TULSA, Okla — City leaders are seeking a developer for a 650-room, 54,000-square-foot hotel in downtown Tulsa. The hotel will replace the current police headquarters at 6th Street and Frisco Avenue, which will move to the planned Safety Center in East Tulsa. People who live downtown said they’re split about the major project.
City leaders said the project will create 400 new jobs and cost $390 million. They expect it to generate $61 million in annual sales tax revenue. Jaron Richie said he just moved to Tulsa weeks ago. Ritchie said he's in full support of the city's growth.
"Anything adding to the economy and not taking away from it is going to be a good thing," said Ritchie.
City staff said Tulsa missed hosting 154 potential events between July 2023 and June 2024, primarily because downtown didn't have a big enough hotel to accommodate them. Ritchie said a new hotel would be beneficial for tourists.
"A lot of out-of-towners will get a place to stay here, you know what I mean," said Ritchie.
City staff expects to have a developer by late 2025. However, some, like Elise Oldfield, are opposed to this.
"I do believe the city of Tulsa, downtown, could focus on more important things than tourism," said Oldfield.
Oldfield, who has lived in Tulsa for six years, said bringing in construction is a significant concern.
"With the volume of traffic as is, or now, is already an issue for pedestrians," said Oldfield.
2 News took Oldfield's concerns to Erran Persley, the Chief Economic Developer for Tulsa.
"I can't say there's going to be no impact. I would never say that, but the impact will be as minimal as we possibly can to build this new hotel," said Persley.
Oldfield said she doesn't want another hotel downtown at all.
"I'd rather that they not encourage these large extremely large hotel enterprises to this community because I think that they already have enough," said Oldfield.
City leaders believe it will be finished by 2030.
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