OKC school board reverses course on abandoned property, will consider selling to developer

The Oklahoma City Public Schools board is once again teaming up with the city to find a developer for the district’s former administrative building after pulling out of a similar agreement four years ago that left the building abandoned and a blight on the surrounding neighborhood.

The three-story building at 900 N Klein, was designed by noted architect Solomon Andrew Layton and built in 1924 as the home of Roosevelt Junior High. The 122,000-square-foot school was converted into the Oklahoma City Public Schools headquarters in 1955 and was abandoned by the district in 2016.

Residents in the surrounding Metro Park Neighborhood are celebrating the reversal by the school board but also questioning why they chose to abandon the building four years ago.

Christine Brightwell Thompson, former Metro Park Neighborhood Association president, said the school district’s decision not to proceed with developing the building four years ago was sickening.

“You wonder, ‘Why is this not working? Why not do this? What happens now?’” Thompson said. “Your minds go to the worst case possible — that it will get worse due to fires and vandals and transients and that it will go on for untold years. That’s what we were scared of, and that is what happened.”

'It was dangerous to have it empty for so long'

The school board voted Tuesday night to enter into a new contract with the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority to find a developer for the school, which comes with a requirement the sale be no less than $2 million.

The building was considered beyond repair for the school district as early as 2010. Schools spokeswoman Crystal Raymond said Friday the building, though vandalized and damaged by fire, is still in the same condition it was in 2019 when the district pulled out of the redevelopment deal.

“At that time, because the property is centrally located within the district, it was being considered for other uses within the district as a part of our bond planning process,” Raymond said. “After several years, the redevelopment effort resumed after the district experienced renewed interest from the community.”

Thompson believes the district scrapped the property over financial terms. She said she was frustrated with prior inquiries to the district asking why it abandoned the development deal.

“I never got a straight answer other than the terms they negotiated weren’t beneficial to them,” Thompson said. “They wanted more money. But it didn’t make sense that they got so far into the process and said they decided the deal didn’t make sense to them.”

Thompson said that while she applauds the school district’s decision to resume seeking a developer, she believes school officials put money over the well being of the neighborhood.

“It was dangerous to have it empty for so long,” Thompson said. “And we’re still facing the possibility of it staying empty for a long time even now.”

The school board initially considered tearing down the school and unanimously approved spending $764,540 on a demolition contract in July 2022. That decision was reversed in October after protests by neighbors. The board at the time did not comment on either action.

What's next for the property?

Kenton Tsoodle, director of the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority, said its board will vote Wednesday on whether to seek developers for the property. He said development proposals would be due within 120 days and that the school district will still have ultimate approval over the property’s sale.

“It's my understanding that the school district has received many phone calls from parties interested in developing it,” Tsoodle said. “We’ve also received calls, and this interest has helped the school board realize there is potential here.”

Two of the developers who pitched plans four years ago told The Oklahoman they remain interested in the school.

Marva Ellard, who redeveloped the Sieber Hotel apartments and the former Sunbeam campus in Heritage Hills, said she will submit a proposal similar to the one submitted four years ago. Her initial proposal was to build mixed-income housing in the main school building with additional housing and retail on the east and west parking lots.

“I'm sure we’ll tweak it some,” Ellard said. “But it will be very similar. I think housing for health care and hospitality workers, young professionals and senior housing are all viable in that location.”

More: Oklahoma City construction boom continues amid rising interest and labor costs

Thompson said she wants developers to know the neighborhood still supports redevelopment of the school, including a hotel proposal submitted our years ago by Tulsa developer Elliott Nelson. To get that point across then, Thompson visited Nelson in Tulsa to assure him of the neighborhood’s support.

Nelson, who was selected to develop the school four years ago, has since overseen the $180 million mixed-use Santa Fe Square in Tulsa and renovation of the city’s 40,000-square-foot historic Midland Building.

Nelson said he remains interested in the former school but is uncertain whether he will propose a development again.

“I've been wanting to find an old school to redevelop for a long time,” Nelson said. “But we have a lot of projects going on so it’s a question of capacity.”

Nelson said his prior proposal, like others, involved time and money spent pitching a business without assurances it would become a reality. Money and time were spent hiring Mass Architecture to create designs, while others worked on branding and financial proformas.

“It’s a lot of work,” Nelson said. “We don’t respond to a lot of RFPs (requests for proposals). We only respond to what we’re excited about. It’s several weeks to put this together. You have to come up with a plan for a business you believe in without knowing if you will get it.”

Georgie Rasco, director of Neighborhood Alliance, said residents of Metro Park have waited long enough for the district to get out of the way of redevelopment of the school.

“It’s been a nightmare for the neighborhood,” Rasco said. “There have been fires inside the building. The blinds look like wild cats have run through all the floors because transients have been inside. The fencing looks like it came from a junkyard.”

The Oklahoman in 2016 exposed a history of property neglect by Oklahoma City Public Schools, which, under a policy of prioritizing the best sale price, abandoned properties to buyers with no assurance of buyers acting in the best interests of neighbors.

One such sale done in 2011 is still plaguing neighbors in the Classen-10-Penn neighborhood just south of Metro Park. The former Whittier school at NW 10 and Kentucky Avenue was sold to Crown and Church Mission, which in turn sold it a limited liability company with an address at the Mail Drop in Bethany. The owner is three years behind paying property taxes and the school has repeatedly caught fire; its windows broken, the building frequently vandalized.

The school district pledged to change its ways after The Oklahoman's 2016 investigation and agreed to work with the Redevelopment Authority to find developers committed to restoring closed schools. The 2019 reversal of the pending sale to Nelson was seen as a return to prioritizing money over neighborhood safety and appearance.

Raymond was asked Friday about the district’s commitment to do a deal with a buyer capable of bringing life back to the former Roosevelt school.

“While the district has a fiduciary responsibility to reach a fair value price for the property, we are committed to this process and how it would benefit both the city and district,” Raymond said.

Artist Joe Slack, a Metro Park resident, wants school officials and board members to understand they remain responsible for the damage their abandoned properties do to neighborhoods long after a sale is completed.

"The school district bears responsibility for what they abandon and leave in neighborhoods,” Slack said. “They’re choosing to do nothing, which is choosing to do something. We should be using this school (Roosevelt) for a good purpose instead as a haunted house for kids to vandalize while it’s allowed to decay.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Public Schools to consider selling abandoned building