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At the end of September, the Bartlesville Development Authority decided to send a recommendation to the Bartlesville City Council to allocate $203,830 to Foraker Company.

Those funds, if approved by the City Council on Monday, Oct. 7th, will be used by Foraker for the redevelopment of the Kmart facility located at the intersection of Frank Phillips Blvd and U.S. Highway 75. Jeremy Foraker is the President of Foraker Company, and he explained his business.

Primarily, Foraker Company focuses on value-add, big box redevelopment projects in Oklahoma. Foraker said that they do expand outside the state to Texas, Arkansas and Kansas as well.

Since joining the business, Foraker said he has about 40-plus projects under his belt. Looking ahead, Foraker Company is looking at redeveloping the old Kmart facility to open the door for 5 stores that are anticipated to go into the area. So far, Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Burkes Outlet, Tuesday Morning and a Dollar Tree expansion are anticipated to go into the redeveloped space.

Foraker said they could have laid it out where they only would have spaces available for 4 tenants instead of 5 tenants. However, Foraker feels that when they start renovating, constructing and separating the spaces, they will be able to attract the final tenant.

As for the stores themselves, Ollie's Bargain Outlet is an American chain of discount retail stores founded in 1982 with 330 locations in 23 states. They deal in merchandise obtained from various retailers, suppliers or manufacturers throughout the country, whether in the form of closeouts, bankruptcy sales or other similar means of buying the stock at below wholesale costs.

Burkes Outlet is a privately held company. Florida-based Beall's Inc. is the parent company of Burkes. The company was formed in 1915 and the corporation now operates over 500 retail stores. Customers at Burkes can find brand name apparel and accessories for the entire family at up to 70-percent off other stores' prices. Most Burkes stores carry shoes, home furnishings, gifts and toys.

As for Tuesday Morning, it is an American discount off-price retailer specializing in domestic and international, designer and name-brand closeout merchandise. The company has 700-plus stores across the U.S and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

And finally, there is Dollar Tree. This is an expansion of the Highway 75 store. This is located near Truity Credit Union and across the highway from ALDI. You can see an illustartion of what might become of the old Kmart facility below.

Foraker said they will work on the redevelopment process as soon as possible. There is no set date as to when they will begin, but he said it will be soon. Foraker said they still have design work to be done, approvals to get through and building permits to acquire.

That can be a lenghty process, but Foraker said he has been in discussions with the City of Bartlesville. He said he has met everyone and has seen their excitement for the project. He said they just want to see life back inside the old Kmart facility.

Foraker said he believes the City of Bartlesville will be easy to work with. Will will have more on this story in the days to come.