Tulsa Club building revitalization plan calls for boutique hotel, restaurant and retail space
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Tulsa-based Ross Group has laid out plans for a $24 million conversion of the long-empty and historic Tulsa Club building into a boutique hotel plus restaurant and retail space, documents show.
The proposal for the building, 115 E. Fifth St., is pending the approval of incentives that include a six-year tax abatement totaling roughly $1.693 million, according to the Tulsa Development Authority. The TDA recently issued a resolution in support of the tax abatement application under provisions of the Tulsa County Local Development Act, which can grant tax relief in certain areas to stimulate reinvestment.
The project calls for the structure to be historically renovated to house 98 boutique hotel rooms on floors 1 through 8, restaurant and retail on the 1st floor (6,800 square feet), and restaurant and bar space on the 11th floor (5,400 square feet), documents show.
The hotel rooms would be managed by Promise Hotels under Hilton's Curio brand. Under the renovation, the ballroom on the ninth floor also would be restored.
Federal and state historic tax credits are being sought for the renovation, records indicate.
Reached via email, Ross Group President and CEO Warren Ross to the Tulsa World, "It is premature to make a statement regarding the potential development."
Ross Group purchased the building, which has sat vacant for 22 years, for $1.5 million in September.
Among the oldest structures in downtown Tulsa, the 92,220-square-foot, 11-story building was constructed in 1927 as a joint venture between the Tulsa Club and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. Architect Bruce Goff designed the Zig-Zag Art Deco structure.
The Chamber of Commerce occupied the first five floors for 25 years, and the Tulsa Club filled the upper six with dining halls, dormitories, a gymnasium, a barber shop, and various lounges and libraries.
The top floor housed the Sky Terrace, which was used for luncheons and seated about 100 people, and the building was capped with a rooftop garden.
The Tulsa Club folded in 1994, and the building fell into disrepair. C.J. Moroney, a California investor, purchased the building three years later.
After dozens of break-ins and multiple fires, the city of Tulsa eventually targeted the building as a public nuisance and, at the start of 2008, began fining Moroney $1,000 per day until the building was brought up to code. The fines reached $330,000 and the city was granted legal permission to begin foreclosure proceedings.
A long string of legal battles, including two bankruptcy filings, delayed a sheriff’s auction of the building until April 2013, when local businessman Josh Barrett bought the structure.
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com