Baker Hughes Adding 667 Jobs in Tulsa Area
Baker Hughes’ long-term plan to hire up to 667 skilled employees for its northeast Oklahoma manufacturing and research operations is the biggest economic development project this year, state and Tulsa officials announced in late December. In addition to the new jobs, Baker Hughes has allocated $6 million towards facility upgrades. Most of the new jobs will average $30,000-plus in annual pay. The company was accepted into the state’s Quality Jobs Program and may receive up to $11.33 million in taxable payroll rebates over a 10-year period. Baker Hughes is a Houston-based oil-field support company. Local operations are primarily engaged in R&D/production of oilfield submersible pumps.
Tulsa Among Country’s Economic Growth Centers
Tulsa remains among the 20 strongest-performing metropolitan areas, according to the Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institute’s MetroMonitor. The MetroMonitor, an interactive barometer, has tracked the recession and recovery in each of the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. It looks at various indicators including changes in employment, the unemployment rate, gross metropolitan product and housing prices. Overall the data shows that most major metropolitan economies are in neutral, with no clear indication of any forward movement in the near future.
New, State-of-the-Art Cancer Treatment Center Announced
The Tulsa Cancer Institute is building a new $60 million oncology and wellness center that is scheduled to open in 2012. The 86,000-square-foot building will be on the north side of the Broken Arrow Expressway at the 129th East Avenue exit. The Tulsa Cancer Institute was formerly known as Cancer Care Associates. The center will create 100 new jobs and its construction will employ approximately 500 workers. Groundbreaking is expected in January 2011.
Plans for Former City Hall and YMCA Announced
Tulsa’s former City Hall will soon become an Aloft Hotel and the vacated downtown YMCA will soon become a retail and residential project. The modernist hotel brand was the best fit for the 40-year-old, 11-story building. The building sits on a 2.5 acre site and the renovation into a 200-room hotel is estimated to cost between $22 million to $25 million. Brickhugger’s plans for the YMCA are preliminary and will include an undetermined number of residential units. Construction will begin in January for the hotel and take up to a year to complete. Renovation of the YMCA is expected to begin in June.
Economic Recovery for Oklahoma Expected to Ramp Up
Oklahoma’s economic recovery will gain momentum next year, and Tulsa should close the performance gap with Oklahoma City, a state economist says. The good news should outweigh the bad, and next year will actually feel like a genuine recovery, said Russell Evans, director and research economist of the Center for Applied Economic Research with Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business. Evans, along with Stuart Schweitzer, managing director and global markets strategist for J.P. Morgan Private Bank and Asset Management, shared a positive economic forecast at the Tulsa Metro Chamber’s annual Economic Outlook Conference. Their presentations were coupled with upbeat remarks from local industry leaders in aerospace, health care and tourism.
New Retail Center Planned Near Tulsa Hills
The Walk in Tulsa Hills, under development by Dallas-based developer Garrett Moore Co., will be a $35 million, 250,000-square-foot center with a 12-screen movie theater, fitness center, specialty grocery store, and a 400-person amphitheater surrounded by four restaurants with patio seating. For the center, Garrett has an option to buy the 32 acres on the southeast corner of 81st Street and U.S. 75, just south of Tulsa Hills. The company will begin construction immediately after purchasing the land, though it is waiting to get more tenants under contract before taking those steps.
Life Flight Acquires New Helicopters
Two new Tulsa Life Flight helicopters are bigger, quieter and give paramedics better tools to make the best use of the crucial minutes after a person is severely injured. The aircraft have more than 130 cubic feet of cabin space and a gurney that can move nearly 360 degrees. The paramedic and nurse who fly on each run both have access to the patient’s entire body, unlike the older, smaller helicopters.
TIF for Catoosa Shopping Center Progresses
A majority of Rogers County commissioners voiced support for establishing a tax-increment financing district for a multimillion-dollar shopping and entertainment center in Catoosa. The proposed Catoosa Hills would include offices, restaurants, a major discount department store and an 18-screen movie theater. The developer, Catoosa Hills LLC, said the development would lie across the street from the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel on 193rd East Avenue. The developer has requested $23.7 million in financial backing from the city of Catoosa, according to county documents.
SJS Hospitality Receives Award for Hotel Conversion
Marriott International presented Tulsa-based SJS Hospitality with its Best Adaptive Reuse award for converting the Atlas Life Building into a Courtyard by Marriott Hotel. The award was based on SJS Hospitality’s work to incorporate many of the office building’s 1920s touches into the conversion, particularly on the first and seventh floors. SJS Hospitality is planning on constructing an $11.4 million, four-story Fairfield Inn & Suites in the heart of the Brady Arts District. The development will feature 11,500 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space.
ODOT Gets Funds for I-244 Bridge
The federal government finalized its $49.4 million grant in mid-December to build a new westbound Interstate 244 bridge over the Arkansas River. The grant will help ODOT replace the westbound lanes of the I-244 bridge over the Arkansas River with a bridge that will carry one exit/entrance lane and three lanes of through traffic over two rail lines and a pedestrian walkway. The rail lines would be built to accommodate freight, commuter and high-speed rail traffic to Oklahoma City.