A Tulsa-based music promoter wants to buy the closed Gold Dome building in Oklahoma City and transform it into a live music venue.
Mike Brown, president of Kismet Koncerts, has requested $3 million in public assistance for the project, reported The Oklahoman (subscription required). The money would come from tax-increment financing.
Kismet owns and operates several other venues, including The Odeon in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Crown Uptown Theater in Wichita, Kansas.
JoAnna McSpadden, the city’s economic development program manager, said Brown’s application, to be heard Monday by the Classen TIF review committee, is based on a $10 million renovation “primarily” focused on the interior.
The renovation would also include some cleanup of the exterior and extensive repairs of the iconic domed roof. […]
The deal with Brown requires his company to invest a minimum of $7 million. The proposal requires Brown to an annual minimum tax payment of at least $120,000 plus a potential annual share of profits for the life of the Classen TIF or until the $3,000,000 GOLT loan plus interest is paid back.
The proposal is due to be reviewed on Tuesday by the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust if the review committee recommends it on Monday. It then would go to the city council for final approval in January.
The Gold Dome was built as a Citizens State Bank in 1958 and as the fifth geodesic dome in the world. In 2003, it faced demolition until local preservationists protested.
Irene Lam bought it and turned it into a retail complex. It was listed as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2012, the building fell into foreclosure and has been closed ever since.
In another report, city leaders are hopeful millions in new funding may reinvigorate the century-old Classen Boulevard area that includes the Gold Dome and Milk Bottle Grocery building along Route 66.
The Journal-Record reported that civic leaders believe the area can receive a boost from the TIF district approved by the city council in June, revenue bonds and a federal infrastructure grant.
O’Conner said developers are likely to be enticed by redevelopment opportunities throughout the Classen corridor, such as the historic Gold Dome building, a geodesic dome at NW 23 St. and Classen Blvd. Built in 1958 to house the now closed Citizens State Bank, the building sits on the former path of Route 66 and is considered a historic landmark.
There are other examples, such as the old Milk Bottle Grocery, 2426 N Classen, and the distinctive, 110-year-old Rainbow Records building, 2401 N Classen, which is already being restored. And there are other historic buildings that have a ton of potential, O’Conner said.
The article points out that Oklahoma City has become a national leader in using public-private investment to transform old districts such as Bricktown, Midtown, Film Row, Deep Deuce, Automobile Alley and Downtown.
Classen Boulevard lies along a former trolley route created about 120 years ago. It’s now part of the Asian District, many of them Vietnamese immigrants who fled the war during the 1970s. Even now, the city is known as one of the best places in the United States to dine on Vietnamese cuisine.
Classen also served as Route 66 during the late 1920s. It also joins up with two other Route 66 alignments, Western Avenue and 39th Street.
(Image of the Gold Dome by We travel the world and Milk Bottle Building in 2010 by Aaron Hall, both via Flickr)