coming as far as it has.
Casey, I am very familiar with downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. I never confuse Midtown Plaza with The Plaza District. I am a big fan of The Plaza District and Midtown.
Why not appease Dowell a bit and extend Midtown to his development and use it as a gateway into Midtown? That is the way I always viewed it anyway.
Well, basically Rick lost this one. I stayed for the rest of the meeting. Someone described it as a bit “painful” and I agree.
He basically has agreed to support “taxing himself” to help fund the BID for several past years. Now he has reached the point where he would like some marketing help but not under the broad “Midtown” name, but the specific name “Midtown Plaza”. The board didn’t go for the “Midtown Plaza” but did officially redistrict the naming map and has officially recognized his development as being in Midtown instead of being and “off shoot” of the Arts District.
The board did say he could market himself as Midtown Plaza on his own dime without contest. My guess is that is exactly what he will do as the “brand” has existed for several years.
I don’t think that he ever imagined that the official Plaza District neighborhood would become an important redevelopment or the Plaza Court building would become such a brand in itself.
I personally will not express an opinion on the architecture or the “office only” developments thus far. But I will give Rick kudos for stabilizing the neighborhood. I can remember the pimps, hookers, and druggies that proliferated the area.
We have regular “petty” vandalism and thefts of air conditioners and such, but the area is dramatically more stable generally speaking.
Dowell has done some great things in that area, and I can’t believe his buildings have been criticized. The stone looks very classy and the new building on the SW corner is some of the highest quality new construction I’ve seen in the city.
That said, I don’t think he should get to declare his development a district. It sounds like the Arts District property owners don’t care to include him, so I think north of 4th should be considered Midtown and “Midtown Plaza” should just be the name of a development, no different than “Legacy at Arts Central” or “The Brownstones at Maywood Park”.
It’s that sort of pettiness exhibited by those who are obviously better than him (tongue in cheek) that can really hurt progress. That area looks pretty good and isn’t it funny how these self-appointed (being appointed by your friends is the same) “experts” in architecture always end up using some nebulous, personally opined standard to prevent progress.
That area has developed its own character, and I like it! It would be nice if he could do some residential and a little retail in the area with the same style so he could have his own mini neighborhood.
I forgot to say before, I call B.S. on whoever said his red clay tile roofs “aren’t appropriate for MidTown or its history.”
There are red tile elements in roofs all over midtown.
The Town House Hotel
Cafe do Brasil
Palo Duro
the little travel agency at 5th and Walker
Plaza Court has tile roof elements but they aren’t red
The new homes in the SoSA district don’t exactly line up with Oklahoma City’s history either. I at least give Mr. Dowell props for boldness and originality. And BTW, the Legacy at Arts Quarter apartments isn’t exactly an architectural gem either. How did that pass the urban design committee?