The sole bidder on the only Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper ever built has scooped up the historic property through a U.S. bankruptcy court in a $1.4 million deal.
McFarlin Building LLC, the developer behind the redevelopment of the Mayo Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been given approval by a bankruptcy judge to acquire Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, designed by the famous architect.
The 19-story vacant tower on the Oklahoma prairie along Dewey Avenue is almost 50 miles north of Tulsa and about 150 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. No objections to the proposed sale or competitive bids were submitted before April 28, according to the judge's order Thursday.
The court order confirms a deal that was originally struck a year ago between McFarlin and the property's owners, Copper Tree Inc. and Green Copper Holdings LLC, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January. The bankruptcy filing came after an Oklahoma district judge ruled for the landmark property to sell in a previously struck $1.4 million deal to McFarlin Building LLC. The bankruptcy filing kept the judge’s order from moving forward.
McFarlin is led by John Snyder, who redeveloped the Mayo Hotel in Tulsa and converted the Triangle Building in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, into a hotel.
The court-approved buyer was the sole bidder in the bankruptcy sale process. In all, notice was provided to over 980 potential bidders through the estate's Realtor, Cushman & Wakefield, and its trustee, David Payne, who was tasked with notifying would-be rivals of the bidding process.
"Our search criteria covered a five-state area, including Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, and identified 867 bidder prospects," Payne said in his declaration filed with the bankruptcy court after Monday's deadline for bids. Each prospect was sent an email on April 1.
No other bidder came forward, making what was expected to be an auction next week unnecessary. The trustee overseeing the sale of Price Tower told CoStar News he expects the transaction to close Monday.
The previous owners of Price Tower had hoped to revitalize and transform it into a beacon for the tech industry, but those plans were never realized. McFarlin is a known preservationist and is expected to transform the tower. The firm did not immediately respond to an interview request from CoStar News.
Price Tower opened in 1956, a few years before Wright's death, as the headquarters of H.C. Price Co. during Bartlesville's heyday catering to the oil and gas industry. It was used as a boutique hotel and office building for years before closing in September.