15th and Cheyenne: More parking lots to go away

[sgrizzle]

No ceiling or windows anymore, be interesting to see how an inspection turns out.

[Gold]

Went by a little while ago and it was still on fire . . . at 4 pm. (Maybe it was controlled?)

[Vision 2025]

This fire was a significant loss to the historic building community and to the redevlopment potential for the neighborhood.  

Having worked on some major fire damaged structures; old ones can be quite difficult to save the structure using conventional methods.  

One of the problems with "old" buildings in Tulsa is that due to the age of construction many of what you see as a masonry buildings actually have a wood and low strength iron or reinforced concrete sub-structure which if the building was constructed before completion of the Spavinaw Water can be a significant challenge due to salt deposits present in the masonry and concrete if Arkansas river water was used especially if the structure was not kept dry through its life.  These can be quite problematic to save let alone reuse which often drives the cost benefit ratio so low that unfortunately all to often demolition becomes the financially viable option).  Unfortunately, I've had to make the demo recommendation on several locally significant buildings as a result of this structure poison and while the right choice it was not a good day for me.

On the it was saved list... One of the more interesting approaches I have seen and been involved with was the method the City of Collinsville used in the reconstruction of the former fire station/city hall into the new City hall with an adjacent new construction fire station.  With this project the exterior walls of the building were still standing and stabilized while remaining the roof structure was  exterior walls which were and essentially constructed a new building inside of the old one in order to maintain the historic appearance of the building on the outside and portions of the inside like with the new council chambers being located inside the old fire apparatus bays where if you looked you could still see the grooves cut into the floor so that the horses could get traction on the ramps, unfortunately that portion of the old floor can no longer be viewed with the adaptive reuse.  

Another neat one is what Sager is doing with the First Street Lofts project.  The structural rehabilitation and improvement work has been extensive of this building and painfully slow but is now nearly complete and would have likely not been financially feasible without the loan from Vision funds by the City.

[Renaissance]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

sounds like this place suffered a "Towerview".[:O][B)]

amazing how these places catch fire when the roads slick over. you'd think it was raining fire instead of sleet downtown.

Sounds like it rains squatting homeless who start fires to keep warm.

Sad.

[kevinstephensdesign]

I wanted to share that despite the big setback with the fire, we are still moving forward with development plans for the synagogue site and the parking lot to the south on Cheyenne. We've hired a structural engineer to design some metal bracing to secure the facade of the building. We hope to be able to save the facade and incorporate it into a new structure. We are currently doing feasiblity studies about turning the temple into a mixed use project that includes a community arts center and housing is still our focus on the parking lot between 14th and 15th on Cheyenne.

[Townsend]

Great to hear from you.  Thanks for posting the update.

[TURobY]

I can partially see the synagogue from my office window, so I'll be interested in watching the progress. []

[carltonplace]

Update: So far no movement on the synagogue, but I did get a notice about a board of adjustments meeting requesting a variance to permit access to an accessory parking space through another parking space and to allow stacked parking in a multi-family townhouse development at 1408 S Cheyenne Ave.

I guess the townhomes project is still in process.

[tshane250]

I noticed there is a fence around these parking lots this morning.  I guess that means construction is starting???

[Townsend]

I noticed there is a fence around these parking lots this morning.  I guess that means construction is starting???

Staging area for QT construction so no, not yet.

[carltonplace]

Four years have passed since the fire. I have learned that the synagogue is under contract to be sold but it's far from a done deal. I think the two lots on Cheyenne between 14th and 15th that are paved for unused parking are still part of the deal.