See how designers plan to transform an old Motel 6 into a living space for OKC's homeless population

The Oklahoma City Housing Authority presented preliminary reports Thursday on the city's plans to convert a former Motel 6 property east of Bricktown into housing for the homeless. The reports were presented to the MAPS 4 Citizens Advisory Board.

The new project, called “Vita Nova” at 1800 E Reno Ave., is expected to feature subsidized studio apartments and wraparound services onsite. The 75-unit, 3.5-acre “Vita Nova” site was acquired by the Oklahoma City Housing Authority in late 2023 for $3.75 million, with $2.2 million also budgeted for renovations. The project is currently in its design phase, and conversion to housing could take up to a year to complete.

Preliminary floor plans also featured a commercial kitchen, a gym, dining areas, and community and office spaces, with some spaces open to the public while others will be reserved privately for apartment residents. Kassy Malone, the Oklahoma City Housing Authority’s director of real estate and planning, said the project is meant to serve people experiencing chronic homelessness who would otherwise not qualify for subsidized housing because of conviction histories.

“One of our goals with this is to really look at the holistic approach to housing stability and self-sufficiency for the residents,” Malone told the advisory board Thursday. “They will have access to a program that allows for them to increase their skills and to gain employment, so that curriculum looks at student development all the way from financial, culinary, marketing, life skills training, all the way up to management and potential business ownership.”

Planners hope to convert a courtyard area with a pool currently on the property into a large landscaped green space and an adjoining dog park. The building sits adjacent to a highway, so engineers are also planning to build a noise buffer on the southern side of the property.

What services will the new Vita Nova provide for OKC's homeless population?

Malone said the project will include property management, onsite maintenance, security staff and an embedded case manager partnering with the Homeless Alliance and other providers. But the housing agency is still in the early stages of selecting an operator for the site’s workforce program.

MAPS 4 Citizens Advisory Board members expressed enthusiasm about the potential of the project’s commercial kitchen as a business incubator, while also cautioning the housing agency to not repeat development mistakes of affordable housing from the city’s past.

“To me, this feels like a really lovely intersection of a place people can live but then also develop their talents to actually hopefully go beyond this as their place that they live,” said board member Chelsea Banks, president of Uptown 23rd District Association and representing Ward 2.

More: Motel 6 east of Bricktown to be converted into housing for chronically homeless

But Ward 2 City Councilperson James Cooper, who also sits on the board, voiced concerns about planning for the new development's exterior. He said that, even in the project's early phases, the housing agency needed to be "intentional" about how the building's design could foster and strengthen a sense of community among its low-income residents.

“We are up against concrete and asphalt, and we have to be intentional about how we greenscape this," Cooper said. "And everyone (on this board) should ask yourselves, Would you live there? That’s what you need to start asking yourselves. This is not for ‘those people.’”

“We must no longer think the ways old planning folk used to think," Cooper continued. "Would you live here? And if not, why not, and use your ability on this seat right now to start adding those suggestions about why you wouldn’t.”

What are the next steps for the Vita Nova project near Bricktown?

Malone said the housing authority would return to provide further updates about site plans in the near future.

“We are very passionate about urban design and how it impacts both the residents living there and the community at large. We are in the planning stages, so we welcome any input (board members) have in regards to the design and kind of how we make that look more like a home and less like a hotel.”

The Vita Nova project is part of a larger program under MAPS 4 to reduce homelessness in Oklahoma City with at least $55 million of funding through the MAPS penny sales tax, approved by voters in 2019. The homelessness program also is expected to leverage more than $400 million in funding from other sources.

Other projects for the MAPS 4 homelessness program include redeveloping the 288-unit "Oak Grove Apartments" on SW 17 and S Grand Avenue and 260 units in the "Creston Park" community on NE 28 and N Martin Luther King Avenue.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC unveils designs to convert Motel 6 into homeless center