Tulsa palace

Read more about the Palace Building renovations at tulsaworld.com/tulsapalace

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 SPECIAL SECTION

The Palace Building’s renovation returns gem to downtown

glory TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World

Restored to

Russian immigrant builds his dream. 4

Take a photo tour of the what the new Palace Building has to ofer. 12

Timeline of the Palace’s history. 16

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Cooperation made saving Palace Building possible he venerable building at Fourth and Main has seen owners come and go, businesses open and close and a city grow up around it.

Now, the Palace Building is about to have a new beginning, which comes just a few years after it faced the possibility of demolition.

The Palace, which some may know as the Excalibur Building, didn’t sufer the same fate as some of Tulsa’s other historic buildings. It wasn’t torn down and stands today — stronger than ever — because Bill of the cooperaMasterson tion of many who have World publisher helped turn it into a place bill.masterson that people @tulsaworld.com will soon call home.

The renovated Palace will have 60 apartment units and an approximately 3,000-square-foot rooftop terrace that will include an outdoor kitchen. The ground loor will have about 5,500 square feet reserved for commercial opportunities.

It opens this month, and in this commemorative special section, you can ind information about how to rent units.

You also can see photos from inside the building and learn about its history — from its 1913 opening to its presentday renovation.

The Palace’s recent history was a sad one. In 2011, it was shaken by one of the state’s largest earthquakes. By 2012, the building was vacant, surrounded by ugly scafolding that had been installed to protect people on the sidewalk from falling debris.

When BH Media Group purchased the Tulsa World in

The Palace Building

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The Palace Building, built in 1913, has undergone a $15 million restoration, converting it to a mixture of apartments and business space.

The renovated Palace will have 60 apartment units available. The ground floor will boast 5,500 square feet for commercial opportunities.

Sizes and costs of units • Studio apartments are 510 to 542 square feet. Prices range from $790 (one unit) to $840.

• 1 bedrooms are 549 to 800 square feet. Range: $851 to $1199 • 2 bedrooms are 813 to 885 square feet. Range: $1,057 to $1,166.

Leasing contact Tracy Anquoe, leasing representative, Wiggin Properties: 918-582-8100 Many local people and entities worked together to save the historic Palace Building and turn it into a place that some will soon call home. TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World

2013, the Palace Building was part of the deal. There were discussions about what to do: Should it be torn down?

Could it become a warehouse?

Could it be renovated?

As it turned out, the place had promise. There was no signiicant earthquake damage, but the deteriorating building was sufering from years of neglect.

Turning the Palace into living space — a place that could help build on downtown Tulsa’s growth and also produce revenue for the city — could happen. But it would come at a high cost, with some estimates up to $15 million. To make the project possible, it would require cooperation.

I want to thank a few people. If not for them, this project would not have become a reality. First and foremost, that would be Mr. Bufett and BH Media Group Chief Executive Oicer Terry Kroeger. Without their ap-

proval, this project would have never happened.

I’d also like to thank our Executive Vice President Doug Hiemstra, Chief Financial Oicer Duane Poladna and BH Media Production Vice President Sam Hightower. I can’t tell you how many hours and hours these gentlemen have spent on this project.

Just as with the BH Media folks, this project wouldn’t have become a reality without the commitment from the city of Tulsa, Tulsa Public Schools, Tulsa City-County Library System, Tulsa County, Tulsa City-County Health Department, Tulsa Technology Center and Tulsa Community College. They all had to agree to property tax abatements.

No one was more supportive than former Mayor Dewey Bartlett, but I’m proud to say everyone was supportive. Every city council representative or county commissioner gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to

the project. And they voiced that support, which was much appreciated.

I also gotta give a shoutout to Economic Development Coordinator Jim Coles, who helped walk this project through the proper processes to get it done right.

The six-year abatement will produce about $1.16 million in tax credits for the Palace project and a warehouse next door. Some critics would say that the agencies are losing out on that money, but nothing is further from the truth.

Fact is, without the tax credits, the building never would have been restored.

There never would have been a $15 million investment in the Palace and the warehouse that would generate that tax. What it does mean is the agencies will continue to get the same amount they have always gotten, and they have ensured themselves of a nice bump in six years. The

forward thinking of those organizations needs to be applauded. These new tax dollars will produce more tax money to help schools, libraries, public works and more for years to come.

The Palace is eligible to receive about $4.6 million in federal and state rehabilitation tax credits, which were essential to the project. Those credits worked exactly as leaders designed them. They spurred preservation that will, in turn, produce a longterm economic beneit for the city, county and state.

Downtown Tulsa is thriving.

More and more people are coming to live and to play in an area that had been struggling for years.

I am proud to work for a company willing to make an investment like this and take part in the city’s growth. I’m also proud and thankful to live in a place where so many people and organizations could work together to make this happen.

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From Russia with a dream Immigrant built Palace Building despite doubters

By DeBBie Jackson • Tulsa WorlD

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hen Simon Jankowsky built his ive-story Palace Clothiers store at Fourth and Main streets in 1913, fellow retailers scofed that it would be “folly to build so far south from town.”

Fourth Street was a dirt road, and beyond that was considered out in the country.

He built it anyway, and the Palace Building became one of Tulsa’s irst skyscrapers.

Like many immigrants, Jankowsky rose from humble beginnings.

Born in Russia, Jankowsky arrived in New York aboard the S.S. Westphalia in 1882 at age 16 and found work as a cigar maker, according to his grandson, Malcolm Milsten of Tulsa.

Milsten worked in the shipping and receiving department of the family business during college vacations and recalls watching parades from the vantage point of the metal awning on the front of the building.

Jankowsky became an American citizen in 1888 and headed West to make his fortune.

In Joplin, Missouri, he married his wife, Hedwig, and the couple headed for Indian Territory, landing in Tulsa by way of McAlester. The couple eventually had four children and were one of the irst Jewish families in Tulsa.

Oil had been found in Red Fork, a new toll bridge across the Arkansas River had just replaced the ferry, and Tulsa was ripe for a clothing store.

Russian-born Simon Jankowsky came to the United States in 1882 at the age of 16. He became an American citizen six years later. He founded Palace Clothiers in Tulsa in 1904 and built the Palace Building at Fourth and Main streets in 1913.

COURTESY /Malcolm Milsten

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In 1904, the resolute retailer founded Palace Clothiers in a oneroom building at 110 S. Main St. It was anything but palatial.

Nevertheless, Jankowsky stocked it with high-quality men’s apparel and rugged clothing it for cowboys and oil ield workers. The business was an immediate success, aided by Tulsa’s explosive population growth.

Encouraged, Jankowsky disregarded warnings of naysayers and (together with his brother and business partner Mose) constructed his new store, a handsome steel and concrete building faced with Oklahoma limestone, at 324 S. Main St. The clothing business illed the irst two loors and the basement.

Oices in the upper loors were soon occupied by businessmen, including future scions of the oil industry such as: • Harry Sinclair, who would later build his own downtown headquarters for Sinclair Oil & Gas Co. • Josh Cosden, who earned and lost two fortunes and built a west Tulsa reinery and the Cosden Building, which became the Mid-Continent Tower.

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Harry Sinclair, founder of the Sinclair Oil and Gas Co., was among the early-day oilmen who had oices in the Palace Building. COURTESY

• C.J. Wrightsman, who was credited with devising the oil depletion allowance.

The Palace was so successful that Jankowsky added four stories in 1917, » See page 6

Palace Clothiers, with proprietor Simon Jankowsky in the center, is shown. This is probably the store at 110 S. Main St. that Jankowsky opened in 1904. COURTESY/Malcolm Milsten

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» From page 5

providing the Texas Co., one of his most important tenants, with additional oice space.

Early-day oilmen credited him with assuring that Texas Co. (later Texaco) would keep its reining headquarters in Tulsa.

When Jankowsky died in 1943 at age 78, a newspaper obituary said, “His body will be buried Tuesday. His spirit, like those of other pioneers, now belongs to the history of Tulsa.”

He was described as a quiet man, with a shock of snow-white hair and a placid, introspective face. Shrewd and persevering, he had a dry wit, explaining his habit of never wearing a hat this way: “I sell hats to make money; I save money by not wearing a hat which I might sell.”

He made numerous charitable contributions on the condition that they be given no publicity and donated hundreds of maple saplings to beautify city parks.

Jankowsky once told friends that “while it is true that God made the country, men built its cities.”

Simon Jankowsky was a quiet man with a shock of snowwhite hair. He was the pioneer Tulsa retailer who built the Palace Building. COURTESY/Malcolm Milsten

Debbie Jackson 918-581-8374 debbie.jackson@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @SundayTW Hilary Pittman contributed to this story.

Dr. Julie Holmes, Dr. Kristin Vandervoort and staff are eager to address all of your eye care needs in the convenience of downtown.

I sell hats to make money; I save money by not wearing a hat which I might sell.”

Simon Jankowsky, on never wearing a hat

The interior of Palace Clothiers is seen looking down from the mezzanine level. The ive-story Palace Building was built in 1913 and four stories were added in 1917. COURTESY/Malcolm Milsten

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Polished Palace Historic feel shines through renovations

By Rhett MoRgan • tulsa WoRld Photos By toM gilBeRt/tulsa WoRld

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hat was an aging and unused structure has found new life at Fourth and Main streets.

The 104-year-old Palace Building opened its doors this month to a $15 million conversion of the property into apartments. It culminates a desire by the Tulsa

TULSAWORLD.COM/ TULSAPALACE Take a video tour of the renovated Palace Building apartments.

World and its parent company, Omaha, Nebraskabased BH Media Group, to have skin in the downtown development game.

“The most important thing was to send a mes-

sage to our customers, our subscribers and the people of Tulsa that Berkshire Hathaway cares about the community, cares about the newspaper, cares about the property and that we’re here for the long haul,” said Bill Masterson, publisher of the the Tulsa World, which was acquired

by Berkshire Hathaway in early 2013.

“We wanted to be part of the revitalization of downtown. This gave us an opportunity to be involved in something we’ve never been involved in before.”

The evolution of the transformation began in part with Wiggin Proper-

The historic Palace Building at 324 S. Main St. was on the verge of being torn down when its owners decided to preserve the 104-yearold structure in the center of downtown Tulsa as an apartment and commercial development.

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ties, said Jed Ballew, principal at KKT Architects, designer of the new Palace Building.

Wiggin, which is property manager of the Palace, had collaborated with KKT on another historical renovation down the street — Mayo 420 Lofts — and saw potential in the building owned by the newspaper.

“They looked at the demographics and saw it as a way to use the space for more apartments downtown, primarily for one-bedroom and smaller units,” Ballew said. “There is a lot of demand for single (residents) without children. Also, the Tulsa World had a need for paper storage. It had been using some of site.”

The newspaper ultimately scrapped plans to level the building — because of reported earthquake damage in the basement — and move forward with a refurbishing of the Palace Building and construction of a new paper-storage facility.

The nine-story Palace Building contains 34 one-bedroom, 18

studio and eight two-bedroom units, including 18 apartments that will be discounted for dwellers who meet certain income, debt and occupancy qualiications.

Each loor features colorthemed doors and corridor beams. A community room with a kitchen and televisions will be on the second loor. In the basement will be men’s and women’s restrooms, bike racks and storage units for tenant rental.

On the roof will sit a roughly 3,000-square-foot terrace with an outdoor kitchen. About 5,500 square feet on the Palace Building’s irst loor will be reserved for commercial opportunities, Masterson said.

“It’s a renovated downtown historic building with a great price point,” said Tracy Anquoe of Wiggin Properties.

For the World’s rehabilitation of the two properties, the Tulsa City Council approved a sixyear tax abatement that would account for about $1.16 million in tax credits. In addition, the

1913 building is one of more than a dozen downtown projects since 2006 that will beneit from historic tax credits.

Based on the preliminary estimates, $4.6 million in federal and state rehabilitation credits will be available for the Palace Building, said Melvena Heisch, deputy director of the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Ofice.

The fact that the Palace was a preservation project made it more time-consuming, Ballew said.

“There’s always going to be the perfect solution, but whether or not that its into the budget is a diferent story,” he said.

“There’s always a give and take.

It’s a diicult road to get there sometimes. It’s every single aspect of the design. … Every little piece becomes an element of importance to the (National) Park Service, especially those that are extremely visible.”

Among the many items that had to be approved were the windows and the canopy.

“While you are dealing with new technology and replacing old things with new things, their preference is always going to be, ‘Does it match with what you would have seen back in the era of when it was constructed?’ ” Ballew said.

Remnants of the original building are readily visible. Left intact are such features as the mail chute, plaster ceilings and cream-, blue- and gray-colored mosaic tile looring that runs throughout portions of the building.

“We looked at having more of an open look, more of an urban, loft-like appearance where we stripped it down to the original structure and plaster inish,” Ballew said. “When you have a loor that’s polished concrete in one area and a little bit of historic tile coming through, it goes well with that hybrid of industrial loft and historic preservation.”

Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395 rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @RhettMorganTW

Sizes and costs of units • Studio apartments are 510 to 542 square feet. Prices range from $790 (one unit) to $840.

• 1 bedrooms are 549 to 800 square feet. Range: $851 to $1199 • 2 bedrooms are 813 to 885 square feet. Range: $1,057 to $1,166.

Amenities • Each unit has a washer/dryer and stainless steel appliances.

• Granite counters.

• Community room with kitchen, TVs. • Storage units, bike racks in basement.

• Rooftop terrace with outdoor kitchen.

• Parking is available at the nearby Main Park Plaza Parking Garage.

Leasing contact Tracy Anquoe, leasing representative, Wiggin Properties: 918-582-8100

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Inside the Palace

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Take a photo tour of the inside of the renovated Palace Building

PHOTOS BY TOM GILBERT/TULSA WORLD

A living area (above) and bedroom are shown in a Palace Building apartment.

The living area is shown in one of the Palace Building units.

At far left, light shines into the living area and kitchen of a Palace Building apartment.

At left, original mosaic tile flooring blends with modern touches.

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Above, a mail chute in the Palace Building at 324 S. Main St. is one of the original features that harken back to the building’s history.

At left, a bathroom in one of the Palace Building apartments includes granite countertops and contemporary fixtures like those found elsewhere in the unit.

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The kitchens in two diferent Palace Building apartments are featured. The Palace ofers a variety of open loor plans in one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as studio apartments.

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Above, left, the Palace Building features stainless steel kitchen appliances.

Above, right, the skyline is seen from the ninth floor of the Palace Building.

At left, a stencil on the door at the Palace Building is among many art deco touches to the building.

Below, a sign for a third-floor apartment in the Palace Building gives a modern feel to the vintage style.

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Surviving the times

The Palace Building (far left) originally had ive loors. The clothing store occupied the irst two loors and basement, while oice rentals occupied the remainder of the building.   BERYL FORD COLLECTION/Rotary Club of Tulsa

The Palace Building is at 324 S. Main St. The building has been on the corner of Fourth and Main streets for over a century. TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World

Palace Building withstood changing eras, near-demolition

1913 Tulsa pioneer Simon Jankowsky built his five-story Palace Clothiers building on the northwest corner of Fourth and Main streets. Fourth Street was a dirt road at the time.

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1917 Four stories added, making it one of Tulsa’s first high-rise buildings.

1937 Air conditioning installed at Palace Clothiers.

1946 Women’s department opened on third floor.

1954 Palace Clothiers celebrated its 50th birthday. » See page 18

World War I was raging in Europe, but this newspaper ad for Palace Clothiers on Oct. 18, 1914, urges Tulsans to buy clothing made in America. Around the border are the words “America irst.” The business even ofered to pay railroad fares for shoppers from out-oftown. WORLD ARCHIVES

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Palace building 1925

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Surviving the times

The Palace Building was renamed the Excalibur Building in 1991.

An Arby’s restaurant occupied the building from 1998 until 2012, following an $800,000 renovation. TULSA WORLD FILE

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2012

» From page 17

1960

Building closed after engineer reported that damage from 2011 earthquake likely caused exterior masonry and precast concrete to fall from the building.

Clothing store closed; upper loor oices remained occupied by small businesses.

1961

2015

Owner Joseph Jankowsky announced plans for a Robinson’s clothing store to occupy the basement and irst two loors of the building following a renovation.

1963 Robinson’s closed after parent company iled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

1968 Hunter Spencer paints a terracotta motif on the exterior of the Palace Building as it neared completion in February.

TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World file

Jankowsky family sold the building, which went through multiple owners,

Kathy Hawkins of Sherman’s Hallmark, 324 S. Main St., examines some Christmas decorations in August 1993. The store was in the Palace Building for 23 years. TULSA WORLD FILE

two name changes and a renovation over the next three decades.

1997 World Publishing Co. purchased building.

1998 Sherman’s Hallmark Shop, which had occupied the irst loor since 1975, closed and was replaced by an Arby’s restaurant following an $800,000 renovation.

Tulsa World Media Co., successor to World Publishing, was granted a tax abatement and tax credits to renovate the historic structure as a mixed-use development with 60 apartments and commercial space. The company had considered demolishing the building.

2017 Palace Building reopened following $15 million renovation and began leasing apartments.

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