Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper said Tuesday night she wants to turn the former site of Rudisill Library into the “epicenter of entrepreneurship in north Tulsa.”
Hall-Harper is the registered agent for Power Group Community Development Corp., the economic development arm of the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce. Power Group acquired the facility from the Tulsa City-County Library Commission in April for $1.4 million.
“(The Power Group) is an investment tool so that we can buy land in our community, own it and develop it, for us, by us,” Hall-Harper said at Tuesday night’s town hall. She recused herself from the council’s discussion and vote on the sale.
Regular operations at the former Rudisill facility at 1520 North Hartford Ave. ceased June 28. The new library facility, located at 1017 North Greenwood Ave., is still under construction and set to open this fall.
The Power Group will redevelop the North Hartford site to support small businesses and entrepreneurs with classes, affordable office space, a commercial kitchen and business research center. Hall-Harper outlined the vision less than two months after the opening of Greenwood Entrepreneurship at Moton, an AI and tech training center, yards away from the former library site.
“The goal is to be able to birth an idea — to birth an idea in children, adults, and the like. And to be able to see it to fruition, opening the doors all in this one space,” she told dozens of people gathered for the announcement.
The new facility design will include murals dedicated to significant local, national and international figures like former Oklahoma state Rep. Don Ross, who died in May. Hall-Harper shared renderings Tuesday.
A few people at the town hall shared their support for the idea, while others had suggestions about the kind of programming they would like to see offered.
But Hall-Harper spent much of the meeting confronting criticism and dispelling rumors “in social media and on the news” that the organization acquired the property nefariously.
“I felt it was necessary to speak openly and transparently to my community,” she told The Eagle. “The process was public and of course anyone could have put a bid in on the building. But for whatever reason, they didn’t.”
Critics of the sale, like community activist Heather Nash, called into question whether Hall-Harper’s dual positions as a city councilor and lead member of the Power Group presented a conflict of interest.
“I don’t want any city councilor, her — or any of you all — getting property without notifying the public first,” Nash told councilors during an April 15 meeting at City Hall. “Please delay this vote.”
The Tulsa City Council went on to approve the sale of the former library.
On Tuesday night, some of Hall-Harper’s most vocal supporters were in attendance, like Rev. Francetta L. Mays, who asked the crowd to stand and applaud the councilwoman for “the work that she’s been doing.”
Although the Power Group won’t have access to the site until early 2027, the councilwoman said it will take community donations to help bring the project to life.
“This is a community project,” Hall-Harper told The Eagle. “We need the community and must have community support and engagement to actually bring it to fruition. Buying the building is the first step. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Beyond the redevelopment project, Hall-Harper said she is gearing up for the Aug. 25 municipal election. She faces four challengers in her reelection bid for the seat she first won in 2016.
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