Bars, hotels, housing and more: How 5 grain elevators have been revamped

Written By: John Dobberstein

(BROKEN ARROW, Okla.) On Tuesday, Broken Arrow city leaders will be discussing the future of the vacant grain elevator in the heart of the Rose District that was purchased by the city.

Read this story on Broken Arrow Sentinel here. 

Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Spurgeon is asking City Council for guidance on how to proceed with potential uses for the structure, which the city purchased from grain marketing firm Hansen Mueller for $250,000 after an auction was held. A special meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Police and Fire Training Center, 4205 E. Omaha St., to discuss the grain elevator property and several other projects.

The grain elevator sits along Main Street in the Rose District plaza, a focal point for gatherings downtown, including the bi-weekly Farmers Market, the ice-skating, festivals, parades and other events. The City of Broken Arrow is in negotiations with Union Pacific Railroad to acquire and lease approximately 41,000 square feet of additional property surrounding the old grain tower.

Although redeveloping grain elevators can be complicated and expensive projects, several Midwestern cities have succeeded. Here are some examples.

Landus Co-Op Site – Bondurant, Iowa

One project that could serve as a potential blueprint for Broken Arrow is the planned redevelopment of the Landus Co-Op site in Iowa. The grain elevator is the centerpiece of a downtown renaissance in the city of Bondurant, a northeastern suburb of Des Moines. The city was barely more than 1,000 people in the early 1980s but has grown to more than 7,300 since 2000.

Included in the plan is extending a trail through the newfangled “Grain District,” establishing an arboretum along the trail extension, building of a public gathering space, implementing public art and reusing a former emergency services facility as a parks and recreation center.

But the centerpiece of the plan includes potentially reusing two groups of grain elevators as multi-functional space, including a boutique hotel, event center and condominium development. Scott Turczynski, managing partner of The 101, said transforming the massive elevators into a one-of-a-kind space is a “long-term dream of mine,” but said in a news release the initial efforts would be attracting businesses to the space.

He plans to build a distillery that will be a production facility at first with a small tasting room available for private tastings and meetings. “The end goal is to grow the distillery business into a larger production area with a restaurant, event space, and speakeasy,” Turczynski says.

Silo City development – Buffalo, N.Y.

In 2020, Generation Development Group, a boutique real estate development and consulting firm that is focused on providing housing solutions, saved the buildings from disuse in 2020. They began working to transform the buildings into a “community-centered residential development featuring affordable rents, innovative programs and valuable resources.”

Various tax credits are being made available to clean up the sites, promote historic preservation and create affordable housing.

The first phase of estimated $135 million rehabilitation and redevelopment will transform the American Mill and Warehouse buildings into an affordable, workforce and market-rate residential complex offering 168 studio-, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartment homes spanning 405 to 1,910 square feet of living space. In the effort to preserve as much of its history as possible, the development team will salvage some of the original early 19th century materials used in the initial construction. 

Exterior patio and outdoor spaces will also be included in the new design, along with various coverings, ornamental lighting and niche gardens.

In addition to the new residential units, 40,000 square feet of the rehabilitated property will be used to provide supplementary resources to the community, including office spaces and a business incubator encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation. Classrooms for seminars, training and continuing education will also be incorporated, along with a fitness and wellness center offering aerobics, yoga and health education.

Hydroponic garden with locally grown organic greens will be established to promote healthy eating and nutrition education. Potential exhibition space for art installations and galleries, concerts, theatre, lectures and more will be explored.

Collingwood Grain Terminals – Collingwood, Ontario

In 2022, a developer was chosen to redevelop the iconic Collingwood Grain Terminals. In 2023, that developer’s vision for the land was revealed to the public for the first time, according to articles in the online news website Collingwood Today.

In March, the president of Streetcar Developments Inc. came before Collingwood’s city council as part of a public meeting to reveal his plans for The Terminals, which is expected to come in with an estimated price tag of more than $200 million.

The plans presented include building a 10-floor hotel out of the grain silos portion of the building. The spaces between the silos will be replaced with windows. The ground-floor plans included a restaurant and cafés, an activity rental shop and cultural and community spaces.

In 2024, public engagement sessions on the proposal are planned as well as consultations with interested community groups.

Edmond Flour Mill – Oklahoma

The Edmond Flour Mill, Oklahoma’s first grain elevator and mill, sits just west of downtown Edmond and has been a fixture in the city for decades.

After falling into disuse, the structure has been redeveloped into Farmers Grain Kitchen + Cellar by brothers Payne and Cy Mills, a chef and sommelier, respectively. The original Farmers Grain storefront has been turned into an Oklahoma-style bistro. The space has not only a restaurant but also rents out to groups for private parties and events.

“At Farmers Grain, we celebrate the essence of new American cuisine by infusing it with the warmth of a home-cooked meal, using thoughtfully sourced, seasonal ingredients from our region.”

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art – Cape Town, Africa

A disused grain elevator near the waterfront in Cape Town, Africa was recently converted into the stunning 102,000-square-foot Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa.

German collector Jochen Zeitz got permission from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Development Project to convert a disused complex of grain silos into exhibition space, and the development project footed the $38 million bill. Built in 1921, the Grain Silo Complex was for more than half a century sub-Saharan Africa’s tallest structure. The factory sorted, packed, and shipped grain until 2001.

According to ArtNews.com, the V&A Waterfront recognized the significance of the grain silo complex as a historic landmark and for years debated possible uses. An art museum was eventually decided upon but a collection was needed. The desire was to house something of public civic significance, and something open to the public.

London-based Heatherwick Studio the silo spaces into a light-filled L-shaped structure. Wanting to make the most of its “tube-iness” and cellular structure, architects blasted out the belly of the building and crowned it with glass atria to create a central chamber and installed elevators and spiral staircases within the tubes.