SHPO and City of Tulsa Recognizing Local Heritage

Contact: Melvena Heisch, Deputy Historic Preservation Officer
(405) 522-4484

Oklahoma City, OK
August 21, 2008
For Immediate Release

Today in the lobby of Tulsa's historic Philtower Building, Bob L. Blackburn, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society and State Historic Preservation Officer, said, "The Oklahoma Historical Society's State Historic Preservation Office is pleased to partner with the City of Tulsa and its preservation community in numerous ways. We are here today to focus on two of these activities."

First, the Preserve America initiative is a White House program to encourage and support community efforts for the preservation and enjoyment of America's priceless cultural and natural heritage. The goals of the initiative include: a greater shared knowledge about the Nation's past; strengthened regional identities and local pride; increased local participation in preserving the country's cultural and natural heritage assets; and, support for the economic vitality of our communities. Dr. Blackburn presented a special certificate signed by First Lady Laura Bush designating Tulsa a Preserve America Community to Mayor Kathy Taylor.

Dr. Blackburn noted that Tulsa's Preserve America application featured the City of Tulsa and Tulsa County's recent collaboration with local property owners to infuse new life into the downtown through rehabilitation of the historic Philtower Building. The building, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, occupies a pivotal position in Tulsa's past.

The Philtower Lofts project breathed new life into the downtown icon and resulted in the city's first mixed-use high-rise. It successfully combined Federal and State Rehabilitation Tax Credits, private financial investment, and public dollars from Tulsa County and the City of Tulsa.

"Our staff worked closely with the Philtower developers during project design and construction, and we are pleased this certified rehabilitation was selected as the focus of Tulsa's Preserve America application," said Dr. Blackburn.

Tulsa joins Oklahoma's other Preserve America Communities, Ardmore, Durant, Enid, Newkirk, Ponca City, and Shawnee, and hundreds of other communities across the nation to receive this special recognition for their efforts.

Other benefits include appropriate use of the Preserve America logo on signs and promotional materials; notification to media, state tourism offices, and visitor bureaus; listing in a Web-based directory to showcase preservation efforts and highlight heritage tourism destinations; and, eligibility for grant assistance.

Dr. Blackburn then stated, "I am excited to join with Mayor Taylor today to announce a special joint initiative. Through our annual planning process for use of our allocation from the U. S. Department of the Interior's Historic Preservation Fund, the SHPO identified a survey of Tulsa's downtown core area as a priority. We set aside a $45,000 matching grant for the project, and then sought a cosponsor. The City of Tulsa stepped up with the required additional funding for the architectural/historic survey of downtown Tulsa, including all buildings within the Interdispersal Loop."

The project is critical to facilitate local preservation efforts of all kinds, and it will especially stimulate redevelopment under federal and state tax credit programs for rehabilitation. The City will retain a professionally qualified firm to carry out the work, and it will be completed by September 30, 2009. Results of such projects include identification of buildings that are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, information essential to developers seeking federal and state tax credits for rehabilitation projects such as the highly successful one for the Philtower.

The downtown Tulsa survey project is also consistent with the Preserve America initiative. In October 2006 the Preserve America summit was held in New Orleans and marked the 40th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. Co-chaired by First Lady Laura Bush and John Nau, Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the summit issued a report summarizing goals for the national preservation program. The first goal listed in the report encourages the continued development of inventories of historic properties like the one that will result from this joint effort.

Dr. Blackburn thanked Mayor Taylor and the Tulsa preservation community for their efforts to bring the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual conference to Tulsa in October, stating "this is the perfect opportunity to showcase Tulsa's rich heritage and that of Oklahoma for a national audience and to highlight the development of historic preservation efforts statewide."