BIXBY, Okla. — Leaders gathered in downtown Bixby to announce a $20 million dollar project called 'Spartan Square,' to enhance the area and work hand in hand with the growth seen across the city.
The funding is bringing a 4 story, 80 room Tru by Hilton Hotel, event and retail space, 200 additional parking spots and a convention center.
Developer Josh McFarland said this project has been in the works for about 2 years, and he is excited to be able to add on to the development happening in the area.
"I think people are going to be really excited in Bixby about this, especially the people that have been downtown that have invested owners of their small businesses, this is something that's really going to be an injection for them," said McFarland. "So, I'm really excited about the hotel keeping people downtown, really excited about new opportunities that are on the horizon."
The site for the hotel, and the rest of Spartan Square is directly across the street from the 'Ikonic Bixby' project, which is underway bringing luxury living and retail space to the downtown. The goal is to create momentum in the area, serving both those that already live in Bixby and also those visiting.
Krystal Crockett, President and CEO of the Bixby Metro Chamber of Commerce and Development Foundation, said the most important thing with this project is being able to house anyone coming for business, sporting events or any other reason right in their downtown.
"Our goal with the Chamber and Development Foundation would be that we would help our businesses become synergistic with the convention center and hotel," said Crockett said. "We have many businesses in downtown that have been here over thirty years, and we want to keep them and expand out to those new businesses."
Crockett said she hopes to have the hotel beds filled and the convention center's calendar scheduled out every day of the year, and the Chamber is already contacting partners to start making progress on that.
As a father who has kids with sporting events in the area, McFarland said he knew something like this would serve the city well. It is a collaboration between the city and county for the land, located on the corner of Needles Ave. and Cabaniss St., but McFarland said he believed it would happen eventually.
"I live right north of Bixby, but we're in Bixby a lot, our kids go to Bentley ball park and all over Bixby, we eat at Scott's Hamburgers, and so this is something that I felt like Bixby definitely needed," said McFarland. "If you're going to have ball parks, and soccer fields and softball fields, you have to have a hotel, and this hotel is within about 5 or 6 football throws away."
The project is expected to break ground in January, and projected to take 12-14 months. The first phase is parking, to give those already located in the downtown area additional support.
"With Bixby's investment in their public infrastructure and their commitment to downtown, there have been a lot of small businesses that have been waiting for Bixby to 'happen,' Bixby is 'happening' right now," said McFarland. "All those people that have put all their sweat into their small businesses and their heartaches and waiting on downtown to happen, downtown is happening right now."
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