American Parking pays $2.16M for Tulsa's first parking garage

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jan 17, 2008 by Kirby Lee Davis

American Parking of Tulsa paid $2.16 million for Tulsa's first automobile parking garage structure.

Tulsa County Courthouse records indicate KCAH LLC of Tulsa paid about $9,000 per parking spot to KC Auto Hotel LLC for the seven- story facility at 313 S. Cincinnati, boasting about 239 parking spots. That price falls close to national estimates of parking garage construction costs.

KCAH is owned by George Shaffer, who owns American Parking. That operator of more than 60 facilities in Oklahoma and Texas has managed the K.C. Auto Hotel for several years, with monthly rates ranging from $32 to $135.

KC Auto Hotel LLC was owned by John Craig, identified as a former partner of Shaffer's who now lives in New Mexico, and executed by John C. Craig Jr. Neither Shaffer nor Craig were available for comment. Built and expanded in the 1920s, the K.C. Auto Hotel represents Tulsa's first attempt at a parking garage business, according to period Tulsa Tribune and Tulsa Daily News reports archived at the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture.

K.F. Connor had operated a successful auto repair shop at the site when he was approached about building the garage. Observers hoped it would help people overcome fears of driving downtown to attend the theater. It also would pacify those who worried their cars could be stolen, fenders crumpled or the paint scratched - all issues that remain concerns today. With G.D. Morrow and another partner, Connor funded construction of the four-story building. There he ran a 24/7 auto repair facility and offered several other services, including car washes. Within a year the owners hired G.D. Morrow and Son Construction to add another three stories, with parking available on the roof. That raised the complex to 600 parking spaces at that time.

American Parking, which operates parking lots and garages not just in Tulsa, but Oklahoma City, Dallas and San Antonio, not only manages the K.C. Auto Hotel, but a single, 1,800-square-foot loft inside the garage that the Tulsa World dates back to the 1960s.

Shaffer has said the loft carries a long waiting list.