Old Tulsa warehouse to be redeveloped as office space

TULSA — A group that has bought a slice of downtown Tulsa is converting a warehouse into office space in the Cathedral District.

CBRE represents Cathedral District Office Portfolio LLC, which, according to Tulsa County Assessor records, purchased a multiple building parcel for $8.4 million in July 2017. The company is spending about $600,000 on a shell renovation of about 9,800 square feet of warehouse space at 818 S Detroit Ave., CBRE First Vice President Bob Pielsticker said.

Construction will be completed in about 120 days, he said.

“They will build out a shell and wait for a tenant to surface,” Pielsticker said. “You are going to get a similar look to some of the retail buildings downtown that have converted warehouse into creative warehouse . ... There will be several million spent on the entire portfolio to get it stabilized.”

The 818 S Detroit Ave. development is the former Standard Parts Warehouse from the 1940s, he said. It primarily has been used for storage in the decades since.

“It’s going to be the clients who are looking for a collaborative, open space,” Pielsticker said. “That was really very successful in the 8:10 Building (810 S Cincinnati Ave.). That project is 100 percent leased.”

CBRE also is looking for tenants at 220 E Eighth Street, a 20,000-squarefoot building formerly occupied by Crafton Tull, an architecture, engineering and surveying firm that recently moved to the Executive Center at 201 W Fifth Street.

The other pieces of the Cathedral District Office Portfolio are the Cathedral District Business Center at 823 S Detroit Ave., formerly the Bovaird Building; 801 S Detroit Ave., which is occupied by Cash Finance; and 809 S Detroit Ave., which is occupied by Gellco Clothing & Shoes.

The exterior and lobby of the Cathedral District Business Center has been renovated, and coding school Coding Dojo is its first tenant, Pielsticker said.

Named for the halfdozen historic churches in the area, the Cathedral District is bounded by Sixth Street to the north, the Inner Dispersal Loop to the south, Denver Avenue to the west and Detroit Avenue to the east.

The district’s stakeholders, who include Tulsa Community College and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, meet on regular basis.

[PHOTO BY MATT BARNARD, TULSA WORLD] The building at 818 S. Detroit Ave., the former Standard Parts Warehouse from the 1940s, is being converted into office space.