TULSA, Okla — City leaders are seeking a developer for a 650-room, 54,000-square-foot hotel in downtown Tulsa.
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.
People who live downtown said they’re split about the major project.
Jaron Richie moved to Tulsa a few weeks ago. Ritchie said he fully supports the city's growth, "Anything adding to the economy and not taking away from it is going to be a good thing."
City staff said Tulsa missed hosting 154 potential events between July 2023 and June 2024, primarily because downtown didn't have a large 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."
However, some, like Elise Oldfield, oppose 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."
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 staff expects to have a developer by late 2025 and hope the project is finished by 2030.
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