Old masonry buildings reward a builder who opens walls carefully and prices what is inside them honestly, and Guthrie has more of them than almost any town in the state. We renovate and adapt historic storefronts, offices and civic buildings, and we build new light industrial and commercial space on the town's edges, where I-35 puts a shop or small plant within reach of the Oklahoma City metro.
Wikipedia describes the Guthrie Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, as the largest urban historic district in Oklahoma, with 2,169 buildings across about 1,400 acres. For an owner, that scale means a deep stock of buildings that could be repurposed for restaurants, boutiques, lofts, offices and event space, and it also means regulations that govern what can be changed. Historic review, façade standards and condition surprises are the main variables.
We approach each building as a diagnosis first and a construction project second. A few days of investigation by our team, an engineer and a preservation consultant, often saves months of redesign.
The typical project starts with a masonry shell, a wood floor structure and a roof that may or may not have been replaced in the last twenty years. We open selective areas to check bearing walls, floor joists, lintels and mortar condition, then prepare a repair list with unit prices so the owner knows what the hidden work might cost. Tuckpointing, lintel replacement, floor reinforcing and roof repair are common line items.
Inside, we upgrade for use: new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, accessibility, fire protection and exits. The trade partner team for renovation and adaptive reuse works to keep historic details such as pressed-tin ceilings, storefront glass and wood trim intact when they are part of the building's appeal. Where the design permits, we reuse original materials to hold down cost.
Work inside a historic district usually requires design review, and federal or state tax credit programs, if the owner uses them, add their own standards and documentation. We prepare photographs, material samples and narrative descriptions that reviewers ask for and we track approvals on the schedule. A project that begins construction before approvals are in hand risks stop-work orders and lost credits.
Logan County lies in the Red Bed Plains physiographic area and is drained by the Cimarron River and the smaller Cottonwood and Ephraim Creeks, according to Wikipedia. For new buildings on the edges of town, that tells us to expect red clay and creek drainage patterns, so we recommend borings, plan footings accordingly and design stormwater drainage that does not send runoff to a neighbor's basement or a downstream channel.
Existing buildings are governed by the International Existing Building Code that the state adopts, and each project follows the codes the local authority adopts and enforces. We confirm with the city which edition and which compliance path apply to a change of use, because the path chosen for fire separation, exits and accessibility can change the cost of a renovation by a wide margin.
For new construction, standard commercial permits apply. Oklahoma does not require a general contractor license at the state level, but electrical, mechanical, plumbing and roofing work does require licensed trades, and we use them. We prepare a complete permit package with structural, civil and MEP drawings, which helps small-town building departments review quickly.
Old buildings can hide lead paint, asbestos-containing materials, weak floors and failed wiring. Before we demolish anything, we recommend testing for hazardous materials, and we follow the abatement contractor's plan when it is needed. We shore weak floors, control dust, protect neighbors in shared-wall buildings and set up scaffolding with fall protection on tall façades.
Safe work also protects the fabric of the building. Every crew on site learns which walls and finishes are to be preserved and use protection, hand tools and careful sequencing to avoid damage. A single careless cut through a historic detail can cost far more than the time saved.
Logan County is served by Interstate 35, US Highway 77 and State Highways 33, 51, 74, 74C and 105, according to Wikipedia. The city-owned Guthrie-Edmond Regional Airport has one concrete runway, 16/34, measuring 5,001 by 75 feet, about 2 nautical miles south of Guthrie and 7 miles north of Edmond. For a small manufacturer or distributor, that is a short trip to the metro by road or air.
The Guthrie News Page reported on March 31, 2016 that King Nail would occupy 35,000 square feet in the Stewart Industries Industrial Complex with over 40 personnel, and that Cimarron Aerospace would start with 20 personnel, about 60 jobs in all. That is an older report, so we treat it as an illustration of the building sizes users have sought, not a current claim. We build flex and light industrial shells with front offices, rear docks and the flexibility to subdivide for multiple tenants. For small manufacturers the choice often comes down to land cost and labor access.
Owners often ask whether to build here or closer in, and we are glad to price both. Setting a Guthrie shell next to the same building in Edmond or Oklahoma City shows what land, labor and utility costs do to the bottom line, and it lets the owner choose with numbers instead of guesses. Our approach is to keep the building design constant and vary only the site.
Tell us what you own or hope to buy and what you want it to become. We will walk it, price the unknowns and return a scope, budget range and schedule.
FAQ
Send the property, the building type and the schedule. We review the scope, the approvals and the trade packages and explain how the project would be sequenced.