Tulsa Club Building - Blight on Downtown Tulsa

January 22, 2009 by cole  
Filed under Featured, Real Estate

tulsa-club3The historic Tulsa Club building, on the corner of 5th street and Cincinatti, Downtown, Tulsa faces an uncertain future. This beautiful building with a great history and equally great potential sits vacant, graffiti adorned and collects city fines as the owner stubbornly resists all reasonable offers.

The building has been cited for violation of fire, electrical and plumbing codes as well as collapsed ceilings and evidence of trespassing and other possible criminal activity. The city had assessed a $1,000 fine each day since August 2007 until a Tulsa County judge awarded the city a $331,815 civil judgment in October for the unpaid charges.

The current owner, Carl J. Marony, of California picked the property up for around $125k sources say and has not done a thing with it. Rather than put it to good use he has opted to negligently let it sit unattended while homeless people smashed their way in and desecrate the structure.

A neighboring building manager, who opted to stay off the record, shared that he had made numerous attempts to assist the situation. From purchasing the building to forming a partnership, Marony has been quite unreasonable in his opinion. His asking price is said to be $3 million for the building in its current state, which is a huge exaggeration based on the current condition and occupancy in the neighboring buildings.

The building was designed by Bruce Goff, noted Oklahoma architect, for his Art Deco and Modern designs and is highly regarded for its original Art Deco design and downtown location. Built in 1927, it was home to the once prestigious Tulsa Club and Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, who had originally commissioned the project.