Bricktown brawl
The operator of the U-Haul storage warehouse in Lower Bricktown is asking Oklahoma City officials to halt their condemnation action.
The operator of the U-Haul storage warehouse in Lower Bricktown is asking Oklahoma City officials to halt their condemnation action against the property as they seek to acquire the parking lot to connect Oklahoma Avenue to the new downtown boulevard.
A temporary, wishbone-style connection from the intersection with the boulevard was opened last week that lets travelers enter Bricktown from the east and west sides of the warehouse at 100 SE 2. The city council over the summer voted to pursue eminent domain on the matter after the two sides failed to agree on an offered land swap and payment.
Brett M. Hogan, U-Haul area district vice president, said he rejected the offer, which he said was $1 million, because he believes the costs of moving the warehouse’s entry and store to the building’s west side will cost up to $5 million.
“Essentially asking a business to spend its own money — let alone almost $4 million — to accommodate a city-requested project that would hurt business and inconvenience U-Haul customers is mind-boggling. And wrong.”
Hogan said relocation of utilities is a “large part” of his estimate, though he did not provide any figures. He also said he is facing bringing the warehouse up to code with the changes, and that work would require adding a sprinkler system. He said the other cost is addressing a 28-inch gap between the first floor and the ground level on the building’s west side.
“I believe the city has the impression you just take what is on the east side of the property and duplicate it on the west side of the property,” Hogan said.
Hogan said the company, which opened the location 40 years ago, upgraded the building’s appearance with a paint job on the exterior aluminum siding in the late 1990s.
The aluminum siding covers the original 1913 Iten Biscuit Co. bakery and a tour of the inside of the storage floors reveals the wood floors and casement windows remain intact. Should U-Haul prevail, Hogan said he had not contemplated the possibility of restoring the original exterior.
Records show the property was sold by U-Haul Real Estate Co. to Phoenix-based Twenty Three SAC Self Storage Corp. for $1.6 million in 2003.
When asked why the company had rebuffed numerous purchase offers by developers looking to bring the building back to its original appearance, Hogan said the location is ideal for his operation. He said the five-story warehouse, with the spinning U-Haul truck on the rooftop, is a landmark for Bricktown.
“We’ve been downtown for 40 years,” Hogan said. “We have a prime location that serves the community for the local businesses and the up-and-coming and existing apartment complexes in the area. Our organization was founded by a World War