When I reluctantly moved away from Oklahoma City 35 years ago Fred Jones Manufacturing was still rebuilding engines in this building. I knew people that were in upper management. I knew people who rebuilt motors. I knew people in between.

OKC had gone overboard with Urban Renewal and downtown was surrounded by empty lots, and struggled to find ideas to redevelop and get people to live downtown again.

I still have family in the outer suburbs, but it comes as a pleasant shock this area near downtown has cleaned up and gentrified. At the time I left it was being kind to refer to the area where it sits, and Bricktown as well, as "industrial" or even "gritty". It was a tough place. The building even started life as a Modet-T assembly line. Then it was a factory. Now it is a high-end hotel. Good for OKC pulling that all off.