This is an update article from todays Oklahoman on a topic that was covered a couple of weeks ago. That makes 2 articles today starring Jim Brewer, so... Let's talk about him. The man, the history, and what role he will play in the future of Bricktown.

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The Bricktown Urban Design Committee, charged with overseeing exterior facade changes, new construction and demolition in the entertainment district, criticized two veteran developers for razing an 86-year-old former slaughterhouse without its approval.


Mike Willson, a plans examiner with the Oklahoma City public works department, told the committee the fault lies with a new employee who miscoded the demolition permit filed by Jim Brewer and Walter Gilespie.

Instead of sending the application to the committee, the employee mistook the building at 315 E Sheridan Ave. as being in the Central Business District.

Willson also showed committee members copies of maps where the Bricktown code is overlapped by other downtown code markings.

Marsh Pitman, also a Bricktown property owner, said "it's difficult to believe" Brewer and Gilespie assumed they didn't still need the committee's approval. Fellow members Tom Wilson and Avis Scaramucci also were skeptical about the oversight.

"They arbitrarily proceeded, and they really took advantage of this committee and the city," Wilson said.

Pitman noted Brewer and Gilespie sought the committee's approval first, and afterward sought a demolition permit for two other buildings they razed nearby. "These were not first-time Bricktown owners who came in, bought a building, and didn't realize we have a design review committee," Pitman said.

Brewer said the city is the only guilty party, and he and his partner trusted their contractors to obtain required permits. They plan to ask the committee to rebuild with a design similar to the ones used by clubs that have opened immediately east of the site.

"We thought we were in perfect shape on this deal," Brewer said. "I am not the bad guy down here. The city made the mistake. I'm as innocent as a babe in swaddling clothes. So is my partner."

Committee members said they will carefully scrutinize Brewer's proposed new development.

"These were knowledgeable people, and this was truly the destruction of an old building," Scaramucci said. "I don't know that anything can be done; we can only move forward and be more watchful of what is going on.

"If somebody wants to do something, I think we can agree -- where there is a will, there is a way."

I get the feeling this plays right into his hands. Now, if the design committee decides not to allow him to do basically whatever he wants to do with this lot, then he'll just pave it over and add it to his burgeoning collection of surface parking.

Well Jim Brewer's been an instrumental developer in Bricktown, he really has.

Now I'm really concerned about where the world is headed...

He was also almost instrumental in the destruction of the Walnut Street(aka Finley) bridge, if I'm not mistaken.

That's a reason you have development guidelines and councils set in place to oversee this stuff. The Finley bridge does have a lot of history, and it's very important because it connects Deep Deuce and Bricktown.

But as far as I'm concerned, we'll take all the developers we can get.

He WAS instrumental in the redevelopment of Bricktown, but those days have passed him by. He was always the kid of guy who wanted to buy cheap, develop cheap and didn't like anyone telling him how to do it. He has had contempt for the design committee ever since its formation because "he was the one that started it all" in his mind.

I wish he would sell out and let somebody with the vision and money to take over his projects.....that would NOT include Hogan

What happened to his plans for the Santa Fe Depot?

Yes, I don't think Brewer is very innocent in this case. He knew what he was doing and he knew Bricktown Urban Design wouldn't approve of demolishing any structures that could be saved. I can't wait to see what he has planned- it had better be good. I would almost hope that BUDC approves it, if just to keep that surface lot that wsucougz predicted from being constructed.

What plans are you talking about?

Does anyone know how much renovation got done at the Santa Fe? I haven't been around long enough to know, nor have I ever been inside.

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Bricktown, the city and the Santa Fe
by Matt Driskill
6/10/1997

The latest move in a long quest to purchase, renovate and rejuvenate the dilapidated Santa Fe

Depot on E.K. Gaylord Boulevard comes today.

That's when the Oklahoma City Council will consider a land swap and other action that

eventually could lead to Bricktown developer Jim Brewer taking title and beginning the long and

expensive process of renovation.

On today's council agenda is a plan for Brewer and the city to initiate a quiet title court action to

actually get control of the depot and surrounding area.

Once that happens, the city would swap the depot and the land for land east of the tracks that

Brewer controls.

If all is successful, Brewer anticipates he would actually gain control of the depot by October

with renovations to begin "within a year," he said.

Brewer said he plans to spend "several million" on rehabilitation work for the depot, but is

waiting until he actually controls the property before committing any hard cash.

Brewer's original plans for the property were envisioned as a family entertainment center, but he

now says that could change and it might go upscale.

"You never know, we might get more grandiose," the developer says, with additional plans to put

a shopping arcade in a tunnel that runs under the property into Bricktown.

Brewer, an ardent supporter of the Metropolitan Area Projects, says the depot could be an

integral part of MAPS.

"I really think the more that we can get done and finished to open this thing, the better the MAPS

portion will look," Brewer said.

"I've been at this three-and-a-half years, four years by the time we close, and there are other

options opening up all the time," he said. "We're getting a lot of good people looking" at

Bricktown and MAPS and considering investing in the area.


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Depot renovation begins for return of Amtrak
by Bill May
7/7/1998

The renovation of the old Santa Fe Depot in downtown Oklahoma City is under way, preparing for the return of Amtrak service to Oklahoma.

On Monday afternoon, architects started redesigning the depot, its public waiting and ticket sales area, said owner Jim Brewer.

"Construction will start as soon as we can," he said. "We plan to have it (the public area) completed in time for the Amtrak return in the spring of 1999."

Brewer made his comments after the Oklahoma Transportation Commission, meeting Monday in Oklahoma City, approved spending $1 million in federal money to renovate the ticket and waiting areas. Brewer will spend another $10 million to renovate the rest of the depot, what he called "the crown jewel in development of downtown Oklahoma City."

"With all that's being done in downtown and the work in Tulsa and the railroad coming back, the next two years will be the most exciting time in Oklahoma since statehood," Brewer said.

Amtrak and state transportation planners are working on a study to determine what routes will be opened initially with the return of rail passenger service. The first service is expected to be between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, where the rail lines are in the best condition. Only signalization and crossing improvements are needed to operate 70 mph passenger trains.

With that route, Oklahomans will be able to ride to Fort Worth, switch to another train to San Antonio and pick up east and west service there.

Ultimately, service on the now defunct Lone Star Line, running from Newton, Kan., to Fort Worth, is expected to be returned, with one exception. That line would provide through service to Denver.

Service between Oklahoma City and Tulsa is expected to be restored as soon as the line is upgraded to handle faster passenger trains. Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation bought the line from Oklahoma City to Sapulpa from the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Rail way. While it is in good condition, there are too many curves to handle high-speed trains, Transportation Secretary Neal McCaleb said.

After service is restored between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Amtrak will provide links between Tulsa and Kansas City and St. Louis.

Money being used to renovate the ticketing and waiting areas of the depot are coming from the transportation enhancement funds, money that can't be spent for highways, McCaleb said.

"This money must be spent on some sort of enhancement project like this," he said. "If we don't spend it, we don't get it."

When Brewer purchased the depot, a transaction that took nearly seven years to complete, the contract called for dedicating 2,500 square feet for passenger service in the event Amtrak were to return.

"That's just the minimum amount of space we have to offer," Brewer said. "I don't know exactly how much space we'll have, but it will be at least twice the amount called for in the contract."

The project sponsor is the City of Oklahoma City, McCaleb said.

Although terms of the enhancement projects call for the local sponsor to pay 20 percent of the cost, the local match is "what we call soft match," he said.

"We are spending so much money on highways and highway projects right now, that we can label that money as our match on federal funds," he said.

The waiting area, on the north end of the depot building, will connect directly to California Street on the east side of the railway and to the turn basin of the canal, via a tunnel. That tunnel was built with the depot to allow passenger access to the middle of the tracks several feet above them.

Along with the renovations, the building will be brought up to modern codes, especially the Americans with Disabilities Act. "We don't have elevators or anything else that will meet that code," Brewer said. "We will make all the improvements to reach that standard."

The south end of the depot, now the freight docks, will be torn down and replaced with a new building that will closely resemble the station.

"We want to keep this architecture just as it is during the renovation," Brewer said. "We will replicate this structure in the new construction so that it will look like one building."

It's not known when Amtrak service will resume. But at a press conference in the spring, McCaleb said it would be "after March 30, 1999."

"We have been awarded $23 million in federal funds to use for Amtrak service," he said. "We already have $11.5 million and are to receive the other $11.5 million by March 30, 1999, if rail passenger service has not been restored. So, you can bet that we won't begin the service until after that date."

Besides this money, the state has been setting aside $850,000 per year for four years to pay for operations and maintenance expense.

While some sort of state subsidy is expected when Amtrak returns, the amount has not been determined. That will depend upon ridership, the number of routes offered and the level of service.

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Brewer has renovated the north part of the Santa Fe Depot including restoring the interior to a very handsom appearance. The small portion of the building that is actually used to provide train service remains pretty lack luster however. Just a narrow stairwell leading to the tracks on the upper level and a featurless hallway used for a waiting area, at least that was the status about a year ago when I last took the train down to Fort Worth. This building is not a train station as it is curently used. There is no long term parking and not much of a drop off/pickup area for passengers. Mayor Cornett is very much behind maintaining the train service and also expanding it north. But with only one departure and one arrival each day, the depot gets very little use.

There has been talk in the past about using the expansive restored waiting area as an event center or restaurant, but I think the lack of adjacent parking really gets in the way of those ideas. Although there is plenty of parking within a block or so, you know how people in OKC really think they should be able to park by the front door of every place they want to go.

The other day it looked like something was going on at the south end where all of the freight docks are, but I don't really see much in the way of construcion activity. At one time Brewer had a rather ambious scheme to tear down the freight dock portion of the depot and do some retail that had entrances on the west side of the tracks, went under the tracks and then the two or three story buildings were on the east side. Not veru likely to be a successful retail center and I think he has abandoned that concept.

I've often thought saying there is no parking at the Santa Fe Depot is crazy. There is parking on the same side of Gaylord just across from Reno. And never mind the gigantic parking garages that it sits in front. People need to be parking in those garages, and then riding an elevator down to the street, and BAM, you're 30 seconds from wherever you want to go.

That includes the depot.