OKLAHOMA CITY The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority will offer 273 acres of land in an auction this week.
The 28 parcels for sale are in seven counties Oklahoma, Pawnee, Creek, Tulsa, Wagoner, Grady and Craig.
The auction is set for 10 a.m. Thursday at Dakil Auctioneers Inc., 200 NW 114th St. Registration will begin at 9 a.m.
The parcels are left over from land purchased to expand, widen or build new turnpikes, OTA spokeswoman Lisa Shearer-Salim said.
“The intent is not to have a lot of surplus properties but to get them back on the property tax rolls and being productive for citizens,” Shearer-Salim said.
Returning excess properties to the tax rolls has been at the forefront of OTA's mission since 2016 when Tim Gatz became executive director, she said. Although Gatz resigned from the position Feb. 28 following an attorney general’s ruling that he could not be executive director of both the OTA and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the priority remains.
Shearer-Salim said 336 acres were sold in two previous auctions. Sites alongside the turnpikes often are desirable for commercial development.
That includes approximately 20 acres next to the Kickapoo Turnpike that was purchased by the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. The tribe swapped the parcel with cattleman John Dorman for land adjacent to property it already owned, giving the tribe a 38-acre tract northeast of the turnpike and Britton Road.
Plans are to build a travel plaza at the location, followed by retail space, an RV park and eventually a hotel, said Tracy Qualls, the tribe’s CEO of economic development.
The Kickapoos hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at the site April 22.
“It’s sparked some major interest already,” Qualls said, adding it’s too early to say when the travel plaza will open.
The tribe will build the infrastructure needed for the entire development first, Qualls said. A contractor has not been selected yet.
The parcels to be auctioned Thursday include properties that are zoned for residential and agricultural use and ones that are not zoned. New property owners who wish to change the zoning will need to work with the local government where the property lies.
Acquiring property for turnpike projects can be difficult when owners don’t want to sell. “It’s emotional and it’s hard on everyone involved,” Shearer-Salim said.
“We may need only a piece of a parcel but during negotiations, the owner says they want us to take the entire parcel,” she said. “We always start at the fair market price but often the owner negotiates a higher price.”
In those cases, OTA is not going to make a profit from selling the surplus land after the project is completed, but it will get something to put back into operations and maintenance, she said.
OTA received $12.7 million in the prior two auctions for surplus land from properties it acquired for $23.4 million all-inclusive, which includes purchase price, moving costs, closing costs and consultant costs, Shearer-Salim said.
“So those numbers are not apples to apples with a lot of factors involved,” she said. “And of course, we were not selling all of the property we acquired.”
Go to the Dakil website for details on the 28 parcels and purchase terms.
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