kendall whittier/lweis/6th/demolition

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Good to see the new development around Whittier moving north. It will be a tough/unfriendly walk from there to the "Main Street" and there's no great way to cross the street to Las Americas, but will be good for the area. I thought they were considering putting an elderly home there among other proposals years ago.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Kendall Whittier Main Street reaches $130 million in private reinvestment

Oklahoma Main Street Center is among 42 state coordinating programs around the nation


The numbers don't lie. Kendall Whittier Main Street is booming.

Recent figures released by the Oklahoma Main Street Center show that $130 million in private reinvestment has been poured into Kendall Whittier Main Street since 2010, the year it was accepted into the state program.

"It's been a mix of very meaningful rehabs of older historic properties and pretty welcome infill development at a somewhat large scale," said Ed Sharrer, executive director of Kendall Whittier Main Street, a nonprofit that supports revitalization of the area. "It's been a very beneficial mix."

A subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Oklahoma Main Street Center is among 42 state coordinating programs around the nation. At least 2,000 Main Streets in the country are committed to historic preservation-based community rehabilitation.

Recent construction in the Kendall Whittier area includes Red Brick Capital Management's $2 million refurbishing of a 13,000-square-foot property next to Circle Cinema. Occupying the space is the nonprofit Growing Together Tulsa, HP Engineering and Orth Contemporary, an art gallery.

Also, Heirloom Rustic Ales opened its brewery in November at 2113 E. Admiral Blvd.


Earlier in 2017, TPC Studios injected about $2.5 million into renovating space for a new headquarters in the former home of Swinney Hardware, 32 S. Lewis Ave. Swinney had operated for 74 years there until its closing in 2008.

Since January 2013, a total of 36 new businesses have opened in the Kendall Whittier service area, representing 265 jobs and approaching $20 million in private investment, Sharrer said.

Whittier Square, the commercial core of the neighborhood at East Admiral Boulevard and South Lewis Avenue, is at about 95 percent occupancy, he said. Five years ago, it was 35 percent full.

"We're actually running into something that we haven't seen in decades, which is more demand than supply," Sharrer said. "I don't see that stopping any time soon. We've just become a very stable place for people to open a business and be successful."

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/kendall-whittier-main-street-reaches-million-in-private-reinvestment/article_7b5b5d61-dcd2-55b8-98ca-817facf8e6ae.html

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Also:

Kendall Whittier history
The Kendall Whittier neighborhood draws its name from two elementary schools built in the area in the 1910s.

In 1912, Kendall Elementary school was built at 715 S. Columbia Ave., adjacent to the Kendall College campus. The college was renamed the University of Tulsa in 1920. It is widely believed that the elementary school was named after the college, which was named for Henry Kendall, a Presbyterian minister.

Whittier Elementary School was built in 1916 at 68 N. Lewis Ave., on the northern edge of Whittier Square. The school was named after Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier.

The boundaries of the Kendall Whittier Main Street Program are Independence Street to 11th Street on Lewis Avenue; plus commercial properties along Admiral Boulevard, Third Street and Sixth Street from Utica Avenue to Columbia Avenue.

Source: Kendall Whittier Main Street

Kendall Whittier throughout the years:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/photovideo/slideshows/see-the-kendall-whittier-neighborhood-through-the-years/collection_03ce8147-ba82-5119-9c13-1fffba23cdb0.html

[Conan71]

This is nice to see.  It's really undergone quite a transformation since I worked at Urban Tulsa back in the early 1990's when they were HQ'd in the KW.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Up from the ashes: Use of fire-damaged building gives Kendall Whittier new life

Several years ago, a fire damaged a furniture refinishing company, slowing redevelopment east from Lewis Avenue along Admiral Boulevard.

But where others saw blight, May Yang saw opportunity.

Co-owner of Flash Flood Print Studios, a screen-printing company looking to expand, she is expected in June to move a couple of doors down into the formerly charred structure (2421 E. Admiral Blvd.), which is being refurbished to house her company's new headquarters.

"They took a leap of faith and they signed a letter of intent on a burned-out building," said Ed Sharrer, executive director of Kendall Whittier Main Street, a nonprofit that supports revitalization of the area. "But that letter of intent for a long-term lease, along with a bit of personal collateral on behalf of the property owner, allowed them to go to their bank and get the financing to rehab the facility. I can literally say that building would still be sitting there as an eyesore, as a deterrent to investment, if it wasn't for May."

Moving in next month just west of Flash Flood will be three co-tenants: Method Architecture, a new business, Blue Star Integrative Studio, a design firm relocating from downtown, and another company that hasn't been announced.

"The Method group is moving into a space where the owner feels comfortable in investing in his property thanks to what's happening next door," Sharrer said. "This is really the chain reaction of taking what was the worst property on the block and making it the best one, and it immediately starting to snowball. There was pent-up demand for space here, and getting this one piece of the puzzle allowed lots of things to fall in place."

Flash Flood's new 4,000-square-foot space will nearly triple the area of its previous venue.

"We got to a point where we were outgrowing our current space and we really wanted to stay over here," Yang said.

She started Flash Flood with Nick Nold nearly six years ago. They came to Kendall Whittier in the summer of 2015.

"We were really attracted to the area because we thought there was a lot of creative energy here," Yang said. "... We felt like we knew our neighbors all the time and you can walk into other businesses on a daily basis, say hello to everybody and develop relationships with the people you are next-door to."

Josh Kunkel is founder and director of Method Architecture, which employs five people. Two of the five are Spanish-speaking associates from Venezuela and Columbia.

"Kendall Whittier has a lot going for it," Kunkel said. "There is a lot of positive energy. It also is one of the true neighborhood communities where you have everything represented. You can get a haircut. You can go out to eat at a bunch of different places. You can bank. You can shop. You can get your groceries. You can live all within the district.

"That tied in to what we believe about design. Places are for people. That's what we design for."

Figures released this year by the Oklahoma Main Street Center indicate that $130 million in private reinvestment has been poured into Kendall Whittier Main Street since 2010, the year it was accepted into the state program.

In December 2012, only 35 percent of the buildings were occupied two blocks either side from Lewis Avenue on Admiral Boulevard and from Interstate 244 to First Street, Sharrer said.

Once new tenants such as Method and Blue Star move into the neighborhood, the occupancy rate will be nearly 97 percent, he said.

"It's been unbelievably gratifying," Sharrer said. "We're just fortunate that little by little we keep adding folks."

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/up-from-the-ashes-use-of-fire-damaged-building-gives/article_43e47cf4-99c8-5ebd-95a7-225fe929e4c9.html

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

It's nice to see the continued development of this area. The area overall (greater Kendall-Whittier and Pearl) still have a long way to go but it is neat to see things like occupancy rate reaching 97% in the area and this:

Figures released this year by the Oklahoma Main Street Center indicate that $130 million in private reinvestment has been poured into Kendall Whittier Main Street since 2010, the year it was accepted into the state program.

It is good that it has been accepted into the state main street program which seems to have helped some of the smaller main streets around improve. Hopefully that will further spur investment. Mostly, it will be driven by the market and demand. Real estate in the area remains cheap (albeit hard to come by!), and with rent/occupancy doing so well it is a matter of time before revitalization really boosts the area. It's already vastly better than 5 or 10 years ago.


I'm starting to see a lot more $100k/$150k+ houses listed in the area and as those sell it legitimizes the market so investors can go in,  buy a dilapidated house for around $40k-$80k, put in $50-$80k and sell at a profit. In the past, that was incredibly difficult when people in that price range wouldn't think of moving to areas like that.

[SXSW]

It's nice to see the continued development of this area. The area overall (greater Kendall-Whittier and Pearl) still have a long way to go but it is neat to see things like occupancy rate reaching 97% in the area and this:

It is good that it has been accepted into the state main street program which seems to have helped some of the smaller main streets around improve. Hopefully that will further spur investment. Mostly, it will be driven by the market and demand. Real estate in the area remains cheap (albeit hard to come by!), and with rent/occupancy doing so well it is a matter of time before revitalization really boosts the area. It's already vastly better than 5 or 10 years ago.


I'm starting to see a lot more $100k/$150k+ houses listed in the area and as those sell it legitimizes the market so investors can go in,  buy a dilapidated house for around $40k-$80k, put in $50-$80k and sell at a profit. In the past, that was incredibly difficult when people in that price range wouldn't think of moving to areas like that.

I remember a friend was looking at buying a house at 4th & Lewis about 5 years ago and it was $50k.  Decent house too.  I know the term is overused but I've always said that whole area from the Pearl to TU has the most potential to gentrify and already has in some areas.  The next frontier will be neighborhoods north of 244 but that is still a ways off.

[swake]

I remember a friend was looking at buying a house at 4th & Lewis about 5 years ago and it was $50k.  Decent house too.  I know the term is overused but I've always said that whole area from the Pearl to TU has the most potential to gentrify and already has in some areas.  The next frontier will be neighborhoods north of 244 but that is still a ways off.

My great grandmother owned a lot of buildings in Kendall-Whitter, bought them up during the Great Depression. She had a couple of apartment buildings with storefronts, several stores and a dozen or more houses. My grandparents sold it all off for basically nothing in the 80s and 90s when the neighborhood had fallen apart.

[RecycleMichael]

I have a couple of small lots that need to be regularly weed-eated and mowed in Kendall Whittier.

I don't want to hire some big company and prefer some neighborhood kid.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

If you have been to this area recently, you have noticed a lot of activity. They have leveled a couple blocks of houses/nasty apartments and a bunch of new houses have been built or are being constructed. Most of the demolished places were ugly apartments or very tiny houses (around 500-800 sq ft) that were derelict and not worth redoing anyway (financially or architecturally) although a few gems were unfortunately lost.

Fortunately a lot of stuff is being put in. As the quote in the above comment says, the existing West Park will have a phase 2 put in to the south of another 100 units! Capital Homes is putting in new houses at a fast rate. Habitat recently did a 24-hour build and open house right across from the elementary school and plan to focus on the area for the next several years.

It looks like "West Park Phase II" owns about the entire block just south of the existing West Park and the last apartment building there is slated to be demolished (between 5th pl and 6th st, lewis & Atlanta). There are a few hold-outs in the blocks east of that block and by TU south of the Orthodox Church. I have heard TU has plans for some athletic development just west of the softball field but I do not know details. Does anyone know what that will become? 

Overall, this looks like a great collaboration by GKFF, TU, Capital Homes, Habitat for Humanity, RSD Properties and Gerald Heller (I don't know his involvement but might be involved with Habitat) and even the Orthodox church to buy up almost all of the lots around there and trade them back and forth for best redevelopment (some properties were bought by TU then transferred to West Park or bought by RSD and transferred to TU or Habitat). I noticed 2604 E 6 ST is owned by NA Islamic Trust while the rest and I wonder if they plan to put a mosque in there to go along with the other churches around there (there is a mosque on west side of TU so could be something else).

This was another case of "urban renewal" by demolishing but the area is looking better and better and the nasty apartments are getting fewer and fewer and they are being replaced by nice looking affordable housing. There are still several blocks owned mostly by investment companies and some individuals (mostly probably rentals), but it is quite a big change over 5/10 years ago. There is also quite a bit that has happened on 11th since then (Campbell, Capps, Maxxwells, 918 coffee) and the Fuel 66 Food Truck Park at 11th and Atlanta. Plus on Lewis there is the FabLab, the Renaissance Brewery being build (mixed use) and the Kathy/Loebeck Taylor Foundation development right next to that (also mixed use). All of that ignores the amazing renovations that have occurred on homes all throughout the Renaissance neighborhood. Home values there have really taken off and it is looking great. Overall an up and coming area which still has lots of work to go.

It has been a while since I've seen any activity on this (for good reason as TU has had quite a rough financial time since then), but there has been heavy equipment on those lots and a lot of drain/piping equipment being put in in the cleared lots where "West Park Phase II" is going to be constructed.

I'm guessing it will be a pretty long construction process, but good to see dirt is moving, even if it is just the utilities at this point. Even with TU struggling financially, there are multiple groups involved in this and it should be a pretty big priority because of the increased revenue this will bring when finished. It will also help create sort of a cap stone for that neighborhood. It will be quite a big difference having nice townhouses along there rather than empty lots (and previously dilapidated houses).

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

University of Tulsa takes lead in Cyber District vision

University of Tulsa President Dr. Gerry Clancy sees a distinct parallel between a TU-led Cyber District and the university's link to emerging oil about a century ago.

"The University of Tulsa was a big part of the oil boom of Tulsa," he said during an interview at his office last week. "As Tulsa grew as an industry leader in oil and gas, the University of Tulsa grew, to the point where our petroleum engineering program became No. 1 in the country in 2017 by CEOWORLD magazine.

"So our vision is that there is another boom available to us, and that is in cybersecurity."



The crux of the proposal is the creation of a Tulsa Enterprise for Cyber Innovation, Talent and Entrepreneurship, which will allow industry, federal agencies and TU to work together to defend information systems.

It would include four cyber centers of excellence: an engineering research center funded by the National Science Foundation, a multifederal agency cybersecurity center for excellence, a cybersecurity insurance institute and a consortium of business sectors.

All four facilities would be located along Tulsa's Sixth Street Corridor Opportunity Zone, an area of potential development steeped in new federal tax incentives.

"The country needs 350,000 jobs in cybersecurity," Clancy said. "These are jobs in which you need a high level of education. You can't do this on the certificate level. ... You have to be very strong in computer sciences first, then you move on to cyber."

The district "is paired with all these different industries beyond the Department of Defense needing help: banking, retail, health care, transportation, oil and gas, critical infrastructure. Our feeling is let's take advantage of that, and let's lead an economic development push in cyber for Tulsa — let's give it a name that's attractive and let's call it the Cyber District."

For more than two decades, TU has been a national leader in cybersecurity research and education. TU has been a National Security Agency Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance and Cyber Defense Education since 2000 — one of the first 14 institutions awarded this distinction.

"This cyber district is going to build critical mass," said John Hale, a computer science professor at TU who has testified three times before Congress as an information security expert. "You get enough talent and ideas in the same general space, and it just sort of mushrooms."

"This is a fantastic moment in time for the city, with the development and resurgence of downtown sort of taking shape over the past 15-20 years. The University of Tulsa has steadily built on and capitalized on its cybersecurity reputation. We've produced scores of graduates. This is a great place and a great time to begin this type of initiative."

Insurance industry leaders applauded the Cyber District idea at a gathering earlier this month, and it also received favorable reviews in December from Oklahoma's federal delegation.

"The consistent message we heard from everyone in Washington, D.C., was your timing couldn't be better; let's go," Clancy said.

Two companies already are being recruited for the Cyber District, he said.

"If you think about what it takes to kick off whatever that Opportunity Zone investment would be, with that two- or three-year lead time, the gun has gone off," Clancy said. "It's time for us to get going on this. And the stars are aligned. The need is huge. We have the right people in the right places.

"I think the future of universities is this agency-business-university partnerships around particular themes. ... You can't be a university with a big fence around it that just lives in its own bubble."

https://www.tulsaworld.com/business/university-of-tulsa-takes-lead-in-cyber-district-vision/article_15e456db-a267-5f7c-8abd-d60b5634639b.html

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Really cool to see TU moving forward and aiming to capitalize on the increased demand in Cyber Security education. TU  has already been far above the pack in this regard with Cyber Corps. It makes sense to expand to general Cyber Security programs that students can take even if they don't get accepted (or want to go) into Cyber Corps.

"This cyber district is going to build critical mass," said John Hale, a computer science professor at TU who has testified three times before Congress as an information security expert. "You get enough talent and ideas in the same general space, and it just sort of mushrooms."

"This is a fantastic moment in time for the city, with the development and resurgence of downtown sort of taking shape over the past 15-20 years. The University of Tulsa has steadily built on and capitalized on its cybersecurity reputation. We've produced scores of graduates. This is a great place and a great time to begin this type of initiative."

Insurance industry leaders applauded the Cyber District idea at a gathering earlier this month, and it also received favorable reviews in December from Oklahoma's federal delegation.

Two companies already are being recruited for the Cyber District, he said.

"The consistent message we heard from everyone in Washington, D.C., was your timing couldn't be better; let's go," Clancy said.

It sounds like this could be yet another market/business venture for the Pearl District which will pull in a new variety of people and companies to the area.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

I found it interesting that the "Sixth Street Corridor Opportunity Zone" with tax incentives for investors extends all the way to Harvard on the east but stops at Quincy Avenue on the west. It goes from I244 down to 13th street until Lewis where it goes to 11th. That area definitely is in need of a boost, but I am surprised all the way through TU's campus is included and a bit surprised they stopped at Quincy Ave (might as well include Peoria and go all the way to downtown on north side which is still in need of investment).

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Well, looks like those areas west of Quincy Avenue are in a opportunity zone also, the Tulsa World just had their map made up inaccurately:

https://www.cityoftulsa.org/economic-development/opportunities-and-incentives/opportunity-zones/

The more surprising/bold move is that the north side of Cherry Street is included! Of all places, it seems like one which has been very successful with new developments and a good track record of upscaling zoning and building high-quality dense development and the entire section from  BA to 15th, from Lewis to Peoria has virtually no empty lots or vacancies.

[patric]

Tulsa Development Authority has had the legal authority to acquire blighted properties and exercise eminent domain since 1959. The organization has used that power in the Kendall Whittier neighborhood and other parts of town, including north Tulsa, where it purchased properties to clear the way for an Albertson's grocery store at the corner of Pine and Peoria avenues.

But when the Greenwood/Unity Heritage Neighborhoods Sector Plan and the updated Kendall Whittier Sector Plan were approved in 2016, they did not include the statutory language required for TDA to exercise its full powers to implement urban renewal programs.

"The consultants that we hired, they were out of Chicago, and I think that was a new tool for them; and as a result, it wasn't incorporated in the overall document," Walker said. "We consider this a lesson learned."

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/proposed-north-tulsa-redevelopment-plan-includes-eminent-domain-authority-city/article_b4b958f3-b38d-5bce-891f-6189cb63d109.html