Michael Decker, Taylor Horner
Harold Jones remembers growing up in north Tulsa in the 1970s and 1980s and frequenting the bustling retail and entertainment center just around the corner.
“This shopping center represented about 60 percent of the resources provided to the area. I thought, ‘If we can revitalize this and stimulate the economy of this area, it’s a win-win,'” he said.
Jones, 50, and his wife, Natalie Jones, 49, have invested more than $350,000 in the redevelopment of the Northridge Shopping Center on 50th Place North, just east of Peoria Avenue.
He plans to invest a total of $1 million to renovate at least five buildings on the site and add amenities such as several dining options, a mini arcade like Dave & Buster’s and a sports bar.
“We want this to be a resource-efficient facility where people can come to the shopping centre and get everything they need,” he said.
Anyone else reading this…
Harold and Natalie Jones have announced that they will open north Tulsa’s first urgent care clinic, NovaStar Family Medical, in 2023.
Nurse Natalie Jones is in charge of Novastar.
Harold Jones, a Booker T. Washington High School graduate, met Natalie in his hometown of Columbia while playing football at the University of Missouri in the mid-1990s.
He graduated with a degree in finance and marketing.
“I started working for the Jim Glover (Automotive) Group,” he said.
“I was the finance guy, I worked with Glover and we made a lot of money selling.”
At the time, in the early 2000s, he also helped fund Natalie’s goal of continuing her education, which she completed in earnest.
“So, my wife was in school at the time. She finished school. I left Glover, I retired from Glover (in 2007),” he said.
“I started my own finance company. I was fortunate; God above blessed me with having a finance company. I dissolved that company, then started a trucking business, and recently sold McKee Motorsports, the dealership I co-owned with a partner.”
He has since begun work on revitalizing the shopping center.
What happened and what has changed?
Jones said after he and Natalie opened Novastar, they had been thinking about expanding the business to the state capital.
“We were preparing to invest in Oklahoma City. … We were going to open three or four urgent care (clinics) in remote areas of Oklahoma City, like north of Tulsa,” he said.
“A guy in Oklahoma City (the property’s former owner) called me about this shopping center, and I said, ‘How did you get my phone number?'” Jones said.
That was in February.
“Everyone in the community said, ‘Maybe you could buy it,'” Jones said.
Jones said the Oklahoma City seller had several people interested in buying or leasing one building in the shopping center, but was told the seller wanted to sell the entire building.
About a month later, the seller reduced the sale price, Jones said.
“And at that point, I thought, ‘This could be a great thing for this community,'” Jones said.
But he still had doubts.
“I thought about it. It was an eyesore. It was really, really run down. There was graffiti of different colors on every building,” Jones said, raising concerns about damage to transients and parking lots.
But despite the difficulties, he was determined to give it his all, and the purchase was completed in April.
The biggest initial expenses were resurfacing the parking lot, putting a new roof on the building and installing air conditioning, ventilation and heating systems, he said.
Jones plans to build the development in two phases, with the first one aimed for completion by the end of the year.
His vision is for each of the several 8,000-square-foot buildings he’s renovating to have their own unique names, which have yet to be finalized.
As part of the food court concept, there will be outlets with breakfast bars, restaurants serving sandwiches, fish and barbecue dishes, an arcade with both the latest virtual games and classic video games, outlets serving food, a coffee and donut shop, an ice cream parlour and co-working space.
He said the site’s only other business, school uniform store Tops and Bottoms at 5071 North Peoria Ave., will remain unaffected by the development.
Jones said the goal is also to provide low-cost meals to all students at nearby McClain High School through the development.
“The breakfast restaurant will provide food for all students at McClain High School. With ID, students can purchase pre-packaged breakfast sandwiches for anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar. It’s a really good price for students,” he said.
“One of the main reasons children don’t go to school is because they don’t have clean clothes or food to eat.”
Goals to support entrepreneurs
Natalie Jones called the development “exciting,” and general contractor Harold Jones said, “We’re working very long days, very long days starting at 7 a.m., but it’s exciting.”
One thing that won’t be visible until the end of the year is a new illuminated sign for the planned revitalized Northridge Shopping Center.
The site’s existing main signage structure is similar to signage structures at locations such as The Farm Shopping Center (51st Avenue and Sheridan Road) and The Mill Shopping Center (71st Avenue and Sheridan Road).
“Right now the building takes priority over everything else,” Harold Jones said.
“That’s how the sign we put up there is finished,” he said, snapping his fingers.
It would make sense to delay the completion of the sign, including the wiring, so that the lights on the sign don’t confuse people who think the shopping center is open.
“We need to keep it the way it is,” he said. “We’ll finish up phase one, get the sign (on the building) ready to paint, and then we’ll start putting out the different spaces for businesses to occupy.”
Both Harold and Natalie Jones believe in the power of Black-owned businesses, Black entrepreneurs and Black customers.
“I think it’s a disservice to someone who grew up here and doesn’t contribute to the community,” Harold Jones said.
“The success of our efforts will be measured by local residents, not investment returns or increases in (property values),” he said.
The goal is to make sure local residents know they can rely on resources provided through the development, making it a “safe haven for our kids, for everybody,” Harold Jones said. “I think our Grandfather up above has been with us all this time, but we still have a ways to go.”
Another goal of the project, he said, is to provide more opportunities for local businesses to “showcase their skills and bring their business and brand to the area.”
“There are a lot of small entrepreneurs around here who don’t have a brick-and-mortar store,” he said, “and if they do, you have to go all the way south (to Tulsa) or Sand Springs to find one.”
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