By Steve Lackmeyer
The Oklahoman
The Sieber Hotel, a longtime MidTown eyesore, is undergoing a long-awaited renovation that developers promise will return it to its heyday as a gathering spot for nearby St. Anthony Hospital and Heritage Hills.
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Sieber Holdings, led by local preservationist Marva Ellard, recently began an $8.5 million renovation that has been on the drawing board since her group first bought the boarded up, six-story hotel at a sheriff’s auction in 1997.
“It’s been our baby for a long time,” Ellard said. “I can understand anyone who might have gotten impatient. I’ve been working on this hard since 1998, and everything just finally came into place.”
Ellard said she and partners Robert Magrini, Todd Scott, Mike McDonald and Tom Stapleton encountered numerous challenges, including qualifying for Murrah revitalization loans, historic tax credits and HUD financing.
With everything lined up, crews started removing debris last month. Ellard said a new timetable calls for the hotel to reopen as a 38-unit apartment complex with first-floor restaurant, shop and office space by late 2007.
The site is one block south of the historic upscale Heritage Hills neighborhood, and a short walk to St. Anthony Hospital and downtown’s Arts District and Central Business District.
“From the top couple of floors, you can see the Capitol, the health sciences center, downtown, Heritage Hills - it’s a really nice view,” Ellard said. “The type of tenants we’ll be appealing to will be complementary to Heritage Hills. We’ll probably see medical residents from St. Anthony, business people and probably an older resident similar to the retirees and empty nesters at the Aberdeen (downtown’s oldest apartment tower).”
Ellard said the building’s best features haven’t been seen for years by the public. A tile mosaic floor and curved ceiling with skylights create a lobby that she thinks is unmatched anywhere in the city.
The Sieber is a dream project for Ellard, but she admits MidTown is a better bet for the project than it was eight years ago. Back then, MidTown was littered with abandoned, boarded-up buildings, including the large former Mercy Hospital at NW 12 and Dewey, the old Wesley Hospital at NW 12 and Harvey, and a 10-story former hotel at NW 10 and Walker.
Now only the old Wesley Hospital remains, and it is being renovated into lofts. Urban Renewal Authority razed the Mercy Hospital building and is seeking bids to redevelop the site into housing, and the old hotel was demolished by St. Anthony and is now part of the hospital campus.
Dozens of other properties are being renovated by developer Greg Banta.
Ellard never doubted MidTown was due for a rebound.
“It’s a block away from Heritage Hills,” Ellard said. “And there was a trend in other cities toward downtown housing. Oklahoma City usually lags behind those trends, but we come around eventually.”
Sieber descendants, meanwhile, await a personal tour of the hotel that was both a family business and home.
German immigrant Robert G. Sieber built the adjoining two-story building first in 1922, operating it as a butcher shop and grocery. He and his wife, Nora, then built and operated the six-story, u-shaped Sieber Apartment Hotel starting in 1928.
Their granddaughter, Joanie Elder, still cherishes memories of summer visits at the hotel. One aunt ran a beauty shop in the hotel’s north wing while her grandparents operated a coffee shop on the south wing. An underground tunnel between the butcher shop and the hotel was used to deliver meats to the restaurant.
Elder’s mother, DeLois, and her twin sister, Delrose, kept the hotel’s books, and helped in the shop. “It was a family business,” Elder said.
After Robert Sieber’s death in 1962, the sisters tried to continue operating the hotel through the early 1970s - but the area was quickly declining.
“There were a lot of vagrants in the area because a lot of the other places nearby had closed,” Elder said. “And the sisters were nearing retirement age, and nobody was left to take over the business.”
The first owners went bankrupt. Other owners attempted renovations throughout the 1980s, only to suffer the same fate. The building had been gutted, vandalized, and damaged by at least two fires when Ellard beat 30 other bidders at the sheriff’s auction.
Ellard has worked closely with the family, sharing development plans, compiling their history for a successful nomination of the hotel to the National Register of Historic Places. She has the family’s blessing to keep their name on the building, and some of their memorabilia will be on display when the renovation is completed.
“Marva has been wonderful,” Elder said. “Her enthusiasm is contagious .. We always knew this area would someday turn around.”
The Oklahoman
The Sieber Hotel, a longtime MidTown eyesore, is undergoing a long-awaited renovation that developers promise will return it to its heyday as a gathering spot for nearby St. Anthony Hospital and Heritage Hills.
Story continues below advertisement
Sieber Holdings, led by local preservationist Marva Ellard, recently began an $8.5 million renovation that has been on the drawing board since her group first bought the boarded up, six-story hotel at a sheriff’s auction in 1997.
“It’s been our baby for a long time,” Ellard said. “I can understand anyone who might have gotten impatient. I’ve been working on this hard since 1998, and everything just finally came into place.”
Ellard said she and partners Robert Magrini, Todd Scott, Mike McDonald and Tom Stapleton encountered numerous challenges, including qualifying for Murrah revitalization loans, historic tax credits and HUD financing.
With everything lined up, crews started removing debris last month. Ellard said a new timetable calls for the hotel to reopen as a 38-unit apartment complex with first-floor restaurant, shop and office space by late 2007.
The site is one block south of the historic upscale Heritage Hills neighborhood, and a short walk to St. Anthony Hospital and downtown’s Arts District and Central Business District.
“From the top couple of floors, you can see the Capitol, the health sciences center, downtown, Heritage Hills - it’s a really nice view,” Ellard said. “The type of tenants we’ll be appealing to will be complementary to Heritage Hills. We’ll probably see medical residents from St. Anthony, business people and probably an older resident similar to the retirees and empty nesters at the Aberdeen (downtown’s oldest apartment tower).”
Ellard said the building’s best features haven’t been seen for years by the public. A tile mosaic floor and curved ceiling with skylights create a lobby that she thinks is unmatched anywhere in the city.
The Sieber is a dream project for Ellard, but she admits MidTown is a better bet for the project than it was eight years ago. Back then, MidTown was littered with abandoned, boarded-up buildings, including the large former Mercy Hospital at NW 12 and Dewey, the old Wesley Hospital at NW 12 and Harvey, and a 10-story former hotel at NW 10 and Walker.
Now only the old Wesley Hospital remains, and it is being renovated into lofts. Urban Renewal Authority razed the Mercy Hospital building and is seeking bids to redevelop the site into housing, and the old hotel was demolished by St. Anthony and is now part of the hospital campus.
Dozens of other properties are being renovated by developer Greg Banta.
Ellard never doubted MidTown was due for a rebound.
“It’s a block away from Heritage Hills,” Ellard said. “And there was a trend in other cities toward downtown housing. Oklahoma City usually lags behind those trends, but we come around eventually.”
Sieber descendants, meanwhile, await a personal tour of the hotel that was both a family business and home.
German immigrant Robert G. Sieber built the adjoining two-story building first in 1922, operating it as a butcher shop and grocery. He and his wife, Nora, then built and operated the six-story, u-shaped Sieber Apartment Hotel starting in 1928.
Their granddaughter, Joanie Elder, still cherishes memories of summer visits at the hotel. One aunt ran a beauty shop in the hotel’s north wing while her grandparents operated a coffee shop on the south wing. An underground tunnel between the butcher shop and the hotel was used to deliver meats to the restaurant.
Elder’s mother, DeLois, and her twin sister, Delrose, kept the hotel’s books, and helped in the shop. “It was a family business,” Elder said.
After Robert Sieber’s death in 1962, the sisters tried to continue operating the hotel through the early 1970s - but the area was quickly declining.
“There were a lot of vagrants in the area because a lot of the other places nearby had closed,” Elder said. “And the sisters were nearing retirement age, and nobody was left to take over the business.”
The first owners went bankrupt. Other owners attempted renovations throughout the 1980s, only to suffer the same fate. The building had been gutted, vandalized, and damaged by at least two fires when Ellard beat 30 other bidders at the sheriff’s auction.
Ellard has worked closely with the family, sharing development plans, compiling their history for a successful nomination of the hotel to the National Register of Historic Places. She has the family’s blessing to keep their name on the building, and some of their memorabilia will be on display when the renovation is completed.
“Marva has been wonderful,” Elder said. “Her enthusiasm is contagious .. We always knew this area would someday turn around.”
