Published: September 22, 2008 10:52 am      

Showcasing Midwest City, EOC

The guest list for the 2008 Midwest City and Eastern Oklahoma County VIP Tour included everyone from real estate agents to bankers to politicians. Everyone gathered at the Rose State Performing Arts Theatre on Sept. 19 early in the morning to see what all this part of the county has to offer.

It wasn’t long before the sound of the gathering was drowned out by the flipping pages of maps as all those set to embark began scouting out the route. After a short briefing by such dignitaries as Mayor Russell Smith and David Burnett, Midwest City’s director of economic development, the tour was underway.

Kay Hunt, public relations specialist for Midwest City, said she sees Eastern Oklahoma County, and particularly Midwest City, as a place that is growing and prospering. She said that for too long the city has let outsiders shape people’s views of the community and recently the city has been working aggressively to sell people on what it has to offer.

“We’re experiencing the most exciting redevelopment,” Hunt said. “One of the things we [Midwest City] were in need of was literally tooting our own horn.”

The tour was divided into two main parts before it wrapped up with a luncheon at the new Boeing building.

The first section focused on all the businesses that conduct commerce in the Midwest City region. These included places like the 29th Street revitalization, Century Martial Arts, the new Journal Record Professional Building and the redevelopment of the Uptown Center and what all is going on with the Midwest City Regional Medical Center. Other areas of growth were also featured and the Reed Center and Sheridan Hotel were highlighted as well.

During this part of the tour, particular attention was paid to the aerospace industry in Midwest City. According to Hunt, Midwest City is working to establish itself as a capital of the aerospace industry, and currently the city has over 40 different aeronautical companies within city limits.

This product makes Midwest City unique.

With the location of Tinker Air Force Base, Midwest City is positioned to experience continued growth in this particular industry. Featured spots of this section included the new Boeing Office Building, MROTC, ARINC, Northrop Grumman and others.

After breaking at the new Tinker Federal Credit Union facility at 15th and Post, the tour continued, but this time it centered around residential real estate. Limited primarily to the eastern limits of Midwest City, the tour showed how Midwest City has been working with builders in an effort to beef up its housing market, Hunt said.

The tour concluded by stopping at the new Boeing building for lunch and a presentation by Ben Robinson, a retired brigadier general who now serves as the director of Boeing in Oklahoma City.

Robinson spoke of the unique situation of the Boeing building in this region. Being right across the street from its customer, Tinker Air Force Base, has really allowed it to develop a unique and prosperous partnership with the base. Robinson reiterated how Midwest City and the surrounding area really is a hub for aerospace and how the industry is one of the fastest growing in the state. What’s necessary for its continued growth, he said, is education. The company is currently in need of engineers to fill vacancies.

Boeing works as both a commercial and a defense company and Robinson said he sees the importance of maintaining a close relationship with the community.

“You can’t draw a line between community and customer, and we certainly don’t intend to,” Robinson said.

The dates of the tour vary. As much as one year to 18 months can pass before another tour sets out. With that much time in between, it’s hard to predict just how much growth the city may experience between one site-seeing venture to the next.