Lowe's officially out in Sand Springs

[Nik]

This was a pretty safe assumption but the new SS City Manager made it "official".

http://sandspringsleader.com/news/city-manager-predicts-rapid-progress-for-projects-lowe-s-no/article_0e506d36-afc1-11e0-9940-001cc4c03286.html

Though Lowe’s is no more, Rogers said Sand Springs can not afford to wait for the ‘big box store’ boat to come back. That may never happen, he said.

“It can’t be what it used to be,” he said of the city’s expectations for economic development in the River West area. “Big box may not be the answer. We’ll probably have to approach it from a different perspective.”

A restaurant, retailer and professional developments are still planned for the area, Rogers said.

The big challenge, he said, is in overcoming peoples’ expectations of what economic development in the city will look like.

He anticipated a mix of retail, restaurants and professional services - mostly tax-generating businesses - in the River West. It will likely be a place where people can come, shop, get professional services and buy groceries, clothing and more all in one spot, he said.

The River West redevelopment is among the items on Rogers’ list of items he wants addressed in Sand Springs.

He said he also wants to see code enforcement and the overall attractiveness of Sand Springs, including old industrial sites, the downtown area and city-owned properties. Those need to be cleaned up, he said.

On one hand, I agree with what he's saying. On the other, I also agree with many of the comments on the article.

[BKDotCom]

Edited to remove original gibberish post.

[custosnox]

This was a pretty safe assumption but the new SS City Manager made it "official".

http://sandspringsleader.com/news/city-manager-predicts-rapid-progress-for-projects-lowe-s-no/article_0e506d36-afc1-11e0-9940-001cc4c03286.html

On one hand, I agree with what he's saying. On the other, I also agree with many of the comments on the article.

A lot of the comments talk about the Home, and how it's seems to be such a horrible entity.  I had never heard of it until now, and google says it's pretty much for misplaced kids and families.  What is the problem with this place, or is it just that people are mad because a large charity is tax exempt?

[TheArtist]

  From the comments it sounds like the town is full of people who are either religious wingnuts or those who go to bars and strip clubs.  Nice mix lol.

As I have said before SS is not going to grow like the other suburbs, wrong location for one thing.  Wasn't able to catch the natural growth pattern/"overflow" of south Tulsa like Jenks/Bixby/Glenpool did for instance.  It has no obvious areas for large swaths of neighborhoods and easy development like the flatter burbs have.  Getting to it you have to go through some odd routes and older, not so nice looking parts of Tulsa and SS itself, etc.  No real barriers that couldn't be overcome, but just enough psychological ones that it ain't gonna do the usual growth routine any time soon.  And no, I dont think a couple of bars and the Home, are this towns real problems. Its that they are continually looking for the wrong solutions.

Why they feel its important to grow like the other suburbs as if thats the be all end all (we gotta have big box stores and strip malls) way to go, and not entertain other possible options is beyond me.  

I have said it before, the most obvious jump start for getting some growth in SS and evolving it into a more attractive place is to make its infill be pedestrian friendly.  It could so easily be a destination to people in the Tulsa area.  When your there you feel like your in an entirely different part of the country than any other suburb. Redeveloping its nice little downtown into a tourist type place and having new development going from its downtown to the river be pedestrian friendly (not Big box with huge parking lots for goodness sakes) would be the way to go imo.  Once they get their core in good shape, growth will flow out from that.  People start coming into the town more and will notice that, hey this is a nice little town with some great features, and then they may take the next step of looking around to see if there are nearby neighborhoods to live in.

I don't get why they arent looking at what they have that makes them unique, the attractive assets they already have and arent building on those rather than ignoring those things, or flat out ruining any future potential to build on them, while desperately fixating on some odd crusade to try and developing average, everyday, bland, ugly sprawl (which isn't going to work for them in the first place)?  

Every year they keep trying to force same ol same ol ugly into their wonderfully unique town is insanely wasted time and potential. How sad.

[AquaMan]

I think much of what you say is true Artist. Losing a Big Box retailer is a blessing they haven't recognized yet. This new city manager is on the right track. Sand Springs is a lot like Sapulpa in that they are small towns that have what Broken Arrow and Bixby have lost. Ambiance, the river, the lake and nearby hills. Great combination if they can just grow where they're planted. Sand Springs is not quite as convenience oriented as Sapulpa though. You have to drive to Tulsa for quality shopping. It has created a real bifurcation in demographics there. The haves...or the have little, expect little.

However, the Home is a challenge. The home is the player in SS. They own or control much of the land in the area and being a foundation they are pretty much an island to themselves, well respected and equal in stature to the local government. They are the Kaisers, Warrens and Zarrow's for their city. Sand Springs was started as a widows colony by Charles Page. The city grew from that.

[rdj]

Broken Arrow never had the river and never will...  I'm not bitter about them torpedoing the 2007 river plan or anything...