Back To Life: First National Center Opens Its 91-Year-Old Doors For A New Chapter

The 91-year-old First National Center in downtown Oklahoma City is ready to open its doors as a luxury hotel and apartments. 

Wednesday, March 30th 2022, 9:19 pm



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The 91-year-old First National Center in downtown Oklahoma City is ready to open its doors as a luxury hotel and apartments. 

The grand opening is April 12th, but News 9 got a sneak peek before guests come in through the doors. 

The original 33 floor building at the corner of Park and Robinson was completed in late 1931. 

It was one of OKC’s original skyscrapers. 

“It’s Oklahoma City, this is our story,” says Developer Gary Brooks, who has been renovating the building for years for the grand reopening. 

“On September 15, 2015, I stood on that balcony and saw a vision of the Great Hall,” says Brooks referring to the one-time bank lobby. 

Over the past 91 years, so many people stood in line in front of bank teller windows that there are indentations in the stone floors in front of every window. 

The original design for the Great Hall is linked to the many bank robbers of the 1920's and 1930's. 

“If you think about the 1930’s when they designed the building, there were over 600 bank robberies,” adds Brooks. 

On the sides of the Great Hall on the 2nd floor there are Juliet balconies where armed guards were stationed. 

“We have no history of an attempt, but they were prepared,” says Brooks. 

Original artwork on the plaster ceilings of the Great Hall was hand stenciled on a material built to last and then secured into place. 

The process took about a year and allowed vibrant colors to be used in the hall. 

A large bar in the middle anchors the Great Hall, which will also be open to those getting lunch and dinner. 

“I think what I'm looking forward to and is having people come in and experience the Great Hall now. Everybody loved it before. It’s kind of a stunner,” says Brooks. 

The Great Hall is not the only place to relax and dine. 

There are private meeting rooms. A steakhouse is also opening in June. 

Down a floor, behind a 26,000 lbs. safe door, is the original bank vault which will become a speakeasy style bar. 

“It’s pretty easy to get it going. It was very hard to stop it,” says Brooks about the circular safe door now on display with lights that change color. 

The bar will serve custom cocktails and high dollar whiskeys. 

Brooks though admits construction hasn’t always gone down smoothly. 

“Had we known what was coming we could have never done it,” says Brooks. 

At one point, the First National Center was the largest asbestos removal projects in the country. 

There was a fire in 2017. 

The water that doused the flames eventually froze and pushed limestone tiles off the 26th floor to the road below. 

Then came the biggest blow: the pandemic. Building supplies skyrocketed. 

“COVID killed us on financing. We weren't financed and COVID hit, and I got calls that said, ‘nobody is financing a hotel in the middle of COVID.’ Every day you keep moving and persevering and selling the story. They were plenty of doubts,” adds Brooks. 

But Brooks and his partners were too close to stop. 

Both Federal and State historical tax credits were used. 

Tax incentives from Oklahoma City were also awarded. 

Now after 5 plus years of actual construction, The National, a Marriott Autograph property, its most prestigious line of hotels, will open with 146 rooms including 17 full suites. 

193 apartments and 6 different restaurant and bar venues will also open their doors. 

“The economical thing would be to tear it down, but we knew that wasn’t the right thing to do for the historic legacy of our city. We needed to save this building,” says OKC Mayor David Holt. 

“For 5 years nobody thought you could pull this off,” says Brooks. 

After a nearly $300 million dollar investment, roughly $50 million more than the cost to restore the Oklahoma Capital, the 91-year-old building has new chapters to write. 

“You don’t get do over here. You only get one shot and it you are going to do it, do it right,” says Brooks. 


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