So This is How We’re Going to Start 2011?
New Year's Eve revelers traveling along Classen last night saw one of the last truly urban stretches being devasted by flames. Photo courtesy of Sid Burgess.
Looks like these buildings are now history. It’s not that we weren’t warned that these buildings, built in the 1920s, were being targeted for extinction. Owners tried twice to get permission to tear them down as the area’s Asian community continues to erect concrete block retail strips with cute nods to the area’s emphasis on Asian design.
On the second go-around, with the local preservation community sidelined, exhausted from their unsuccessful fight with SandRidge Energy over its demolition plans, the owners of this strip succeeded in winning approval for demolition.
On Twitter, some on are asking… was this really an accidental fire? That’s a question that awaits the fire department now. Meanwhile, let’s look back at what this block looked like. Were there really no development options with this? Sit back and discuss.
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Comments
That’s too bad. Somebody probably stands to get a check that will cover more than the cost of building their brand new strip mall. Suspicious?
Steve, have they already gotten their development approved, or just the demolition? That really was a much nicer building than it ever got credit for being. If you look up close, it had some very interesting Mediterranean influences. It was just painted all kinds of ghastly colors and covered in hideous awnings.
If this becomes another crappy pseudo-Asian strip mall I will very quickly begin to regret that the city ever invested in the Asian district when there are so many other more strategic areas of the north side for community improvement. If all they want to do is tear down buildings and put up bland EIFS strip malls with tacky pseudo-Asian accents then it’s a lost cause and I don’t care enough to argue for a suburban Asian district when there are so many other urban struggles in OKC.
I wonder if any of those property owners or anyone with the Asian district has any idea about a Classen Blvd masterplan. What is their goal in terms of building their community?
Re: suspicious. Any time you have a fire in a building to which gas and electric are disconnected (and I assume that’s the case here), it’s pretty likely that the fire has some human component. But it’s a heck of a leap to go from that to the (irresponsible, IMO) suggestion of arson for profit. I wouldn’t draw any conclusions until OCFD has had its say.
I’d like to know more about this building’s history. Surely someone knows.
man, this is sad. i was just by there about a week ago, and noticed it was unoccupied (with reminiscence of the classen of my youth).
i wonder why okc is embracing the asian district, but not capitol hill. the difference there since the “anti-immigrant” bill is startling. i’ve watched britton crash and burn, classen crash but mutate into the asian district, stockyard city and paseo crash and come back… makes you wonder if we can replicate success beyond three (four, if you count bricktown separately) areas.
David, the key to your statement may lie in it isn’t “anti-immigrant” but anti-illegal immigrant. Not saying that everyone in Capital Hill is illegal, but odds are (by the statistics) that a greater percentage of illegals are in that area than the Asian District.
Most don’t have any problems with hard-working people born here or elsewhere as long as they play by the rules and obey our laws.
If I were to move to another country, I would expect and no doubt it would be expected that I abide by the rules & laws of that country. The same should be expected and enforced here.
larry, i have actually known some illegal immigrants. they hailed from switzerland, austria, and italy. every one had overstayed their visa, and started a business, employing americans. virtually nobody cared, which i found surprising.
i have also had a couple of american-born-and-raised hispanic friends tell me that the current political climate makes them feel nervous and somewhat unwelcome here. go figure.
Illegal is illegal no matter what country or ethnic background they have. If they are here illegally, the same enforcement of the rules should apply. That was a challenge I put out to every anti-HB 1804 that I met (claimed it was anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican, racist etc). The challenge? Read the bill and show one word, phrase, sentence, paragraph etc that supported what they claimed. Nothing but the chirping of the crickets were heard.
those must be the same crickets i hear chirping on commerce street now that i couldn’t hear 3 years ago.
david,
What is it about the “current political climate makes them feel nervous and somewhat unwelcome here”?
What businesses have closed? Most new businesses don’t make it past the 3 year mark, so is this out of the norm? How does it compare to business failure in other areas of the Metro?
I would guess it was started by indigents trying to stay warm. That’s a fairly common occurence in winter.
I noticed this morning water gurgling up all over the parking lot. I suspect the weight of the fire engines broke some already fragile pipes.
I remember what ths building looked like in the seventies, before it was painted over. I’ll miss it.