Route 66 Museum on Riverside

[TeeDub]

They have a website for the museum, which is the RT66 Experience:
http://www.rt66exp.com/

They have an indiegogo crowd funding link on the website.   They are at 1% of their fundraising goal in the last year...   

https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/route-66-experience

[sgrizzle]

They have an indiegogo crowd funding link on the website.   They are at 1% of their fundraising goal in the last year...   

https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/route-66-experience

Says it's closed. May have been a cancelled idea.

[SXSW]

I like this museum idea better than OK Pop.  Maybe someday it will be revived.  Who owns the land here?

[cannon_fodder]

I believe it is City of Tulsa land:
http://www.assessor.tulsacounty.org/assessor-property.php?account=R29725921104880&return=close

[sgrizzle]

It is CoT land, and the RT66 Experience has (had) a contract on it.

[Oil Capital]

How did the OKPop museum jump ahead of this one?

[Dspike]

Didn't OKPOP get $25M in state funds? Suspect the R66 Experience would be up and running if it had such a subsidy too.

http://kfor.com/2015/05/29/gov-fallin-signs-bill-funding-okpop-museum/

[Oil Capital]

Didn't OKPOP get $25M in state funds? Suspect the R66 Experience would be up and running if it had such a subsidy too.

http://kfor.com/2015/05/29/gov-fallin-signs-bill-funding-okpop-museum/

Yes.  That's really my question.  This Route 66 Xperience has been in Tulsa's plans at least since the original Vision 2025 program.  It seems the OKPOP museum came out of nowhere more recently and snatched available funding.

[swake]

Yes.  That's really my question.  This Route 66 Xperience has been in Tulsa's plans at least since the original Vision 2025 program.  It seems the OKPOP museum came out of nowhere more recently and snatched available funding.

The pop museum was proposed and backed by the State of Oklahoma Historical Society

[Vision 2025]

Yes.  That's really my question.  This Route 66 Xperience has been in Tulsa's plans at least since the original Vision 2025 program.  It seems the OKPOP museum came out of nowhere more recently and snatched available funding.

The Route 66 Experience concept was developed as part of the Route 66 Master Plan which was funded by Vision 2025 in the early part of the program.  The initial concept proposed by the committee to the City Council was to expend the majority of the funds at that location to construct the visitors center as a way to draw in route travelers who otherwise by-pass Tulsa.  Oher than to purchase the site, create parking, construct the Ped. bridge and the Avery Bronze this approach didn't do over well with the Council and the project was shelved for a considerable time and other projects were brought forward to more spread the $ all along the Route. 

There were some dollars reserved for the project and the approach was developed to put it out as an RFP to design/build/operate the center.  There was (I believe) only one response and that local team was selected and began fundraising with some reported success but not to the levels required under the agreement which was extended and later modified and has as of last year run its course and is no longer in effect.  As of this writing, I am not aware of any current plans to proceed but I will inquire.   

[shavethewhales]

Posted on City of Tulsa's LinkedIn:

Route 66 Experience Request for Proposals Released

Monday, October 4, 2021, the City of Tulsa released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Route 66 Experience project.

The City invites qualified developers to respond to the RFP for a mixed-use development which will include a Route 66 Interpretive Center on a 2-acre site overlooking historic Route 66, the Tulsa skyline, and the Arkansas River corridor. The development goal is to create a vibrant destination with the appropriate mix of commercial amenities and a Route 66-themed interpretive center, which is complementary to the surrounding area.

The RFP is available on the City's website: https://lnkd.in/gdtJHeF6

Previous Vision 2025-funded capital projects have created the backdrop for increased visibility of Route 66 as a heritage tourism favorite for both area residents and national/international tourists. A Vision Tulsa matching neon sign grant program has generated more than 40 neon signs at various stages of completion, creating a retro look to the Route's corridor.

Entrepreneurs also have invested private capital and creativity along Tulsa's two alignments of Route 66, resulting in more than a half-dozen commercial districts with food, entertainment, and art. Some business owners have also added to the kitsch with extravagant signage, artistic features and architectural elements.

[TheArtist]

Posted on City of Tulsa's LinkedIn:

I wonder what the traffic counts are for that area?

Is there a city resource to find out?

Unfortunately that spot is not directly connected to any other vibrant streetscape or destination and if its not on a busy street it's kind of lost and out of the way.

[LandArchPoke]

I wonder what the traffic counts are for that area?

Is there a city resource to find out?

Unfortunately that spot is not directly connected to any other vibrant streetscape or destination and if its not on a busy street it's kind of lost and out of the way.

Here is the link to INCOG traffic counts:

https://incog.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8f4d62c5aecc4629a019f9cbe0076b89

They are not great in that area - around 2,600 along Riverside and 10,400 that cross the Arkansas bridge on SW Blvd.

That site would make a great student housing location for OSU Med, it's kind of an odd location for a Route 66 center given there's nothing commercial around it and the highways cut off easy access into downtown from there if you're a pedestrian.

I had mentioned that they cut out the space for this in the 11th Street Lobeck Taylor project. I wonder why that ended up not happening. Seems like it'd make better sense to have this somewhere along 11th between TU and TCC where there's more commercial space surrounding.

[SXSW]

Agree mixed-use housing is a better use for this site.  I still think you turn the podium where the Meadow Gold sign sits into an actual enclosed building that could be a Route 66 museum/gift shop.  Much better foot traffic along that stretch of 11th

[shavethewhales]

A few stories of housing on top of a retail layer with a nice patio overlooking the river would be nice. Like Artist said though, it's not high traffic or well connected, but at least it does have great visibility, trail access, and a decent local density in the surrounding neighborhood. I just want more riverside hangouts. Yard bar/sand bar is great, but no reason it should be the only business taking advantage of the river.