Downtown OKC is undergoing a major transformation

Story by Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman

When Meg Salyer moved into her 31st-story condominium in 2011, she was the first person
to own a home in downtown’s central business district in more than 30 years.

Conversion of the top six floors of City Place Tower was an experiment at the time, and the
developer, Mark Beffort, gave Salyer, a New York native, the opportunity to get first dibs.
“I lived in the building, alone, for a fairly long time,” Salyer said. “I was the first. When Mark
and Roy Oliver did this, they were really testing the market.”

Salyer has hundreds of neighbors now, and that figure is set to soon double with conversions
that are expected to drop central business district office vacancies to a rate rarely seen in the
past three decades in Oklahoma City. The changes are part and parcel of ambitious plans by
developers to eliminate aging office space and bring a big-city feel, complete with foot traffic,
retail and a bustling restaurant and entertainment scene, to a downtown that for decades
could seem like a ghost town.

“What New Yorker doesn’t want to live on Park Avenue?” Salyer said. ” I’m used to taking an
elevator up and down, I’m used to taking my groceries up in a cart, I’m used to having
neighbors. So for me this wasn’t a leap.”

Like Salyer, Richard Tanenbaum lives in City Place Tower where he owns the 29th floor ― a
home he established 14 years ago.

“I look out my window and I see the traffic, the activity, the programs downtown, Scissortail
Park open, OKANA (resort) getting ready to open, the old convention center going to be
imploded for a new arena,” Tanenbaum said. “I’m excited.”

Tanenbaum isn’t just a downtown resident. He is leading a transformation of the central
business district that is changing the future course of downtown Oklahoma City in a forward
direction eluding many other cities across the country.

Tanenbaum boasts a high success rate with his conversions of older offices to apartments
that started with The Montgomery just outside the central business district and The Classen
at NW 23 and Classen. His first conversion in the central business district, the 17-story, 162-
unit Park Harvey Building, renovated in 2006, stays full and maintains a waiting list.

Tanenbaum is nearing completion of two more central business district office buildings, the
former BancFirst headquarters at 101 N Broadway and the former Duncan Oil building at
100 Park Ave. The two buildings, linked by an underground pedestrian tunnel, will add
another 265 apartments to downtown. At least 100 more apartments are likely with a
planned residential conversion of Tanenbaum’s latest purchase, Robinson Renaissance at
119 N Robinson Ave.

By doing so, Tanenbaum is gambling on a future central business district that will draw
hundreds, if not thousands, to live in the heart of downtown. And in the process, a very
different central business district is starting to emerge.

As older office buildings fill up with residents, the firms and companies vacating that space
are moving into newer buildings that saw vacancies rise during the pandemic.

“We are seeing a significant change,” Beffort said. “And as a result, our downtown office
market is healthy, and we’re going to see office vacancy rates hit 20%.”

The new mix, Beffort said, is helping reshape Park Avenue between Broadway and Robinson
Avenue into a retail corridor long desired for downtown. A spacious Starbucks is set to open
at the bottom of the former Duncan Oil building, which combined with the former BancFirst
headquarters will reopen next year as The Harlow.

Roxy’s Ice Cream Social, meanwhile, is set to open a shop at the corner of Park Avenue and
Broadway on the first floor of a renovated Skirvin Hilton Hotel that is also home to a new
restaurant, Perle Mesta, owned by James Beard winning chef Andrew Black.

First National, reopened two years ago as a hotel and 193 upscale apartments, established a
strong retail corridor along the south side of Park Avenue that includes Stock & Bond
steakhouse; Gilded Acorn, a cafe and patisserie; Paint Nail Bar; Lucchese Bootmaker; and
King Ranch.

The inside retail gallery, meanwhile, features Plenty Mercantile, Dry Bar and the Barbershop
at First National. And Tanenbaum is hoping to keep all the retail tenants in place at
Robinson Renaissance, where Park Avenue tenants include Stella Nova Coffee and My Chick
Geek gift shop.

The final piece of this emerging retail corridor is found at Oklahoma Tower at 210 Park Ave.
The Manhattan on the tower’s ground floor is drawing a mix of downtown workers, visitors
and a group of residents who live across the street at Park Harvey.

The restaurant and watering hole was originally opened in 2017 by chef Bruce Rinehart,
owner of Rococo. Aaron William Lindsay, a bartender at The Manhattan, and his mother,
Marcy Steward, bought the restaurant in 2022.

“I had been working here since the beginning,” Lindsay said. “I was about to leave to pursue
other stuff and Bruce offered to sell it to me the day I was about to turn in my resignation.”

The purchase was a risk; downtown was still struggling to recover from the pandemic, and
several nearby restaurants, including a sub sandwich shop across the street, were unable to
survive.

Lindsay committed to staying open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through
Thursdays, 11 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. His
landlord at Oklahoma Tower is Beffort, who provides customers of The Manhattan free
parking after 5 p.m. on weekdays and during the restaurant’s operating hours on weekends.
“COVID changed everything,” Lindsay said. “We lost a lot of our loyal oil and gas customers.
We’ve been building it back, and things are settling in. And we still have some of the regulars
from eight years ago.”

Lindsay counts among his regulars service industry workers employed at Vast, Mahogany,
Gilded Acorn and The National (hotel). A camaraderie, meanwhile, has emerged among
residents at Park Harvey who meet up for happy hour at The Manhattan.

Carrie Croy has lived at Park Harvey the longest, having once worked for Tanenbaum, then
at the neighboring Oklahoma County Courthouse, before taking a job outside of downtown.
Michael Herwig, a project manager with Cox Communications, moved into Park Harvey in
February and largely works from home. Both Herwig and Croy, like Salyer, had enjoyed
urban living in other cities before moving to Oklahoma City.

“I’m a city girl,” Croy said. “I don’t want a yard and a garage.”

Tasha Boughton, another regular at The Manhattan, moved into Park Harvey after deciding
it was preferable to making a daily drive to and from downtown. She works for an oil and gas
company at Oklahoma Tower, so her workplace, home and favorite hangout are all a short
walk from one another.

Enjoying a recent afternoon on the Park Avenue patio outside The Manhattan, the friends
and neighbors were joined by Brad Clay, who splits his time working from home and valeting
cars at The National, and Devin Grba, a bartender at Park Harvey Sushi.

“We have a lot of residents from Park Harvey and First National,” said Maliea Alcala,
manager of The Manhattan. “It’s a very good mix.”

Clay said spots like The Manhattan, frequented by downtown residents, are a draw for
visitors at The National who “love lingering with the locals.”

While sharing a laugh with Croy, Grba, Boughton and Herwig, Clay said the friendships they
have formed are not found living in the suburbs.

“They’re like my family,” Clay said. “When I moved here, I got a welcome with open arms.”
While Grba doesn’t live at the Park Harvey, he lives close enough that he often walks to and
from his bartending job at Park Harvey Sushi.

“I feel like my day is better when I don’t have to be trapped in a car,” Grba said. “It’s the
nicest walk. You can tell what the weather is like outside, you can see people. And I know it
takes five minutes to walk to work.”

All five say they use the Oklahoma City Streetcar to travel to Bricktown, Paycom Center,
Scissortail Park and other downtown attractions. But they also all still own cars ― Oklahoma
City, at 621 square miles, is too big and lacks sufficient public transportation to go without.