Situated in the southern portion of Downtown, the Cathedral District is rich in architectural character, cultural assets, and development potential, with over 40 acres of highly-underutilized surface parking lots today. The Pre-Development Plan outlines a vision to transform underutilized properties and public spaces into a vibrant, mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhood that reflects both the historic identity and future promise of Tulsa’s urban core.

Working with key institutional stakeholders in the district, including multiple faith-based organizations and Tulsa Community College, the Sasaki team developed a plan that outlines a strategy for delivering new housing and mixed-use development to help meet the projected demand for 2,500 to 3,300 additional housing units in Downtown. At the same time, the Plan also outlines a strategy for reinvestment, preservation, and adaptive reuse in the district.

The Big Ideas:

Through the process, five Big Ideas emerged. Together, these guiding ideas established the Urban Design Framework for the District and serve as a tool for shaping decisions around future investment and development.

Developing a Decision-Making Framework

With more than 40 acres of parking lots within the Cathedral District, there is ample opportunity for additional growth and development. While not every underutilized or vacant site will develop for varying reasons, many sites emerged through the planning process as opportunities for new growth. To guide this process and future decision-making, it was important to establish a decision-making scoring framework to objectively score different sites against one another. Key criteria that were used to evaluate sites in the district included property size and shape, continuity of ownership, land use, ownership motivation, alignment with the district framework, and historic preservation and context.

Prioritizing Development Sites

Six specific sites were identified and advanced as priority properties due to their geographic location, their ownership’s desire for redevelopment, or their ability to help unlock additional redevelopment through shared parking strategies. Feedback collected through stakeholder engagement helped to refine the desired development outcomes. For each site, the plan outlines key development considerations that future development should consider and integrate to reinforce the overall urban design framework and to ensure District continuity and success over time. 

Understanding the development potential for these six sites, along with the long-term viability of other sites to redevelop, allowed for the Plan to help inform future TIF projections of the potential future value of development and the potential cost of future public realm enhancements. This planning process quickly highlighted the challenges with the existing TIF District’s expenditure cap. Because of this planning process, the PartnerTulsa, the City of Tulsa, and the Downtown Tulsa Partnership successfully amended the TIF district’s expenditure cap to unlock $200M more in potential future investment.

Enhancing Urban Design and Public Realm

As a part of the Cathedral District Plan, district-wide guidance was developed around best urban design and public realm best practices to ensure high-quality future development. These guidelines will help inform future TIF applications and should be used to shape the design of future private investments. In addition, a series of key public realm investments were outlined, including the conversion of two one-way streets to two-way traffic, public realm improvements on several key corridors, and the creation of new public open spaces to provide recreational and outdoor amenities for the district’s future population. Each public realm move was provided a high-level pricing estimate to inform future TIF dollar allocation and expenditures. 

The Tulsa Cathedral District Predevelopment Plan was completed in April of 2026 and adopted by the City Council.