City of Tulsa readies new request for proposals for Route 66 center

The City of Tulsa is preparing to issue a new request for proposals to build a Route 66 interpretive center and commercial complex at Southwest Boulevard (aka Route 66) at the Arkansas River.

The Tulsa World had the new details about another public-private proposal:

“We want a project that is viable and self-sustaining and is attractive on really a critical place on the river,” said Jack Blair, the city’s chief operating officer. […]
“The scope for the draft RFP is very much in keeping with the original concept: a mix of commercial amenities to complement a Route 66-themed interpretive center,” said Dennis Whitaker with the Tulsa Planning Office.
Ross Group, a Tulsa-based engineering and construction management company, earlier this year pitched a conceptual plan for such a development, but Blair said it’s too early to speculate on what proposals will be submitted as part of the latest RFP process.
“From our perspective, the RFP process is an open process,” Blair said. “I don’t want to give the impression that there is an inside track and that we’re not going to evaluate everything we get fairly, because we absolutely are.”

There was no announced timeline of when the RFP would be issued.

The city had considered two earlier proposals that failed to materialize.

The Route 66 Alliance announced in 2015 it wanted to build a $19.5 million interpretive center and commercial complex at that same riverside site, near Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza. It lacked the funding to proceed. Avery is the so-called Father of Route 66.

Chris Ellison, owner of ITulsa, in 2019 proposed a public-private partnership to build a Route 66 museum near the Mother Road Market as part of a mixed-use development. That went nowhere, as well.

The idea of an interpretive center and museum has been kicked around since at least 2003, when Tulsa County voters passed the Vision 2025 sales tax for improvements throughout the county, including Route 66.

(Walkway at the Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza site in Tulsa)

4 thoughts on “City of Tulsa readies new request for proposals for Route 66 center

  1. Don’t take this the wrong way….but is this a push to get something done before the Vision 2025 tax runs out (assuming it is set to expire in 2025)? Obviously it’s not “just” that, as folks in that area have been looking at options to get this done for some time.

    Also, knowing the area and the work that been done with those funds, what would you say is the likelihood of the Vision 2025 tax being extended (assuming it is set to expire in 2025)?

  2. Let’s all go back to the Alliance’s 2015 proposal–it would be the best event center/66 museum anywhere along the highway–it would give Tulsa the clout it needs to be come the “Center of the Universe’– Route 66.
    No other city along the highway will ever do it as well, don’t let this ‘deal go down’!

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