The Evans-Fintube industrial site north of downtown Tulsa could be under development within a year if all goes according to plan.
The City of Tulsa has a $600,000 federal grant to start environmental cleanup at the old foundry. Though the grant is less than half the estimated $2 million to completely remedy the problems, there’s a tentative agreement with a developer for a retail, office and residential project.
Economic Development Coordinator Clay Bird said the city could have sold the site awhile ago to another industrial user.
"That site is something that really has a much bigger, better use to spill over into the rest of the community to really help some revitalization efforts and stimulate other development," Bird said.
One hitch is the adjacent Watco rail yard, which would hamper the project’s residential component and possibly kill the deal.
"We've got a group that's working together with the railroad to look at all the different options that might be available and try to figure out a way to make that happen, which would be in everybody's best interest," Bird said.
Rail yard relocation was a proposed Vision renewal project, but it didn’t make the final cut.
Tulsans could see results soon. Bird said if all the pieces fall into place, including moving the rail yard, work could begin in the next six months to a year.
