Downtown housing in demand
That's the conclusion of a market assessment to be discussed at a news conference today.

By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer
Published: 3/3/2010 2:26 AM

A recently completed market study reinforces what some officials already thought — there is a pent-up demand for housing in downtown Tulsa.

"Now it's documented," said Vincent LoVoi, chairman of the city's Economic Development Commission.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett and members of the commission plan to discuss the study's findings at a news conference at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday on the 15th floor at City Hall.

LoVoi said the commission, which sought the study, did not want just another document to put on a shelf.

"We designed the study to be bankable to materially help get financing for downtown housing, if the facts proved a market for it," he said.

CDS Spillette, a strategic urban consulting alliance in Houston, was paid $40,000 to conduct the study. Three-fourths of the money came from public funds and the rest from private dollars.

"As far as we know, the city has never studied the demand side of downtown housing," LoVoi said.

The commission wanted to know whether people would be willing to move from single family-homes with front yards and garages to the city's core and urban lifestyles, he said.

"What we found out was, yes," he said.

Not only is there a sufficient demand, but "we believe there is about a decade worth of opportunity for new downtown housing," said LoVoi, the managing partner of Mimosa Tree Capital Partners, a venture capital company.

Not everybody is going to move downtown tomorrow, but if housing is made available, such moves could occur over the next 10 years, he said.

The study covered the area within the Inner Dispersal Loop and the four neighborhoods that surround it — Brady Heights/OSU-Tulsa to the north, Central Park to the east, Riverview/Uptown to the south and Owen Park/Crosbie Heights to the west.

The study also examined downtown area neighborhoods, housing types and prices.

The consultants looked at how Oklahoma City; Little Rock, Ark.; Austin, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Tucson, Ariz., developed downtown housing.

The driving forces for development in those cities were dining, entertainment, cultural attractions and "walkable, urban vitality," LoVoi said.

The study used several survey methods, including targeted telephone calls and online input.

Of the 400 Tulsa County residents called, 20 percent were "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to move downtown.

More than 80 percent of those said they want to own their homes, and those who would rent said they would pay from $600 to $1,300 a month.

Although the study looked at all types of housing, the primary desire was loft and townhouse units, and the major demographics of those who would move downtown were "20-somethings" and "empty-nesters," LoVoi said.

Downtown now has slightly more than 1,000 housing units, he said.

The study conservatively identified demands sufficient for as many as 1,625 new rental units and 2,125 new for-sale units over the next 10 years, he said.

The 10-year timeline stems from the people surveyed who said they would like to move to an urban setting after their children were out of school in the next three to five years and from young professionals who want to work downtown.

LoVoi said an interesting note was that those surveyed know downtown doesn't have any grocery stores, but they believe that once the area gains a significant population, grocery and other service amenities would follow.

"It's the 'build it and they will come' principle," he said.

"It confirms that Tulsa wants a vibrant downtown," he said.

"The city's investment in the BOK Center and ballpark as well as private investments in restaurants and shops are now paying off."