2019 Was A Big Year For Business Development In Tulsa

2019 has proved to be an eventful year in downtown Tulsa with many new businesses setting up shop.

Vast Bank is one of the many Tulsa businesses finding their new home downtown. They say they wanted to be in the Tulsa Arts District because it has so much to offer.

"We just want to continue to build on the momentum that Tulsa has seen this past decade,” said Commercial & Private Bank Director for Vast Bank Doug DeJarnette.

From January to December, a lot has changed on the corner of East Reconciliation Way and Elgin.

Vast Bank broke ground on the space in mid 2018, and now the renderings are finally coming to life.

"People jokingly call it our club house, but we really just wanted to create something not just for our employees and our clients but for Tulsa at large,” said DeJarnette.

Along with Vast Bank, WPX tore down the old Spaghetti Warehouse Building where they'll build a new headquarters, developers broke ground on the land for the new OK Pop Museum, and new luxury condos are climbing their way into the Tulsa skyline.

Those are just a few of the major projects changing the landscape of the Tulsa Arts District.

"With approximately 800 new employees coming to the district, it’s going to leave a lot more opportunities for lunch, for catering, for shopping, all those good things,” said Chrysalis Salon and Spa Co-Owner Bob Fleischman.

Fleischman says they opened up shop in 2005 and when they first moved in, there was a parking lot across the street with a single tree in the middle. Now they're seeing a lot of businesses setting up shop, and many of them are locally owned.

"WPX is Tulsa, Vast Bank is Tulsa,” said Fleischman. “They're all owned by local companies so that's a great thing."

With space for many new possibilities in the future.

"Tulsans have always shown a strong propensity to build things and create things and put us on a national stage,” said DeJarnette. ”As we look into the next decade, we're all in this together as Tulsans to continue to build things and create things that attract talent to the 918."

Vast Bank Employees plan to move in next month, then the restaurants will open sometime this Spring.

In the Raw will have a rooftop restaurant as well as a walk-up, grab-and-go sushi space.  Hummingbird Coffee + Beer will occupy the southeast corner of the building at Archer Street and Elgin Avenue.

Other key tenants include BKD CPAs and Advisors and Casillas Petroleum.

The building will have a community art wall with rotating features.

KKT Architects is working on the project.