speak about Tulsa

[fromdust]

While I've been to Tulsa before I can't say I've ever made it over to Jenks.  But I have heard of the aquarium there also.  Is Jenks an affluent suburb of Tulsa?  How would you describe it and exactly how big is it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i cant tell you much about jenks, but here is the 2004 population.12,079.

[swake]

i cant tell you much about jenks, but here is the 2004 population.12,079.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jenks is an old town that is becoming more and more upscale in the old town site. Jenks the suburb surrounds the old town and is a growing upscale area. Jenks is currently gowing at a pace of about 10% a year.

[swake]

Tulsa got funds matching those for Oklahoma City's Crosstown Expressway for the widening of I-44 in midtown Tulsa at Lweis, Harvard and Riverside. I-44 is even in worse shape than the crosstown and is only four very narrow lanes. The cost to widen just over two miles of the highway is $260 million of which about half has been raised now.

[tombarnes]

If anyone has any information about the restoration of the Mayo Hotel, I'd love to know about it. I hear the lobby and ballrooms had been restored, but not much else. Any info.? Tom Barnes

[swake]

If anyone has any information about the restoration of the Mayo Hotel,  I'd love to know about it.  I hear the lobby and ballrooms had been restored, but not much else.  Any info.?  Tom Barnes

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The first two floors are restored and being used for meeting space. No news that I know of opening the rest of the building again.

www.mayohotel.com

[mcheiss]

I am from Northwest Arkansas, and everytime that I drive through Tulsa, I always get jealous because of the nice skyline. Personally, I think Tulsa has one of the nicest skylines for it's size in the United States.

[swake]

While I've been to Tulsa before I can't say I've ever made it over to Jenks. But I have heard of the aquarium there also. Is Jenks an affluent suburb of Tulsa? How would you describe it and exactly how big is it?

here is a good article on Jenks from Oklahoma City's newspaper.

http://newsok.com/article/1631248/?template=news/main

Jenks makes good use of aquarium's attractions

By Chad Previch

The Oklahoman

JENKS - Robert Bell smiles as he drives around town, showing off vacant lots.

Not that the Jenks city planning director is excited about weeds and "for sale" signs. He is excited about what the lots will become in years, months and even weeks.

"Come back in six months and you'll be shocked," Bell said.

The number of building permits Jenks has issued has increased every year since 1999, with about 450 now active. The city's population grew from 9,557 in 2000 to 12,079 in 2004, a 26-percent increase, according to the U.S. Census, and Bell thinks it is close to 14,000 this year, Jenks' centennial.

Jenks is 20 square miles of boomtown, separated from southwest Tulsa by the Arkansas River. The town long has been known for an academically and athletically successful school system, and antique shops that dominate a small downtown.

Recently, though, it has become an entertainment destination. The town started with a world-class aquarium that Tulsa didn't want, and followed with a riverside complex of movie screens, restaurants and an amphitheater.

And the town may be the next home of a Tulsa amusement park, whose president said the Jenks area could become a Branson, Mo.

Want an aquarium?

The Oklahoma Aquarium was planned for Tulsa, and Jenks would not be where it is today if those plans were fulfilled, Bell said.

"The aquarium was the catalyst and designed to be the catalyst," Bell said. "If it wasn't for the aquarium, RiverWalk (Crossing) wouldn't be here. This is a lifestyle center and there's nothing like it in the Tulsa area."

Jackie Bubenik was the executive director of the Tulsa Water Park River Board when it voted to drop the aquarium.

He knew the decision was a mistake, and 30 minutes after the vote he was on the phone with Jenks City Manager V.R. "Randy" Ewing.

"Do you want an aquarium," Bubenik asked Ewing, and Ewing quickly replied, "You betcha."

The aquarium's chief operating officer, Susan Bramsch, said Jenks trumped seven other Tulsa suburbs that expressed interest. She was an aquarium volunteer when Tulsa dropped it.

"Jenks officials ... understood what the economic impact could be for the river, as well as their community and the entire state of Oklahoma," she said. "They got it."

The aquarium opened in May 2003 and welcomes an estimated half-million visitors a year.

As a Tulsa resident, Bramsch said she finds it hard not to be jealous of Jenks' entertainment district.

She said the addition of Bell's Amusement Park, a deal that might be finalized within months, is a "fabulous" idea.

Kim MacLeod, spokeswoman for the Tulsa mayor's office, said the city hasn't given up on Bell's in Tulsa. She said Tulsa officials are planning similar developments like a riverwalk on the east side of the river, across from the aquarium.

Wall to wall people

Some Tulsans think future development in their city is too late to match RiverWalk Crossing's momentum.

"I think it's going to take the place of downtown Tulsa," said Claudette Douglas, who drove with her husband to show a relative the new complex. "It's very pretty at night."

Douglas' husband, Powell, said he was skeptical the first time he came to RiverWalk. That visit and others proved him wrong.

"Last time we were here, it was wall-to-wall people," he said.

RiverWalk, which opened in the spring and will gain an eight-screen movie theater in November, has taken the torch from the aquarium as Jenks' hot spot.

RiverWalk has six restaurants, office space and an amphitheater where thousands of visitors on a weekend night attend concerts.

"People in Tulsa have treated it like a vacation spot," Bell said.

Jimmy Blacketer and his father employ 150 people at Los Cabos Mexican Grill & Cantina, which opened May 5. The restaurant has exceeded financial expectations by 50 percent, he said.

"Jenks has opened its arms," he said. "It's been a win-win situation. We wanted to create an atmosphere where you don't feel like you're in Tulsa."

Branson, OK

Bell's Amusement Park has been an entertainment fixture on 21st street in Tulsa since 1951, but Robby Bell, president of the family owned park, wants to locate just south of the Oklahoma RiverWalk and Aquarium.

Robby Bell said the park's move could be finalized by the end of the year. The park sits on 10.2 acres at the Tulsa State Fairgrounds and he wants to expand it to a 53-acre site in Jenks. The new park could open on a limited basis by spring 2007, when the Bells would operate both parks for awhile, and the Jenks site could be completed by 2010.

"I think the synergy between the RiverWalk and the aquarium is already huge," Robby Bell said. "And if we add Bell's to that mix, then I think the three entities will really complement each other. I've been telling everybody it's the beginning of Branson, Mo., in Tulsa.

"It will be the most hopping entertainment area, I think, in the state."

The park's signature attraction would be a $4 million, wooden roller-coaster. At 100 feet tall and with 3,500 feet of track, Robby Bell said it will be the state's largest. He doesn't have a name for it yet.

Opportunity knocks

Jenks Mayor Vic Vreeland said he is not trying to rob Tulsa.

"But if someone comes and knocks on your door, you listen to them," he said.

Robert Bell, the Jenks planning director, said his town will have plenty of new doors to knock. He said 350 new homes a year are built, and up to 1,000 lots are on the market. Bell said the city can grow to 35,000 people.

"It's going to be built out and that will happen before people think," Robert Bell said.

And that will bring another smile to his face.

[swake]

here is a good article on Jenks from Oklahoma City's newspaper.

http://newsok.com/article/1631248/?template=news/main

Jenks makes good use of aquarium's attractions

By Chad Previch

The Oklahoman

JENKS - Robert Bell smiles as he drives around town, showing off vacant lots.

Not that the Jenks city planning director is excited about weeds and "for sale" signs. He is excited about what the lots will become in years, months and even weeks.

"Come back in six months and you'll be shocked," Bell said.

The number of building permits Jenks has issued has increased every year since 1999, with about 450 now active. The city's population grew from 9,557 in 2000 to 12,079 in 2004, a 26-percent increase, according to the U.S. Census, and Bell thinks it is close to 14,000 this year, Jenks' centennial.

Jenks is 20 square miles of boomtown, separated from southwest Tulsa by the Arkansas River. The town long has been known for an academically and athletically successful school system, and antique shops that dominate a small downtown.

Recently, though, it has become an entertainment destination. The town started with a world-class aquarium that Tulsa didn't want, and followed with a riverside complex of movie screens, restaurants and an amphitheater.

And the town may be the next home of a Tulsa amusement park, whose president said the Jenks area could become a Branson, Mo.

Want an aquarium?

The Oklahoma Aquarium was planned for Tulsa, and Jenks would not be where it is today if those plans were fulfilled, Bell said.

"The aquarium was the catalyst and designed to be the catalyst," Bell said. "If it wasn't for the aquarium, RiverWalk (Crossing) wouldn't be here. This is a lifestyle center and there's nothing like it in the Tulsa area."

Jackie Bubenik was the executive director of the Tulsa Water Park River Board when it voted to drop the aquarium.

He knew the decision was a mistake, and 30 minutes after the vote he was on the phone with Jenks City Manager V.R. "Randy" Ewing.

"Do you want an aquarium," Bubenik asked Ewing, and Ewing quickly replied, "You betcha."

The aquarium's chief operating officer, Susan Bramsch, said Jenks trumped seven other Tulsa suburbs that expressed interest. She was an aquarium volunteer when Tulsa dropped it.

"Jenks officials ... understood what the economic impact could be for the river, as well as their community and the entire state of Oklahoma," she said. "They got it."

The aquarium opened in May 2003 and welcomes an estimated half-million visitors a year.

As a Tulsa resident, Bramsch said she finds it hard not to be jealous of Jenks' entertainment district.

She said the addition of Bell's Amusement Park, a deal that might be finalized within months, is a "fabulous" idea.

Kim MacLeod, spokeswoman for the Tulsa mayor's office, said the city hasn't given up on Bell's in Tulsa. She said Tulsa officials are planning similar developments like a riverwalk on the east side of the river, across from the aquarium.

Wall to wall people

Some Tulsans think future development in their city is too late to match RiverWalk Crossing's momentum.

"I think it's going to take the place of downtown Tulsa," said Claudette Douglas, who drove with her husband to show a relative the new complex. "It's very pretty at night."

Douglas' husband, Powell, said he was skeptical the first time he came to RiverWalk. That visit and others proved him wrong.

"Last time we were here, it was wall-to-wall people," he said.

RiverWalk, which opened in the spring and will gain an eight-screen movie theater in November, has taken the torch from the aquarium as Jenks' hot spot.

RiverWalk has six restaurants, office space and an amphitheater where thousands of visitors on a weekend night attend concerts.

"People in Tulsa have treated it like a vacation spot," Bell said.

Jimmy Blacketer and his father employ 150 people at Los Cabos Mexican Grill & Cantina, which opened May 5. The restaurant has exceeded financial expectations by 50 percent, he said.

"Jenks has opened its arms," he said. "It's been a win-win situation. We wanted to create an atmosphere where you don't feel like you're in Tulsa."

Branson, OK

Bell's Amusement Park has been an entertainment fixture on 21st street in Tulsa since 1951, but Robby Bell, president of the family owned park, wants to locate just south of the Oklahoma RiverWalk and Aquarium.

Robby Bell said the park's move could be finalized by the end of the year. The park sits on 10.2 acres at the Tulsa State Fairgrounds and he wants to expand it to a 53-acre site in Jenks. The new park could open on a limited basis by spring 2007, when the Bells would operate both parks for awhile, and the Jenks site could be completed by 2010.

"I think the synergy between the RiverWalk and the aquarium is already huge," Robby Bell said. "And if we add Bell's to that mix, then I think the three entities will really complement each other. I've been telling everybody it's the beginning of Branson, Mo., in Tulsa.

"It will be the most hopping entertainment area, I think, in the state."

The park's signature attraction would be a $4 million, wooden roller-coaster. At 100 feet tall and with 3,500 feet of track, Robby Bell said it will be the state's largest. He doesn't have a name for it yet.

Opportunity knocks

Jenks Mayor Vic Vreeland said he is not trying to rob Tulsa.

"But if someone comes and knocks on your door, you listen to them," he said.

Robert Bell, the Jenks planning director, said his town will have plenty of new doors to knock. He said 350 new homes a year are built, and up to 1,000 lots are on the market. Bell said the city can grow to 35,000 people.

"It's going to be built out and that will happen before people think," Robert Bell said.

And that will bring another smile to his face.

Bass Pro is open, as part of the huge $500 million Stone Wood Hills project in Broken Arrow.

Rednecks Rejoice!

[fromdust]

is what they are doing there kinda like bricktown?

[swake]

is what they are doing there kinda like bricktown?

Nothing like that, it

[fromdust]

cool, thanks for explaining. think i might travel the turnpike to see it when it is all finished.

[mcheiss]

It looks like a major convention center is going to be built in Bixby, along with a lot of restaurant and hotel development.

[fromdust]

It looks like a major convention center is going to be built in Bixby, along with a lot of restaurant and hotel development.

how big will the convention center be?

[mcheiss]

how big will the convention center be?

Not sure.

I only heard a report that a convention center was coming. No details unfortunately.