Tesla in Tulsa

[king183]

This is not correct. Negotiations are ongoing.

That's great, if true. I'm just saying in my experience, the public reaction of the mayor and the governor indicate negotiations are either not in an advanced stage or they aren't serious.

Obviously, I hope I'm wrong on this.

[shavethewhales]

In my experience working with companies similar to Tesla and knowing how we announced expansions to new cities, the site was already decided well in advance before anything--even speculation-- got to the media and negotiations were already well under way with the chosen city's leadership, who were required to stay very tight lipped. Based on how Stitt and Mayor Bynum are reacting to the speculation Tulsa is on the list, this leads me to believe there are no ongoing negotiations and Tulsa is likely out of the running at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if Austin was chosen weeks ago and negotiations are well under way, but Tulsa was reported because it became known that it was at one time under consideration/Telsa was conducting due diligence.

I agree. I wanted to believe that we had a chance, but all the rumors point to them having already decided on a piece of land just outside of Hutto, TX (far north end of the Austin metro).

The fact that Tulsa has been included in discussions is a nice ego boost for us though, and hopefully it shows that we have elevated our status enough to be considered for other major businesses looking for new locations as well. Maybe down the road even Tesla will come knocking again for some kind of facility. Apparently they did get shown around to a couple of sites, so they were interested enough to come out and look.

[Pete]

You can be sure by the time anything hits the media, these big deals have long been in progress with local municipalities and states because huge determining factors are public incentives, infrastructure improvements and real estate deals.

I've been following this sort of thing for decades and in all incidences, sites have been placed under contract and deals with the government are 99% done. Then, they use the threat of going elsewhere as a bargaining chip to get what they want where they've already decided they want to be.

For example, this proposed OKC Costo operations center has been in the works for at least a year and they have been negotiating with a specific property owner since the beginning. And when they had already placed the Western/Memorial site under contract, they were telling the city they would go to Edmond if they didn't get specific incentives. Amazon does this better than anyone.


I have no insight into this Tesla project, but you can almost guarantee the big decisions have been made and now they are merely playing cities and states against each other in order to get the best possible deal.

[Bunty]

In my experience working with companies similar to Tesla and knowing how we announced expansions to new cities, the site was already decided well in advance before anything--even speculation-- got to the media and negotiations were already well under way with the chosen city's leadership, who were required to stay very tight lipped. Based on how Stitt and Mayor Bynum are reacting to the speculation Tulsa is on the list, this leads me to believe there are no ongoing negotiations and Tulsa is likely out of the running at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if Austin was chosen weeks ago and negotiations are well under way, but Tulsa was reported because it became known that it was at one time under consideration/Telsa was conducting due diligence.

In your experience, do you ever find out why a city in the running was not selected?

[king183]

In your experience, do you ever find out why a city in the running was not selected?

We would never release anything publicly about why a city wasn’t chosen, but we would call the mayor and let them know at a high level. We would only get into certain specifics if they asked, but for the most part we kept our reasoning to ourselves.

In one example, we were choosing Dallas over Ft. Worth. The decision had been made long before we informed them, but as Pete alluded to, we needed to do a few more negotiations and discussions with Dallas city leaders. Once that was completed, we called Ft. Worth and just explained that we chose Dallas but would love to work with them in the future on something—and that’s it. A couple of the reasons, among many, which we didn’t tell them, was a more educated populous (and thus access to resources we wanted) and Dallas would make a bigger “splash” for the brand. Dallas’s city leaders/governance infrastructure was almost more mature and had been through the types of things we were going to be doing, so we anticipated fewer barriers working with them to get things like permits.

[Pete]

A few years ago, OKC was a finalist for a Macy's distribution center but they had already pretty much decided on Owasso simply due to better public incentives.

[PhiAlpha]

I know Tulsa just submitted their final package to Tesla last night so I guess we will know relatively soon.

[corwin1968]

Tesla has mentioned they want cars rolling off the line by end of the year. I have no idea how that is possible.

I was reading about Space X's "Starlink" last night and they are cranking out six satellites PER DAY. And launching them 60 at a time.

The man knows how to get things done.

[Laramie]

Found this by a poster on the Tulsa Now forum:

https://www.austinsaysno.com/

[gopokes88]

Found this by a poster on the Tulsa Now forum:

https://www.austinsaysno.com/

"“Austin Does SUCK! On Man! Where do I start??!!! I have been here going on 8 years and I have SEEN so many changes. Very pretentious!!! Like a little LA (it has been dubbed.) I am middle aged and this is not for people in my age group. Plus, almost ALL of the Iconic Austin Haunts (that made Austin...Austin) are going away.”

— Kimberly, 10/27/2019

The lack of self awareness by Kimberly here is *chefs kiss*

[king183]

"“Austin Does SUCK! On Man! Where do I start??!!! I have been here going on 8 years and I have SEEN so many changes. Very pretentious!!! Like a little LA (it has been dubbed.) I am middle aged and this is not for people in my age group. Plus, almost ALL of the Iconic Austin Haunts (that made Austin...Austin) are going away.”

— Kimberly, 10/27/2019

The lack of self awareness by Kimberly here is *chefs kiss*

I think more Kimberlys need to speak up. They have a very valuable POV and it must be heard loud and clear.

[Dustin]

So apparently they painted the tesla logo on the Tulsa Driller. A bit ironic, eh?

[jerrywall]

So apparently they painted the tesla logo on the Tulsa Driller. A bit ironic, eh?

And they painted the face as well.

[SEMIweather]

So apparently they painted the tesla logo on the Tulsa Driller. A bit ironic, eh?

this is so embarrassing

[BG918]

SpaceX has a facility outside McGregor, TX which is about an hour from Austin. Not sure if that plays any role but likely doesn’t hurt that they already have a presence in Texas. Honestly with Tulsa’s aerospace workforce SpaceX would probably be a better future fit if Tesla indeed sets up shop outside Austin.

[Ronnie Jackson]

this is so embarrassing

The whole situation is embarrassing. I get that both Cities need to diversify economically, but groveling at the feet of folks like Elon Musk just feels disgusting.

[BG918]

Reminds me of the Amazon HQ2 sweepstakes when it all likelihood they had already chosen NYC and Arlington (now just Arlington). Some think this type of recruitment with limited public funds within the same country should end and be replaced more with a national strategy instead of state vs state

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...llegal/575539/

[Pete]

Reminds me of the Amazon HQ2 sweepstakes when it all likelihood they had already chosen NYC and Arlington (now just Arlington). Some think this type of recruitment with limited public funds within the same country should end and be replaced more with a national strategy instead of state vs state

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...llegal/575539/

Or city by city, which happens just as often.

It allows businesses to hold cities and states hostage. It's pretty messed up and results in trillions in tax dollars being spent to subsidize private industry.

[dankrutka]

The whole situation is embarrassing. I get that both Cities need to diversify economically, but groveling at the feet of folks like Elon Musk just feels disgusting.

I hope Tulsans have some signs that read, "Come to Tulsa! We think X Æ A-12 is a great name!" lol

ICYMI: X Æ A-12 is the name of Elon's son, but I don't think it was allowed.

[gopokes88]

I kinda like it

[Eric]

I will give this to Tulsan's, there is nothing they think they can't do. Islands in the river. No prob. Olympics. Sure. Amazon HQ2. Why not.

Honestly, I hope for it, I just don't think a company run by this guy is coming to Oklahoma. Perceptions are what they are. the best chance OK has of getting a major national player, is probably already here (a smaller growing company).

[Eric]

The above post may seem harsh. Didn't mean it to be. I think Tulsa is a wonderful place to live and raise a family, and has a ton going for it. I just kind of get a kick out of how "proud" (I guess that's a good description) some people are of it. It's an interesting dynamic. You just don't hear the same moon shot type ideas from our friends down the pike. Again, neither stance is good or bad in my opinion, just an interesting observation. I sure as heck don't want to start an OKC vs Tulsa thread.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ I salute tulsa for that. Tulsa packs it punch against other cities it’s tier. The same can’t be said for OKC even though OKC is clearly the most dominant and sought after metro in the state. The two cities should be closer and the two mayors have agreed on that from what I’ve seen.

I hope, Enid, Elk City, Stillwater, Lawton,, and Ardmore play a bigger picture in growth soon.

[Bunty]

In some article I read, it said that Tesla had notified Nashville that it was no longer consideration. So nice to know that Tesla thinks Oklahoma would be a better for them than Tennessee.

[gopokes88]

There’s literally no downside for okc if Tesla goes to Tulsa.