On the site of an historic former hospital, officials on Thursday planted an entrepreneurial seed that will bear fruit for generations, Tulsa business catalyst Rose Washington-Jones said.

An estimated crowd of 200 turned out for the grand opening of the more than $9 million Greenwood Entrepreneurship at Moton (GEM), an incubator dedicated to workforce development and economic opportunity in north Tulsa.

Washington-Jones called “sacred” the redeveloped Moton Hospital property, which dates to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre era.

“If this ground could speak, if these walls could tell their story, we would hear both unimaginable pain and unwavering resilience,” said Washington-Jones, who, as CEO of the Tulsa Economic Development Corporation (TEDC), helped spearhead GEM. “We would hear the echoes of the 1921 Race Massacre just beyond these streets, just beyond these doors.

“But we would also hear the determination of a community that refused to be erased. Today, more than 100 years later, we stand together not divided by history but united by purpose. We stand hopeful for the entrepreneurial dreams that will be born here, the business plans that will be built here, the aha moments experienced when problems are solved, the technical assistance gained here, the skills that will be sharpened here and the pride that will be felt by every person who passes by and simply knows this is ours.”

The Moton Hospital was erected originally as the Maurice Willows Hospital after the Tulsa Race Massacre, acting as a crucial component in the health care of victims of the deadly attack on Greenwood. A decade later, it was renamed for Robert Russa Moton (former president of the Tuskegee Institute) and W.A. Morton (a doctor at the health center).

The clinic relocated to a new building in 2006 with support from Tulsa’s Vision 2025 program. The City of Tulsa, PartnerTulsa and TEDC were among the collaborators on GEM.

To make way for the hub, the Tulsa Development Authority completed demolition on non-historic buildings at the site in December 2022 and approved the sale of land and redevelopment with TEDC in January 2023.

The project was funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money from the City of Tulsa ($4 million) and Tulsa County ($1 million), a $3 million award from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and $1 million from TEDC.

“That kind of trust and partnership is what makes transformation possible,” said Washington-Jones, who served as chair of the Tulsa Regional Chamber Board of Directors in 2021. “Our exceptional project team was not afraid to tackle the unknowns of what would be uncovered in a crumbled, 94-year-old building with a fully collapsed roof resting on the floor and nine feet of water in the basement...”

The three-story GEM, located at 609 E. Pine St., encompasses roughly 10,000 square feet.

“As we come together, we are reminded that there is someone who’s going to have an idea, but they don’t know where to start, and they are going to find that here,” Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said. “There’s going to be somebody, because we came together as partners, who’s working two jobs and who is ready to build something on their own, and they will come here. There’s someone who has all the talent in the world. They have all the drive and they have the vision, but they’ve not always had access to the network and the resources necessary, but they will come here.”

“…Be reminded of those people whose lives will change here and what that does for the community, and then ask yourself, ‘Is there any argument? Is there any division that is worth throwing that aside. I think that answer is ‘no.’”

GEM will be the headquarters of Black Tech Street, whose founder and CEO, Tyrance Billingsley II, vision is to restore Greenwood to its former commercial glory through tech education and AI and cybersecurity training.

“What our ancestors did with the obstacles that they faced is one of the greatest accomplishments in human history,” he said. “While we face challenges today, we don’t have the same barriers they had. So, we have no excuse to not only rebuild but to build something that was greater than what even they could have imagined.”