It is part of a proposal that include at least a 20,000-square-foot grocery store, 240 apartments, an additional 15,000 square feet of retail space and a 100-unit boutique hotel, according to a city official.
In addition, work is expected to be completed by at least the second quarter on what was to be the 260,000-square-foot headquarters for WPX Energy, whose jobs went to Devon Energy when the Oklahoma City company absorbed WPX in early 2021.
Filling the 11-story building with tenants could be a herculean task but Jackson sees that as an opportunity.
“We’re going to do everything we can do to land a new company to occupy that building, either all of it or a huge chunk of it,” he said. “What we don’t want to happen is just shuffling existing companies from one building to another because that’s just going to leave a hole in the real estate market.
Tulsa’s capacity to cultivate large firms — Williams, BOK Financial and ONEOK are good examples — provides Jackson an enriched pitch for the soon-to-be-available office space, he said.
“We have a lot of headquarter companies,” he said. “So, when we’re on the road and we’re visiting headquarters or tech office locations that are looking to expand or relocate, we have something to sell them. I see this an an opportunity to sell Tulsa. If we don’t have spaces going up, like WPX, like (the $125 million) Santa Fe Square, my team can’t recruit.”
