Changes In Store For Downtown Area

Friday, August 3rd 2007, 10:34 am

By: News On 6

Several big changes are coming downtown. An Arkansas shopping center developer confirms a plan to build a Wal-Mart Super Center, and The News On 6 confirms plans to build a new television station downtown, but The News On 6â€™s Emory Bryan reports a published report that a site has been selected is incorrect.

The News On 6 has begun a negotiation on a small piece of land in downtown, but has not made an agreement to buy it and negotiations continue on five larger pieces of land big enough for a new television station.

The Tulsa Development Authority and Griffin Communications, the parent company of The News On 6, are in negotiations to buy a piece of land that could be used for a parking lot. A newspaper report that a larger lot across the street would be used for the television station is, according to Griffin Communications, an incorrect report.

In fact, the piece of land mentioned in the newspaper story was purchased by the state as the site for the John Hope Franklin Oklahoma Race Riot Memorial. The News On 6 does plan to replace its current broadcasting building and will announce the new location by the first of October.

Griffin Communications owner David Griffin has said the new building will be in downtown Tulsa, inside the Inner Dispersal Loop. The other news is the plan to build a Wal-Mart on the east side of downtown, as the anchor tenant in a new shopping and housing area.

The most prominent fixture on the land now is the Tulsa Fire Department headquarters, which was already scheduled to move to the new city hall. About half of the land is now parking lots owned by Bill White. Much of the rest belongs to the Nordam Group, which has already moved most of its operation away from downtown.

Nordam has 60 employees left downtown, repairing aircraft exhaust systems. All of the buildings on the property will be demolished to make room for a shopping center with a Wal-Mart Super Center as the anchor tenant.

The land purchased for the shopping center is bordered by Sixth Street on the south and Fourth Street on the north. The shopping center will be next to the Inner Dispersal Loop and the Wal-Mart will back up to it, facing downtown.

The developer says the land is under contract and the next step is seeking permits from the city to build the development.

The land to be redeveloped covers 15 acres, and besides the Wal-Mart, it will include 65,000 square feet of other shops, a four story, 150 unit apartment complex and a four story parking garage.

The developer told us Friday the Wal-Mart would be smaller than most suburban stores being built now, with a totally urban design to reflect it's location. He would not reveal how much he paid for the land to build it.

Watch the video: Downtown Changes