Community Partner Profile: The Tulsa Property Group Builds People-Focused Communities

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The Tulsa Property Group recently completed The Village Flats, located in the Pearl District’s Village at Central Park Neighborhood.  Through a collaborative effort with PartnerTulsa and the Tulsa Development Authority, the project received public infrastructure improvement funds with the goal of sparking further development in the area. The 78-unit, two-phase complex adds much needed residential and retail density to the neighborhood and was purposefully designed to seamlessly fit with the surrounding community, and provide an urban lifestyle within the ever-expanding Pearl District. 

Nathan Garrett, principal of Tulsa Property Group, provides an update on the project and future plans.

Q: What aspects of the Village Flats project are you most proud of? 

The Village Flats has been a collaborative project with many stakeholders. Tulsa Property Group can only lay claim to playing a supporting role in the development of the Village at Central Park neighborhood that Jamie Jamieson and Kathy Henry envisioned over 20 years ago. 

We are thankful to be part of the Village One Owner’s Association, without whose support the project would not have been possible, and we are indebted for the wise counsel of former Tulsa District 4 councilor Kara Joy McKee. PartnerTulsa and The Tulsa Development Authority saw fit to trust us with the continued development of the neighborhood, and our partners at Selser Schaefer Architects, Wallace Engineering, Alaback Design, and Cowen Construction brought the vision to life in the form of inspired, incremental, human-scaled architecture that is the Village Flats. It takes a Village, and we are proud to be part of one.

Q: Why did you originally choose to develop in the Pearl District and how has the Village Flats helped to improve housing availability in the area? 

The origins of Tulsa Property Group are in residential property management. Seeking examples of placemaking prior to our first development project, our team spent a lot of time driving neighborhoods that we found interesting. The Pearl District and The Village neighborhood kept catching our eye, so we used it as inspiration for our first development project, 523 | Brownstones, which is located at the corner of 6th and B streets in downtown Jenks.

When we discovered that The Village neighborhood had been rezoned, for the first time in Oklahoma, under a form-based zoning code, we knew we had a rare opportunity. Unlike more-common, largely post-WWII Euclidean (more commonly known as “exclusionary” or “single-use”) zoning practices, form-based zoning codes beg the question “What uses does the market desire in this location?” without mandating its answer. We felt that a series of buildings with flats whose design respected the character of the surrounding architecture would do well.

We have recently completed a mixed-use building along Peoria Ave and have ten upscale townhomes under construction, bringing the Village Flats portfolio to a total of eighty-eight residences of widely varying types and sizes and approximately 6,500 sq ft of restaurant and retail space.  There’s something for everyone at the Village Flats.

Q: Were there any community engagement hurdles you had to face prior to or during the development and what has the neighborhood reception been to the Village Flats since completion? 

No development will completely avoid skepticism and the Village Flats was no exception, but we believe that the reception to the result has been overwhelmingly positive. We hope we have done right by our neighbors and the other stakeholders involved by enhancing the sense of place, and we will continue to strive to do so.

Q: Are there any other exciting projects you are working on in Tulsa?

The Tulsa metro is more than ever a community where people want to live and work. That’s something special and we are thankful to be part of the movement. Our team has recently announced another housing concept, Twill Homes, with two communities in Broken Arrow and Owasso, and more to follow. 

In Tulsa proper, we will continue to pursue opportunities to develop dense, walkable neighborhoods with a wide range of housing and job types. We are excited by the Mayor’s housing challenge and look forward to doing our part.