http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100205_16_A12_Thenew634266Brady District unveils its part for PlaniTulsa
The centerpiece of the district's plan is an $8 million park project.
By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Published: 2/5/2010 4:10 AM
Last Modified: 2/5/2010 5:06 AM
Read the complete Brady Arts District small-area plan.
The new comprehensive plan working its way through the approval process is all about a grand vision for the city of Tulsa.
But to realize that vision, city officials know that development will have to be done piece by piece in the form of small-area plans. Thursday night, the Brady Arts District threw its hat into the ring.
"Because PlaniTulsa (the comprehensive plan) is going to have to provide the big picture, this plan is going to say what we can have here down at the neighborhood level," Theron Warlick, a planner with the city of Tulsa, said at a public unveiling of the district's small-area plan.
About 200 people showed up for the event, held at Living ArtsSpace, 307 E. Brady St., just a few steps from the new ONEOK Field.
The juxtaposition was not lost on Steve Ganzkow, a principal of the American Residential Group, who said the ballpark and the BOK Center aren't the only developments Tulsans can expect to see in or near the district.
"I can tell you that there is at least $100 million in new projects that are shovel-ready that are going to happen in the next two years," he said.
The centerpiece of the plan is a park that is to be built on the current site of the Central Freight Lines parking lot, bordered by Brady and Cameron streets and Boston and Cincinnati avenues.
The $8 million park project will be funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and will include a pavilion, water features and other amenities.
"At the end of June of this year, you will see all the Central Freight trucks start to exit Brady," Jeff Stava, chairman of the Tulsa Industrial Authority, told the audience.
But before the park is created above ground, $5 million will be spent to create an underground geothermal well field and distribution system.
That project is being paid for with federal stimulus funds that are being matched by the Kaiser Foundation.
When completed in 2011, it will provide hot and cold air for the Mathews Warehouse, a building purchased by the city and the foundation to house art-related activities.
Perhaps the most immediate impact of the plan will be seen on the streets.
Stava said that over the next 18 months, 600 trees and 250 dark-sky-friendly LED lights will be put in place in the Brady and neighboring Greenwood districts. Some are coming soon.
"The streetscaping plan will be unveiled around the ballpark" beginning next month, he said.
That would be sooner than the small-area plan itself is in place.
The Planning Commission must approve the plan, and the City Council must adopt it, before it is official, a process that could take months.
Kevin Canfield 581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com