I was looking through LoopNet's records for real estate, and found this at 615 Hudson... it's built in 2001. I think it's pretty... awful looking, for sure. Is this a Rick Dowell building?

It's not that bad.

No it really is, but it wouldn't be so bad if someone would knock off that triangle above the street entrance.

I believe that it's owned by Fotis Bartaleotis (this isn't in my spell-check), the guy that owned The Athenian Building that was directly across the street north of the Murrah building. It was also totaled in the bombing. This is the building he built to replace it. IMO, it is:

A. Ugly. Whacking the pediment off the front won't cure squat. It's just mediocre architecture at best.
B. Bad concept. More office space in a downtown glutted with vacant office space.
C. No Parking. As hard as it may to believe, there is no parking adjacent to the building that is associated with the building. There is a lot located one block to the west that has a sign on it indicating that the lot is for that building.

It was financed with the proceeds from his insurance and additional money from the Murrah Revolving Loan Fund. There may have been other public money involved as well, but I don't recall for sure.

The guess that it could be one of Dowell’s debacles is well founded, considering the hideous designs of his projects over on Walker. He does plant lots of trees though, so in twenty or so years, a lot of his work may be less offensive.

I don't mind his MidTown Square project, but he sure does have some hideous geriatric-looking architecture. Isn't it funny, this bumbling fool in eye glasses the size of telescopes developing these sterile blocks of cement in our downtown, and constantly asserting how he thinks they look great?

It would look a lot better if the street wasn't torn up and if there weren't lines draped in front of it.

In his eyes, I think the properties look much better than when he first started with them, I think. Vacant or new-looking building?

And I agree that in this case, the streetscape probably doesn't have a very positive affect on the overall appearance of the building.

Actually, this building sort of looks like it was picked up out of Lower Bricktown and plopped down in Midtown.

Yes! Exactly!

It's pretty bad. What is the midtown square project?

MidTown Plaza, my bad...

http://www.dowellproperties.com/midtown%20okc.html

Interesting, I didn't realize those properties were under the same ownership.

I applaud Dowell's willingness to buy and rehabilitate acres of vacant properties around NW 4th and Walker, but am dismayed at his nearly maniacal disdain for competent architectural advice. The silly and enormously expensive design he inflicted on the former Fred Jones Lincoln Mercury auto dealership building being the best example of his lack of design competence.

Unfortunately, his deep pockets contain only money. The guy simply has no sense of things eclectic or any cleverness. Both qualities being essential to developing a good urban commercial environment. He has cleaned up a lot of property, but with a ham-handed approach that borders on comical. Unfortunately, there will be no undoing of what he has wrought and we will all be stuck with looking at it for years and years.

It is a wonderful urban design opportunity squandered; but so it goes. Of course nothing could be much worse from a design standpoint than The Deep Deuce Apartments, but that's a whole other story.

No I would say the Deep Deuce are fine, and I can take the photos to proove it, but it's The Hill I'm worried silly about.

The design of the Hill development is pretentious. The Deep Deuce Apartments project is just butt ugly. The fake balconies, the shed roofs, the change of materials to EFIS on all but the street facades, the failure to recognize and take advantage of the skyline and other views afforded by the site, the out of place arched top windows; the list could go on and on. It is just the same building plopped down here, turned 90 degrees and plopped down again. Neither project is a good example of infill urban architecture. The only thing the Hill has going for it is that it will be a more expensive project and we can expect better quality finishes.

BTW, gates are only good at keeping people in. A waste of money to afford s false sense of security to some potential buyers and renters. I hope we can get past this foolishness pretty soon.

I like this old downtown guy. Does anyone have any before and after pics of the Fred Jones Lincoln Mercury auto dealership? I'm not even sure which building it is.