Britton District – Owl Court

By: J. David Chapman/October 31, 2019

The Old Town of Britton is changing. Several individuals have joined to create a City Sanctioned Britton District. Individual developers are remaking old spaces into a new relaxation, commerce and creative district. Why there, why now? It is part of a movement to revitalize the urban areas and limit sprawl.

This movement to revitalize older, more urban areas is powerful and changing stubborn opinions about what is desirable and what is not. Several prominent businessmen in Oklahoma City have purchased dilapidated buildings in downtown Britton. They have remodeled them and are tenanting them with cool and creative-type businesses. As an example, six people joined together to purchase the “derelict and abandoned” Owl Court at Classen and W. Britton before the city bulldozed it as a nuisance. They are now renovating the property as office, creative, and food space.

The tenants for these spaces are not national tenants. They are members of the community who want to try their creative ideas in a low-cost space with practical landlords. This is what a community ought to do with its built environment – nurture the community. Turns out OKC’s banking environment has been supportive of these efforts, choosing to believe that backing local entrepreneurs is good business.

These are not easy projects and are a true labor of love. Owl Court is a good example of how teamwork and creativity are necessary to make it work. After buying the property, the new owners spent their own money to re-roof the old motorcourt. They cleared decades of junk from the property, demolished an old garage and house that were structurally unstable, and secured an old barn for construction storage.

Their plan was to renovate the old court into four offices and two bathrooms, and restore the hut on the corner for a food use. A local bank agreed to loan money based on the value they had created in cleaning the property up and on the development plans. Unfortunately, the lead partner in the project and community leader, Thomas Rossiter, died. The remaining partners and Rossiter’s widow have picked up the pieces and are carrying his dream for Owl Court to reality.

So, the next time you drive by a tired old property ask yourself – “What does it want to be?” The answer might surprise you.

J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).