Broken Arrow – the rest of the story
By: J. David Chapman/December 26, 2019
Today’s column is a continuation of last week’s column on the Rose District in downtown Broken Arrow. I left you at a time when downtown Broken Arrow’s buildings were deteriorating, and the visible decline discouraged new commercial, residential, or retail investments on Main Street. I also assured you there was a “rest of the story” coming. Well, here it is and it has a wonderful ending for this holiday season.
To begin the process of bringing the downtown back to life, the mayor and the City Council kicked off a Downtown Revitalization Plan in 2005 with a goal to make the area as vital and successful as it was in the last century. Mayor Craig Thurmond played an instrumental role in forging partnerships, which were paramount for collaboration between different government and non-governmental agencies, citizens, and local businesses. The city choose wisely to tap into regional county funding at the appropriate time and form a local tax increment financing, or TIF, district. Public projects, worth over $65 million, included the renovation of historic buildings, a new 1,500-seat Performing Arts Center, a new pavilion to hold a farmer’s market and community gatherings, a 1,200-square-foot interactive water feature, new brick paved sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, decorative street lamps, and landscape planters. Private sector funding surged, as many new businesses, with expenditures of over $25 million, relocated into this once-declining district.
To provide a distinctive brand and identity for the new arts and entertainment area, this historic part of the city became the Rose District. These changes have elevated the quality of life for residents and brought more than 1,000 new jobs and over 70 new businesses into the area. By offering unique dining, local artisan products, nightlife, entertainment and cultural experiences, the Rose District is now one of the most popular destinations in the region.
The success of the revitalization of the historic downtown has been attributed to the partnerships with citizens, businesses, and other government agencies. Secondly, they employed all available financial tools to leverage private investment and have seen a dramatic increase in tax revenues. Over the last six years, new development has resulted in an increase of almost $4 million in local property taxes. Annual municipal sales taxes collected in the area during that same time period have also gone up from about $18,885 to over $400,000 – a 2,025% increase.
J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).