(PROJECT) Whiskey Business Coming to First Street Lofts

[Cats Cats Cats]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whiskey-Business-Tulsas-Blue-Dome-District/285116624881126

They are selling Cupcakes...  or liquor rather.
Word is the gravel lot behind El Quapo will be available for customer parking.  Not much space but hopefully enough to stop in on your way home, etc.

[jacobi]

We shall see.

[Cats Cats Cats]

We shall see.

That is what I said

Supposedly they are moving again on the building.  I haven't been by the lofts to see if anybody has been working.   

[jacobi]

They have done a bit of work on the building in the last few months.  There is a space next to the area where S&J will presumably be where they could move in.  At last check it didn't really look ready for move in (although, to be fair, not THAT far away).  I don't think a liqour store is really what the blue dome needs before there are ANY residential units down there.  Fortunately the hobos seem to leave this part of downtown alone.

[rdj]

If you make the selection pricey enough the vagrants won't hang around.  Keep it "mid shelf" and up on the liquor and you'll be just fine.

[jacobi]

What will the low rent, no account grad school hipsters like me drink, then?

[rdj]

What will the low rent, no account grad school hipsters like me drink, then?

That's Treats convenience store is for...

[jacobi]

Damn.  I was looking forward to some e&j in a paper sack.

[DowntownDan]

I drive by the building almost every day and I must be missing all this construction activity.  I keep reading these articles about things being built, but I'm just not seeing it.  Maybe they are on a schedule that doesn't coincide with my morning commute.  I really hope this thing finally happens.  I just hope no one gives that guy any more public funds.

[jacobi]

I drive by the building almost every day and I must be missing all this construction activity.  I keep reading these articles about things being built, but I'm just not seeing it.  Maybe they are on a schedule that doesn't coincide with my morning commute.  I really hope this thing finally happens.  I just hope no one gives that guy any more public funds.

It seems to have slowed.  It was all on the first floor.  I think this place is supposed to move into the west side of the ground floor.

[dsjeffries]

I've passed my 10-article-per-month limit on Tulsaworld.com but there's a story in today's paper that says First Street Lofts is being foreclosed upon. Will someone go read the story and give an update on here?

[carltonplace]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=334&articleid=20120213_11_A1_CUTLIN888653

Tulsa could lose $1.3 million due to Blue Dome project delay

Developer Michael Sager is pictured in front of the First Street Lofts at 301 E. First St. After several contract extensions, the project, once estimated to cost $3 million, remains unfinished and faces a possible foreclosure action. Project costs have increased to roughly $5 million. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World
By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer
Published: 2/13/2012  2:24 AM
Last Modified: 2/13/2012  7:58 AM


After several contract extensions, the once-estimated $3 million project, at 310 E. First Street, remains unfinished with an unresolved foreclosure hanging over it and an increased project cost of roughly $5 million.

If the project ultimately fails, the city will likely lose the $1.3 million in Vision funds, which is actually a loan to be repaid and redistributed to other downtown residential housing projects, said Jot Hartley, attorney for Tulsa Development Authority, the city's contracting entity for the projects.

"The best action by the authority to protect the public's money is to have a little bit of continued patience with Mr. Sager," Hartley said. "It isn't going to cost the city any money, and it may result in a completed project, which is everyone's goal."

Developer and owner of the property Michael Sager, principal of Blue Dome Properties LLC, said he is confident his project will be realized.

Sager said he has redesigned the project to have 23 rental units, 32 parking spaces, and a ground floor that houses S&J Seafood Cafe and Oyster Bar restaurant, the Whiskey Business liquor store and an artisan bakery, he said.

Sager's First Street Lofts was one of four projects to receive a portion of the $10 million in Vision 2025 downtown housing funds, which were allocated as 10-year interest free loans to be repaid in a lump sum at the end of the loan period.

Hartley said the city set up the $10 million as "gap funding" or "seed" money for downtown housing projects. The other three projects - Mayo 420 Building, Mayo Hotel and Lofts and Detroit Lofts - started after Sager's project began and are completed.

"The others projects that have gone on to completion may have been better funded and perhaps not had some of the obstacles that Mr. Sager says he's encounter in the rehabilitation of the building," he said.

Hartley said it is not the authority's "responsibility to defend Mr. Sager's performance or nonperformance of his commitments."

But the authority "is very cognizant of the difficulties that have occurred in completing the project and we are trying to closely monitor Mr. Sager's activities and stay on top of it, requiring information on a monthly basis to determine whether there becomes a point it is no longer a viable project, and if so, what TDA should do in the best interest of the public's money," Hartley said.

In October, the authority granted its fifth amendment to Sager's contract, extending the project completion date to Feb. 13, 2013.

Sager said the bulk of his issues in completing the project has been the national financial credit crisis.

"We've had to weather the real estate market just like everybody else in the country, but we're moving into a better economic period," Sager said.

There also have been unforeseen construction issues that needed to be repaired, and there were added amenities to the project such as a rooftop deck to view the ballpark, a "hospital cart" elevator to ease movement of furniture and other large items, and used-brick walls and wood-framed open ceilings, he said.

"I would suspect there are people out there thinking they are really glad I'm still here fighting because other people might have already quit," Sager said about the difficulties he has had. "My personal commitment is to never walk away here."

In July, American Home Mortgage Co. filed a foreclosure lawsuit in Tulsa County District Court, claiming Blue Dome Properties LLC has defaulted on a loan of $850,000 to redevelop the First Street Lofts and now owes $1.15 million because of accruing interest.

Sager said he is working out the foreclosure issue with the bank and once the leasing agreements and building permits are finalized for the commercial tenants, the lawsuit will be dropped.

Sager said he plans to use the revenue from the commercial businesses "as an economic engine" to get a loan that would be dedicated to not only paying off the first mortgage, but completing the project.

Howard Smith, consultant over the construction of the restaurant, said the lease has been executed for the restaurant and they're just waiting for the city to issue the building permits with the opening of the business around May 1.

"We're very excited to be downtown and a part of this project," Smith said.

Hartley said the issue for the authority is whether Sager has "a viable solution to his lack of funding. Which is obviously the problem. He has presented to us the he does have that solution."

Hartley acknowledged that out of all the downtown residential projects the authority has overseen, this project "has some warts on it."

Sager said he understands how there are questions and speculations over his incomplete project, "but I want it clear that none of the public's money has been misspent."

Kirby Crowe, principal of Program Management Group, who oversees the Vision projects for the county said the money is paid out through invoices, which he reviews.

While this project has taken longer than expected, "the $1.3 million appears to have been appropriately spent," he said, noting there was activity matching the invoices occurring on the site.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=334&articleid=20120213_11_A1_CUTLIN888653

Wow, just wow. $1.3 in what should be a revolving fund to seed other housing projects is tied up forever with little hope of recovery and other projects could have been funded and completed long ago, its aggravating.

The "economic engine" plan...I'm speachless.  

[dsjeffries]

Wow, just wow. $1.3 in what should be a revolving fund to seed other housing projects is tied up forever with little hope of recovery and other projects could have been funded and completed long ago, its aggravating.

The "economic engine" plan...I'm spe[e]chless.  

The most telling part of the story: "Hartley said the city set up the $10 million as "gap funding" or "seed" money for downtown housing projects. The other three projects - Mayo 420 Building, Mayo Hotel and Lofts and Detroit Lofts - started after Sager's project began and are completed."

Sager's assertion that the national economic downturn is the cause of this mess is complete junk. How many more projects other than just the three funded with this Vision 2025 money have been completed? A ton, that's how many.

[Conan71]

The most telling part of the story: "Hartley said the city set up the $10 million as "gap funding" or "seed" money for downtown housing projects. The other three projects - Mayo 420 Building, Mayo Hotel and Lofts and Detroit Lofts - started after Sager's project began and are completed."

Sager's assertion that the national economic downturn is the cause of this mess is complete junk. How many more projects other than just the three funded with this Vision 2025 money have been completed?

Sager has always been a financial clusterfark.

[AquaMan]

Beware of a guy who uses public funding to engrave his last name on an unfinished building.