Historic downtown Oklahoma City building purchased, will be turned into housing

More upscale housing is headed for downtown Oklahoma City with Gardner Tanenbaum 's purchase of Robinson Renaissance , vintage twin office towers at 119 N Robinson Ave., from the Commissioners of the Land Office state agency.

Gardner Tanenbaum paid $10.25 million at auction for the 12-story, 174,140-square-foot, U-shaped office building, built in 1927. The Land Office had owned it since 2014, when it bought it for $8.95 million .

CEO Richard Tanenbaum, who has converted several downtown office buildings into housing, most recently The Harlow, 101 N Broadway, and Medical Arts Building, 100 Park Ave. , said floors three to 11 of Robinson Renaissance would be converted to apartments.

The basement food court and the first and second floors will probably remain as is, he said.

"There's not going to be another building on that corner," Tanenbaum said. "It's a fabulous corner, catty-corner from where I live (City Place, 204 N Robinson) and across from where I office (Leadership Square, 211 N Robinson)."

He said the revival of First National Center , 120 N Robinson, with retail, restaurants and residences, as well as other investments and activity left Robinson Renaissance in the middle of growth downtown, but, "It was mostly empty." The building started 2024 with a vacancy rate of 61%, according to Price Edwards & Co.

"We feel like there is going to be a continuous demand for housing," he said, and continued softened demand for leased office space.

History of Robinson Renaissance office building in downtown Oklahoma City

According to previous reporting in The Oklahoman:

• 1927 : The building was called the Perrine Building when it opened.
• 1940 : The Perrines sell the building to the Queen Lodge of the Odd Fellows.
• 1945 : The lodge sells it to R.D. Cravens and Ike Hall; in 1950, the name was changed to the Cravens Building.
• 1950s and 1960s : Building is leased as office space.
• 1976 : First National Bank & Trust Co., located directly across Robinson, buys the building for expansion.
• 1985 : National Portfolio and Perrine Acquisition buy the building, renovate it, add an atrium and rename it Robinson Renaissance.
• 2000 : Robinson Renaissance LLC acquires it for $4.425 million amid the first rush of local investment downtown since the 1980s oil bust.
• 2014 : The Commissioners of the Land Office buys the building for $8.95 million.
• 2024 : Gardner Tanenbaum buys it for $10.25 million.

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Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize . You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1 .

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Historic downtown Oklahoma City building purchased, will be turned into housing