So let’s take the time machine back and visit the hospital during its glory days, and then not so glorious days:

Undated earlyday photo of Mercy Hospital courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society

Moving day, 1974 - Mercy Hospital leaves MidTown, relocates to Memorial Road west of May Avenue.

The Edge, as shown at NW 13 and Walker.

So how did we get here? How did we get to January, 2012, and residents of Heritage Hills are surprised that a housing development is about to go up on the former site of Mercy Hospital?
First, let’s go back one decade. Mercy Hospital abandoned its downtown home and opened a new complex in the mid-1970s in what was then the sticks – Memorial Road just west of May Avenue.
The old Mercy hospital ended up boarded-up blight on the neighborhood for a quarter century.

In the late 1990s the city finally got around to securing control of the block and the Urban Renewal Authority was tasked with finding a developer for the site.

Nicholas Preftakes made the first pitch in 1998. The $11.8 million proposal, the first downtown area housing attempted by Urban Renewal in 20 years, called for 16 two-story town houses, 72 city villas and 52 apartments. A rendering from the project shows the apartment building would have been six stories high.
The project was canceled in 2002 after Urban Renewal commissioners refused a request by Preftakes to acquire a duplex just south of the site. That duplex, once criticized by neighbors as a public nuisance, was later renovated into law offices.
The Urban Renewal Authority made another request for proposals for the site in 2006. By this time downtown housing was gaining momentum with the success of the Deep Deuce Apartments and other for-sale and rental housing popping up throughout downtown.
Two developers stepped up on this second go-round.

Marva Ellard pitched a plan dubbed Mercy Park, a $48.3 million development that would include 111 apartments, 22 for-sale condominiums, restaurant and retail, and a 72-room hotel. The Mercy Park proposal called for a restaurant, deli, shops and a grocery to face NW 13 between Dewey and Walker. Condominiums would face Walker while apartments would be built along NW 12 and Dewey. A hotel would be built in the center of the development, with underground parking serving the entire complex.

Chuck Wiggin, meanwhile, pitched Overholser Green, a $61.3 million development consisting of four buildings, four- to eight-stories high, with 109 upscale for-sale condominiums built above underground parking.
Wiggin’s proposal was chosen, only to fall through due to the economic crash of 2008. Wiggin attempted to persuade Urban Renewal board members to keep his contract in place and allow him to adapt his proposal into apartments. The board instead decided in 2010 to put the project back out for bid. And this time they received five responses – though one, pitched by Home Creations, was deemed significantly out of line with what was being sought by Urban Renewal due to its mix of office space and low threshold of investment.

This time Wiggin proposed a five-story complex with 24,000-square-feet for restaurants and retail, a 375-car garage, featuring 200 rental units with monthly rates between $600 and $1,900.

Ellard pitched a proposal again as well, this time submitting plans for a 150-unit, four-story complex that would have included enough parking to share with the nearby Unitarian Church and a daycare center.

This time around, the competition was joined by Richard Tanenbaum, whose previous residential downtown development included the Park Harvey Building and The Montgomery.  Tanenbaum and his son Stephen proposed a four-story, 268-unit apartment complex with a pool and courtyard.

Original Dewey garage facade.

The Edge has undergone some changes since it was first proposed (as shown in the above rendering). In response to a push by the Urban Renewal board and neighborhood advocates, a retail mix was added along Walker Avenue.  The amount of stucco facade was reduced, and garage was relocated to where it will be far less visible to the street.

These deliberations were open to the public; I even did live blogging and in-depth evaluations of each proposal.

Building permits are being sought, financing is apparently set, zoning is in place. All that remains, really, is a routine replatting of the block and approval for the exterior design by the Downtown Design Committee, which meets on Thursday. One variance is being sought – for a three-foot parapet to screen rooftop equipment.  The Mercy site has never been this close to development – and after 13 years of similarly-sized developments being pitched and attempted for the block, it now has the attention of the Heritage Hills neighborhood one block to the north.

It’s a group that has done a lot of good for MidTown. But it’s a private group – one that denied me access to its deliberations as it considered housing proposals for property it controls at NW 10 and Hudson (the deal ultimately went to a hospice group, though we’ve yet to see any work commence).

The Heritage Hills residents opposing The Edge repeatedly quote from a study done with the 10th Street Medical Corridor, in which one section is devoted to the former Mercy hospital block. Planning Director Russell Claus noted the study was a snapshot in time, one that was written to address the area as it existed in 2005/2006 – before the emergence of the Walker Avenue shops and revitalization of several former flop houses in MidTown into upscale apartments. It is a document that was intended to be guidance, but not a statutory restriction, to development of the area. Note that within the language of this section is its own description – “design recommendations.” No more, no less.

The section of the study addressing the Mercy hospital block, set to be developed as The Edge, is presented for readers to decide for themselves the significance of the document six years after it was written:

Opportunity Area “A” comprises a single vacant parcel two blocks north of St. Anthony and directly adjacent to the residential neighborhoods of Heritage Hills and Mesta Park. The block has great access and visibility from both 13th Street and Walker Avenue. This 3.2-acre site is ideal for new moderate-density residential development to serve the needs of the hospital employees and others working in the area and downtown.

New residential uses south of 13th Street will advance the broader objective of developing this area as a transition zone between the neighborhoods to the north and downtown to the south. Medium-density housing would be most effective in tying these areas together. Because the site is already vacant and owned by a single entity—a city agency involved in redevelopment—this area is well suited to be developed early, as one of the first major residential construction projects in the district.

STRATEGY

Given the proximity of this site to the southern boundary of Heritage Hills, the character and scale of the architecture should address the edges of the site in different ways. At 3.2 acres, the site is large enough to accommodate a range of housing configurations. Several housing types can be dispersed on the site, with smaller footprints facing 13th Street and larger buildings oriented to the south and 12th Street. This variation in scale will help to create the desired transition from the residential scale of northern neighborhoods to the institutional scale of St. Anthony.

Access to parking for the new development should be located off of Dewey and Walker streets so that additional curb-cuts off of 13th Street are not required. The parcel is large enough for surface parking to be in the middle of the site surrounded by buildings that shield the parking from the street. In addition to parking on the interior of the block, on-street parking should be encouraged.

Urban design recommendations for Opportunity Area A:

Surface parking for new residential development should be kept to the inside of the block, shielded by buildings that form its perimeter. Direct driveway access to the site from 13th Street should not be permitted; parking access should occur from the north-south streets of Dewey and Walker.

Residential density on the site should range between 25 to 40 units per acre. Some small-scale, ground-level commercial uses could occupy the corner of 13th and Walker, drawing pedestrian activity from the restaurant and commercial uses beginning to cluster on Walker Avenue to the south.

Priority Actions:

Release the Request for Proposals (RFP) for developers to redevelop this site calling for new residential
uses.
Initiate a site survey and subsurface exploration to identify any potential obstacles to development such as utility lines and abandoned foundations from the former Mercy Hospital.

In today’s paper we got to see the case presented by some Heritage Hills residents against The Edge, the 252-unit apartment complex about to be built in MidTown. Note, it’s not in Heritage Hills – it’s in MidTown. As with any complicated story, it’s challenging to get every detail into a daily news story. But this story represented my best first shot at delving into this debate.
Let’s start with some basic information first:
- Gary Brooks was selected in what was an open and transparent competition with three other well respected developers. When potential unfairness was noted on this site, including the prospect that some of the developers wouldn’t get to make a presentation to the Urban Renewal board, the board quickly reversed course. I also witnessed first hand a board membership that seemed to sway back and forth between three of the four proposals (for the life of me I can’t figure out why a rather wonderful proposal by Marva Ellard didn’t gain any traction). From information I was gleaning before the final Urban Renewal vote, it appeared possible that Richard Tanenbaum was going to win the contract. Even Brooks himself appeared resigned to losing the vote when I encountered him 30 minutes before while fueling our vehicles at a downtown convenience store. I then witnessed a vote that almost seemed to swing toward Chuck Wiggin before ultimately coming down on the side of Brooks.
- This project was covered extensively in The Oklahoman, on OKC Central, in the Journal Record and in The Oklahoma Gazette. You couldn’t escape it on the popular online community forum OKC Talk.
- As I reported in today’s story, Heritage Hills was represented in a committee review of the development proposals by Steve Jacobi, board president of the neighborhood association Historic Preservation Inc. It was during this process that issues of density and design were delved into and settled (a discussion that took place a year ago).
- This site is zoned for apartments.
- This site falls into an area represented by the Urban Neighbors residents association. I’ve heard from multiple members, including an officer, who are VERY unhappy that the Heritage Hills residents have tried to dictate terms in an area that is not in their neighborhood and did not bother to bring their concerns to Urban Neighbors, which does represent MidTown.
Now, that all said, let’s look at the emails that got people talking:

First up – a January 11 email from Alicia and Scott Champion, who live on NW 14 (there is a half-block buffer zone of office buildings separating The Edge site from Heritage Hills. Midtown is south of NW 13, Heritage Hills begins at NW 14):

Subject: The edge – PLEASE REPLY – AGREE

Heritage Hills residents

Have you been made aware that there is a new 68 ½ foot at the tallest point or 5 story apartment complex in the works to be constructed on the south side of the street at 13th& Walker? This is a 252 unit project that will have 232- 1 bedroom units, 10- 2 bedroom units, and 10-3 bedroom units and the “asking” rent price for a 1 bedroom is $1,000.00 a month. The Edge apartments are supposed to be “high end” and I do not doubt that they won’t be but, the scale of the project is enormous! If you are concerned about what an apartment complex will do for your property value in the next 20 years please read on.

A height of 6 stories (at the tallest point and a common green space area) is a big invasion of privacy for those resident that not only on the “border” the south side of 14th but all of 14th street. If you are walking along the street on 14th you will indeed be able to see the complex cascading over the roof tops and trees. While we earnestly are passionate about development in and around our neighborhood a lot of us are not excited about a complex. Most of the neighbors would envision for housing

· Ownership of condominiums

· No more than 3 stories in height

· Gradual sky line transition along 13th street into downtown

If you think this is a great idea for our neighborhood to have so many transients across the road then please read no further but if you are concerned about

· Noise

· Traffic

· Increase in classroom size at Wilson School

· Foot traffic and pet traffic along our streets and parks (we pay for the upkeep!)

· Electrical Infrastructure i.e. more rolling brown outs. Especially if you are on Saint Anthony’s grid

· Plumbing Infrastructure

· Litter (Pet litter as well)

· Increase of potential crime

· Balconies without covenants

· Retail on Walker without restrictions

Then please join us and sign this petition. If you are against a complex of this size going into our backyards make your voice heard. We are in need of signatures for the Emergency Historic Preservation Meeting January 12, 2012.

We are not downtown and don’t need density we are midtown and need to protect what we and sustained all of these decades. We need all the support that we can get. HPI was created for this very thing! Our founders Watson, Coley, Nesbit all thought of the importance of our neighborhood and wanted to not only protect the interests and historical value of our homes but our boarders too! The South side of 14th, north side 22nd and all the streets along Broadway and Classen Boulevard are the true boarder s of the neighborhood and we must protect our area. We have collected millions in our endowment fund to help protect ourselves and our investments. Let’s face it, the developers wouldn’t be here if it were not for many of us pouring thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars into persevering our homes. We need to make sure the development will be good for the entire neighborhood and corridor between midtown and downtown.

We want to supply HPI a list of names of neighbors in Heritage Hills who are against the Complex. (Our neighbors in Mesta are joining in our efforts as well).

Many thanks.

Alicia and Scott Champion

Now, let’s look at yet another email, this one sent out on January 10 by another resident on NW 14, Darci Schafer:

Subject: Re: “The Edge” Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the Downtown Design Review Committee (DDRC) Thursday, January 19 at 9:30am, OKC Municipal Building, 200 N. Walker, 3rd Floor

All concerned neighbors are encouraged to attend the Downtown Design Review Committee (DDRC) Thursday, January 19th at 9:30am, OKC Municipal Building, 200 N. Walker The Downtown Design Review Committee (Betsy Brunsteter, Gigi Faulkner, Mark Grubb, Charles Ainsworth, Richard Tanenbaum, Stan Carroll and Ike Akinwande) will review the design/overall scale and plans for the proposed 252 unit apartment complex *”The Edge.”

The Edge must be approved by the DDRC to become a reality. The meeting begins at 9:30, but the agenda will be posted online closer to the meeting if you want to check the order of business. Their website is www.okc.gov (Click on DDRC.) Parking is challenging there right now, so be prepared. Attendance is of the utmost importance. It is possibly our only chance to have the plans for “The Edge” apartments denied or at least “continued” (delayed). To date, attendance at this meeting is the most important action for concerned neighbors to take.

Any comments or concerns about the potential impact on surrounding neighborhoods may be e-mailed to staff member Scottye.Montgomery@okc.gov who will forward them to the seven-member DDRC.

You may be interested to know the following meetings are also scheduled:

Wednesday, January 11 Meeting of Mesta Park’s Executive Board

Thursday January 12 Special Meeting of HPI, Heritage Hills’ Board

Most of you are receiving this e-mail because of prior attendance and interest. If you are new on the mailing list, this is regarding the issue of the *Edge Apartments that are planned for the old Mercy site on the entire block between 13th and 12th Street between Walker and Dewey. This apartment complex would be a building four and five stories tall with balconies. There would be a minimal lot line (no external green space), 252 units (200 would be 1-bedroom; 10 two-bedroom and 10 three-bedroom), and at least at least 400 cars could be associated with this property.

Concerns include but are not limited to:

Overall scale of the project/compatibility of the design

Traffic impact (400+ cars)

Utility impact (water and electric power grid) (252 units)

3-4 Levels of balconies (covenants)

Retail (covenants)

Project consultation with neighborhoods to the north/lack thereof

Additional information:

The following is a link provided by one of our neighbors. In 2006 OKC consulted with two firms (of Cambridge MA and St. Louis MO) regarding the City’s plan for NW 10th Street between St. Anthony and OU Medical Center. It spoke specifically about the old Mercy site as a “transition zone” and even recommended density (80-120 units) for a residential project. The Edge doubles (252 units) the recommended amount of units. Pages 20-25 are particularly worth reading as they provide solid recommendations and some helpful visuals.

http://www.okc.gov/planning/tenthstreet/10thstreetreport.pdf

Please feel free to pass this information along. Thank you all for your interest in this matter.

 

Now this email brings up a report the neighbors have been citing – but is it truly relevant to the discussion or binding in this matter? Note they’re citing pages 20-25, which does indeed address the old Mercy hospital site that is now in contention. This is a study; it is not a zoning, design guideline or statutory document governing this property. It is, in fact, the reflection of efforts by a private group whose meetings have been closed to the public and with whom I’ve had difficulty in the past getting information in regard to efforts to redevelop land under its control at NW 10 and Hudson. They are not breaking the law with this lack of transparency – they are, indeed, a private group that has every right not to share every bit of their business with a pesky reporter such as myself. But that also would seem to diminish the importance of this document as being anything but a guide – one that is now six years old and pre-dated most of the development we’ve seen to date in MidTown. Popular restaurants such as Stella’s (where several of the Heritage Hills protesters met after their meeting Thursday night) were not yet in existence. That stretch of buildings, now occupied by shops and restaurants, were still a blighted mess.
This study does not, as I read it, suggest LIMITS on development and density, but rather shows potential outcomes. It is also eclipsed by much more recent studies on walkability, authored by Jeff Speck, and a downtown housing study authored last year that promote urban density and housing development, especially apartments, in MidTown. All three documents are studies, not binding requirements and limitations on development.

So at this point, we have a developer chosen through an open competition. We now know that Heritage Hills was invited to review and evaluate the competing proposals, and that its neighborhood leader did participate and according their records, he kept his board updated on the development discussions. We also know that the project does not conflict with any zoning or city regulations, other than a 3-foot variance being sought at Thursday’s meeting of the Downtown Design Review Committee for a decorative crown element at the rooftop that will screen various air conditioners, building systems, etc. We also know the study cited by Shafer is six years old and does not impose any limits on development of the site, other than to recommend how best to proceed with possible housing.

In terms of the development’s quality, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. At least one of those commenting that the design is substandard in comments posted here at OKC Central and at NewsOK, I know, is directly tied into one of the three losing development proposals.

For those who might think I’m in any way beholden to Brooks, hit “downtown housing” under categories on this blog and review the scrutiny I gave during the selection process and to the Brooks proposal.

I pick apart apparent mis-truths. It’s what I do.

Urban Renewal has had three shots at developing this site, starting with an apartment complex approved in the late 1990s that was to be built by Nicholas Preftakes. Not once while covering this story did I hear any complaints from Heritage Hills about the prospect of apartments across the street, the development’s impact on traffic, noise, crime or the electric grid.

The development fell apart when Preftakes wanted additional properties to be acquired for the project.

Then, in 2006, Chuck Wiggin, himself a Heritage Hills resident, pitched a 109-unit development of for-sale condominiums. The development, approved by Urban Renewal, was to consist of four buildings, four- to eight stories high. Again, not once did I hear of any objections voiced by Heritage Hills. The development fell apart when the condominium market crashed.

So fast forward to 2010; another competition is held by Urban Renewal. A very public bidding process is overseen, with aspects of each bidder’s project reported repeatedly by The Oklahoman, Journal Record and the Oklahoma Gazette. The development also was covered by television.

The winner of the competition, Gary Books, pitched a complex that consists of 252 units, of which 163 are one-bedroom apartments, 79 are two-bedroom apartments, and 10 are three-bedroom apartments.

Rent for the smallest units starts at $1,000 a month and goes up from there.

A lot of comments are suddenly coming out of Heritage Hills about this project. I gave a critical eye to Brooks’ proposal when these bids first came in, and regular readers of OKC Central will recall I pointed out several cases where the evaluation conducted by Urban Renewal staff was flawed. I will use the same critical eye in examining arguments by Heritage Hills against The Edge.

While the story is still in the works, let’s kill another rumor going around in the neighborhood: that this will be  a HUD Section 8 complex. That is entirely false. The Edge will be financed through the same HUD financing program that was used for the Sieber Hotel Apartments. It’s also the same financing mechanism that Heritage Hills resident and competing developer Chuck Wiggin was proposing for his project.

I’ve always had an affinity for the old diner at 1220 N Hudson across from the Sieber. Maybe because of it’s odd size, or it’s age, or simply because Oklahoma City doesn’t have a lot of these quirky little diners left. But just the idea of such a restaurant being around in 2011 appeals to me. Sadly, this building hasn’t had a lot of success with good restaurants. Last year most of what remained of the original diner lay out with the old fashioned coffee bar counter was removed by a Greek restaurant that came and went in just a matter of months.

To be truthful, I tried the restaurant once and never returned. The food wasn’t that good, and if I want to good gyro, the Peacock is just a few minutes down the road at Reno and Walker.

Quyen Le and Bang Bui

The latest restaurant to open, however, is a different story. The food is good, the owners, Bang Bui and Quyen Le, are very nice, and the place feels … comfortable and happy.

As with many first time restaurant operators, the concept needs work. Their Asian food is fantastic (joined by a handful of friends, we’ve tried out several of the dishes and they were all great). But what is a bit odd is to date the owners have shied away from the Asian food that otherwise would make them fairly unique in an area that has plenty of pizza and burger joints, but not a lot of Asian food. The name itself, “Foodies Express,” doesn’t give a great idea as to what the restaurant is, and the sign out front oddly promotes “Asian Gyros & Grill.”

I asked Bui and Le about this this odd choice, and they indicated they had been told the previous restaurant “sold a lot” of gyros (I’m not so sure of that). But they are adjusting their menu and hours, and seem to be refocusing on their Asian food. Now, I’m not a restaurant reviewer. But for MidTown to re-emerge as a truly mixed downtown neighborhood, it will need places like this – little restaurants where one can order pot stickers and teriyaki chicken to go at 8 p.m. without going out to NW 23 and Classen and beyond.  It’s a little spot where a hot bowl of egg drop soup is perfect on a cold autumn day.

Foodies Express is a work in progress – but it’s good to see a young couple like this taking their best shot at helping make MidTown the next great downtown neighborhood.

News from Kaisers:

On October 22, 2011 Kaiser’s American Bistro will be hosting its first annual Sock Hop in celebration of the one year anniversary of an Oklahoma landmark.

In October 2010, Kaiser’s resumed operations under restaurant owners Shaun Fiaccone and Kim Dansereau. The two have made the preservation of the history of Kaiser’s a top priority in their business.

Kaiser’s was founded in 1910 on 7th and Hudson. Construction began at its current location on 10th and Walker in 1917 and finished 1918. The building as it is known today was completed in 1928.

Saturday’s Sock Hop will include live music from thespyfm’s Juke Joint Jenni, Elvis impersonator Brian Dunning, a classic car show, and prizes sponsored by COOP Ale Works, The Lost Ogle, and thespyfm. The event is from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. and is 21 and up to enter.

“Kaisers is an integral component of Oklahoma City,” said Shawn Fiaccone, owner. “It represents our collective heritage–who we were then, who we are now and who we will be in the years to come. The building represents our enduring spirit as well as our commitment to the strong core values of servitude. Kaisers is and will continue to be a place for our residents to converge, eat, drink and enjoy.”

A couple weeks back I wrote about some interesting design twists being taken as part of the MidTown Renaissance development being led by Bob Howard, Mickey Clagg and Chris Fleming. I was especially taken by plans to create this public courtyard space in the alleyway between the Guardian Garage building (which is set to be converted to retail and housing) and the Packard Building (which is to be converted to retail and offices).

It’s an amazing transformation taking place, considering that for years the building at NW 10 and Robinson, being rechristened by its historic name of Packard Building, looked like this:

Pat's Lounge was for years the only tenant left in the Packard Building.

This is how I always remembered the Packard Building - boarded up and not great to look at. This photo was taken in 1978, shortly after I moved to Oklahoma City and Robinson was the major north-south road into the central business district.

This boarded-up building stayed, as it appears in this photo, though about 2008. Think about that....

Now we get a better look at what the building looked like before it was boarded up.

One last view....

The Hotel Marion at NW 10 and Broadway is probably familiar to most OKC Central regulars. It’s a heart breaker of a building that passed through several owners before landing with the MidTown Renaissance group a few years ago. Give Bob Howard, Mickey Clagg and Chris Fleming credit, they’ve shown their dedication toward renovating and properly restoring their older buildings, but the Marion is the one building that eludes even bravest of souls in the development world.

Downtown Brainstorming is just that – using the collective experience, observations and imagination of OKC Central readers to help solve problems such as the Marion. It will be done when the key decision makers indicate they welcome such input, and in this case, we have the go-ahead from Mr. Howard himself.

Before getting into the complications surrounding the Marion, let’s revisit some stories about the hotel’s history that help show why it deserves a new shot at life.

The Hotel Marion in its heyday of the mid-20th century. Photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The hotel was built in 1908, making it, I believe the oldest surviving structure downtown after the razing of India Temple last year. In 2006, after the building was bought by MidTown Renaissance, I heard from one of the descendants of the hotel’s original owners. J. Malcolm Haney’s grandmother, Bess L. Haney, operated the hotel from 1946 to 1971.

Malcolm correctly recalled the hotel’s east facade for years had a sign that boasted it was “The Nicest Small Hotel You’ll Find.”

“This place has a very special place in our family’s past,” Haney told me. “Our safe haven was staying at the Marion with Bessie in room 110, which had two single beds … Many of Bessie’s rooms were occupied by permanent residents, including three terrific small apartments in the basement. It was the last place many army recruits stayed before they shipped off to boot camp because the U.S. Army recruiting center was across the street.”

Haney’s cousin Bob Villareal recalled the hotel’s telephone booth had a ventilation fan that turned on upon entry.

“You could put your finger in the fan without injury,”

Villareal said. Villareal still remembers the hotel’s corner room, home to an old radio and his grandmother’s parakeet. Photographs from Bess Haney’s lifetime were displayed throughout the hotel.

“I’ll never forget the smells in that old place,” Villareal said. “There was a certain aura about the hotel that’s hard to put in words, but it always felt peaceful and happy. Of course, it was never the same without Bessie. She was the heart of the Marion.”

More recently, my worthy competitor Brianna Bailey at the Journal Record shared even more about the hotel’s history. She shared how the Marion was next to an Army recruiting station, and the Haneys saw countless young servicemen from across the state off to the Vietnam and Korean wars over the years.

Malcolm Haney told Brianna about how the hotel’s old-fashioned soda pop machine that would dispense soft drinks in glass bottles for 10 cents.

“Bessie had an old-fashioned telephone switchboard and would patch people through to the rooms,” Malcolm Haney said. “It was a warm family place and Bessie was the matriarch of the family.”

So what went wrong?

Haney told Bailey that time was the enemy with downtown descending into decline in the 1970s. Chain hotels drew customers away from the Marion.

“Bessie fought the battle of any small hotel operator against the large chain hotels and she fought the downfall of downtown of ’60s and ’70s,” Malcolm Haney told Bailey. Bess Haney’s five children asked their then-elderly mother to retire from the Marion in the 1970s, and she died in 1984 at the age of 95.

The Hotel Marion in the late 1970s.

So we have a nice historical, architectural gem with a warm and fuzzy history to make us all go “awwwwwwwwww.” With that done, let’s get the harsh slap of reality started.

The building is a mess. The interior consists of rotting wood. The roof is barely there. As I pointed out on this blog a few months ago, the dreadful appearance of jigsaw cracks has emerged along the building’s corners.

See a jig-saw line going down the corner of an old building may not be a good omen of what's to come.... Preservationists take note - this is one of the city's oldest structures.

Here’s the good news: Bob Howard KNOWS he’s going to lose money with this building. He is no fool. And as Rep. David Dank pushes to eliminate historic tax credits, understand it’s buildings like this that become impossible to save without such assistance. Tax credits saved the Skirvin hotel. Tax credits saved the Gold Dome. Tax credits saved the Sieber.

But tax credits won’t save the Marion. It’s just not enough. Howard says he’s prepared to make this his contribution to the community. He appreciates the history and architecture of the Marion. And if money were the only concern here (understand, however, Howard isn’t going to bankrupt himself on this either), then I doubt the Marion would be our first Downtown Brainstorming candidate.

Talking to Howard and his partner Fleming, it’s clear that one risks killing the Marion if one is to save it.

The interior must be gutted. That means that support beams must be put in to prop up the facade walls much as Marva Ellard did with the old grocery building section of the Sieber. But the Marion is a very tight spot, locked in by properties with different owners.

It is surrounded by occupied buildings, and the parking is heavily used by the law firm to the west. The street, NW 10, is a major corridor that would be a nightmare to shut down, if city folks were willing to even entertain such a move. And even if the Marion had some working space around it, the engineering on this is a puzzle.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the readers make OKC Central special. The conversations are a step above what’s found elsewhere on the ‘net, including the comment sections on NewsOK. I’m proud of that, far more than anything else I’ve accomplished with this site. You’ve been around the world. You’ve followed urban design closely. You’re argumentative, but respectfully so. You bring new ideas. You love downtown Oklahoma City. You’re proud of what’s been done. You’re not satisfied that enough has been done. You’re always pushing for it to be better. And you want to solve downtown’s biggest problems.

Here’s your chance. Are there landmarks elsewhere in the world that have had similar challenges? How were they overcome? What can be done to make the Marion a feasible renovation?

Now, for some perspective with the help of some photos. Remember, Deep Deuce development got started in 2000. MidTown development got started in 2006. Bricktown, by the way, was started way back in 1979.

Deep Deuce 1998.

Deep Deuce 1998.

Deep Deuce 1999.

Bricktown 1996.