The good news is a developer wants to spend plenty of money to preserve the historic and distinctive Donnay Building in Oklahoma City. The bad news is he will evict several tenants, including the HiLo Club.
That’s the gist by The Oklahoman newspaper, which reports Nick Preftakes is prepared to spend $3 million to bring the declining Donnay Building back to life after he bought it for $1.5 million from a previous owner who held plans that didn’t come to fruition.
Preftakes is a veteran developer whose preservation work includes several buildings along Automobile Alley, such as the 1985 conversion of a three-story former Buick showroom into the Garage Lofts.
The Donnay Building is unlike any other in the city, consisting of oddly shaped outcrops of restaurant, bar, shop and apartment space, all defying modern code requirements and in serious need of repairs. Research by late preservationist Lynne Rostochil indicates it was built in phases between 1948 and 1954. […]
While the announcement of new ownership for the Donnay Building is good news for local preservationists, longtime business occupants the HiLo Club and Made in Stone custom jewelry store will need to vacate the property by April.
The HiLo Club has been there since the mid-1950s and eventually became one of the city’s key LGBTQ bars during the 1980s.
The Classen Grill, Preftakes said, might be able to stay because the renovation of that space would be easier.
A few years ago, the Braum’s chain planned to raze the site to put one of its stores there. That prompted outrage and protests. Oklahoma City zoning commissioners refused to rezone the site, and Braum’s withdrew its application.
The Donnay Building, which sits on Classen Drive and NW 50th Street, was constructed in 1948, though several additions were built onto it during the 1950s.
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)
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