East Village

[sportyart]

Like every morning, I was reading the Tulsa World, and right on the front page found the following story.

Thoughts, questions, ideas?

" Serious talks are under way about transforming downtown's East Village into a mixed-use, destination point featuring residential, office and retail space with the possibility of a sports facility.

Mayor Bill LaFortune said ongoing discussions with a number of private groups have focused primarily on how to use this older area of downtown to create an entire multi-use project.

"The primary thrust of the redevelopment projects we're in discussion with will have the end result of the new urbanism concept for this city that we don't have now," he said.

The East Village, a 115-acre site, drew interest in 2002 from a St. Louis group that contracted with Tulsa Development Authority to provide a pedestrian-oriented district that would include a movie theater. But after two years of failing to attract retailers to the site, the group did not renew its contract.

The East Village sits within the Inner Dispersal Loop from Seventh Street to the Burlington Northern rail line between U.S. 75 and Detroit Avenue.

The development authority
is not involved in current discussions, LaFortune said. At least two private groups have come forward "with some very well thought-out redevelopment concepts for the area," he said.

The key to developing the area, LaFortune said, is having "the real deal in terms of the individuals involved, their assets, resources, vision and experiences."

The mayor would not divulge details of the discussions or project amenities, saying that the "key to the success of these private projects is maintaining some level of confidentiality on behalf of the private-sector investors."

LaFortune said he will respect that confidentiality until a project or projects come to their final stages.

Speculation about a possible sports stadium has piqued the interest of downtown business owners. Although many have raved about the positive effect that a stadium could have on the central business district, especially the East Village, they are anxious about where it might be located.

Elliott Nelson, owner of McNellie's Public House, 409 E. First St., said he wants a sports amenity, but he also wants officials to make sure that any redevelopment effort focuses mostly on mixed uses.

"My biggest concern would be that whatever this development effort is, that it doesn't undermine other mixed-use developments in the area," said Nelson, who has a proposed development plan near his pub.

LaFortune said any sports facility that is part of the redevelopment discussion "is more of a secondary theme to the primary theme of multi-use development. A stadium, whether it be soccer or minor league baseball, would be woven into the fabric of that project."

LaFortune said everyone has seen the success that downtown stadiums can bring to revitalization.

"We've seen it in city after city after city," he said. "The major difference of any discussions now regarding any professional sports is that it is not the No. 1 focus as it has been in the past."

In recent years, there has talk about trying to get the Tulsa Drillers to move downtown. In 2002, the possibility of a Major League Soccer expansion franchise surfaced, but the enthusiasm faded when a soccer stadium failed to make the Vision 2025 capital improvement package that was approved by voters.

"This is in no way similar to the MLS efforts that went on in 2002. That was purely an opportunity to have an expansion franchise and was approached from the concept of what we have to have to get the franchise. That was purely about professional sports," LaFortune said.

"This is about creating an area, a destination point, where young professionals and young families will want to live," he said.

Initial drafts of the proposed third-penny sales tax extension include $20 million for downtown infrastructure improvements. LaFortune said no decision has been made about including the funding, but downtown infrastructure improvements would encourage and accelerate development and redevelopment.

"Otherwise, we might as well board up our downtown and everyone move out. That's not going to happen. We as a city should do everything we can to develop and revitalize the downtown like every other city in the country is doing," he said.

LaFortune said infrastructure improvements are "what the private sector is going to want in partnership with any city."

LaFortune said a major revitalization project that creates a destination point is "exactly what Tulsa needs right now, particularly in light of the criticism that everything is going to the suburbs. We need something that will pull people across the region past the suburbs and into the city." "