Developers Take Advantage Of Tax Breaks, Continue Downtown Growth

The list of downtown development projects in Tulsa continues to grow. The city council just gave tax breaks to four major property rehabs in the heart of the city.

The 80,000 square feet of what used to be the Bill White Chevrolet building, is just one of the four buildings benefiting from the tax breaks. The developers have big plans for the place, and the council is doing what it can to help grow downtown.

It may not look like much now, but it sits in the shadow of Tulsa's skyline, and the block is about to undergo a complete renovation.

The Larson Group is planning 83 apartments and two commercial spaces in the area known to many as the East Village.

Economic Development Coordinator, Jim Coles, said, "It is really the last great open space where there is still quite a bit of property and land that hasn't been developed yet."

The city council recently approved tax deals for the project along with three others.

The former Adams Hotel on Cheyenne will soon hold almost 60 new apartments. The former TransOk building on Sixth Street will see 37 apartments and one building on Fifth Street will have 90 new tenants when completed.

"The more people we have downtown the more we will see grocery stores drug stores to make it more of a neighborhood and more," Coles said.

Tax discounts have been available to Tulsa developers since the early 90s but since then the city said it has only seen seven applications; eleven total, after these four popped up in the last year.

"It's fun looking out a window seeing people walking dogs and pushing strollers and five or six years ago you didn't see that," Delise Tomlinson said.

Here's how it works; for the first six years, developers only have to pay taxes on the pre-renovation value of their property.

"They end up being rehabilitated and become income producing properties and the value of the property goes up and the ones near them do as well its fantastic," Tomlinson said.

One of the projects is expected to house five restaurants and approximately 35,000 square feet of commercial/retail space. It has a tentative finish date of December 2014.

The first round of apartments downtown are rather pricey and pretty spacious, but the city said developers of many of the projects realize there is a need for cheaper and smaller spaces.

They say many potential renters aren't interested in staying inside because there is so much to do and experience downtown.