Tulsa Club Building

[Conan71]

So, I have a lot of questions that the article doesn't answer:

Does Moroney still have to pay the city for all the code violations?  
Can he sign the contract/sell the property while this is being disputed in court?
Who's this Jeffrey Scott guy?  From his website, it looks like he only deals with extremely suburban, car-centric, commercial properties & greenfield development.
http://www.scottrealty.net/index.asp

I guess I'm sterotyping suburban commercial developers, but it doesn't give me the warm fuzzy I'd like to have when considering the future of one of Tulsa's most significant architectural and historic buildings in downtown.  (I guess almost anything is better than Moroney...the only good thing I can say about him is that he didn't raze the building for parking...)  

Oh well, I've got my fingers crossed!  Let's hope for an end to the Moroney impasse, and a bright new future for the Tulsa Club Building.

He paid what I consider a premium for the building in it's present state.

I hope this gets Mr. Moron, er um, Morony out of Tulsa for good.

[custosnox]

He paid what I consider a premium for the building in it's present state.

I hope this gets Mr. Moron, er um, Morony out of Tulsa for good.

Doesn't Moron own another building in downtown as well?  I seem to recall someone mentioning it somewhere or another.

[sgrizzle]

He paid what I consider a premium for the building in it's present state.

I hope this gets Mr. Moron, er um, Morony out of Tulsa for good.

He still has the 5th and Main building.

[Townsend]

"However, the subject contract of sale of real estate does not mention the need to abate the existing nuisance violations, nor does it even refer to this pending lawsuit,"
Edmiston wrote.

Edmiston also states that no proposal has been made to the city in lieu of the ongoing litigation.

"The city has informed Mr. Corns that any reasonable proposal will be given respectful consideration, but, absolutely no settlement offer has been made by Mr. Morony."

I'm not quite all warm and fuzzy on this yet.

Anything is something though.

[Kenosha]

I wouldn't be too quick to judge.  I would say Mr. Scott is likely purchasing it on behalf of someone, and is not himself the developer.  He is also involved in the Tulsa Opera deal to purchase/trade the old Fire Station Numero Uno.  This is all speculation of course.

So, I have a lot of questions that the article doesn't answer:

Does Moroney still have to pay the city for all the code violations?  
Can he sign the contract/sell the property while this is being disputed in court?
Who's this Jeffrey Scott guy?  From his website, it looks like he only deals with extremely suburban, car-centric, commercial properties & greenfield development.
http://www.scottrealty.net/index.asp

I guess I'm sterotyping suburban commercial developers, but it doesn't give me the warm fuzzy I'd like to have when considering the future of one of Tulsa's most significant architectural and historic buildings in downtown.  (I guess almost anything is better than Moroney...the only good thing I can say about him is that he didn't raze the building for parking...)  

Oh well, I've got my fingers crossed!  Let's hope for an end to the Moroney impasse, and a bright new future for the Tulsa Club Building.

[Townsend]

Well the good news I've thought of is if they can fit 20 parking spots in place of the building and charge $75 a month for each one that's only $18,000 annually.  That wouldn't be much of a return on a $1,000,000+ investment.  Heck, even 30 spots is only $27,000.

[PonderInc]

He still has the 5th and Main building.

aka: the Sinclair Building

[Conan71]

Jeff Scott was quoted in the paper this morning as saying he had no idea what he would do with it once he closes on it, only that it's not his intention to raze it.  He'd like to figure out a way to renovate it.

"Scott said he did not intend to demolish the 11-story structure but that he was not sure what to do with it either.

"I know this has been something on everyone's mind and that the building had been allowed to malinger," he said. "What I am hoping is that I am able to find a way to return it to a productive building downtown."

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=16&articleid=20100930_16_A1_CUTLIN891349

[SXSW]

If downtown could use another hotel something like a Magnolia would be perfect for this building.  Smaller, boutique-style hotel located in historic buildings in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Omaha and Bryan, TX.

http://www.magnoliahotels.com/brand.aspx

[OpenYourEyesTulsa]

If downtown could use another hotel something like a Magnolia would be perfect for this building.  Smaller, boutique-style hotel located in historic buildings in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Omaha and Bryan, TX.

http://www.magnoliahotels.com/brand.aspx

I agree.  I stay at the Magnolia in downtown Houston all the time for work and it is a great hotel. 

[OpenYourEyesTulsa]

If downtown could use another hotel something like a Magnolia would be perfect for this building.  Smaller, boutique-style hotel located in historic buildings in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Omaha and Bryan, TX.

http://www.magnoliahotels.com/brand.aspx

I e-mailed Magnolia Hotels after I posted this and they said they looked into the Tulsa Club 3 years ago and at the time the base price was not low enough to make up for the extensive work required to convert it to a hotel.  Their assesment at the time also stated that they thought it would be hard to do as many rooms per floor as they would like to.

[rdj]

I've stayed in the Magnolia Houston and it is a great property.

[Dana431]

Fire brought under control in Historic Tulsa Club building.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101015_11_0_Afrsrg698010

A fire that raged in the Tulsa Club building downtown early Friday was brought under control in little more than an hour after it was reported.

Two firefighters were taken by ambulance to a hospital, but both were in fair condition and neither had life threatening injuries, EMSA Public Information Officer Chris Stevens said.

One suffered from possible heat exhaustion, Tulsa Fire Department Public Information Officer Tim Smallwood said.

The upper floor of the historic highrise, which has been vacant for many years, was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, and they had to force their way into the building, Smallwood said.

"We came in on the first floor and hit every floor on fire and worked our way up," he said.

"Not knowing what was inside or what we were looking for, we took every precaution," he added.

The blaze was reported around 2:30 a.m., and Fire Department officials declared it a three-alarm fire at 2:50 a.m., Smallwood said. By 3 a.m, 12 fire crews were attacking the flames in the nine-story structure, with more crews on the way.

By 3:25 a.m., most of the flames had been extinguished, and Smallwood said the fire was declared under control about 3:40 a.m.

About 5 a.m.,
fire investigators were on scene beginning their inspection.

About 6 a.m., Tulsa Police were called to the building to direct early-morning downtown traffic as fire crews continue to investigate the fire.

Flames had been visible from the windows of the ballroom at the top of the long-vacant building and from the lower level, as well. Smallwood said the blaze was mostly mostly contained to the ballroom – which was gutted – and did not spread to other buildings.

He has not said whether the fire was suspicious. Multiple small fires have been extinguished in the vacant building over the past years.

Just Wednesday a Tulsa County judge ruled in favor of the city of Tulsa in a nuisance-abatement action regarding the Tulsa Club building.

District Judge Deborah Shallcross rejected a request by C.J. Morony of California, owner of the downtown building, to vacate a $331,815 default judgment awarded to the city in October 2008 after Morony did not respond to the city's nuisance abatement lawsuit in Tulsa County District Court.

City officials have struggled for years in efforts to get Morony to address code violations at the vacant building.

In December 2008, the city filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Morony. That case is unresolved.

The Tulsa World recently reported that Morony had found a buyer for the historic structure, but city officials said the deal did not put to rest the litigation between the city and the owner regarding code violations.

Jeffrey Scott of Scott Realty Co. in Tulsa said Sept. 29 that he had agreed to pay $1.1 million to Morony for the building. Scott said he did not intend to demolish the structure, according to a World report.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

By JERRY WOFFORD World Staff Writer

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101015_11_0_Afrsrg698010

[swake]

Fire brought under control in Historic Tulsa Club building.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101015_11_0_Afrsrg698010

A fire that raged in the Tulsa Club building downtown early Friday was brought under control in little more than an hour after it was reported.

Two firefighters were taken by ambulance to a hospital, but both were in fair condition and neither had life threatening injuries, EMSA Public Information Officer Chris Stevens said.

One suffered from possible heat exhaustion, Tulsa Fire Department Public Information Officer Tim Smallwood said.

The upper floor of the historic highrise, which has been vacant for many years, was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, and they had to force their way into the building, Smallwood said.

"We came in on the first floor and hit every floor on fire and worked our way up," he said.

"Not knowing what was inside or what we were looking for, we took every precaution," he added.

The blaze was reported around 2:30 a.m., and Fire Department officials declared it a three-alarm fire at 2:50 a.m., Smallwood said. By 3 a.m, 12 fire crews were attacking the flames in the nine-story structure, with more crews on the way.

By 3:25 a.m., most of the flames had been extinguished, and Smallwood said the fire was declared under control about 3:40 a.m.

About 5 a.m.,
fire investigators were on scene beginning their inspection.

About 6 a.m., Tulsa Police were called to the building to direct early-morning downtown traffic as fire crews continue to investigate the fire.

Flames had been visible from the windows of the ballroom at the top of the long-vacant building and from the lower level, as well. Smallwood said the blaze was mostly mostly contained to the ballroom – which was gutted – and did not spread to other buildings.

He has not said whether the fire was suspicious. Multiple small fires have been extinguished in the vacant building over the past years.

Just Wednesday a Tulsa County judge ruled in favor of the city of Tulsa in a nuisance-abatement action regarding the Tulsa Club building.

District Judge Deborah Shallcross rejected a request by C.J. Morony of California, owner of the downtown building, to vacate a $331,815 default judgment awarded to the city in October 2008 after Morony did not respond to the city's nuisance abatement lawsuit in Tulsa County District Court.

City officials have struggled for years in efforts to get Morony to address code violations at the vacant building.

In December 2008, the city filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Morony. That case is unresolved.

The Tulsa World recently reported that Morony had found a buyer for the historic structure, but city officials said the deal did not put to rest the litigation between the city and the owner regarding code violations.

Jeffrey Scott of Scott Realty Co. in Tulsa said Sept. 29 that he had agreed to pay $1.1 million to Morony for the building. Scott said he did not intend to demolish the structure, according to a World report.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

By JERRY WOFFORD World Staff Writer

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101015_11_0_Afrsrg698010

Very sad. It looks like the building will be very hard to save now.

The city needs to sue the owner(s) for all these fire calls.

[sgrizzle]

Very sad. It looks like the building will be very hard to save now.

The city needs to sue the owner(s) for all these fire calls.

Lawsuits are going well so far. Been suing him for two years to lock the friggin fire escape and that hasn't worked.

The structure may still be just fine. It doesn't look any worse than it did after the last fire.