This project involved exploring the development potential of a large (1,000-acre), predominantly flat, vacant piece of industrial land in Tulsa, Oklahoma, adjacent to the city's airport. 

The City, Airport Authority, and utility provider owner/client sought to:

• Evaluate market competitiveness of the airport-adjacent industrial land.

• Develop a positioning strategy to attract target industries: aerospace, advanced manufacturing, data centers, logistics/distribution, and secondary support sectors (R&D, training, hospitality, flex industrial).

• Balance economic development goals (high-skill/high-wage jobs, value-add clusters) with market demand (notably logistics/e-commerce distribution).

Scope

The consulting team provide a range of services as follows:

• Conducted a comprehensive SWOT for both sites and the broader Tulsa region.

• Benchmarked competitive factors (land cost, workforce, infrastructure, utilities, incentives, quality of life).

• Identified target industry clusters with comparative advantage (aerospace/aviation, advanced manufacturing, logistics & distribution, IT/data, precision instruments, R&D incubators).

• Evaluated real estate dynamics (Tulsa’s low vacancy, limited speculative construction, steady industrial absorption).

• Recommended a phased, flexible masterplan that would reparcel the site into smaller, 5–20+ acre tracts, address floodplain/wetlands and drainage with engineering solutions, and balances aviation-aligned uses (western parcels near airfield) with high-visibility commercial/industrial distribution (eastern parcels along Hwy 169).

• Suggested broad marketing/outreach to developers, brokers, and targeted clusters, leveraging Opportunity Zone and TIF benefits.

• Advised remaining open to logistics/distribution development despite airport preference for higher-value industries—viewing it as a short- to mid-term demand driver and gateway to diversified higher-paying uses over time.

Result

The plan positions the Mingo Airport site as:

• One of Tulsa’s premier, large-scale industrial development opportunities, with multimodal connectivity and adjacency to the nation’s largest airline MRO cluster.

• Attractive to both build-to-suit clients and speculative developers, offering flexibility between aviation-adjacent, logistics/e-commerce, data centers, flex-use industrial, and advanced manufacturing tenants.

• Capable of capturing near-term demand from distribution/logistics while preserving long-term potential for aerospace, data/tech, and advanced manufacturing clusters.

• Benefiting from strong regional growth, available incentives, and airport synergies—though requiring investment in flood mitigation, parcel reconfiguration, and infrastructure upgrades to unlock full development value.

The combined Tulsa Mingo Airport site has high strategic value given its scale, location, and infrastructure. While constraints (floodplain, airport runway uncertainty, fragmented parcels) must be engineered around, developing it with flexible planning, marketing to targeted clusters, and openness to logistics demand can catalyze regional growth and build momentum toward Tulsa’s long-term economic diversification goals.

After the study was completed, marketing efforts for the site have been partially successful and it is undergoing major planned development, with several significant projects and initiatives that will boost economic growth and transform the area:

• NorSun Solar Manufacturing Facility: A key new project is the construction of a $620 million solar wafer manufacturing plant by NorSun, a Norwegian company. This facility will occupy a 60-acre, shovel-ready greenfield site off Mingo Road. Scheduled to open by 2027, it will create about 320 jobs.

• Industrial Park Expansion: The North Mingo Industrial Park encompasses over 250 acres of developable property adjacent to US-169, just a mile from Tulsa International Airport. The park is supported by a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district that facilitates infrastructure investments, making it attractive for industrial, commercial, and potential aerospace tenants.

• TIF Program: Tulsa has established a robust framework using tax increment financing to fund infrastructure such as taxilanes, hangars, storage, water/sewer lines, roads, and building pads. 

• Land Use and Redevelopment: The airport’s master plan includes reserving large tracts of undeveloped airport property (bounded by Mingo Road, US-169, and 46th Street North) for aviation and non-aviation commercial use, future industrial, maintenance, and aerospace expansion, and support facility upgrades. 

• Recent Lease Agreements: In 2025, several sublease agreements have been approved, including NorSun OK, LLC, Hangar Club, LLC, and the Salina Economic Development Authority, indicating active expansion of tenant occupancy and business investment.