TU Expansion and the TDA

[MichaelC]

From Tulsa World

quote:This summer, progress comes in the form of heaps of concrete, bricks and dirt being hauled off what is now University of Tulsa property.

Starship Records and Tapes has a new location three-quarters of a mile away from its original home, once Hurricane-blue and yellow but now merely a memory atop vacant land.

Farther back on TU property, construction workers shovel and level gooey black asphalt onto the north end of an oval drive that will become the university's front entrance.

More workers in hard hats clear the broken wallboard and bricks of old buildings and erect metal framing for a new student services center.

TU is on schedule to complete its front entrance by fall 2008 or sooner and to complete the Collins Student Services Building, Case Athletic Complex and student apartments by fall 2007, said Kevan Buck, vice president for business and finance.

Tulsa Development Authority has acquired five properties along 11th Street for TU's project, said Pat Treadway, a manager with the city's urban development division. A sixth property, an apartment building, has been condemned, and the owners have filed a motion for a new trial. The trial could change the fair market value amount -- $255,000 -- awarded by assessors, TDA
officials said.

The owner of the long-vacant JR's Bar & Grill also has sued to try to get more money, said TDA attorney Darven Brown. TDA paid $165,000 for JR's, $800,000 for Metro Diner, $304,000 for the acquisition and relocation of Carter's Drive-In Cleaners, $502,500 for the acquisition and relocation of Charles Pest Control and $63,750 for a house, TDA reported.

Metro Diner has about two months to move out of its building, Brown said. Employees in the restaurant with the roof trimmed in faded aqua said they did not know about plans for the diner, but they pointed out that it is still open and serving food. The sign outside read, "Come in for our best chicken fry" on Friday.

TU's master plan is tied into the Kendall-Whittier urban renewal district and the city's master plan, Brown said. That gives TU's plans priority over the surrounding businesses. In that arrangement, TU has agreed to develop surrounding land. Buck said a front entrance was part of the university's 1984 master plan.

TU negotiated its own deal with Starship about a year ago, Buck said. The two sides first discussed a buyout about six years ago and started talking again several years ago.

TU also is working on an agreement with Wendy's, 3019 E. 11th St., which could be reached in about three months, Buck estimated.

"They've been real supportive, and they understand the growth," he said. Wendy's might relocate a few blocks east to 11th Street and Harvard Avenue.

The idea of TU's front entrance is to attract top students, Buck said. TU has to compete with Southern Methodist University and other colleges that have grand entrances that could seduce the same potential students. The new entrance will provide students with part of "a true private-college experience," he said.

Plus, it will make giving directions to campus much easier, he said.

For now, TU is in demolition mode, tearing down old apartment buildings to make way for new. It is a slow transformation, with old foundation slabs being crushed and carried away, dirt being smoothed over, and the shaggy weeds inching taller along abandoned buildings being erased in favor of willowy trees, anchored in fresh soil and tethered to the ground.

[carltonplace]

I really hope the Metro Diner finds a nice fit on Route 66 for them to relocate to. I'd love to see them in the Cyrus Avery "x-perience", but that isn't moving along very quickly.

[PonderInc]

Surely there's some way to leverage the power of Route 66 to help re-establish the Metro Diner somewhere nearby.  Best milkshakes in town...and a nice tradition for TU students for the past, what, 25 years?

Isn't Route 66 going to be our first attempt at implementing the "Main Street Program" in Tulsa?  There must be a place for Milkshakes on Main Streets!

[TheArtist]

Yes, glad to hear the TU front door project is moving along.  Will definitely give the college a college feel lol.  But, it would me nice to see the Metro Diner moved some where nearby, possibly between TU and Downtown.

[Rico]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

I really hope the Metro Diner finds a nice fit on Route 66 for them to relocate to. I'd love to see them in the Cyrus Avery "x-perience", but that isn't moving along very quickly.

Just a rumor mind you..... I heard the owner of the diner is going to take the money and run..

[Markk]

quote:Originally posted by Rico

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

I really hope the Metro Diner finds a nice fit on Route 66 for them to relocate to. I'd love to see them in the Cyrus Avery "x-perience", but that isn't moving along very quickly.

Just a rumor mind you..... I heard the owner of the diner is going to take the money and run..

The milk shakes may be good, but the two or three times I've eaten there the food has been strictly average.  Moreover, the interior is in need of a thorough cleaning.  The exterior can be duplicated wherever the Diner moves to; a new building could only help the interior.  I'm guessing the food stays the same.

[GJusSayin]

I thought a long time ago on a different thread, someone said that Metro was going to be moving into the Pawn Shop location at 11th and Harvard.  Was that just a rumor?

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by gam1monkey

I thought a long time ago on a different thread, someone said that Metro was going to be moving into the Pawn Shop location at 11th and Harvard.  Was that just a rumor?

I heard something similar from an area resident but don't know how true it is.

[SXSW]

I like the TU plan to "open up" its campus to Route 66.  I just hope that eventually there is a plan to turn 11th Street right there by TU in between Delaware and Harvard into more of a pedestrian-oriented commercial district where fast food, bars, shops, and sidewalk cafes can co-exist with better landscaping and an improved streetscape kinda like what they are doing with the brick street pavers in Brookside.

[Metro4ever]

As a graduate of TU in the early 90's and lifetime resident of our great city of Tulsa, I am appalled by TU's buyout of the icons that have made this area of our city memorable.  TU has always had an "entrance" and is located on Delaware Ave. between 11th and 6th Streets.  Why are we, as Tulsans, allowing the University to claim eminent domain on our precious Route 66 and  to destroy more historic landmarks of our city.  Starship Records & Tapes and The Metro Diner have been mainstays in my personal life where everything around is growing and changing.  We Tulsa "lifers" pride ourselves on these landmarks that the University considers disposable.  How sad the state of our city if today.  The Metro will close it's door for good on 8/28/06.  No plans to move and no help from the City to ward off the evil beast that TU has become.

[GJusSayin]

Metro, JR's and Wendy's are still there.  Anyone have an update on when they will come down?

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by gam1monkey

Metro, JR's and Wendy's are still there.  Anyone have an update on when they will come down?

I saw the TU pr guy on the news the other nite. I found his remarks that TU has never had an entrance as either ignorance or an outright lie. The entrance has always been the 6th street and Delaware corner. My gosh we even had an electric trolley that used to run from downtown to the corner. Why would they say such things?

[AVERAGE JOE]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

quote:Originally posted by gam1monkey

Metro, JR's and Wendy's are still there.  Anyone have an update on when they will come down?

I saw the TU pr guy on the news the other nite. I found his remarks that TU has never had an entrance as either ignorance or an outright lie. The entrance has always been the 6th street and Delaware corner. My gosh we even had an electric trolley that used to run from downtown to the corner. Why would they say such things?

They are graduates of the same school of PR/spin as the Stakeholders, only the TU brain trust has a bigger ego.

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

quote:Originally posted by gam1monkey

Metro, JR's and Wendy's are still there.  Anyone have an update on when they will come down?

I saw the TU pr guy on the news the other nite. I found his remarks that TU has never had an entrance as either ignorance or an outright lie. The entrance has always been the 6th street and Delaware corner. My gosh we even had an electric trolley that used to run from downtown to the corner. Why would they say such things?

I get your point, and the TU guy is wrong.  What he should have said was something about the fact that the old entrance has now become the center of campus for there is now college development on both sides of Delaware, that combined with the fact that more people drive by TU on the 11th street side would make that area a better place for a new grand entrance.  I still think they should just leave the metro and the wendys, dont think it would harm the look of the new entrance.

Plus does it look like they are building pad sites for something on the west side of the area they have recently cleared?  I know they are planning more student housing in the area but never read when they were putting it in. They have a time for completion of the fountain/entrance but not a hint of when the housing was to be started or completed.