$100 million Revitalization Proposal Could Transform Parts of North Tulsa

[Rattle Trap]

A 30-plus acre swath of north Tulsa would be re-imagined under a proposal called Envision Comanche.

Presented Thursday to the Tulsa Development Authority, it is more than a $100 million revitalization project designed to transform the 36th Street North corridor into a mixed-use, mixed-income community and replace the 271 public housing units at Comanche Park, a THA and City of Tulsa property.

“There are a lot of initiatives going on around our property, from BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) to Peoria-Mohawk Business Park to already existing assets like Tulsa Tech and Educare,” said Jeff Hall, THA’s vice president of strategic planning and governmental affairs. “We thought that was the best opportunity to have a big, catalytic impact but also help drive and leverage what was already going on.”


The goal is to improve the economic and cultural diversity of the area at 36th Street North and North Peoria Avenue. Priorities are establishing a Community Development Corporation and sustainable funding opportunities, enhancing way-finding, lighting, signage and gateways and increasing arts and cultural projects in the neighborhood.

Community engagement for Envision Comanche was launched in the fall of 2018. The unemployment rate for residents of Comanche Park is about six times Tulsa’s overall rate of 3.2%.

“One thing that is unique that the community really called for was this live-work model,” Hall said. “How do we take similar land, dedicate it toward food access and healthy living and have folks used it as a training module?”

Off-site development in phase one, which involves 98 units and 5,000 square feet of retail, is targeted to begin in 2021 and be completed in 2022. The subsequent three phases are scheduled through 2025 and encompass 462 units and 10,000-square feet of retail.


“The plan right now in working with the community is that we can do all of this while folks are on-site,” Hall said. “So it’s a very incremental approach. We can build, move, build, move, build, move, as opposed to having an displacement occur.”

The initial housing phase would start on a strip just south of 36th Street North, he said.

“Once we can build that, we could really accelerate the domino approach moving forward,” Hall said. 

https://www.tulsaworld.com/real-estate/million-revitalization-proposal-could-transform-parts-of-north-tulsa/article_8b014d49-e269-5707-808f-0f14a9f601a7.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

https://www.tulsaworld.com/real-estate/million-revitalization-proposal-could-transform-parts-of-north-tulsa/article_8b014d49-e269-5707-808f-0f14a9f601a7.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

Great news! This looks like quite an ambitious project and plan. So is it just an application at this point?


I am curious about the various developments I've heard about around 36th St and other developments along Pine. I wonder what the master plan is for the community. Would it be better to focus on certain corridors to get some momentum or is spreading it out better to prevent gentrification and escalating rent? There are some neighborhoods in the area that are just not owner-friendly and are full of red flags that scare away potential home owners and look to remain so, even with all the new projects. It seems like the ideal neighborhoods to focus on would be from Gilcrease Museum Road to Peoria, from Apache to downtown (Or East Marshall so that you focus on the Booker T Washington School District zone).


Some of those areas are already really nice (Gilcrease Hills, Reservoir Hill) and most the other neighborhoods by there have patches that are up and coming, while most other homes have great potential and are worth saving.


In the project specifically, they plan to eventually demolishing 271 units of housing. I know it's not the best place for community living, but it is pretty nice and you could argue some of the nicest and best maintained housing in that vicinity right now. I know they're trying to show how mixed income housing and better environment will improve lives of all involved, but can't they do that without destroying perfectly fine homes? There's plenty of empty lots around there and the new developments around it will improve the original too. It is such a massive waste. It would be so much better if they could keep those 271 units of housing plus add the 462 new units of housing planned. That would add homes for around 700 more people. What is our obsession with demolishing perfectly adequate buildings?

This area is already as suburban as it gets, completely surrounded by parking lots and admin style buildings. Maybe the new developments will create sort of a mini town there. I just wonder if destroying so many high density residential buildings will be a net gain long term. There's only so much government funding for housing so no reason to waste existing stock, especially when so much of it was built recently. I'd be all for 462 new units surrounding the existing housing and just remodel facades as needed to improve the look (An exterior designer could make those look awesome for far less than cost of demolish/rebuild).

[DTowner]

This sounds great, but the article is unclear on the source of the $100 million.  Is this THA money or is some private investor/developer involved?  It all sounds like a done deal, but the lack of specifics on the funding source seems odd.

[MostSeriousness]

Envision Comanche will be implemented by multiple entities as opportunities emerge for decisions to be made regarding developments and redevelopments, public works, capital projects, programs and other initiatives that align with the Plan.

There's a lot of resources and documents on the Tulsa Housing Authority website: https://www.tulsahousing.org/development/envision-comanche/