Life Goes On
The Finley Building in July.
Life goes on. When I left for vacation, the above building was still standing as it had at NE 2 and Walnut for a half century. It had a colorful history – one my friend Doug Loudenback shares here. But the building was in bad shape. It was not a surprise that it was to come down. Plans were announced last month that the site would be cleared to make way for a modern Aloft Hotel with a mix of restaurants and shops – not a bad addition to the Maywood neighborhood (is it in Deep Deuce or Flat Iron? I’m not even sure anymore).
So the site today looked like this:
The future site of the Aloft Hotel - quite a view of the downtown skyline.
The demolition crews aren’t done yet. They’re getting ready for their next project – maybe you’ve heard of it: SandRidge Commons.
Demolition crews are setting up for demolition of buildings surrounding the former Kerr-McGee Tower (now SandRidge Tower). The building shown was built in 1918 as the home of the YMCA, then stripped of its exterior years later and "modernized."
Now that I’ve returned from vacation, I’m determined to pace myself a bit more. I have about a dozen good stories to produce – and I’ll be going through the list one by one, day by day. Have no doubt – there’s a lot going on downtown and if experience is a good guide, it should only get more hectic after Labor Day.
Exciting new developments are about to pop downtown. New businesses are coming in. Yes, there will continue to be disagreements, controversies and some bitter moments. But through it all, there’s a lot of good, fun news to report.
Thanks for being patient as I traveled off to “Vienna” (actually Colorado Springs). I had a great time, I’m back, I’m refreshed and ready to roll.
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Comments
At least the Finley Bldg. will be replaced by something relevant. Hopefully the design doesnt get watered down from whats been shown.
The site of the now demolished Finley Building, soon to be home to the A-Loft, is in the Deep Deuce district.
Steve, could you possible russle us up some plans or renderings of the aLOFT Hotel? We’re dying to see something more than the picture accompanied with the breakout story.
And I can’t wait for your new stuff! I missed reading your site while you were gone.
Michael, I’ll see what I can do on that. Thanks Kent! BTW: I should have a string of interesting stories the next few days.
[...] In fact, the only way they could improve on this sort of thing is by slapping a plaza on it. [...]
I can’t believe we are going to let a company teetering on bankruptcy tear down our city heritage. They should keep that money to pay down debt. They have a negative book value.
They have a paltry 400 employees downtown. How was this farce perpetrated upon us?
This is the just disgusting.
Sandridge stock is near the price point to be delisted. The city council should relieve the city manager of his job and Downtown BID be dismantled.