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A revitalization effort is happening in North Tulsa. People are opening new businesses and building more affordable housing designed to attract people to the area.
Chinon tells us about the vision for the future of that area, and this Oklahoma’s own original
New homes and businesses are popping up around North Tulsa. Every day is a new day. We get to build something new,
Each property intentional and catered to the needs of this community. There’s not another community that I could foresee myself feeling more a part
of. Stuart and Katie McDaniel had no connection to North Tulsa, but felt called to move here in 2016 to start their family.
And the idea for GuRuStu Communities was born. I don’t think that we would be able to understand this living
and breathing neighborhood if we weren’t a part of it. The motivation to invest in this area came when their young employees from
GuRuStu’s marketing and advertising firm downtown were struggling to find affordable housing. The couple wanted to renovate a few homes for their workers.
As the McDaniels added two babies, they also added properties. The couple now has 300 properties, most in the Crutchfield neighborhood, vacant lots and land,
single family homes, multiplexes an industrial warehouse, multi-tenant housing, and even a historic church. The properties that he’s acquired are mostly vacant,
lots and dilapidated structures that no one else chose to invest in. Those Who live and work in this neighborhood have wanted this transformation for
decades. Pretty excited about this. This is our co-op grocery store. As we tour the neighborhood with the McDaniels, we can see their pride.
Others tell me that, you know, a big, it’s, it’s noticeable. The change and the improvement. I see all the work I still have to do,
how it can be improved, and how it can be better, how we can clean it up. It’s a welcome site for North Tulsa Natives like Wesley Gamble, new county
Tops, new Saint who Oversees McDaniel’s Properties Because it gives me an opportunity to, you know, help continue to build and,
and turn what at one time had had went down, bring it back to life, and, uh, make something very special.
Gamble. Like most of GuRuStu’s employees live in this community, either in their own place or in one of the McDaniels’ renovated homes.
The house is really nice, but also I’m, I’m a part of the community, so everything that’s happening in the community from day to day,
I get to be a part of it and, and, uh, save a Lot gas, beautiful tomatoes. With growth comes the need for fresh, affordable food.
Katie Plohocky is the co-founder of RG Foods and moved her non-profit to the McDaniels’ Warehouse to support their mission.
RG Foods employs 18 people to supply fresh foods to underserved communities through a grocery store on wheels. It’s really a full service grocery store. We have everything from meat,
fresh meat, fresh produce, frozen, refrigerated milk, eggs, bread, uh, baking supplies, oh, tomatoes. RG Foods also gets its supplies from local farmers like Candace Thorburn.
It’s The coolest local initiative I think I’ve ever heard of. Collaboration continues with plans to build a co-op grocery store along Peoria.
We are going to open it, stabilize it, and then we’re giving it back to the community. So we’re starting it as a cooperative so the people that live in the
neighborhood will have part ownership of the store. We really want to create economic opportunities and business ownership. We wanna be able to keep the flow of dough inside the communities instead of
leaving the communities. ’cause that’s the only way you can really build wealth. You like the pink one? Put it here we go.
Down the street, there’s another new business. Little gurus. Steam Academy serves infants up to four years old. Co-owner and director Delana Brent says this will make an impact for years
to come. We know that there’s a childcare crisis, particularly in North Tulsa. It’s been, um, hard for families to find appropriate childcare options.
The McDaniels say they’re not interested in real estate or making money, but rather investing in a community that’s been neglected for so long
And we can’t put enough focus behind that. And all we’re interested in is high rise apartment buildings in downtown.
We have lost, we’ve missed the boat. These communities are where it’s at and where it will be, and it’s where families need to be.
Stuart says there’s a formula for successful growth And if we are to create the thousands of affordable units that we are so
desperately in need of, it’s a neighborhood like this that’s going to do it. This and the next one to follow suit
In Tulsa Chin, Oklahoma Zone zone six.