Brady Heights Apartment Project

[Townsend]

Are you kidding me?  The First Street Lofts will be done in the Spring of 2015!

He's only owned the building for 18 years and been working on this project for 8.  Sure, sure, some people have remodeled the Mayo, the Atlas Life Building, City Hall and the YMCA in the meantime.  And yeah,we did build the BOK Center, the Ball Park, repave the IDL, and Cimerex built a new tower.  To think of it, the University of Tulsa built a dozen or so apartment buildings, all nwe sidewalks, a couple engineering buildings, an athletic complex, a new press box, and a few other things. Saint Francis added a new wing, a children's hospital, a patient tower and a new trauma center. And I guess Riverwalk Crossing in Jenks and the Spirit Event Center in Bixby went up.   I guess if you want to get technical Devon commissioned, designed, and built an 850' office tower since then too... but since this is the second or third (fourth?) article saying it's going to be done soon... I'm sure it's accurate!

Then it's just a waiting game to get our $1.3mil back.

Or, in the alternative, my son was 7 when it was started - and maybe he can get on the list to move into one of the ~20 apartments when he hits 18.  If it's done by then.

I'm taking bets on what's done first - the Sager project started in 2007, or the YMCA project started in 2014.

I park by his building.  I've not seen anyone doing any kind of work in there in quite some time. 

The times I have was when someone was taking something out of the storage area on the street level.

[LandArchPoke]

I park by his building.  I've not seen anyone doing any kind of work in there in quite some time. 

The times I have was when someone was taking something out of the storage area on the street level.

Not to get to far off-topic, but why has the city not sued him to regain the funds he essentially stole from taxpayers? The Enclave in Brookside just sold for the highest per unit cost in the state's history ($177,000/unit), and guess what the buyer had financing secure for the nearly $50 million deal. The excuses of not being able to get financing is BS and has been for a few years. The city needs to step up and take action again him. Foreclose on it, hire a third party developer to finish it, and then sell it. The city would probably make a million or two off this, and free up that money to give to legitimate developers wanting to do projects downtown.

[Townsend]

Not to get to far off-topic, but why has the city not sued him to regain the funds he essentially stole from taxpayers? The Enclave in Brookside just sold for the highest per unit cost in the state's history ($177,000/unit), and guess what the buyer had financing secure for the nearly $50 million deal. The excuses of not being able to get financing is BS and has been for a few years. The city needs to step up and take action again him. Foreclose on it, hire a third party developer to finish it, and then sell it. The city would probably make a million or two off this, and free up that money to give to legitimate developers wanting to do projects downtown.

Well...it might be Sager's ability to get financing.

As for the city, it takes years for the city to sell a property.  We've seen what happens with foreclosures on buildings owned by a dude in California.  I'm not sure on the legal ramifications for a city to take a foreclosed building, hire a third party to finish it and then sell it.  There's probably some Oklahoma law about the city of Tulsa making a profit from actions like these.  (I don't have the knowledge but I've seen some crazy in this state)

[cynical]

It takes forever if the city never starts.

Well...it might be Sager's ability to get financing.

As for the city, it takes years for the city to sell a property.  We've seen what happens with foreclosures on buildings owned by a dude in California.  I'm not sure on the legal ramifications for a city to take a foreclosed building, hire a third party to finish it and then sell it.  There's probably some Oklahoma law about the city of Tulsa making a profit from actions like these.  (I don't have the knowledge but I've seen some crazy in this state)

[Conan71]

The sale of the parcel of buildings at 2nd & Elgin was supposed to make him flush enough to finish that project.  Still no progress.

[RecycleMichael]

Back on to the Brady Heights apartment project.

City Council said no.

[rdj]

I'm hopeful the Wilkins and the neighborhood can get together and figure something out on this.  Vacant lots are a cancer in our near-north neighborhoods.  We need to get them re-developed with quality projects.

[RecycleMichael]

Agree. In this case, the developer complained that the neighborhood didn't contact him when he first mentioned it to the Preservation Commission. He erroneously believed he didn't need to do any more contact.

I believe the developer should have knocked on doors and tried to win over the neighborhood. It is up to him to make the contact if he is trying to change the rules.

He didn't and he lost. He lost at the TMAPC hearing and he lost his appeal to the city council.

After listening to the neighborhood at the council meeting, he has a long way to go to rebuild any trust in Brady Heights.

[rdj]

That is too bad because I believe he is the only person that has built new houses in the neighborhood and owns a chunk of vacant lots as well.  I also think he lives in Brady Heights.

[RecycleMichael]

New houses are welcome. 16 unit apartment complexes are not.

He is a smart guy. He can make this work.

[rdj]

I'm actually in favor of figuring out a way to put a multi-unit building on this lot.  There is precedence in the neighborhood (as well as just outside at Main & Latirmer) for multi-story, multi-unit property. 

We talk in this town a lot about wanting density, but when an opportunity arises for us to see density added we cry not in our neighborhood.  Tulsa is addicted to oil, the automobile and single-family housing.  Until those addictions are broken I don't see Tulsa being a progressive city that has the amenities many on this forum want, ie public transit, walkability, density/less urban sprawl.

[RecycleMichael]

That is an oversimplification of the details of this project.

Yes, there is some spotty density throughout the neighborhood that were built 80 years ago or longer. They are also mostly four and six units structures. The predominant housing is single family with a consistent use of the lot with details like setback.

This developer wasn't going to do what should be done. The look and feel of what he proposed was not right for the neighborhood. He also did a poor job convincing anyone to approve it. The original public city council meeting had 29 people speak against and no one for. He lost to a very development friendly planning commission and then lost unanimously to the city council.

Here is the video of last night. This item starts at 24 minute ten seconds.
http://tulsa-ok.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2354

Most of us are for more density. But not density for density alone.

[carltonplace]

There are lots of little aprtment buildings in my neighborhood. In fact there are seven of them within one block of my house. Also, everyone on my street rents out their garage apartment. I would welcome this type of development in any empty lot in my hood as long as it was to scale.

I think this is the main complaint of the neighbors: scale.

[SXSW]

Something like this would likely be welcome in the Pearl District.  The Pearl has the potential to be more of a dense, mixed-use neighborhood that BH will never be.