These questions are about new jobs in Bartlesville and the lack of new retail and restaurants. Where are they? There are lot of empty buildings in town. We got the new Silver Lake Shopping Center, but only half of it. And we had probably as many stores close (as have come) in. So what did we gain? I hear no plans for Target, no sit down restaurant! We are losing Siemens. We lost Sitel. Manufacturing jobs are what we need.
Bartlesville Development Authority President David Wood kindly agreed to address these questions. His response follows:
DW — Lack of new retail and restaurants? Over 70,000 square feet of new national-brand retail space opened within the last six months, including Ross, TJ Maxx, Petco, Ulta and Rack Room Shoes. Two prime restaurant out-parcels and the center’s endcap are now available and heavily-marketed by the owners, GBT Realty. Atwood’s and Locke Supply have both invested in new stores. Dunham Sports will open soon at the mall with a total remodel of the former Sears space. The Eastland Shopping Center renovation is well underway, with a new Planet Fitness gym, a remodeled Colaw Fitness and a new, expanded Hobby Lobby.
Similarly, Bartlesville recently acquired I-Hop, Soho Hibachi and Sushi Bar, Chick-Fil-A, Panda Express, Chicken Express and, soon, Popeye’s. Braums’s is building a new store and fully-renovating their second location. Negotiations for two more restaurants (one sit down) on Highway 75 are underway.
Target stores sharply reduced store expansions following the devastating bankruptcy and closure of their Canadian venture, and markets of Bartlesville’s size (in close proximity of existing stores) are not part of their rebuilding strategy.
Sitel had been struggling for quite some time, but the announcements of the Walmart Claims Processing and Siemens closures were an unfortunate surprise — continuing the national trend of consolidation.
It appears that the Walmart facility will soon be back into productive use, and an intensive effort to retain a portion of the Siemens work in Bartlesville is ongoing. SMC has just acquired 40 acres of the former Sunset golf course to locate a substantial manufacturing expansion, and six new primary-industry prospects are exploring options including plastics, warehousing, oil field servicing, beverage production, and two production bakeries.
Hillcrest Drive project set for construction in FY 2020-21
Hillcrest residents are wondering what happened to the construction project to replace Hillcrest Road from the High School to the Caney River bridge? The voters approved that project some years back. Any plans for completing the project? No shoulders and deep ditches make that a dangerous stretch of roadway.
The Hillcrest Drive Rehabilitation project, approved by voters in the 2013 half-cent Capital Improvement Project sales tax election, is planned for funding during the 2020-21 Fiscal Year.
The City Council made the decision last year to switch the project with the east downtown drainage project, which had been initially set for funding during FY 2020-21, due to flooding issues that were occurring in the downtown area, pushing the Hillcrest rehab project back to 2020-21.
According to Engineering Director Micah Siemers, engineering and design funds for the Hillcrest project could be available July 1, pending City Council approval of the budget, and design of the project could be underway this summer in preparation of construction funding in FY 2020-21.
Price Road extension in long-range plan
Are there any future plans to extend Price Road to Bison Road?
According to Director of Engineering Micah Siemers, extending Price Road east to Bison Road is part of the master plan for Bartlesville; however, there are no plans to do so in the near future.