Hotel rooms to be combined with private club, offices in new downtown tower

Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman
·2 min read
Citizen Tower is shown at NW 5 and Robinson in Oklahoma City.
Citizen Tower is shown at NW 5 and Robinson in Oklahoma City.

In what is a first for Oklahoma City, if not the state, a tower being built in Midtown will be home to a hotel combined with a private club and executive office suites.

Recently filed building permits for The Citizen at NW 5 and Robinson show Dallas-based WoodHouse is going to operate the 18-room boutique hotel on the second floor, topped by executive suites on the third floor and Citizen House, a private club on the fourth floor.

The 12-story tower, developed by Bond Payne and Renzi Stone, is set to open by July 2024 with the club and hotel to open in late 2024. WoodHouse previously announced plans for the club, which will span 13,000 square feet on the fourth floor with an array of culinary concepts, bars, lounges and private event spaces. 

What to know about the hotel, private club coming to The Citizen Tower

The hotel, with a view of the Oklahoma City National Memorial across the street, is being designed by Michaelis Boyd, the same interior design overseeing designs for the private club.

Jeff Penner, a veteran hotelier and director of the Oklahoma City Hotel Association, said the combination of hotel rooms with offices and a private club is a new concept for the city.

“We've never had anything like that,” Penner said. “It's certainly not something you see in Oklahoma City. With the Beacon Club, you had offices but no hotel rooms. The Petroleum Club is the same. This is not the norm.”

More: New 12-story Midtown tower will include exclusive members-only club

Downtown Oklahoma City was down to just one hotel, the Sheraton, in the mid-1990s but is now home to more than 4,000 rooms. And that count is continuing to climb.

The addition of hotel rooms at The Citizen coincides with construction of a 404-room hotel at the OKANA resort, plans for construction of a 107-room hotel at Convergence being built at Interstate 235 and NW 8, and a 315-room Dream Hotel in Lower Bricktown.

Penner cautions the market may be getting overbuilt.

“At this particular time, and things can change, but when the Chickasaws open their OKANA resort, we are going to have a lot of rooms,” Penner said. “We’re going to have a lot of rooms to fill up.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Citizen Tower in downtown OKC to feature hotel, private club