After almost two years of laying the groundwork, the Terence Crutcher Foundation is officially moving forward with its plans to revive the North Pointe Center.
North Pointe sits at the intersection of Pine Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the northern limit of the original Black Wall Street.
At a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday, foundation President Dr. Tiffany Crutcher said the center was a nexus for commerce after the neighborhood recovered from the Tulsa Race Massacre.
"Raise your hand if you remember North Pointe," she told the audience. "Raise your hand if you used to come in North Pointe, patronize businesses, pay your utility bills. You all remember that? Well, as a little girl, I remember this neighborhood. This is the neighborhood I grew up in."
North Pointe fell into disrepair in recent years, but in 2022, the Crutcher Foundation purchased the building for $1.7 million dollars. The organization has so far repaired North Pointe’s roof, replaced its HVAC systems and begun demolition inside the building.
The Crutcher Foundation is now looking to raise $15 million dollars to build out the center, according to Crutcher Foundation Deputy Director Sheyda Brown.
"So today, I ask, invest what you can. Even if it’s small," Brown said.
Brown said community members told them they want North Pointe to hold spaces for businesses, food, shopping, entrepreneurs and youth programs.
North Pointe Center sits in the Dunbar neighborhood of north Tulsa. Brown said Crutcher Foundation volunteers knocked on 30,000 doors in north Tulsa to see what people in the area wanted in the center.
Dunbar Neighborhood Association President Bill White said North Pointe could bring things to the area that are taken for granted in other parts of the city.
"I just want to be able to get a cup of coffee in my own neighborhood — something real simple. People think like, ‘Well, that’s not a big deal.’ I say, ‘Have you ever walked in this area?’" White said.
Dr. Crutcher said the North Pointe project is part of her organization’s efforts to plant “seeds of hope” in north Tulsa.
