ENID, Okla. — Gary Dezarn, an Enid native involved in real estate in Florida, is financing the remodel of a downtown Enid building into 19 loft apartments, with accompanying retail and office space.

In July, the former downtown location that housed StarTek and, years ago, Sears, at 116 E. Randolph, was approved for remodel and reuse by Enid Metropolitan Area Planning Commission.

“I do real estate in Florida, and I’m from Enid. I went to Enid High School and I graduated from Oklahoma State,” Dezarn said. “I am a private captain by trade, a yacht captain, and I got into real estate in Florida, and I’ve been looking for a project for awhile, and I just kind of stumbled across this building.”

Dezarn said the former StarTek building was the third he looked at and the one that best fit his needs. His largest concern currently is finding a tenant business for the first floor, he said. He said he hopes to attract a convenience store to the space, and is willing to offer building incentives to make the goal happen.

“I think a convenience store downtown or something that’s got a deli,” Dezarn said. “Something like that would be desirable downtown, and I think it could be very beneficial to the people who live above. So I’m looking for an entrepreneur that wants to step up and do a convenience store.”

Built in 1927, the building will feature open concept loft apartments with 12-foot high ceilings and large windows. The smallest square footage will be 521 square feet and the largest will be 1,700 square feet.

There will be mostly one-bedroom units with a handful of two-bedroom units. Dezarn said he is planning pricing for the apartments to be similar to Esplanade at Stonebridge Apartments in Enid, which lists its pricing on its website as a range from $950 to $1,470 per month. Dezarn said the downtown apartments will be completed in six to eight months.

“We’re trying to keep the historic integrity of the building. We’re trying to bring it back to as original as possible,” Dezarn said. “So all of the duct work was removed to bring it back to when it was originally built. We’re trying to keep that in mind and kind of design the building with all of that history there. We’ve already discovered some kind of old staircase bannisters that have been covered up, and we’ve already exposed all of the original stuff that is already in the building.”

Dezarn said he is looking at a retail store to take up another space, as well as offices to be potentially used by those, such as attorneys or on-site health care workers. He said the bottom of the basement will be a common area and conference room that can be utilized by those business owners.

The basement also will feature storage space for businesses and tenants in the building, as well as an on-site gym. Dezarn said there are plans for a potential rooftop bar and a catering-type area, as well as plans for lit, covered parking with security cameras and charging stations behind the building for electric vehicles.

With a desire to have a real estate project in his home town, Dezarn said it made sense with him still having family in the area.

“My family is still here, my parents, my sister and nieces and nephews, so I just thought this would be a good time to come back and spend some time in Oklahoma and do this project,” Dezarn said.

Any business that may be interested in contacting Dezarn can do so by calling (954) 270-8601.

Article by: Tanner Holubar 2.11.23