Standley Systems buys Sherman Iron Works building in Bricktown

By Steve Lackmeyer

After spending the past few years renovating 109-year-old Carroll, Brough & Robinson wholesale grocers at 3 E Main, the building is almost ready for occupancy — but not by its owner, Standley Systems. Instead, the company on Monday closed on buying the equally historic Sherman Iron Works building across the street at 26 E Main in a deal brokered by Andy Burnett and Zach Martin with Sperry Van Ness/William T. Strange Associates and Vicki Knotts of Grubb & Ellis/Levy Beffort. The 10,000-square-foot building sold for $897,500.

“They were about to move in,” Martin said of the 3 E Main building. “We put Public Strategies in there after they were displaced by a building that Chesapeake had bought. Standley Systems decided to lease it out, looked across the street, and decided to start over.”
The Sherman Iron Works building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the oldest structures in Bricktown, with parts of the property dating to 1899. It has stood empty since the iron works company ended operations in Bricktown about 25 years ago.
Aiding economy
“Every time we can bring a building that's been dark for 30 plus years online it's good for the area,” Burnett said. “Bricktown has a lot of properties that are still in shell condition. These buildings need to be built out. It's sometimes tough to make the economics work, but as the economy rebounds it's getting easier.”

Monday's sale follows a string of transactions in Bricktown handled by Martin and Burnett.
“This is good for Bricktown, as it puts more people in the area on the weekdays,” Martin said. “The days of Bricktown being just an entertainment district, home to just bars and restaurants, are long behind us. Every time an office user like this one plants itself in Bricktown, we bring a little more balance and stability to the area. … For decades we have seen so many of these Bricktown buildings sitting vacant as they get flipped back and forth from one speculator to another. Of course, the end game is for someone to buy these buildings, build them out and put them use.”