The Theodore
This is a follow-up on a previous post about the
redevelopment of 900 N. Klein.
This building, originally Roosevelt Jr. High School, had long been used by the OKC public schools for administrative offices.
But since they are moving to a new location, the old structure is being re-adapted for new use.
The RFP issued by the city received responses from 3 groups:
- Far Wespen - an east coast development firm
- Carpathia - a mix of OKC and Tulsa developers
- A group headed by Marva Ellard (local developer who is currently working on Villa Teresa)
Apparently,
Carpathia has the winning bid, as the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority (OCRA) has recommended their proposal.
This would still need to be approved by the OKC public school board, but that seems to be very likely.
Carpathia's proposal was the one that emphasized making the redeveloped site a local destination (hotel & entertainment).
The other two submissions mostly concentrated on the housing element.
Perhaps that was the feature that secured their selection.
The Carpathia concept, dubbed
The Theodore converts the old high school building into a 109 room hotel.
Rendering:
The old school auditorium would be converted to a performance space.
Lectures, meetings, concerts, plays, etc. could be hosted here.
(possibly used as a movie theater as well)
The third and fourth floor rooms of the hotel are to be developed in a manner that would make it easy to convert to apartments if it turned out there was market demand for that.
There will also be 3 food and beverage concepts located here
(no word yet on any particular restaurants or eateries that might be involved).
They intend to have two commercial kitchens located on the ground floor -- one on the north end and one on the south.
The smaller building on the site would be used as office space.
Of note: the RFP
requires 500 parking spaces for this site.
Carpathia's proposal only contains 223.
They are working with the city get a variance on this.
If not, they will need to build a parking garage on the the parking lot section in order to meet the requirement.
https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45057&page=2