REI

[ZYX]

http://m.tulsaworld.com/news/government/city-negotiating-to-open-rei-sporting-goods-store-on-riverside/article_56b52524-effa-52ef-a8ad-e0168ff72f31.html?mode=jqm

REI will be opening it's first store in Oklahoma at 71st and Riverside. I assume this is the project that others have mentioned in different threads. Glad to see that the plans are to keep (but relocate) the volleyball courts.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I shopped a lot at REI in Phoenix. They are a great resource not only hiking, camping and kayak/rafting equipment, in the Phoenix area they had maps for all of the trails in the area both biking and hiking all of the mountain preserve trails. Little pricy, but quality equipment.

[swake]

This is great news.

[sgrizzle]

Wait. someone wants to do commercial development on land that is ACTUALLY a park and we're all for it?

[ZYX]

The volleyball courts will be moved a little ways south. There's really not much else there.

[SXSW]

Denver has its flagship REI next to the South Platte River by downtown.  There is a Starbucks in the building that has a riverfront patio and a launch area where you can rent or test out kayaks.  There's also a track around the building for testing mountain bikes.  Something similar would be pretty cool at this location.

[cannon_fodder]

In my analysis of available land along riverside, there is land in that area that is city owned and an overgrown field (as in not maintained at all for years). If Helmrich park is essentially moved south, and we gain QUALITY development... Then I'm for it.

An REI goes well with that location. It is in their interest to integrate trail access and be close to parks.

I reserve the right to complain about the quality of the development...

[cannon_fodder]

Of course, the end of th article says the plan is for the remaining 50 acres to be "improved in the eyes of other developers." 

So the plan is to eventually eliminate the volleyball courts, the splash pad, the playground, and the rest of the park?

That's a problem.

Also... With all the emphasis on spending hundreds of millions on river water, will this face the river and embrace the trail, or just put dumbsters along the trail and backs of buildings to the river, with a glorious stretch of asphalt along 71sy and riverside and the buildings offset?

Quality counts.

[ZYX]

"The ultimate goal is to go ahead and get the ground lease finalized and signed off on," Bird said. "And then get the development going and, hopefully, spur the rest of the development in a compatible way with the river, the trails and the volleyball courts."

This is at the very end....we'll see what actually happens. I agree that if what we're going to get along the river is a bunch of big box/strip center development, we have absolutely no need to build dams.

[LandArchPoke]

I'm reserving judgement until the site plan is released. If it looks anything like Kings Pointe or Riverwalk I'll be very disappointed.

I actually had hoped REI would build downtown as some point when some more residential developments had opened, but this location makes a lot of sense too. I love REI, and they seem to get urban and smart development usually. Hopefully this is quality and not another strip center you could have built anywhere.

[Conan71]

There's room to move in park equipment to the north of 71st St. as well and there is another existing park with playground equipment around 56th St. I think.  Other than the volleyball courts, the rest of that area is a wasteland.  This plot was the original proposed site for the aquarium which Jenks finally got. City leaders in the early 1990's didn't see the value in an aquarium. 

[sgrizzle]

There's room to move in park equipment to the north of 71st St. as well and there is another existing park with playground equipment around 56th St. I think.  Other than the volleyball courts, the rest of that area is a wasteland.  This plot was the original proposed site for the aquarium which Jenks finally got. City leaders in the early 1990's didn't see the value in an aquarium. 

South of 71st is a city park, north of 71st is River Parks.

[sooneralum2012]

I'm reserving judgement until the site plan is released. If it looks anything like Kings Pointe or Riverwalk I'll be very disappointed.

I actually had hoped REI would build downtown as some point when some more residential developments had opened, but this location makes a lot of sense too. I love REI, and they seem to get urban and smart development usually. Hopefully this is quality and not another strip center you could have built anywhere.

Yea, all the locations I have seen have been very high quality.  While more towards downtown would be cool, the fact it is IN TULSA and near the are both pluses.

[Stanley1]

Dumb.  There is a Dicks and soon to be a Gander Mountain just across the river at Tulsa Hills and the Walk.

I'm not one that typically frowns on much of any new construction, but this is just stupid.  Not all three of those places will be able to stay in business for the next 10-15 years.

[ZYX]

I believe REI is significantly different than Dick's, I don't know about Gander Mountain.