The Terence Crutcher Foundation has purchased the North Pointe Business Center to help ongoing efforts to equitably revitalize north Tulsa.
Foundation founder Tiffany Crutcher said Tuesday that TCF purchased the shopping center for one point seven million dollars through a loan. The foundation will roll out its formal plans for the center within a year, Crutcher said Tuesday.
Crutcher didn’t give too many specifics on the plan, but she briefly mentioned the greater mission of bringing equity to north Tulsa through economic revitalization.
“We will co-envision and co-create a plan for north Tulsa so that it will be a light, this space, this property will be a beacon of hope and of revitalization for the north Tulsa area,” Crutcher said.
Located at the northeast corner of East Pine Street and MLK Jr. Boulevard, the business center is about six minutes north of downtown Tulsa. It currently has several storefronts, but some of the spaces are abandoned or in disrepair.
Crutcher described North Pointe as the gateway to downtown from north Tulsa.
The Cherokee Nation had previously considered using the center as a courthouse, but backed out earlier this year after receiving feedback from the community on the proposed project.
“I applaud The Cherokee Nation and all of their leaders for listening and talking to the community,” Crutcher said.
Crutcher said the foundation decided it was important for the North Pointe property to remain “a staple” of the north Tulsa community.
The foundation’s purchase was announced less than a week after Tulsa City Council adopted the master plan for the revitalization of the Kirkpatrick Heights and Greenwood neighborhoods. Greenwood was destroyed in 1921 after a white mob razed the prosperous Black neighborhood, killing scores of its residents and local business owners.
Crutcher said she’s excited to be part of the momentum in north Tulsa.
“We felt that now was the time — now was the time to be a part of all of the exciting growth that’s happening for the community of Greenwood and of north Tulsa. And so the timing is impeccable, and we are so excited,” Crutcher said.
TCF was formed in honor of Tiffany Crutcher’s brother Terence Crutcher, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by former Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby in September 2016. The foundation's mission is to "identify, prevent, and confront racial inequities" in Tulsa and throughout the United States, according to its website.
