Week in Review: Couple Planning New Restaurant: Area Housing Starts Down in July
By Tulsa World, Okla.
Sep. 2–In the two years since Matt and Brooke Kelley sold the Atlas Grill downtown, the Tulsa couple have been planning their next restaurant, cultivating recipes and watching and waiting for just the right spot.
Now they’re just about ready.
This month the plan to open Lucky’s, a sleekly styled eatery serving American cuisine “with Southwestern hints,” Brooke Kelley said.
Lucky’s takes over the former Camarelli’s Italian bistro space at 1536 E. 15th St.
The Kelleys have invested $250,000 to rewire and replumb the building, replacing part of its glass front with solid panels, completely refurbishing the interior and repaving a crumbling parking lot.
The lunch and dinner menus feature soups, salads and starter items. Luncheon entrees and sandwiches range from $7 to a grilled tilapia for $15, and evening entrees start at $18.
July was a mixed month for Tulsa-area home construction, with the 329 housing starts falling below June’s level of 353 but outpacing July 2006.
Still, the year-to-date total from New Orders Weekly, 2,592, remains 8.6 percent lower
than last year.
Glenn Shaw, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa, blamed this year’s decline on harsh weather in January and February.
“Without the ice, this has been one of the best years we’ve experienced,” he said.
Greg Simmons of Simmons Homes said the Tulsa market still benefits from a healthy economy, as well as a large number of people moving in from out of state.
Global Power prepares to exit bankruptcy
Global Power Equipment Group Inc. announced Tuesday that it expects to file a plan in September to emerge from bankruptcy as a private company.
The Tulsa-based energy equipment manufacturer said it intends to exit Chapter 11 quickly and maximize recovery to all stakeholders.
John Matheson, president and CEO, said in a prepared statement that the company had reached an agreement that was a product of negotiations with noteholders and committees.
Global Power Equipment plans to file its plan, which is subject to bankruptcy court approval, by Sept. 10.
The company intends to make a rights offering available to all existing equity holders for the issuance of a new common stock of the reorganized company backstopped by a group of existing equity interests of up to $90 million to meet funding requirements of the plan, according to the statement.
Global Power said it anticipates emerging from Chapter 11 as a private company, with restrictions on the trading of new common stock.
The company declared bankruptcy last September, six months after it said it overstated profits in 2004 and 2005.
American Airlines adds time to flights
American Airlines said Wednesday it will add five to seven minutes to the time scheduled for each flight at its largest airports to reduce delays plaguing U.S. travel.
The airline, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., will begin operations earlier and fly later each day to avoid dropping any flights from its schedule, said David Cush, senior vice president of global sales.
American ranked 13th of 19 carriers in on-time arrivals for the year ending June 30. Only 73 percent of U.S. airline flights arrived on time in the first half of 2007, the worst rate since 1995, when the government began keeping comparable records.
“We’re adding back some aircraft ground time to take some pressure off” and reduce delays, said CEO Gerard Arpey.
The additional times will be added to “virtually all” flights from American’s largest hubs at Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago, Cush said in an interview. Time also may be added to flights at other hubs, Arpey said.
Just 57.9 percent of American flights were on time in June, a month when Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport had thunderstorms on more than 20 days.
In addition to extending flight times, American will increase the time it allocates for planes to sit on the ground between flights, Cush said.
The airline is also studying whether it can add efficiency by keeping flight attendants on the same planes. American earlier made such a change with its pilots.
Aerospace industry faces worker shortage
Oklahoma’s $12 billion aerospace industry needs training programs and tax incentives to prosper or it will stagnate and lose its most talented graduates and workers to other states, a study has found.
“Oklahoma’s Aerospace Industry Workforce: 2007 Report,” issued earlier this month by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Council for Workforce and Economic Development, said there are 535 aerospace companies in Oklahoma providing 115,772 direct and indirect jobs or 4.3 percent of the state’s total work force.
The report found aerospace jobs are superior to the typical job in Oklahoma because they pay an average of $54,719 a year compared with the average Oklahoma wage of $29,000.
But the future of the aerospace companies supplying those jobs is troubled by trained work-force shortages, the loss of university and vo-tech school graduates to higher-wage-rate states and impending retirements of many skilled workers, according to the study.
Tulsa jobless rate rises in July
Tulsa’s employment figures changed only slightly in July, with the number of jobs dipping while unemployment rose a fraction of a point.
The seven-county area recorded a 4.5 percent jobless rate last month, up from 4.4 percent in June, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported Thursday.
However, last month’s rate is significantly higher than the 3.7 percent reported in July 2006.
Bob Ball, research manager for the Tulsa Metro Chamber, said the growing labor force has contributed to the higher unemployment rate.
“People have entered the labor force in anticipation of going to work, and some haven’t gotten work yet,” he said.
Tulsa’s jobless rate remains below the statewide and national rates, both of which stand at 4.9 percent.
Mexican grill chain plans Tulsa location
The latest chain to enter Tulsa’s fast-casual dining market will open a restaurant this fall along the popular 71st Street business corridor.
Construction on Oklahoma’s first Chipotle (pronounced chi-POAT-lay) Mexican Grill at 10902 E. 71st St. began in late July, and the restaurant is expected to open in late October or early November, company spokesman Chris Arnold said.
Chipotle — started in 1993 by Culinary Institute of America graduate Steve Ells — is known for its simple menu of burritos; burrito bowls, or burritos without tortillas; tacos; and salads made to order in an open kitchen.
Diners customize their orders as they move through a line, interacting with line cooks.
The Tulsa restaurant is one of 110 to 120 locations opening this year, Arnold said. The Denver-based company operates more than 640 restaurants in 30 states.
Arnold said a location in Edmond will open early next year.
Chipotle makes its food fresh every day and has in the past several years turned to serving only naturally raised pork from family-owned farms.
Upcoming this week
Thursday — Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants “2007 CPA Career Night,” 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Hilton Southern Hills Hotel, 7902 S. Lewis Ave. Cost: $15 for OSCPA associates and student members, $50 for guests and nonmembers. Register: Ally Chrz at (405) 841-3800, or (800) 522-8261, ext. 3814; or visit www.tulsaworld.com/oscpacareer.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Tulsa World, Okla.
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