City Hopes To Expand Rose District With Purchase Of Old Church Building

Broken Arrow's Rose District expanded Friday with the announcement of a big purchase that could bring in more downtown housing.

The City plans to clear a whole city block for new development. The City bought an old church and plans to demolish it and see what developers can do with the land.

Downtown Broken Arrow transformed into an arts and entertainment area after the city started street improvements and branded the area the Rose District.

A few downtown business owners, like Larry Hoefling with McHouston Booksellers & Bistro, were there from the beginning.

"Things have changed dramatically in the ten years I've been selling books on Main Street. It used to be when I closed there wasn't a single car on Main Street, now there's not a single parking space," he said.

That kind of success encouraged the city to buy an old church building for $600,000. The uncertainty of the building has made developers hesitant to take it on, so the City will clear the land and sell the property.

Broken Arrow Mayor Craig Thurmond said, "We're really hoping this for this to be a mixed-use product that has retail on the bottom and residential on the top - something that would really be an anchor for this part of town."

The building will be cleared by summer and developers will compete for the project.

It could be the northern boundary of the Rose District or the reason it keeps growing.

"This right here continues the momentum that we have in the Rose District, which is further south, and is actually going to move it, potentially, to the north over time with the redevelopment of this area," BA City Manager Michael Spurgeon said.

Back at the Bistro, the expectation of more people and more business is welcome.

Hoefling said, "They came up with the arts and entertainment district, and I think it's worked pretty well."

It's possible the building has asbestos in it. The inspections to figure that out start Monday.

The city figures it will cost several hundred thousand dollars, but the payoff will be worth it.