(PROJECT) Hartford Building for TU/OU Medical School

[cannon_fodder]

I spoke with a source who confirmed that TU is hoping to utilize this building for the new medical school.

[we vs us]

Hoping to, or is?  Any sense of how far along they are?

[cannon_fodder]

Hoping to, or is?  Any sense of how far along they are?

I didn't press it as he (or she...) was being a little fuzzy with the information.  I get the impression that there is some hurdles to overcome before it can be final.  One, presumably, would be this use being chosen over the 105 story tower development or any "better use".  There might also be some questions on fitness for purpose - I dunno, but I got the impression that it wasn't a done deal but was the direction it was heading.  Generally, when TU heads in a particular direction it comes to pass.

[rdj]

WHere?  All the area to the west is owned by OSU and Langston (formerly UCAT).  It's interesting that you meniton this because that land came up on the agenda at the last TDA meeting.

When UCAT was formed OU was originally a part of it and actually held classes in the original building.  I believe OU still has a seat on the authority/trust that controls the land.  When OU had the opportunity to move to the old AMOCO facility at 41st & Yale they took it and allowed OSU & Langston to develop the property.  This is why the UCAT land is so large.

Also, I haven't looked at the agenda but I would guess the land you reference is not UCAT land, but rather TDA land that a senior housing project will be built on just east of Main St north of Emerson Elementary.

[jacobi]

Also, I haven't looked at the agenda but I would guess the land you reference is not UCAT land, but rather TDA land that a senior housing project will be built on just east of Main St north of Emerson Elementary.

I'm speaking of the land to the south of latimer.Between boulder and cincinnati

[rdj]

I'm speaking of the land to the south of latimer.Between boulder and cincinnati

There isn't a Boulder Ave at Latimer, it ends at John Hope Franklin.  Are you sure it isn't northside of Latimer between Boston & Main?  If so, that is the senior housing project. 

Here is a story from Fox 23 dated 11/04/11.  http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/New-senior-living-facility-in-the-works-in-North/RSQTrTuAA0u_dKhhqMs3Rw.cspx

[swake]

Does anyone know what the construction trailer at Easton and Cincinnati just north of the IDL by OSU is for? Is OSU building something new?

[jacobi]

There isn't a Boulder Ave at Latimer, it ends at John Hope Franklin.  Are you sure it isn't northside of Latimer between Boston & Main?  If so, that is the senior housing project. 

I used to live at main and marshal so I know.  I was too quick with my discription though.  I am not talking about the land north of latimer.  I know the property you are speaking of and the project slated for it.  If you go back to the first post on this thread and look at the minutes from the meeting you will see that the OSU land is brought up (points 5 and 6, I think).  That is the land I am wondering about.  OSU-tulsa has been tlaking about expand for a long time.  The regents wont come through with the money.  When I saw those items on the agenda, I thought something might be in the works.

[jacobi]

Does anyone know what the construction trailer at Easton and Cincinnati just north of the IDL by OSU is for? Is OSU building something new?

I've been wdonering that myself.  I should stake it out and see where they go.

[rdj]

I used to live at main and marshal so I know.  I was too quick with my discription though.  I am not talking about the land north of latimer.  I know the property you are speaking of and the project slated for it.  If you go back to the first post on this thread and look at the minutes from the meeting you will see that the OSU land is brought up (points 5 and 6, I think).  That is the land I am wondering about.  OSU-tulsa has been tlaking about expand for a long time.  The regents wont come through with the money.  When I saw those items on the agenda, I thought something might be in the works.

I've put in several phone calls and best I can find out is that The School for Visual and Performing Arts is interested in utilizing UCAT land for their school.  However, no one has any confidence on if it will happen because they've looked at so many spots.

[we vs us]

From the TW:

TU, OU-Tulsa work toward joint medical school in downtown Tulsa

By P.J. LASSEK AND BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writers
Published: 12/2/2011  6:29 PM
Last Modified: 12/2/2011  6:29 PM

A movement is under way to create the Tulsa School of Community Medicine, which would be a joint partnership of the University of Tulsa and the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa.
It would house a four-year medical school and other TU academic programs.

The Tulsa Development Authority, which is the city's real estate entity, is set to vote next week to enter contract negotiations for the sale of the vacant Hartford Building, 111 S. Greenwood Ave.

TU is offering $2.25 million for the 74,772-square-foot building and two adjacent parking lots, TDA Executive Director O.C. Walker said Friday. The property appraised for $2.68 million.

The sale is contingent upon an environmental assessment on the properties, Walker said.

The project is designed to address the shortage of doctors in Tulsa and throughout the state, TU President Steadman Upham said.

"We've been working on this for more than three years, and it has come together very nicely," he said. "As you can imagine, starting up a medical center is not a simple matter."

The accreditation process is under way, Upham said, with the goal of being ready to admit new students in 2014.

The downtown site was chosen because the facility needs to be big enough to accommodate the school's various components, he said. The Hartford Building provides a good footprint and would be renovated.

The medical center will serve as a major economic catalyst in the adjacent East Village area, as well as in the Greenwood and Brady districts, Upham said.

"We wanted to locate the program in a place where there would be available housing and where there would be attractions for the students," he said.

"You want the students embedded in a matrix that gives them an opportunity to focus and study but also have a social life."

The partnership is structured so that both universities will absorb some risk, Upham said.

TU will own the building and provide the basic sciences education, while OU will provide the accreditation and clinical elements.

At full-operational strength, the school will have more than 400 students and faculty at the facility, he said.

TU wants to start construction on the building shortly after the site is acquired, Upham said.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett said the medical center "will lead to a lot of good things by the simple fact that several hundred people will be part of that school."

"Obviously they would like to have housing in the immediate area. Isn't that terrific?" he said.

Another developer is planning a nearby housing project, which Bartlett said hasn't been announced yet.

With an education project that's a partnership between TU and OU, Bartlett said, this project will spur other downtown development by people who understand "this is the real deal."

OU-Tulsa President Gerard Clancy said the two schools have been in a partnership for the past couple of years to train physicians.

"It's worked out great," he said.

The program graduated its first class in 2010, Clancy said. It was determined to be such a success that "we decided to plan toward a medical center."

Steadman said the partnership showed "not only can we work together, but we produce a pretty good result when we do."

Clancy said the program's second class graduated Friday, ranking 18th in the country out of 133 physician-assistant programs.

Bartlett said he is in full support of the medical center project.

"It's something for all of Tulsa to be excited about," he said.

The purchase of the Hartford Building would be the University of Tulsa's second major downtown project in the past year.

The university is developing a portion of the former Mathews Warehouse in the Brady Arts District to be the Zarrow Center for Art and Education.

It will house programs from TU's School of Art and Gilcrease Museum, which is managed by the university. The Zarrow Center is expected to be open in the fall of 2012.

Plans previously proposed for the Hartford Building site that never came to fruition include one from the Ross Group for an office building and another from Formaation LLC that involved a 40-acre mixed-use development.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20111202_11_0_Amovem659018&rss_lnk=298,297

[jacobi]

Another developer is planning a nearby housing project, which Bartlett said hasn't been announced yet.

Anyone know anything about this?

Also, am I alone in thinking that that building is deeply ugly?

[Townsend]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20111208_11_0_TheTul390048

Development Authority, TU moving ahead with sale of downtown building

The Tulsa Development Authority unanimously voted Thursday to enter into negotiations to sell the University of Tulsa a downtown city building to be turn into a four-year medical school.

Creating the Tulsa School of Community Medicine is a joint venture by TU and the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa.

TU is offering $2.25 million for the vacant, 74,772-square-foot Hartford Building, 111 S. Greenwood Ave., and two adjacent parking lots. The property appraised for $2.68 million.

The building will be completely renovated for the school, TU Associate Vice President of Public Affairs and Economic Development Susan Neal told the TDA.

"It is our hope that our first class will begin in the fall of 2014," Neal said, estimating that 400 students, faculty and administrators will be located at the facility when fully operational.

TU hopes to close on the property in the first quarter of 2012.

TDA board member Carl Bracy said the project "will have a significant economic impact on downtown," particularly with housing opportunities, while board member Paula Bryant-Ellis called it "awesome."

TU President Steadman Upham told the Tulsa World in a previous interview that the medical school is designed to address the shortage of doctors in Tulsa and throughout the state.


By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20111208_11_0_TheTul390048

[SXSW]

Still wondering, why this particular building/site?  Is it just because they can get the building for a good price in a downtown location?

There is no synergy created with any of the existing higher education facilities downtown.  Why not by OSU Med Center, or by TCC which has long-range plans to build a health sciences building near 10th & Cincinnati?

[swake]

Still wondering, why this particular building/site?  Is it just because they can get the building for a good price in a downtown location?

There is no synergy created with any of the existing higher education facilities downtown.  Why not by OSU Med Center, or by TCC which has long-range plans to build a health sciences building near 10th & Cincinnati?

It's at the other end of Land Legacy's proposed central park from the All Souls site. The new home of Tulsa Opera in the old Fire Department headquarters is halfway between the two right on the park. And one of the articles said that there is a as yet unannounced housing development going in somewhere next to the school. The Kaiser Foundation has money in each of these projects that we know about except All Souls (which has all it's own money).