Skelly/Froug's update

The Tulsa Whirled's exterior demolition of the Froug's Building, 3rd & Main, is underway.

Protests will continue each Wednesday, 11:30 - 12:30 in front of the Skelly Building, 4th & Boulder.

The Tulsa Beacon gave the Skelly Building front-page treatment, with a photo and comments from protestors. (Story will be replaced Thursday -- sure would be nice if the Beacon would find a way to archive their main stories and keep it accessible.)

Architect Paul Uttinger has a great letter in this week's Urban Tulsa. Some key paragraphs:

The Tulsa World and Lorton family are great supporters of the performing arts, but there is an opportunity now for them to become true champions of the building arts, where a reinvigorated city center and good urban design are paramount. The argument is not one of private property rights. As owners of the Skelly Building, the executives of World Publishing are free to do with their property as they see fit.

But in a true city, there’s an underlying implication that private property owners will develop their land with civility and with respect toward the public. When a building such as the Skelly is taken down, the general public expects something better to be built in its place. In the urban context, a parking lot is not better than a building.

Even as a vacant structure, the Skelly provides two important street walls facing Fourth and Boulder. With the Skelly Building removed, the south side of the World Building will be exposed to public view. In its current condition, the south face of the World Building is far more unattractive than the vacant hulk of the Skelly.

There seems to be someone with a viable proposal for buying the Skelly Building and making use of available tax incentives to redevelop it as housing. But will the Whirled entertain an offer?

Finally, someone has made a "modest proposal" as an alternative to demolishing downtown one building at a time.