From the desk of David Stewart: Tulsa for Tesla
10/07/2020
If you live in Oklahoma, then there is no doubt you were aware of the possibility of Tesla coming to Northeast Oklahoma. For several months, we were inundated with creative messages from all over our state attempting to woo Elon Musk and his Cyber Truck Factory to Green Country. It was a hard-fought battle and we, as Oklahomans, should be proud of our efforts – especially to have made it to the shortlist between Oklahoma and Texas.
But, here’s what you didn’t know. MidAmerica Industrial Park was one of the three Oklahoma sites under consideration.
Our team found out in May that we were one of the three Oklahoma sites that interested Tesla. As you can imagine, we were beyond thrilled as we furiously prepared our pitch and site visit for the Tesla team. We had less than a month to pull everything together – and it had to be completely top secret. It was a whirlwind of a month, and things changed on a daily, almost hourly basis.
I could not have been more proud of our team, as we created a stunning presentation and compelling pitch to Tesla. Members of the Tesla executive team visited MidAmerica in early June, and we spent several hours with them at the potential site for the factory. They were quite impressed and surprised with everything we had to offer, from our infrastructure, workforce and quality of life surrounding the Park—with the opening of The District later this year.
Although we did not make the final site selection for Oklahoma, Tesla’s interest and feedback was genuine and appreciative; and their expectations of MidAmerica were definitely exceeded.
As we celebrate our 60 years of success this year, I would certainly count the Tesla pitch as one of those many successes. We may not have landed Tesla as a tenant, but that’s okay. One of the most exciting, successful and enlightened companies in the world took notice of us. They not only took notice, but took the time to visit in person—and without a doubt, they left with a favorable impression of not only MidAmerica Industrial Park, but also of our state.
In the midst of these uncertain times and an unprecedented year, this will certainly be a bright spot in MidAmerica’s history.