Notorious OKC motel Plaza Inn, once considered for veteran housing, now set for demolition

The former Plaza Inn in south Oklahoma City, a notorious motel shut down after years of drug crime, assaults and murders, is set to be demolished after it was purchased in April by new owners.

Efforts to contact the owners, 29th Street Realty, were unsuccessful on Thursday, but records at Oklahoma City’s permit portal show a demolition permit was filed Wednesday by Midwest Wrecking. The property sold to 29th Street Realty for $2.8 million on April 17.

Earlier this year, efforts were made to earmark the site as a potential affordable housing project for homeless veterans, but the effort was unsuccessful.

The Plaza Inn, 3200 S Prospect Ave., closed in late October two weeks after its ownership agreed to a consent decree with city officials to increase security measures on the property or face a shutdown.

A local judge gave the 14-day deadline as an ultimatum to the owners, who then closed the motel to remain compliant with the consent decree, according to the former owners' attorney.

Once described by a police officer as "the fentanyl den of Oklahoma City," the Plaza Inn was a hotspot of violent crime for many years, with numerous reports detailing deadly shootings and assaults.

A previous investigation by The Oklahoman in 2022 uncovered heavy issues with drug overdoses and homeless people on the property, amid broader issues of criminal activity in the area along Interstate 35 in southeast Oklahoma City.