OKC Real Estate Briefs: September 17, 2004

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Sep 17, 2004 by Ted Streuli

The downtown real estate rumor mill is grinding out a gem, but everyone's lips are sealed when it comes to confirmation or denial. Word is that the Colcord building at 15 N. Robinson might become a boutique hotel.

Word is that Tulsa developer Paul Coury has his eye on the project, which is a pretty logical fit. The University of Tulsa grad manages more than 20 commercial properties and has an ownership interest in at least 15 sites. Coury's Tulsa projects have included development of the Brooktowne residential and commercial community at 46th and Peoria, and the construction of the Cottages of Maple Ridge at 22nd and Boston, with plans in the works for The Tudors, adjacent to the River Trails and Boulder Park.

But Coury's big coup was the rebirth of The Ambassador Hotel. It was built in 1929 by Gen. Patrick Hurley to house oil barons while their mansions were being built, but the Ambassador saw its last guests with the oil bust and closed in 1987 as an apartment building of sorts. Coury led a group that bought the 10-story Mediterranean jewel in 1997 and spent $5.5 million restoring it to its former glory. Could he do it here with the help of some Tax Increment Financing District funds? Since Coury isn't returning phone calls on the subject, one can only speculate.

First Ward

The building that once housed Montgomery Ward at Heritage Park Mall will go on the auction block at 11 a.m. Sept. 30 with a starting bid of $100,000. The multiple-bankrupt retailer (it filed in 1997 and again in 1999) closed its last 250 stores at the beginning of 2001, bringing an end to 128 years of nationwide business.

The company was generally credited with inventing not only mail- order shopping but also the creation of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. No, really. You can look it up.

Ward's, which was owned by a General Electric subsidiary by then, spent a bundle remodeling the 144,000-square-foot Heritage Park Mall site and others just weeks before the stores were shuttered for good. The store will go with the gavel, but not so the rest of the beleaguered mall. It's under contract for $4.7 million to a local buyer who prefers not to be identified here. But he's having second thoughts.

It needs a big bag of money and if you don't have a big bag of money you might just fail, he said. Of course, if Midwest City is willing to shoulder some of the risk, he might be willing to go for it after all.

Second Ward

In case you've been living with your head under a rock for the past several months, you should know that Oklahoma City's first Montgomery Ward store, the one at 500 W. Main St., is about to become a luxury mid-rise apartment building complete with fitness center, shops and restaurants called The Montgomery.

That project, courtesy of Dick Tanenbaum, is slated to have its first tenants unloading their moving vans on Oct. 1. What I know is that there's a restaurant going in that plans to sell alcohol because there was an ABC-2 permit application for that address on the city council agenda this week. What I don't know - and no one is even willing to whisper about - is what the restaurant will be or who's behind it. The name on the application is their representative, attorney Eric Groves.

The one thing I do know, however, is that Councilman Larry McAtee, Ward 3, has a piece of the action. He recused himself from the liquor license discussion, citing a conflict of interest. His conflict remains undisclosed as the good folks in his office say he's unavailable until after Sept. 22.

They all had a cold one

More than 150 people loaded onto tour buses last week to see what's going on in the world of Midwest City economic development. Since no one could be expected to sit on a bus for three hours after the coffee clutch that started things off at Rose State College, there was a well-planned rest stop at 10:15 at the new IBC bank branch. Along with the cookies, what did the bankers serve? What else? Cold bottles of IBC root beer, which they don't make at the bank.

Not in our store you don't

Wal-Mart sold a 126,288-square-foot building it wasn't using anymore at 1401 SW 74th St. for $3.7 million. The buyer, Burk Collins and Co. of Hurst, Texas, bought the property but won't say how it's going to be used. They did say there would be a press conference in a few weeks. What's known is that it won't house a general merchandise retail discount store of more than 50,000 square feet, nor will it be home to a wholesale membership club, wholesale discount club, grocery store, supermarket or pharmacy/drugstore. As the folks at Wal-Mart usually do, those stipulations are in the deed.