Sapulpa Developments

[shavethewhales]

Sapulpa catches a lot of undeserved flack because of all the crap they allowed to be built up along the highway towards town. Everyone passes by the industrial and trailer parks and thinks "that's Sapulpa", but the real town is hidden by a hill as you go past on I44. I've lived in Sapulpa for over two years now, and was initially attracted by the small town charm, the wealth of historic structures, and the quaint downtown. I've been waiting for the town to finally get it's break and become another hot spot for growth and development in the metro.

I think the corner might have been turned already. A couple years ago, the CEO of a MLM cosmetics company announced that she was moving back to Sapulpa and planning on making the town into a major HQ of the company. She's actually a Sapulpa native herself and wanted to move back home. Between then and now she has:

• Set up a new temporary midwest HQ
• Built a large new house for herself that she has moved into
• Purchased several downtown buildings with the intent to revitalize them and bring in new businesses including a steakhouse and boutique hotel. https://ktul.com/news/local/cosmetics-company-senegence-puts-up-artwork-plans-for-downtown-sapulpa
• Announced plans for a large office/factory/warehouse campus that will supposedly create hundreds of jobs. The area has been annexed into Sapulpa and sewer/water services are under construction. Not sure when they'll actually break ground on this.

In addition to the stuff she doing, the town is still growing organically:

There's a big new apartment project called Timbers. Eventually they will develop some retail pads in front of it. https://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/new-luxury-apartments-going-up-in-sapulpa/article_576f4570-b88a-5190-b1ab-dff2b68a99b1.html

There's a new strip retail center going up on Main. Nothing hugely exciting, but it expands the downtown retail area a bit and will brighten that corridor. It will include a gym and a new sandwich place apparently.

A pediatric clinic is expanding into a brand new large purpose-built building.

We're getting an interesting new gas station built by a local entrepreneur that's been the talk of town.

Plus lots of infill housing and a few other odds and ends. In the time I've lived here, there have been about 8-9 house demolitions within my neighborhood with new houses going up on half a dozen of those lots. From google maps it looks like the same is true throughout the next two neighborhoods over. Lot of house/lot flipping, but they only do a few at any given time so it's a slow process of revitalizing the area. There's also been a few small new developments proposed that would include anywhere from 12-20 new houses depending on density approval and storm water management.

I feel like once Joni Rogers finishes her downtown projects and starts working on the new HQ, this town will really come alive again with new development. It's been kind of an insular place, but the walls are coming down one way or another.

[Rattle Trap]

Glad to see Sapulpa having success. It seems to me that Tulsa will continue growing primarily southward. We're already seeing what's happening in Jenks. I wouldn't be surprised if Jenks, Glenpool, Bixby, and Sapulpa all see significant growth in the next decade or so.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Sapulpa catches a lot of undeserved flack because of all the crap they allowed to be built up along the highway towards town. Everyone passes by the industrial and trailer parks and thinks "that's Sapulpa", but the real town is hidden by a hill as you go past on I44. I've lived in Sapulpa for over two years now, and was initially attracted by the small town charm, the wealth of historic structures, and the quaint downtown. I've been waiting for the town to finally get it's break and become another hot spot for growth and development in the metro.

Sapulpa has nothing to be ashamed of at all.  Nice little town!   Have several family members and a couple friends who live there (from 15 to 80 years as residents) and there ain't nothing wrong with that town!  There has been quite of bit of 'quiet' growth going on for a while now!

All that 'crap' has been there for many decades - a lot of it before the interstate was even built.  It's what gave people decent jobs.  Frankoma and the glass plant were both better than minimum wage jobs for a long time...

And there was always the Avalon!  Before steakhouse, I heard stories from family that it was a kinda rough, raggedy-assed, sawdust-on-the-floor-to-soak-up-the-blood-from-knife-fights honky-tonk beer hall.  Maybe called something else before steaks, but these guys (family patrons/knife-wielders) always called it the Avalon.  I tried to get in a couple times, but I guess they could tell I was only about 14....

Awww...the good ole days.!!

[dbacksfan 2.0]

The Avalon Steak House. There was a place with a checkered past. A friend in high school father was a TPD officer starting in the mid 60's and the story he related to me was about the night that he and three other TPD officers, a couple of TCSO officers, a couple of Creek County Sheriff Officers and a couple of OHP Troopers went to the Avalon to find Rex Brinlee Jr. in connection with a car bombing, and he said as they walked up to the door they felt that they were out gunned by the people inside. They went in and were actually relieved that he wasn't there.

http://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/msm-rex-brinlee-jr/

Some other colorful characters that probably hung out there.

https://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/news/throwbacktulsa/throwback-tulsa-loving-wrong-man-was-downfall-for-bootleg-queen/article_fc39e872-9777-545c-9ed2-4948ade4ca4c.html

[heironymouspasparagus]

The Avalon Steak House. There was a place with a checkered past. A friend in high school father was a TPD officer starting in the mid 60's and the story he related to me was about the night that he and three other TPD officers, a couple of TCSO officers, a couple of Creek County Sheriff Officers and a couple of OHP Troopers went to the Avalon to find Rex Brinlee Jr. in connection with a car bombing, and he said as they walked up to the door they felt that they were out gunned by the people inside. They went in and were actually relieved that he wasn't there.

http://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/msm-rex-brinlee-jr/

Some other colorful characters that probably hung out there.

https://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/news/throwbacktulsa/throwback-tulsa-loving-wrong-man-was-downfall-for-bootleg-queen/article_fc39e872-9777-545c-9ed2-4948ade4ca4c.html

I can guarantee you that they were outgunned there at that time!  Like I said, tried to get in, but since I couldn't, just hung around outside upon occasion with some friends.  "Colorful" is a very good, politically correct descriptive word.!!  I love it!!   And that sawdust on the floor thing was real.!

[shavethewhales]

Just wanted to give a little update for those who care:

The big new apartment complex near Walmart is wrapping up construction. They have a cool time-lapse/construction cam here: http://www.cowenconstruction.com/projects/current/the-timbers/

They are also finally working in earnest on the new strip retail center on Main near downtown. It looks smaller than what was originally proposed.

They still haven't gotten off the ground with the Senegence project, and it seems that whole thing has been scaled back quite a bit. That was the original source of my excitement for the town, since they billed it as potentially hundreds of new jobs and a kick-start to a bunch of new development on that side of town. They are still working on a big new sewer line to the area, but it hasn't even started construction yet because of design hang-ups.

Meanwhile though, the owner of Senegence has been investing heavily into Sapulpa's historic buildings. In addition to the several downtown buildings I mentioned earlier in this thread, she now also owns the historic Burnett Mansion. Unfortunately they still haven't started on the downtown renovation projects because they are waiting on some storm water projects to improve drainage around the buildings.

The good news to report right now is that Sapulpa is getting three new interesting downtown businesses that are really going to breath some life into the historic district. There's a gourmet popcorn/fudge shop, some kind of fancy ice-creamery, and another "mystery" business that are all going to open within the next month or so.

It's been a lot of delays and slow-moving projects up here, but at least things are rolling along. There are also an impressive amount of new marijuana dispensaries around here, and some kind of new testing business?

[shavethewhales]

Here's a little update, because what the heck:

New downtown developments include the opening of Gigi's gourmet popcorn and fudge shop. It's actually really nice and I love the popcorn. CTX coffee moved from an out-of-the-way location to a bigger better location in the heart of downtown. The potential new ice cream shop may have fallen through... We're all still waiting on an update for the historic building renovations and new steak house that was promised. No movement on the supposed drainage project that needs to take place first.

Elsewhere, there are plans for a new subdivision at 81st and Frankoma. Still a number of infil housing developments going on here and there. We've also got a million new dispensaries, an MJ testing center, and apparently a new commercial grow house coming along.

New clearing at Poplar & Bryan where a couple rent houses used to be. Hard to say if this will be commercial or new residential.


The strip development on Main is coming along. Should include a new gym and maybe something else.


New apartments are just about finished. Some buildings already occupied.

[shavethewhales]

Just announced last night after I posted: A block of dilapidated downtown buildings are being saved from the wrecking ball and converted into lofts.
https://sapulpatimes.com/sapulpas-oldest-surviving-building-is-set-to-become-lofts-after-being-purchased-by-tulsa-investment-firm/

This is a huge win for Sapulpa and another big step forward for our downtown revitalization.

[swake]

Sapulpa does have a lot of great buildings downtown. So much potential.

[ComeOnBenjals]

Love reading the updates! Glad to see Sapulpa getting some good momentum.

[shavethewhales]

So some of the Senegence projects haven't panned out well, but there is a lot still in development it turns out.

The downtown steakhouse plans seem to have been abandoned for now. However, work started this week on turning the buildings they had purchased into offices. As many as 150 new jobs will be moved into Sapulpa's historic downtown. Joni Rogers is doing this purposefully to give foot traffic to local businesses and create demand for further business in the area.

Also downtown, there are two different loft projects ongoing, one major building was recently restored after the tornado did a lot of damage, there's a new coney restaurant about to open, and a new downtown renovation project will start in the near future thanks to a bond issue passed by Sapulpa voters.

The main Senegence HQ that was originally proposed may be shelved at this point. That might be why she is moving people into downtown. I know they ran into a ton of trouble with sewer connections. They need to run a big line several miles out there, but Sapulpa's system is already over burdened. At least we get something though.

[shavethewhales]

Cool new mural in downtown Sapulpa.

Since I last updated this thread, there's now a new restaurant in downtown Sapulpa called Dick's on 66 that has excellent burgers and a rotation of inventive entrees. They are doing a variety of philly cheesesteaks now.

The old IOOF building in the heart of downtown has been saved by an awesome new owner who is experienced with historic renovations. He has already started restoring the building into lofts, office space, and possible one or two restaurant spaces on the ground floor. https://sapulpatimes.com/updates-coming-to-ioof-building/

Senegence has continued to renovate their buildings across the street, and one of them has been in use as an event space for a while now. They are still working on their office space and boutique hotel. They have finished with the old city hall building though, and it is now a nice office space for one of the companies that is related to Senegence.

The two other loft projects are taking forever. There are literally braces holding up the wall of one them, but the owner keeps saying they are almost ready to start real work on it.

Downtown master plan is rolling along. They are going to pursue taking Dewey ave. down to two lanes and widening the sidewalks. I think it's pretty clear that we want to basically copy what Broken Arrow did, lol.

[TheArtist]

Looking good! And good to hear about all the developments downtown. Sapulpa has some "good bones" left in its downtown and would make a very nice "hip" neighborhood.

[shavethewhales]

Sapulpa's old drive in theatre has been purchased and is being restored for this summer!

https://sapulpatimes.com/teepee-drive-in-has-been-sold-may-open-by-summer-2021/

They are already hard at work gutting and working on the old IOOF building, which is great to see.

Also, there's apparently a new business coming downtown that specializes in metal pins? The space they are going into has a bunch of old timey counters being put in and there's an antique cash register. Seems to be quirky and neat.

[shavethewhales]

Sapulpa's downtown continues to come along.

This FB page is a wealth of info about everything going on: https://www.facebook.com/TheSapulpaCrossroads/

The drive in theatre renovation is going well. There's a little preview of the AirBNB trailers setup on main street that is really cool.

Since I last updated the thread, there is a new axe throwing place and a new gaming lounge opened up downtown. Renovations continue on several buildings, with a new restaurant coming into one of them. It's supposed to be some sort of fancy restaurant and bar called Crossroads Cookery.

There's also another new restaurant that should be opening up this spring next to the ambulance depot downtown - it will also feature a coffee shop/lounge area upstairs. They had a preview of it during our little Oktoberfest event, which was a huge success incidentally.

One of the most exciting developments is an old building that is being completely renovated with a second floor added. It will be commercial space, similar to the renovated building at the corner of park and hobson.

We're still waiting on a couple of the other renovations that are supposed to bring in more loft apartments. Both of them seem to have stalled...