City officials have gained some insight into how much the COVID-19 pandemic has dragged down Tulsa’s economy.
City of Tulsa Chief of Economic Development Kian Kamas told city councilors last week her team had started to see signs of slowing commercial development activity in late 2019.
"And in 2020 with COVID kind of in full force, we’ve definitely seen a slowdown in commercial activity. You can see in November, we issued three new commercial permits as compared to the 2013 through 2019 average of 11 permits per month. So, down quite substantially," Kamas said.
Kamas was referring to new building permits. Remodel work continues to outpace new construction when it comes to commercial development.
In residential development, building permits are down almost 30% this year from the 2013 through 2019 average, with single-family homes been built faster than any other type. Commercial property valuation and new home prices, however, are up slightly.
City development staff are hopeful 2021 will bring a rebound. Kamas said her team is currently pursuing several projects that represent a total capital investment of roughly $1 billion and more than 4,200 jobs.
"We really saw, I think, an incredible pickup in activity following the Tesla project, which I think kind of speaks to the national recognition that Tulsa received and the enhanced interest that we’re getting as a result of that," Kamas said.
Some of those projects could be decided in the first quarter of 2021.
