By John Dobberstein, Editor
Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Spurgeon said Tuesday that he’s going to approach the owner of the failed Red Clay Casino property soon in hopes of getting the site cleaned up.
Spurgeon said the city has been fielding some phone calls of late about the condition of the building and property at 129th E. Ave. (Olive Avenue) and E. 111th Street S. (W. Florence St). The city doesn’t own or have jurisdiction of the land.
Spurgeon says south Broken Arrow in that vicinity is looking good and the poor condition of the lot and structure isn’t what residents want to see. The property sits across from Tulsa Tech and is highly visible to motorists and travelers coming to and from the Creek Turnpike.
Four years ago, a crew came and hauled away the metal facade at the Red Clay building, leaving a strip of abandoned trailers and other debris behind. The property was for sale a couple of years ago.
The Red Clay project was abandonedin 2012 after residents protested and a legal injunction was put in place. The tribal town successfully appealed the injunction, but later abandoned the project.
Also Tuesday, city officials said they’ve been fielding rumors about the future of the failed Red Creek Casino development on Olive just south of the turnpike. Spurgeon says he’s hearing there is interest in the building being developed as a restaurant, but no further updates are available at the moment.
That building was raided by Creek Nation authorities in August 2017 after they had warned the property’s owners they could face prosecution for including illegal gaming at the site. The Kialegee Tribal Town, one of several autonomous groups that make up the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, had said it would provide gaming oversight for the Red Creek facility.
Muscogee (Creek) citizen Stephen “Bim” Bruner was arraigned in Muscogee (Creek) Nation District Court that year on charges of possession of unlicensed gambling devices and maintaining an unlicensed gambling premise. In 2019, four criminal conspiracy charges were brought against Bruner stemming from the raid on his family’s allotment.
Both the Broken Arrow City Council and Spurgeon say they’re watching activity at the Red Creek site carefully and will provide updates on any developments as they can.
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