Unpaid taxes, lack of repairs put Donnay Building in Oklahoma City in jeopardy

Unpaid property taxes and deferred maintenance are jeopardizing the historic Donnay Building in Oklahoma City, just three years after the complex was saved from the wrecking ball due to planned redevelopment.

The Oklahoman newspaper has the details:

Josh Thomas, the building’s owner who saved the property from destruction when he bought it in 2018, hasn’t paid property taxes since that year. If taxes aren’t paid within the next year, the building could go to auction.
Even if the taxes get paid, the aging building is in need of repairs that could cost millions. Tenants say they rarely, if ever, hear from Thomas, and are hesitant to invest in their own spaces with no clear future for the building as a whole. 

HiLo Club owner and manager Chris Simon reportedly has been given the responsibility of collecting rent checks and performing basic repairs on the complex. But he told the newspaper those tasks are “a lot,” and he’s just trying to keep the building from falling apart.

The HiLo, built in 1956, remains the oldest gay bar in the region. The Donnay Building also is home to the Classen Grill and Made in Stone Gallery Studio. However, the Drunken Fry and other tenants left in recent years, leaving the complex mostly a shell of empty storefronts.

Thomas bought the Donnay Building for $1.3 million in 2018 after Braum’s Ice Cream & Dairy Store announced plans to tear down the complex and build a restaurant there. He announced plans for $1.2 million in renovations that never happened. Thomas blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant crunch in revenue led him to abandon that plan.

The newspaper reported Thomas owes more then $15,000 in back taxes for the HiLo Club and Classen Grill. He said “we’ll get caught up when we get caught up.” If the taxes remain unpaid by year’s end, the property will the placed on a tax-lien sale.

Nearly 14,000 people signed an online petition opposing Braum’s plan. Oklahoma City zoning commissioners refused to rezone the site, and Braum’s withdrew the application for the project.

The Donnay Building, which sits on Classen Drive and NW 50th Street, was constructed in 1948. According to Jim Ross’ “Oklahoma Route 66” book, Classen Circle was a 1950s alignment of Route 66.

Current-day Oklahoma Highway 66, overlaid onto Interstate 44, also sits nearby.

(Image of Donnay Building in Oklahoma City by Matthew Rutledge via Flickr)