OKLAHOMA CITY -
An Oklahoma City
landmark known as the Gold Dome may soon meet a wrecking ball.
The owner of the iconic building along Classen Blvd. is
considering tearing the structure down.
Anyone who has
been to the Asian District will recognize the building at Classen Blvd. and NE
23rd St. It's a point of interest along Route 66, and its golden
luster has proudly glistened in northwest Oklahoma City for 55 years.
"It's different,"
area worker Debbie Armstrong said. "It kind of needs to stay around."
Gold Dome owner
David Box tells News 9 he has applied for a demolition permit through Oklahoma City.
Box insists the permit is only a way to keep his options open.
"We've been trying
to look at ways to make the dome work," Box said. "The City of Oklahoma City
has already spent close to a million dollars on the building."
Box bought the
building at Sheriff's sale auction in September. Not long after the purchase,
Box says repair work and maintenance bills began to mount. That misfortune
turned the venture into a cost-prohibitive situation, according to Box.
"I bought it at a
Sheriff's sale because I love the Gold Dome, but so far, it doesn't look good,"
Box said.
Regardless of the
situation, dollar signs don't mean much to residents who don't care what it
takes to keep the dome standing.
"The owner, he
should let it be," Oklahoma City resident T.C. Burks said. "Just restore it or
do something -- put something else in there."
Others are looking to Oklahoma
City to step in again.
"The City of Oklahoma City
should buy it and turn it into something," Oklahoma City resident Randy Culver
said.
The dome started
out as a bank in 1958, which means it's difficult for even the oldest of Baby
Boomers to recall a time without "the gold."
"If you want to
tell somebody how to get somewhere, [the dome] always seems to come up," Culver
said.
Box says he is
looking for buyers to take the dome off his hands. If the building is to be
demolished, that decision will need to be approved by the city's Urban Design
Commission.
This is not the
first time there have been talks of demolishing the dome. Previous attempts
were met by protest. The building is currently vacant.
Anyone who has been to the Asian District will recognize the building at Classen Blvd. and NE 23rd St. It's a point of interest along Route 66, and its golden luster has proudly glistened in northwest Oklahoma City for 55 years.
