City Setting Sites On Plan For East Tulsa Outlet Mall

Despite the recent announcement by Simon Properties to build an outlet mall in Jenks, Tulsa could see tenant signatures on a premium outlet mall by the end of the month.

There were always two proposals on the table, one by Simon and one by Horizon Group.

The spotlight is now on Horizon's proposal for property in east Tulsa, but first, the council has to approve the area as a city sales tax district. If that happens on December 17th, Horizon could immediately begin movement on the project.

5/5/2015 Related Story: Developer Proposes Outlet Mall For East Tulsa

Horizon Group Properties wants to build The Outlet Shoppes at Tulsa, a 350,000 square foot regional outlet mall just off I-44 and Admiral Place, and the city wants to help.

Clay Bird with the Office of Economic Development said, "I think city staff, and INCOG and everyone involved, has moved to work this thing forward so we can be competitive in what I consider to be a race, at least for us,"

After all, Simon pulled its project from Tulsa and decided to build in Jenks instead.

9/11/2015 Related Story: Simon Premium Malls Makes Jenks Location Official

“Both projects will be competing for the same tenants. With that in mind, the ones who can go ahead and secure leases can move forward,” Bird said.

The development of the outlet mall is really only one part. They said the development of the mall could bring in private developers for more restaurants, and, in total, all of this could end up bringing more than $3.5 million annually into Tulsa.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett is behind the project 100 percent.

"It will be a substantial opportunity and we can’t turn that one down," he said.

Bartlett said some estimates show Tulsa lost a possible $4.5 million a year in sales tax revenue when Simon chose Jenks.

“When we see an opportunity like this, it’s welcome with open arms, and glad they're here," he said.

Bird said, "So much is about self-preservation. If the Simon mall occurs in Jenks, and we don’t have one in Tulsa, rest assured that some of our shopping areas will lose sales to that."

Horizon will front the cost of the infrastructure up to $20 million. As for public support, it would not require any tax increases or payments from the city general fund, just solely from new sales taxes generated by the project.