JENKS - Gateway Mortgage Group of Tulsa is planning to build a new headquarters at the southeast corner of U.S. 75 and Main Street in Jenks in a development that would include an office complex, hotel, restaurants and other retail uses.
"We love Jenks and we think it's going to be the Gateway district. It's kind of like the west gateway into Jenks," said Gateway owner Kevin Stitt.
The 13-year-old retail originator and mortgage servicer, now based at 6910 E. 14th St. in Tulsa, does business in 25 states and has 387 employees.
Gateway was one of 14 Tulsa-area companies that were named in the 2013 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies. It reported $82.1 million in revenue in 2012, with 223 jobs added in the past three years.
The investment in the Gateway Plaza project in Jenks is estimated at $12 million.
Stitt said the location has great exposure on U.S. 75 and that many of his employees live close to the Jenks and south Tulsa area.
He said construction on the three-story, 60,000-square-foot headquarters, which will be built first, will begin by November, and the company should move in by early 2015.
Contracts with other potential establishments in Gateway Plaza are in the works, Stitt said.
"I just think there's a great opportunity for some restaurants right there, even a Starbucks," he said. "Tulsa Hills (Shopping Center) is getting so congested, we think it will be really easy access" off of U.S. 75.
The Jenks City Council unanimously approved Gateway's planned unit development proposal recently.
Gateway is the second company in less than a year to announce plans to move its headquarters to Jenks from Tulsa. First Oklahoma Bank, a six-story building that is underway in the Village on Main, made its announcement last December.
"It's going to be a great little bookend for Main Street to have First Oklahoma Bank on (the east) end and Gateway on the (west end)," said Jenks Mayor Lonnie Sims.
The two headquarters will be about three miles apart.
Jenks City Planner Robert Bell said the development will help Jenks clear a hurdle in having "daytime density" to attract retailers.
Gateway Plaza will be situated between U.S. 75 and the building that housed a Sutherland's store, which recently closed.
"This is what the west end of town needed exactly," Bell said. "This will generate the daytime traffic that will help make that a formidable area for business."
Susan Hylton 918-581-8381 susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Gateway plans Jenks center
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