Golden Eagle
10 May 2005, 12:55 AM
Richard Mize
Real Estate Editor
The Oklahoman
A young doctor moved to Oklahoma City from Atlanta with one kind of housing in mind.
“He said, ‘I want a high-rise condo.’ I said, ‘We’ve got one now,’ ” said Realtor George Massey of RE/MAX First, which is marketing the 80 condominiums in The Classen, the former office building at Classen Boulevard and NW 23.
A year after developer Richard Tanenbaum plucked the dilapidated, 21-story, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired hexagonal tower from the auction block for Gardner-Tanenbaum Group, The Classen, formerly Citizens Tower, is well on its way to being transformed.
Tanenbaum probably hopes this is the last mention of Citizens Tower, built in 1966 to mimic the Wrightdesigned Price Tower in Bartlesville.
When the transformation is complete — called “adaptive reuse” in conscientious development circles — the familiar gold exterior, with its wide louvers, will be the only thing left unchanged from the building’s latter days as a lazy office building.
Model condos will be open this summer. Potential buyers and invited others will tour the building Tuesday.
RE/MAX is marketing more than space, said brokerowner GiGi Faulkner. An “active urban lifestyle” is for sale at The Classen, 2200 Classen Blvd., where condos are 849 to 1,049 square feet, from $143,500 to $200,750, depending on floor — and view.
Most floors have wide-open views of the Oklahoma City metro area, with downtown to the southeast, the state Capitol to the east, and every other tower in the heart of the city visible at a glance.
Tanenbaum bought the building for $825,000. He said he’s spent almost 10 times as much to convert it into upscale urban housing.
Massey and his wife, Susan, said the setting, atypical for Oklahoma City, speaks to a stereotypical — but real and demanding — market niche: “the young urban professional, literally,” he said.
“This is about lifestyle. This is not about square footage,” said Tanenbaum, a mostly industrial property developer who gets more attention for bringing alternative living spaces to Oklahoma City. His other adaptive-reuse project is The Montgomery, an upscale apartment house at 500 W Main downtown in the former Montgomery Ward department store and office building.
Faulkner said both projects appeal to people who value a style of living over “the acquisition of space.”
RE/MAX has received numerous inquiries from people who have noticed the gutting and renovation going on, as well as work at the Gold Dome and other improvements at Classen and NW 23, Susan Massey said.
The Classen, which has a parking garage and will have amenities including a lap pool, fitness center and concierge, “will sell itself,” she said.
This is just great. Click me. (http://www.theclassen.com/Home). That is the webpage for the Classen. Here's a few pictures:
Interiors from The Classen:
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/living1.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/kitchen1.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/bedroom.jpg
Views from The Classen:
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view2small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view3small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view4small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view6small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view7small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view8small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view9small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view5small.jpg
Real Estate Editor
The Oklahoman
A young doctor moved to Oklahoma City from Atlanta with one kind of housing in mind.
“He said, ‘I want a high-rise condo.’ I said, ‘We’ve got one now,’ ” said Realtor George Massey of RE/MAX First, which is marketing the 80 condominiums in The Classen, the former office building at Classen Boulevard and NW 23.
A year after developer Richard Tanenbaum plucked the dilapidated, 21-story, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired hexagonal tower from the auction block for Gardner-Tanenbaum Group, The Classen, formerly Citizens Tower, is well on its way to being transformed.
Tanenbaum probably hopes this is the last mention of Citizens Tower, built in 1966 to mimic the Wrightdesigned Price Tower in Bartlesville.
When the transformation is complete — called “adaptive reuse” in conscientious development circles — the familiar gold exterior, with its wide louvers, will be the only thing left unchanged from the building’s latter days as a lazy office building.
Model condos will be open this summer. Potential buyers and invited others will tour the building Tuesday.
RE/MAX is marketing more than space, said brokerowner GiGi Faulkner. An “active urban lifestyle” is for sale at The Classen, 2200 Classen Blvd., where condos are 849 to 1,049 square feet, from $143,500 to $200,750, depending on floor — and view.
Most floors have wide-open views of the Oklahoma City metro area, with downtown to the southeast, the state Capitol to the east, and every other tower in the heart of the city visible at a glance.
Tanenbaum bought the building for $825,000. He said he’s spent almost 10 times as much to convert it into upscale urban housing.
Massey and his wife, Susan, said the setting, atypical for Oklahoma City, speaks to a stereotypical — but real and demanding — market niche: “the young urban professional, literally,” he said.
“This is about lifestyle. This is not about square footage,” said Tanenbaum, a mostly industrial property developer who gets more attention for bringing alternative living spaces to Oklahoma City. His other adaptive-reuse project is The Montgomery, an upscale apartment house at 500 W Main downtown in the former Montgomery Ward department store and office building.
Faulkner said both projects appeal to people who value a style of living over “the acquisition of space.”
RE/MAX has received numerous inquiries from people who have noticed the gutting and renovation going on, as well as work at the Gold Dome and other improvements at Classen and NW 23, Susan Massey said.
The Classen, which has a parking garage and will have amenities including a lap pool, fitness center and concierge, “will sell itself,” she said.
This is just great. Click me. (http://www.theclassen.com/Home). That is the webpage for the Classen. Here's a few pictures:
Interiors from The Classen:
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/living1.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/kitchen1.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/bedroom.jpg
Views from The Classen:
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view2small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view3small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view4small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view6small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view7small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view8small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view9small.jpg
http://www.theclassen.com/xsites/Agents/theclassen/content/uploadedFiles/view5small.jpg