TULSA, OK - Groundwork will start Monday on the 125,000-square-foot second phase of RiverWalk Crossing, now that developer Jerry Gordon has secured financing with a Dallas-area bank for the $41 million project. With the financing arrangements completed Thursday, general contractor Jerry Gordon Development of Jenks will bid out construction work beginning Monday. Gordon expects workers to start laying the foundations in the popular Jenks entertainment district within four weeks, with completion targeted for nine months later.
"We have struggled for years trying to get this thing out of the ground on phase two," said Gordon, who at first anticipated a hotel on the Arkansas River site, then an apartment complex. "It forced us to rethink what would work, what wouldn't work."
Earlier this month Gordon sold the 9.68 acres set aside for his multifamily element to Tulsa developers Richard, Stuart and John Price, who paid $1.8 million for that opportunity. Jenks City Planner Robert Bell has said the Price brothers will follow the 204-unit apartment complex plans that Gordon had already advanced through the Jenks Planning Commission. But John Price said many details remain to be worked out.
"Really, it's working out to the best," Gordon said of his revised vision for the extension north of the RiverWalk Movies. "So now we have a really, really aggressive schedule to get this done." Gordon received his financing from American National Bank of Texas in Addison. "With the banking industry and the economy the way it is, everybody wants everything down to the last miniscule detail," he said. "This was the toughest loan that I or any of our brokers or agents had to deal with." He credited transaction broker Todd McNeill, of Metropolitan Capital Advisors in Addison, for getting the three-year second-phase effort off the drawing boards. "He's pulled a miracle with this one," said Gordon.
Jeff Kaste, the Sperry Van Ness leasing agent who oversees RiverWalk, said its existing 125,000-square-foot complex stands almost 100-percent occupied. About 2,400 square feet alongside the theater remains available, the space unfinished since its 2005 completion since it sits at the very edge of the property. Once the second phase opens, making the theater RiverWalk's centerpiece, Kaste expects foot traffic to make that space viable.
The second phase will double the existing entertainment complex footprint while enlarging its office segment, adding 48,000 square feet of second-floor space. Kaste has projected pre-leasing activity at the mid- to high 40s, with more deals to close once construction begins. Headliners to date include a 21,000-square-foot Lewis and Clark Outfitters, the chain's first shop in Oklahoma, and a 12,000-square-foot Shamrock Grill.
Once Gordon finishes phase two, he plans to tackle a much larger waterfront development outside the Sooner State. "I'm looking for an area where it's a little easier to do business," he said, explaining why he would not look for other Arkansas River projects around Tulsa. "The politics are a little too tough here for me."
Source: The Journal Record