PAC Trust selects developer

[cannon_fodder]

The never achieved the "gold standard" for a stage is to take the stage you see, and then set one of them on top of it, behind it, and one to each side of it. 4 times the room off stage as you actually see. Again, that's never actually achieved, but illustrates how much space they really need. Whenever I've had the chance to go backstage at the PAC for a major show, it is jam packed! Even for a relatively simple show (from a set perspective) like Kinky Boots, the backstage area is crazy.

By the same token, as pointed out by the Actor linked above, not every show wants, needs, can afford, or can comfortably perform in a 1200 seat theater. Seeing Phantom/Rent or other "spectaculars" with 1200 people is fine, seeing more stage oriented performance doesn't always work. Seeing a symphony in a grand hall is ideal, seeing a full symphony in a "black box" auditorium probably wouldn't sound right.

So not every venue can work for every show.

It is also true that for, for many shows, actual performance nights are a minority of the time booked. Stage setup. Dress rehearsals. Tear down. Depending on the show and the length of the run, those can take up way more time than the performances (as opposed to a theater in NYC or London dedicated to one show for months/years). So the schedule gets crowded and difficult.

My concern is want vs. need.  Perhaps I really don't understand the need. But I'd hate to see a "want" suck up a huge part of the arts budget and leave the actual arts struggling for funds because of it. Rumor has it The Arts and Humanities Council stretched their budget with the AHHA. I'm just dubious of cautious of capital expansion.

And, to be honest, I might be biased because the announced project looked really solid.

[carltonplace]

PAC has approved to move forward with the Reasor's plan.

[bacjz00]

PAC has approved to move forward with the Reasor's plan.

I'm actually happy to hear this.  Downtown desperately needs these services to attract more full-time residents.

I just hope we either build a nice mid-size theater/venue soon or someone finally pumps some money into the trainwreck that is currently the Brady.  I'm not optimistic that either will happen, but I hate that I can go 2 hours up the road to Springfield, MO and have a much better show experience at the Gilioz than ANYWHERE in Tulsa. 

I wish we had been able to hold on to the Ritz or the Majestic.  So tragic.

[RecycleMichael]

PAC has approved to move forward with the Reasor's plan.

Not completely true. They agreed to continue talks.

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust Board decided to continue talks Monday with a developer to sell a downtown parking lot for a mixed-used project that could include a Reasor's grocery store.

The proposal isn't a done deal yet. If the developer, Flaherty & Collins, doesn't get a Tax Increment Financing District approved, it can back out of the project. The board will also have to vote on the final contract. Monday's action just authorized four members of the board to negotiate terms that were spelled out in the offer sheet approved Monday. Flaherty & Collins would pay the PAC Trust $5.5 million for the parking lot on Cincinnati Avenue and Second and Third streets. Renderings for the proposed project show a 12-story building with ground-floor and some second-floor retail space, as well as 240 apartments and more than 600 parking spaces. It would be called the Annex.

Tulsa PAC Trust Chairman Stanton Doyle said he hopes to have the final contract before the board in December. After Monday's meeting, Mayor Dewey Bartlett said the decision to continue forward on the path toward a grocery store is good for the continued revitalization of downtown.
Fewer surface parking lots, he said, "really underscores the term 'revitalization.'"

Board member and former Tulsa Mayor Robert LaFortune said the offer sheet helped to put to rest his worries about losing the parking that the lot across the street from the Performing Arts Center provides as well as having the right of first refusal should Flaherty & Collins sell the property.
The approval Monday brings to an end months of internal discussion among the board members. Their concerns have included whether they want to close the door on expanding on the parking lot in question and whether they were getting a fair price.

Meetings took place at nontraditional venues including the George Kaiser Family Foundation — Doyle works there — and the home of board member and former Tulsa Mayor Rodger Randle last week. Board member Billie Barnett said the meetings have made the group a "much stronger entity."
Discussions haven't been restricted to selling the lot. The board has confronted what it plans to do and the proper purpose for the funds it would receive if it sold the parking lot.

[swake]

Not completely true. They agreed to continue talks.

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust Board decided to continue talks Monday with a developer to sell a downtown parking lot for a mixed-used project that could include a Reasor's grocery store.

The proposal isn't a done deal yet. If the developer, Flaherty & Collins, doesn't get a Tax Increment Financing District approved, it can back out of the project. The board will also have to vote on the final contract. Monday's action just authorized four members of the board to negotiate terms that were spelled out in the offer sheet approved Monday. Flaherty & Collins would pay the PAC Trust $5.5 million for the parking lot on Cincinnati Avenue and Second and Third streets. Renderings for the proposed project show a 12-story building with ground-floor and some second-floor retail space, as well as 240 apartments and more than 600 parking spaces. It would be called the Annex.

Tulsa PAC Trust Chairman Stanton Doyle said he hopes to have the final contract before the board in December. After Monday's meeting, Mayor Dewey Bartlett said the decision to continue forward on the path toward a grocery store is good for the continued revitalization of downtown.
Fewer surface parking lots, he said, "really underscores the term 'revitalization.'"

Board member and former Tulsa Mayor Robert LaFortune said the offer sheet helped to put to rest his worries about losing the parking that the lot across the street from the Performing Arts Center provides as well as having the right of first refusal should Flaherty & Collins sell the property.
The approval Monday brings to an end months of internal discussion among the board members. Their concerns have included whether they want to close the door on expanding on the parking lot in question and whether they were getting a fair price.

Meetings took place at nontraditional venues including the George Kaiser Family Foundation — Doyle works there — and the home of board member and former Tulsa Mayor Rodger Randle last week. Board member Billie Barnett said the meetings have made the group a "much stronger entity."
Discussions haven't been restricted to selling the lot. The board has confronted what it plans to do and the proper purpose for the funds it would receive if it sold the parking lot.

The cynical side of me is asking if Bob Lafortune was delaying this to make sure his grandson was mayor when it moves forward so he gets the credit?

[DTowner]

Not completely true. They agreed to continue talks.

I view this latest event as more like a letter of intent - an agreement to try and work out all the details with the TIF approval as a "walk away" condition.  That's a lot better place to be than where we were a couple of months ago.

[DTowner]

The cynical side of me is asking if Bob Lafortune was delaying this to make sure his grandson was mayor when it moves forward so he gets the credit?

Come on, how was LaFortune to know there was parking in a development in which plan provided for a 600 spot parking garage?

[Red Arrow]

I can go 2 hours up the road to Springfield, MO

Don't get caught.  It's approximately 180 miles per Google Maps.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I'm not optimistic that either will happen, but I hate that I can go 2 hours up the road to Springfield, MO and have a much better show experience at the Gilioz than ANYWHERE in Tulsa. 

Yeah...about that...ya kinda need to slow down just a little bit....

And switch to de-caf.

[Bamboo World]

Don't get caught... [going up the road to Springfield in two hours...]

That's what I was thinking when I saw bacjz00's comment.

[Oil Capital]

It's been 8 months since they decided to continue talks with the developer.  Are they still talking or has this project died a quiet death?

[Townsend]

Bump - anything new on this one?

[MostSeriousness]

Haven't seen much of anything. They still have a committee according to their meeting agendas (on cityoftulsa.org website), but no line items or points underneath from what I've seen.

[SXSW]

Due to the politics involved with the PAC trust I bet this one takes awhile to materialize.  I think Santa Fe Square gets built out before we see this one go up, and in fact they may just wait until construction prices go down during the next market correction.  I hope I'm wrong though, this would be a major transformation for this ugly lot and bringing a full-service grocery to downtown would be an absolute game changer for adding more residential density.

[DowntownDan]

So, happening or not happening?

PAC Trust could vote next week on proposed development with grocery downtown

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust's long-awaited decision on whether to sell its parking lot for a mixed-use development that includes a proposed Reasor's grocery store could come next week.

The trust decided Thursday morning to schedule a meeting for Aug. 24 to vote on continuing the process of selling the parking lot, according to three people at the meeting.

Rodger Randle, a former Tulsa mayor and the chairman of the trust, said the vote next week would be "in essence" to approve the sale or not.

The vote could be on the final contract between the PAC Trust and the proposed developer Flaherty & Collins or to continue the process of selling the parking lot with a later vote on the final details of the contract, Randle said.


Whether it's one or the other depends on whether the lawyers work out the final details of the sale contract before next week's meeting, he said.

The parking lot sits at the corner of Cincinnati Avenue and Third Street.

The proposed development is a 12-story building with a Reasor's planned for the bottom levels. Negotiations have stretched on for more than a year.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/downtown/pac-trust-could-vote-next-week-on-proposed-development-with/article_0ee1535e-4c02-5159-8a7b-62b4eda36ed1.html