City Leaders Discuss Future Of Downtown Tulsa

Tulsa city leaders looking to improve downtown said the area has come a long way, but there is still work to be done for long term success.

The president of the Downtown Tulsa Partnership addressed these things in the first ever State of Downtown discussion.

Leaders are hopeful the information presented will attract more growth to downtown.

“We have the ability to more than double our population over the next decade,” said Brian Kurtz, president of the Downtown Tulsa Partnership. “Demand exists for that and we want that message to be out there to the development community.”

Kurtz said more housing needs to come to Tulsa in order to increase the population. He also said more could be done to address the homeless population around downtown.

The downtown area is still rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic. Kurtz said venues in downtown like the BOK Center and Cain’s Ballroom saw the highest amount of visitors last year since 2019.

“People are coming back into downtown to entertain themselves, to dine,” said Kurtz. “We know that why they’re here, they’re staying for more than two hours on average.”

A resurgence is music to the ears of Elliot Nelson, who is the founder of the McNellie’s Group. Altogether, there are 10 of Nelson’s businesses just in downtown.

“Downtown’s continued to progress and get better,” said Nelson. “I think the state of downtown is great, obviously there’s a lot more to do.”

Nelson and other stakeholders want to see changes to infrastructure, including turning one-way streets into two-way streets and fixing sidewalks and other roads.

He said long term plans should include revitalizing old businesses and parking lots.