Improvements of the Tulsa Market District on Route 66

TU students can take advantage of the new improvements along 11th Street and Lewis Avenue.

Oklahoma has the most miles of Route 66 — the Mother Road — than any other state. This historical highway runs along 11th Street alongside the TU campus, giving students a front-row seat to the many revitalization efforts happening nearby. The changes occuring will encourage young graduates from Tulsa’s colleges to stay in the area and further contribute to the new and bustling city Tulsa is becoming.

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Just down the street from TU, the 11th and Lewis intersection has seen major changes and construction over the past couple of years. Back in 2016, Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation created Kitchen 66, a training program available in English and Spanish to local entrepreneurs with dreams of making it in the food industry. Some of their alumni include Charcuteray, Howdy Burger, Chicken and the Wolf and Tulsan Athletic Club. Following this in 2018, the non-profit Mother Road Market was established at the intersection as a venue for these local entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams with rentable spaces.

Elizabeth Ellison, Chair of the Board of Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation, told me, “As Route 66 approached its centennial in 2026, I saw an opportunity to reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit of Route 66 and correct some of the past wrongs by a lens of equity and opportunity by creating an inclusive destination district in the Tulsa Market District on Route 66.” This reinvigoration has been a particular benefit for TU students; a partnership with Mother Road Market and The University of Tulsa now allows students to use dining dollars at food merchants and the WEL Bar. This option is helpful to TU students who often find a lack of available options at the Student Union or the Pat Case dining center that suit their dietary needs.

A growing part of the Tulsa Market District, Shops at Mother Road Market established in 2020, grew additional space for food and local retailers, most recently including Gambills Jewish Deli and the Tulsa Visitor Center in 2023. The interactive visitor center had its ribbon cutting in July, offering a way for travelers to speak with a representative about what Tulsa has to offer. The addition of the visitors center is vital for Tulsa’s tourism industry which has been slowly picking up over the last few years.

Additionally, across the street, another new, large project is nearing completion. Within walking distance of TU, NOMA — North of Market — is a four-story, four-acre mixed-use development consisting of 256 apartment units wrapping around a 391 space parking garage. It will include spaces like a resident only co-working space, fitness center, coffee bar, three outdoor courtyards including a pool with cabanas, fire pit and grills, a dog park with resident green space and a clubhouse with an outdoor terrace overlooking downtown Tulsa. The addition of this apartment complex will bring new visitors to the shops across the street, which will only further improve Tulsa’s economy.

Chris Ellison, CEO of ITULSA LLC and the developer behind the $60 million dollar project, says the first phase of apartments are available to lease now, with first move-ins expected in November through early December. Construction work at NOMA will continue until March of next year as the construction team wraps up the outdoor courtyards and the last of the apartments.
“Commercial tenants will begin doing their own build-out work to prepare for opening over the next several months,” he told me. “Prepare to eat, drink, shop, and enjoy these businesses next Spring and Summer!” Though the construction of NOMA was inconvenient for those commuting each day, the inconvenience has paid off. The intersection is now much safer for pedestrians and vehicles and is no longer a hazardous maze of potholes and broken concrete.

With these new projects in the area, the AERO rapid bus transit system is also preparing for a bus line down 11th Street, stopping right at this recently developed intersection. Thanks to the years of work and investment by the City of Tulsa, Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation, ITULSA LLC and many others, Route 66 and the Tulsa Market District are part of a vibrant and brighter Tulsa right in TU’s neighborhood.

Post Author: Eva Patton