By MATT TROTTER
More than a year after a mixed-use, grocery store–anchored development was proposed for the parking lot across from the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, there’s a deal.
The Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust voted overwhelmingly Monday to approve a $5.5 million dollar contract selling the PAC’s Third Street and Cincinnati Avenue lot to Indiana developer Flaherty and Collins. Negotiations started in November, led by trust member David Holden.
“I believe the project will be built, and I believe it will be a tremendous benefit to the City of Tulsa and to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust,” Holden said.
The contract calls for at least a 30,000 square foot, first-class grocery store — likely a Reasor’s — 636 parking spaces and 225 apartments.
The contract includes terms for PAC guests to park in 300 of those spaces. It also specifies 31 prohibited uses for the retail and residential development, ranging from sexually oriented businesses to thrift stores.
Mayor G.T. Bynum said the trust is making a good deal.
“It generates money for the trust and for its endowment, safeguard parking for the PAC — so, they’ll have the same number of parking spaces for Performing Arts Center events that they have today — but also creating hundreds of residential units that will allow people to live in and enjoy the urban experience that is downtown Tulsa,” Bynum said.
Some trust members are still worried about how the 12-story building will look when it’s done, but PAC Director Mark Frie said the developer is open to discussions about that.
“When I look at that corner of Third and Cincinnati and think of the energy that it is as a parking lot compared to what it can be as a living space and retail space, there’s no question it’s the right move,” Frie said.
Flaherty and Collins presented the proposal to the trust in August 2016, and the trust had been considering selling the parking lot for even longer.
