Spirit Bank And Bixby's New Events Center
KOTV - 8/31/2006 10:05 AM - Updated: 8/31/2006 3:29 PM

It's an exciting step forward for the city of Bixby's new events center.

Thursday, Bixby city officials announced that Spirit Bank will be the sponsoring entity for the center. The 65,000 square foot building will accommodate sporting events, concerts and trade shows as well as house luxury office space, shops and restaurants.

Spirit Bank CEO Kell Kelly: "the whole purpose of this is really to be a partner with our customers and a partner with this area of the state and so that is the opportunity for us. We look at this as more of an ongoing partnership more than a sponsorship really."

The Spirit Bank Events Center will be the cornerstone of a larger development. Regal Plaza will consist of 130,000 square feet of upscale shopping and restaurants and a large hotel.

The Remy Companies will build the development with all construction occurring simultaneously.

The 26-acre, $50-million project will officially break ground on September 19th.

On September 19th hopefully these questions will be answered:

1) How many seats will be in the arena?
2) What tenants, and what hotel will be developing?
3) what does this arena look like?

Regal Plaza project cost estimated at $50 million with two-year schedule.
BIXBY - Bixby soon will get its first hotel within city limits along with a 165,000-square-foot convention center.

Developer Tim Remy, owner of Home Ventures Inc., is developing Regal Plaza, a $50 million project at 105 Street and Memorial that will include a 102-room Hampton Inn and Suites hotel and a 4,000-seat convention center equipped with restaurants retail operations.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for August or September, and construction will take about two years.

Remy said the convention center will have 23,000 square feet of retail space and 30,000 square feet of office suites. Regal Plaza will be able to accommodate sporting events, conventions and trade shows, Remy said.

"I want the building to be totally versatile to all kinds of events," Remy said.

Bixby City Manager Micky Webb said the convention center will be the state's only privately owned and operated convention center.

"We've wanted an events center for a long time, but we wanted to do it with the private sector," Webb said. He said the privately owned status allows the city to not be financially drained.

The city of Bixby is providing less than $100,000 in utility relocation, and a rebate of 1 cent for every sales tax dollar the project brings in, for up to 10 years. The city will not pay more than $5.5 million, Webb said.

"If it goes bust, that's all we would have paid," he said.

John Gaberino, president and chief executive officer of the Tulsa Metro Chamber, is not worried about the project going bust.

"I think the developer will see a return on his investment," Gaberino said, and he believes the project will improve Bixby's economy.

"This is the opportunity to bring economic development to an area that has been underserved," Gaberino said.

He likened the development to the Jenks' RiverWalk Crossing, a restaurant, shopping and entertainment district along the Arkansas River.

Remy said he already has a list of 20 businesses that are interested in coming to Regal Plaza.




I wonder who the tenants are going to take up the retail space?

OK, Hampton Inn & Suites, I'd forgotten...

Yup you got it Hampton Inn and Suites---

They have cleared the land already and I thought they already started the construction phase but whatever... Sept 19 they should have some better renderings for us...