OKLAHOMA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART TO BUILD “URBAN” SUPERCENTER

Wal-Mart coming to downtown [Tulsa World]

Supercenter is coming downtown as the anchor tenant to a proposed East Village mixed-use redevelopment project, developers confirmed Thursday.

Real estate developers John Williams of Claremore and Tom Seay of Arkansas have teamed on the project.

Williams, sole principal of Downtown Tulsa Developers LLC, has purchase options on about 15 acres of land owned by Bill White, owner of a former car dealership, and the Nordam Group, an aerospace component manufacturer.

The property sits roughly between Frankfort Avenue and U.S. 75 between Fourth and Sixth streets.

“Once the public understands the project and what it will do to the whole east end, I can’t possibly imagine why they wouldn’t come on board,” Williams said.

Seay, a former Wal-Mart executive vice president for real estate construction, now owns the Seayco Group, which has developed many “big box” retail centers, including several in Tulsa and one in Owasso.

In addition to Wal-Mart, the tenants that Seay works closely with include Target or Super Target, Kohls, Belk, Lowe’s and Home Depot.

“Not only is Wal-Mart going to bring the goods and the services and all the low prices they’re known for, they also are going to build a quality product so that they have something to be proud of,” Seay said.

“This is very exciting for downtown,” he said. “It represents the first step toward redeveloping downtown by taking what is a blighted area and transforming it into a place where people can shop and live in an urban environment.”

Williams said the development will be the first in nearly 50 years to occur in east downtown.

The project also includes about 150 apartments “that fit into the streetscape fronting on Fourth and Fifth streets with a parking deck,” Seay said.

Surface parking also would be screened with landscaping and metal fencing, he said.

Seay said the Supercenter would be slightly smaller, at 150,000 square feet, to fit the downtown site, and will have a different exterior.

“It will be urbanized,” he said.

The single-story store will have a red brick facade with some stucco and will back up to Lansing Avenue near U.S. 75.

Seay said the final design plans are not complete for the project.

Both men acknowledge they still have a lot of bridges to cross and they are working closely with the city.

“We also know we need to go meet with various downtown groups that are interested in downtown redevelopment and the City Council,” he said.

Williams said another positive for the project is that a downtown Wal-Mart “would create a great service to north Tulsa because it’s so close.”

Seay said any effort by the city’s administration to get a Wal-Mart into the vacant Albertsons store at 1601 N. Peoria Ave. will not affect the downtown project.

“We have a commitment,” he said about Wal-Mart going downtown.

Wal-Mart officials plan to join Seay and Williams when they begin the public education process.

Seay and Williams said they hope to have some activity on the project within the next year to 18 months.

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Friday, August 03, 2007

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