The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

I just heard this. Everything at the corner of 11th & Yale including Tally's has been purchased by CVS and they are going to level it and put in another freaking pharmacy we don't need. Any truth to this?

Man, I hope not.  That should not be allowed to happen.

We love to get breakfast at Tally’s then cruise the antique mall next door.  We seriously do not need a CVS on that corner. 

Wasn't route 66 decorative signage just placed on this intersection?

I thought maybe things were being done to make 11th more of an attraction.

If this is true, it seems like a big step backward.

This would mean buildings up against the street would go away and another CVS with a big parking lot, a la 15th and Harvard, would be built.

You mid-towners really need to get your smile together.

Golden Drumstick has been gone forever, so yeah, it's probably about time to get rid of the rest of that old stuff cluttering up the area and getting in the way of progress!  And JOBS!!!

Tally owns the corner across the street and operates the gym and juice bar in that building.

Small churches like WRUMC can always use some cash so if a broker threw a good offer at them it would be hard to see them passing it up.  Maybe the local Rt 66 enthusiasts should become regular tithers, I'm sure they'd accept the money without attending Sunday School, to keep the suburban development at bay.

If there is enough interest by civic minded people for this kind of thing, form a foundation, get some money, and buy the place.  Operate as a non-profit business ala Newman's Own.  Kind of like a Nature Conservancy for hysterical (historical?) buildings/artifacts.  This could get started for relatively small seed money, I would think.

That intersection was extensively remodeled with a route 66 theme, and I dont believe there is a route 66 CVS design that will fit the way Tally's does.

CVS bulldozed a very popular restaurant in another community I visit.  It was a building on a corner surrounded by open lots and trees.  They couldnt build on any of the open space, they had to sit where the restaurant was.  Their thinking is not how to blend in, but to overwhelm.

I'm still not 100% sure if this is even true or not. I sent a message to TW via their Facebook page asking them to look into it. They said they would.

There are organizations that have been established in Tulsa for these sorts of things: https://www.facebook.com/PreserveMidtown (https://www.facebook.com/PreserveMidtown)
http://preservemidtown.com (http://preservemidtown.com)

I believe the Renaissance Neighborhood Association was originally formed to preserve the Campbell Hotel. Maybe the "Fair Park" neighborhood (11th to 21st Harvard to Yale) needs to pull together the same way to preserve Tally's.

I checked and Group M Investment owns the Campbell Hotel and own a bunch of well-preserved midtown properties. I wonder if they'd be in the market for buying a place like the Tally's building to preserve it and keep that stretch of Route-66 alive.
www.groupminvestment.com (http://www.groupminvestment.com)

If you think Turkey Mountain was bad, the riots in the street will be tenfold if they try to destroy that corner and that restaurant.  If there is any truth, I hope it's the lot across the street where the juice bar is.

Yep.
I'd be there for that.

Hopefully it's just rumors and speculation!

There ya go...it's already in place, just needs to widen the scope a little.

Someone called Tally's and they said it was a rumor, however, a friend spoke to the owner of the antique mall and he said it was true and he had lost his lease. I don't know what the truth is!

If this is true I will never shop at CVS again. I'll take my chances of getting shot and go back to shopping at Walgreens.

If we try hard enough we can turn all of Tulsa into East Tulsa. Strip malls. Parking lots. And lots of space between everything.

Yay!

Looking more and more like this may be true... Tally still has a year left on his lease, but the antique mall has not been renewed.  ???

Would it be possible he just doesnt know?  Seems we just went thru this with "our" basketball team...it was a false rumor until it was true.

Maybe there are one or two ugly used car lots in the area that would be perfect for CVS?

Why in the world would you do this with all of the other crap real estate on 11th Street? Unreal.

 :-\

Because they want prime corner locations, and dont care if anything significant is already there.

I would think if CVS was going to buy a corner it would be the opposite corner with the gas station but who knows. On a related note, I'm just glad we own our building now and some a**hole landlord can't sell it out from underneath us, especially being on 11th Street where this kind of BS is all too common. By golly, at least one original Route 66 building is guaranteed to survive for a nice long time!  ;D

And keep in mind, that if Tally's becomes a CVS, then neither Tally's nor CVS was really involved nor aware of what happened. More likely, this is between a realtor and a church.

How about someone asks the church if this is happening? And/or asks them to not go through with this.

Nah, it's more fun to be rumor mongers!

That same church owns a lot of houses in the neighborhoods behind them and has been tearing them down to build parking lots for a while, I seriously doubt they care about conserving old Tulsa.  :P

Just like they did with the Will Rogers theater. Or was that the Sandusky Avenue church?

Someone needs to make some "Coming Soon:  CVS" and "Future home of CVS" type signs and place them on that corner.

I posted this rumor on http://reddit.com/r/tulsa .   Consensus: Tally's sucks. without any regard that a CVS is far worse for that corner than a restaurant with poor heath inspections.

(https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11222174_10204897626985630_8905761180441745010_n.jpg?oh=5c13ac7f9e88dc0e82bf4dc65fd547de&oe=563DE57F)

Their health inspection reports don’t look much more ominous than a random sampling of more upscale locally-owned restaurants.

Reddit is clearly infiltrated with communists.  Tally's breakfast is awesome!

Agreed!  Love Tally's breakfast!

Flirting with the possibility of imminent Listeria infestation is always an exciting 'rush'....

But you are right - Talley's is good stuff!!

Update is that David Sharp bought the property. Tally's reportedly had a verbal right of refusal.

The church really did him dirty.
http://m.krmg.com/news/news/local/tallys-good-food-cafe-not-closing-despite-rumors/nnCKf/

So what does this mean? No CVS?

for now

Yep.  If CVS or Walgreens wants that corner, there is no way Tally's can match the offer.  Those companies can outbid anyone and their projected profits would likely blow Tally's out of the water.  Profits over people.  If they want it, they'll get it.

The church responds: http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/church-responds-tallys-owners-accusations/nnCxZ/?nmredir=true

Hmmm...

Good response from the church. Taking cash from "group A" or floating a five year note from Tally is a risk based decision. The members of the church decided and went with it.

If that's the truth, not sure where Tally was wronged. Disappointed, yes. But wronged?

He may have burned the bridge to lots of his Sunday morning crowd.

I don’t get where the risk was to the church unless they owed money on the property or were in a cash crunch and needed the funds now, not spread over five years.  If he defaulted, it’s a high traffic intersection, they wouldn’t have to sit on he property for long or worry about a deficiency balance if they foreclosed. 

By all appearances, this seems to be a lucrative business which has been around for nearly 30 years.  They live in a $1.2 million house a few blocks from Cascia Hall.  Somehow they managed to obtain a mortgage for that.

I ran the numbers and at 6%, that would have been roughly a $20,000 per month payment.  I can’t imagine they are charging him that much in rent.

There again maybe one of the church members ran an OSCN on Tally and his wife and figured they weren’t the sort of people to engage in a major contract with them.  The Alames seem to spend more time in civil court than Michael Sager.

http://www.oscn.net/dockets/Results.aspx?db=tulsa&number=&lname=alame&fname=&mname=&ident=&DoBMin=&DoBMax=&partytype=&apct=&dcct=&FiledDateL=&FiledDateH=&ClosedDateL=&ClosedDateH=&iLCType=&iYear=&iNumber=&citation=

The church can have $2mil (or whatever) in pocket now, or wait until 5 years to collect payments. 2mil cash is inherently less risky. Payments can be a serious pain, expense, and time suck if they go bad. Some banks apparently looked at it and said "nope, not worth it" and walked away. Why would a church take the risk a bank wouldn't?

My point is the church considered options and made a choice. Tally wasn't rebuffed for an arbitrary reason.

Wish there were pedestrian/transit zoning in place.  That way at least whatever was built there would be up to the sidewalk again and would help out, rather than hurt, any new transit in the area. 

That's honestly my only concern. If there is a CVS built with the same design then I don't really care.