Tulsa’s Greenwood District Set for Transformation With $2 Million Investment

Looking north on Greenwwod Avenue, single block of remaining businesses in Greenwood.(NBC News)

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — The Kirkpatrick Heights-Greenwood master plan is designed to develop 56 acres in Tulsa’s historic Greenwood District.

The project was announced in 2022 but is now seeing movement after the city of Tulsa approved $2 million to go toward the creation of a Community Development Corporation as they work on bringing the master plan to life.

“This $2 million in resources that was pledged by the mayor, approved by city council is yet another step in ensuring that the Community Development Corporation will be well funded to be able to steward, develop, and sustain growth and economic development and mobility,” said Jonathan Butler, the Senior Vice President of Community Development for Partner Tulsa.

Butler says the plans have taken so long to begin for several reasons. “To do redevelopment of this size and scale on this amount of land takes a long time, and so in many ways, these preliminary steps to ensure that we have enough resources to begin the process are really important,” said Butler.

A nine-member advisory committee was selected earlier this year and is playing an important role in the development of the area.

“From the outset of this project, the mayor has sought to put this property back into the hands of the community in some way. The community has decided that the way they’d like to see it brought back to community is through the creation of a Community Development Corporation,” Butler said.

Butler shared the impact that this project is believed to have on the community.

“This is not only important for North Tulsa, it’s extraordinarily important for the whole city. The impact that will be felt economically is tremendous. The effect and impact that it will have particularly on North Tulsans and black residents in North Tulsa is also going to be extraordinary, ” said Butler.

Butler also noted that the plan is only in its beginning stages. He says this project will take years to finish and is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars when it finally ends.