Historic Hotel Razed for QuikTrip
TULSA, Okla. -- Demolition is under way at the castle-like Camelot Hotel, located here, which is currently being razed to make room for the 500th QuikTrip convenience store, reported Tulsa World.
Yesterday, the ballroom annex behind the main hotel structure was razed, according to the paper. QuikTrip bought the nearly 5.9-acre site in late June, expecting to remove the asbestos in the facility and raze the building by this month, the report stated. CSNews Online reported in June the company bought the property to build the store in celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2008.
However, complications at the site slowed the company's progress, company spokesman Mike Thornbrugh told the paper.
QuikTrip is removing "the eyesore and converting the site into a producing piece of property," Thornbrugh said.
The actual demolition will not begin until late October or November, he added. The ballroom annex was cleared of all asbestos contaminants and is "so unstable and unsafe that it has to come down as a safety factor for the workers on site," he said in the newspaper report.
Meanwhile, removal of asbestos elsewhere in the hotel structure continues, he said.
The site, which is easily accessible and near QuikTrip's first store, makes it a great place to build the company's 500th store, Thornbrugh said in the report. In addition, the plans will not only benefit the company, but have helped the community by eliminating an environmental hazard, he said.
Besides a QuikTrip convenience store, the site will also feature "quality businesses," Thornbrugh said.
The Camelot Hotel was one of the area's most upscale hotels -- hosting celebrities such as Elvis Presley and President Richard Nixon, CSNews Online previously reported. The eight-story hotel will be razed at a cost of about $1 million, which was provided in a loan by the Tulsa Industrial Authority to the property owner, the nonprofit Maharishi Ayur-Ved University.
Yesterday, the ballroom annex behind the main hotel structure was razed, according to the paper. QuikTrip bought the nearly 5.9-acre site in late June, expecting to remove the asbestos in the facility and raze the building by this month, the report stated. CSNews Online reported in June the company bought the property to build the store in celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2008.
However, complications at the site slowed the company's progress, company spokesman Mike Thornbrugh told the paper.
QuikTrip is removing "the eyesore and converting the site into a producing piece of property," Thornbrugh said.
The actual demolition will not begin until late October or November, he added. The ballroom annex was cleared of all asbestos contaminants and is "so unstable and unsafe that it has to come down as a safety factor for the workers on site," he said in the newspaper report.
Meanwhile, removal of asbestos elsewhere in the hotel structure continues, he said.
The site, which is easily accessible and near QuikTrip's first store, makes it a great place to build the company's 500th store, Thornbrugh said in the report. In addition, the plans will not only benefit the company, but have helped the community by eliminating an environmental hazard, he said.
Besides a QuikTrip convenience store, the site will also feature "quality businesses," Thornbrugh said.
The Camelot Hotel was one of the area's most upscale hotels -- hosting celebrities such as Elvis Presley and President Richard Nixon, CSNews Online previously reported. The eight-story hotel will be razed at a cost of about $1 million, which was provided in a loan by the Tulsa Industrial Authority to the property owner, the nonprofit Maharishi Ayur-Ved University.