www.mylofts.com  www.boyington.com  www.okclofts.com

601 North Broadway

Oklahoma City, OK 73102

405-232-9101

 

02/26/1982


The 30,000-square-foot building at NW 5th and Broadway, once a part of Auto Row in downtown Oklahoma City, is for lease as a general office building by owner Raymond Boyington.  Boyington, who owns the Boyington Electric Co., said he prefers to lease the building "as is" for approximately $4.50 a foot, with the tenant paying the cost of remodeling, which he estimated at $60 a square foot. Boyington said he has no firm plans to build additional floors on the building, but its foundation is sturdy enough to do so.  The Wesbanco office supply firm has occupied the building during the two decades Boyington has owned it. Wesbanco is selling off its inventory and moving to quarters at 824 SW 2.
The building has a first and second floor and a mezzanine. It was built in the 1920s for the McDaniel Automobile Co., a Ford dealer.
Since then, Boyington said, occupants have included a Hupmobile and Nash agency, the Kennebrew Motor Co. and a parking firm.

 

04/16/2000

The loan and pawn shops that once dominated the strip have almost disappeared. Taking their place are loft apartments, banks and high-tech firms."The situation here is completely different than it would have been if the bombing hadn't taken place, there's no question." Huntington said. "But all of this came with a price that was too high to pay."
The five high-tech tenants moving into the district are being drawn by the buildings' charm and by digital lines along an alley that runs behind much of Automobile Alley.
The tenants, Huntington said, like being downtown, near Bricktown and the medical research district.
More life is expected along Broadway once work begins on the long-awaited renovation of the old Wesbanco building at NW 5 and Broadway. Plans to convert the former car dealership and printing company into loft apartments are now undergoing final review to ensure the project follows historic restoration guidelines.
Russell Claus, director of the Murrah District Revitalization Program, estimates construction on the $1.3 million project will begin this summer. The project includes $353,000 in grants for bombing repairs and a federal $264,000 loan.

05/15/2000

Another loft development at NW 5 and Broadway could be under construction later this year. Don Boyington, owner of the former Wesbanco building, said he hopes to seek bids for the 21-unit project this summer if his plans win approval from those overseeing federal tax credits and bombing relief money.

A long-abandoned building in downtown Oklahoma City will be transformed into an upscale loft apartment building by next fall, its owner said.

12/01/2000

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Developer Don Boyington's Fifth Avenue Lofts at NW 5 and Broadway will be the second such loft apartment complex in Oklahoma City, despite all the talk of them since 1995. That's when developers Nicholas Preftakes and Mark Ruffin brought the concept to the city with their Garage Loft Apartments at 113 NW 13 downtown. Boyington's project surely won't be the last. A study commissioned earlier this year by the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority indicated some 6,000 city residents were willing to move downtown - and pay more for it - if more loft-type apartments were available. Boyington said that study encouraged him to try loft apartments as a way to put his empty building to use."We assume there's going to be a demand. We'll really only know that when we get them built and get them leased," he said. Boyington's loft project apparently is the only one moving forward.
Developer Chuck Ainsworth said he has scaled back his plans for loft apartments in the Kingman-Moore Building he owns at 100 E California in Bricktown.The five-story, 55,000-square-foot Kingman-Moore building is filling up with restaurant and office tenants, he said. However, he said, one residential loft is under way - for his business partner, Dr. French Hickman.Boyington's old building, originally an automobile dealership, later an office supply and printing company, has stood empty since 1982, when Wesbanco moved its printing operation and merged with another company. Boyington said it was built between 1915 and 1920. His father, W.R. Boyington, bought it in 1955.
Boyington Properties took the first step toward remodeling the gutted, split-level 30,000-square-foot building last month. Don Boyington took out a building permit for $774,000 worth of remodeling, according to the city Public Works Department.
Fifth Avenue Lofts will have 20 apartments ranging in size from 750 square feet to around 1,300 square feet.
Rents will range from $592 per month to $960 per month, plus a parking fee of $75 per month for one car, $100 per month for two.
The floor plans will be open, with ceiling fans and open-air ducts. Interior walls will stop short of the tall ceilings, he said, to create more openness. A security system will require individual access codes for residents.
The renovations, Boyington said, will cost about $1.5 million, including $353,000 in federal grants for repairs to damage caused by the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and a $264,000 federal loan. The remainder of the financing is through Bank One, he said.
He said he decided to call the place "Fifth Avenue Lofts" after New York City's famed Fifth Avenue.
"It's a high-rent district," Boyington said. "This will be, too."
Work will begin in a few weeks and should be complete in eight or nine months, Boyington said. The contractor is Walter Nashert of Nashert Constructors Inc. Bill Fearnow is the architect.
"The building is already gutted," Boyington said. "It's just a matter of going in there and putting the wiring and plumbing in and putting the walls in."
Preftakes said he welcomes more loft apartment living to downtown Oklahoma City and further development in Automobile Alley, the stretch of Broadway Avenue so named because from the 1920s to 1940s it was the location of almost 60 auto dealerships.
"It'll just be great to see one less boarded-up building on the street," Peftakes said. "I think it's great for the city and great for Automobile Alley."
The blocks-long stretch now bears distinctive brick paving and streetwalks as well as a role in downtown marketing.


Boyington Building as it stands at 601 North Broadway before  the construction of the Fifth Avenue Lofts

 The Ground Breaking Ceremony was on Monday 03/19/01 at 2:30pm. 

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Taken in the 50's before the remodel that exists now,  the best picture we have found that shows the original shape of the building.

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Taken in the 20's 5th Avenue Lofts Building is to your left on the corner of the street.   Facing North On Broadway from fourth street.

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Clippings from local papers about the Fifth Avenue Lofts

The Daily Oklahoman

Downtown lofts desired, study says
  Date: 05/15/2000
  Downtown Oklahoma City isn't ready for 6,000 new residents - but a survey released Friday shows at least that many people are eager for downtown living and willing to pay more for it.

Loft apartments rising downtown
  Date: 12/01/2000
  A long-abandoned building in downtown Oklahoma City will be transformed into an upscale loft apartment building by next fall, its owner said.

Loft living for 'artistes' or rich?
  Date: 01/06/2001
  IS the Oklahoma City real estate market, steeped in the mores of Oklahoma's social conservatism, really ready for "artistes" and their novel - turbulent, odd-houred - habits?