Plaza Santa Cecilia, a Hispanic market at 21st and Garnett, is home to businesses and restaurants representing Latin America. And eventually, it will be the location of Oklahoma’s first business incubator that caters to immigrant entrepreneurs.
The Eastside Business Center was announced in February 2024 but has yet to break ground — despite original planning for a December 2024 opening.
Here’s what’s happening.
What is the Eastside Business Center?
The Eastside Business Center is meant to be a hub and launchpad for small businesses, addressing the struggles of business owners in east Tulsa.
The center will span 15,000 square feet on the west side of the Plaza Santa Cecilia building. It will include two classrooms, private offices and a coworking space.
The business center will provide small businesses with a workspace, technical assistance, mentorship and programming for emerging entrepreneurs. People will also be able to rent classroom space.
Why hasn’t the Eastside Business Center opened?
Eastside Rise was established as a Community Development Corporation in early 2024 to purchase, develop and manage the center — and it took them longer than expected to purchase the property.
“I hate to say the word delay,” said Luisa Krug, executive director of Eastside Rise. “I think things just took longer than we knew they would based on the kind of complexity of the process.”
The process became difficult legally because they were only purchasing a portion of the building rather than the entire parcel, Krug said.
In June, the organization closed on the portion of the building they spent more than a year working to purchase.
“You’re not going to invest in something that you don’t actually own,” Krug said. “Although the general public didn’t really see anything happening, we were doing a lot of work behind the scenes.”
How is the project being funded?
The City of Tulsa, Tulsa County and George Kaiser Family Foundation contributed $2.52 million to the project. These funds will be used for acquisition and renovation of the portion of Plaza Santa Cecilia dedicated to the business center.
The City of Tulsa contributed $1 million of COVID-19 relief funds to the project, which means Eastside Rise must use the funds before the end of 2026 to meet federal deadlines.
Eastside Rise is still fundraising for an additional $3.5 million for project costs.
These funds will support renovation of the facility, including building flexible coworking, training and office spaces, and investment in technology, equipment and shared resources for entrepreneurs.
Some of the additional funding will also go to the owners at Plaza Santa Cecilia to renovate the exterior of the building.
“They’re also working on a facade improvement for the building, and some investment in the parking lot to make sure the site is safe, accessible, all of those sorts of things,” Krug said.
What’s next for the project?
Krug’s goal is to break ground and start construction in mid-2026 with a projected opening in early 2027.
Businesses inside of Plaza Santa Cecilia will be able to remain open throughout construction since the center is separated, Krug said. No businesses are currently located in Eastside Rise’s part of the property.
“It’s important to see this kind of investment in your own community,” Krug said. “So even if you’re not an entrepreneur, I think you can appreciate that someone is investing in your communities.”
This article was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and La Semana, a Tulsa-based bilingual Spanish-English newspaper serving Latino communities in Oklahoma.
Eastside Rise is funded by the The George Kaiser Family Foundation, which has also provided funding for the Tulsa Flyer. News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
