A Peek Into Western Supply, the Oklahoma Community for Remote Workers
GKFF is pouring $114 million into the housing needs of Tulsa's hybrid workforce. Senior Program Officer Josh Miller talks about one of the organization's most ambitious projects.
Western Supply, the 320-unit community currently underway in Tulsa, Okla., checks quite a few boxes: It’s the largest new downtown residential project in recent history, the biggest investment in Arts District housing to date and, last but not least, one of the few “talent villages” catering to the city’s growing remote workforce.
George Kaiser Family Foundation, a charitable organization, is behind this $114 million project, working alongside design firm Perkins Eastman, Crossland Construction, and PartnerTulsa, an authority of the City of Tulsa. The construction is about halfway complete, with 50 units ready for interior finish work to begin.
Rising at 424 N. Boulder Ave. on the former site of Western Supply warehouses, the community broke ground in 2023 and is slated for delivery next year. At full buildout, the six-story building will comprise one- to three-bedroom apartments averaging 917 square feet, at workforce and market rates. The affordable units will cater to residents earning between 60 and 120 percent of the area median income.
LISTEN TO: Serving Neighborhoods Through Workforce Housing
Western Supply’s workforce apartments are set to address a very specific need: housing remote workers. During the past seven years, more than 3,500 professionals have come to work in the city through Tulsa Remote—a program initiated and financed by GKFF. Of the total, 90 percent have remained in Tulsa beyond their 12-month commitment and 75 percent still live there today, Tulsa Remote data shows.
We asked GKFF Senior Program Officer Josh Miller to expand on how the construction process is going and share details about the impact Western Supply will have on the local community.
What was the concept behind Western Supply? What makes this project stand out?
Miller: Western Supply is designed to be a talent village that provides high-quality workforce housing for incoming and incumbent Tulsa talent that anchors the northwest corner of the Arts District. It will accommodate everyone, from remote workers, teachers and artists, to adult students and entrepreneurs.
The building has multiple coworking and gathering spaces intentionally designed for residents to engage with each other to create both a community within the building, but also to engage more civically in Tulsa overall.
How has the decision to target remote workers influenced the project’s design?
Miller: Every unit has a flex space that ranges in size, from a small office to an optional additional bedroom. There are also multiple remote and coworking spaces throughout the main amenity level as well as on each floor. Of course, the building also offers high-speed shared Wi-Fi for residents to facilitate easy remote work.
The seven-story Western Supply project is still under construction and slated for delivery in 2026. All renderings by TMRW Inc., courtesy of GKFF 
The community will include one- to three-bedroom apartments. 
There will be multiple coworking and gathering spaces throughout the building. 
For residents’ convenience, a market with grab & go food and grocery items will be available. 
One of the community’s interior courtyards will have a seating area and landscape. 
The property will also include a swimming pool within a second courtyard.
In what ways will the amenity package support the needs of remote-working residents?
Miller: There are multi-use fitness rooms, two interior courtyards—one more active with a swimming pool and grilling and one more passive with seating and landscape—a resident serving market for grab & go food and grocery items, as well as a small dog park. All of this is to afford residents as many conveniences as possible so they don’t necessarily need to leave the building.
What were some of the challenges you’ve faced so far in the development process?
Miller: The main challenge was the sharp rise in the cost of construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tulsa, even after COVID-19, is still one of the most affordable places to live in the country, so rents, while they did increase, still were not anywhere close to the rates of the construction increases. Therefore, it was very hard to make the project financially viable.
And how did you overcome this difficulty?
Miller: With the help of the Perkins Eastman design team and Crossland Construction shepherding the project through multiple redesigns and value engineering exercises, we believe we successfully threaded the needle on providing both a high-quality and high-design building that also offers affordable, workforce housing opportunities. The funding from the city of Tulsa’s Tax Increment Financing District, administered and approved by PartnerTulsa, also contributed to the project’s viability.
What can you tell us about the project’s expected impact on the broader Tulsa community?
Miller: With the incoming talent that will be living in Tulsa for the first time, like those from Tulsa Remote and other programs, and also the existing Tulsans, this is a real opportunity and hopefully amenity that helps them easily and meaningfully interact with the community, thus leading them to make Tulsa their long-term home. Additionally, at 320 units, this is a small, but meaningful step in helping address the city’s housing shortage.
