Developer Hopes To Start Building At Helmerich Park In October

Friday, the City of Tulsa approved the final contract for the REI development. It allows the plan for Helmerich Park to move ahead, though it could still be stopped in the courts.

The developer said he hopes to start building in October, then, open the two big anchors - REI and a restaurant, and ten other retailers, after a year of construction.

There's one more summer of volleyball at the 71st Street corner of Helmerich Park. The final approval of the contract means the development can go on, pending whatever happens in court.

3/3/2017 Related Story: Tulsa Public Facilities Authority Approves Selling Portion Of Helmerich Park

Developer Don Bouvier said, “We're happy to have achieved this milestone, but there are many more to go.”

Bouvier expects a dozen tenants in all, and they're moving on to marketing the space.

“It will be attractive to sit down restaurants and fast casual. We're marketing it to outdoor lifestyle tenants, anything that would benefit from the river and that whole environment, anyone we think it would be appealing and attractive to,” he said.

The contract comes with council approval - after a marathon 10 hours of public hearings held as almost the last step in the process.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said, “It was a tough vote, it was tough for my team in the mayor's office to take what I thought was a lousy proposal and revise it into something I thought was good for our community. Never would have asked the council to vote if I didn't think we had come up with something good for Tulsa.”

The main plaintiff in the lawsuit hasn't given up, and it's going to trial this summer. The spokesman for the group said they're counting on the courts to intervene.

Besides the REI, Bouvier said the restaurant concept will be next to be made public.

"We're looking forward to announcing something really special in that space, hopefully in the near future,” he said.

The property won't change hands until the fall - that's when the construction starts in the corner of the park.