Seven years ago, the Tulsa World profiled a hazardous, city-owned eyesore left unattended in the heart of the burgeoning Pearl District. It took longer than desired, but a development plan is finally in place.

The journey from abandoned, crime-ridden, unlivable shelter to affordable and much-needed studio apartments is a credit to housing advocates pushing to find solutions.

Tulsa needs more of this type of work in housing — persevering through challenges and redeveloping existing dilapidated properties.

A five-building campus near Eighth Street and Quincy Avenue was originally the Tulsa Boys Home from 1948 to 1978. It was sold to the Oklahoma Welfare Department— later renamed the Department of Human Services — for $450,000.

It was the Laura Dester Shelter for abused and neglected children until 2010, and DHS declared the old property surplus in 2013.

The city of Tulsa purchased it in 2015 for $962,335 as part of the Sixth Street Infill (Pearl District) Plan. In January 2016, the city authorized the Tulsa Development Authority to act as an agent to acquire other properties in the area to redevelop.

Reporter Rhett Morgan explained in a recent story how plans from different developers fell apart and the property faced demolition. Complications arose between the city’s need for water retention areas and plans from developers.

Just as a new project was ready for an agreement, COVID-19 and supply-chain problems hit. The easy solution would have been the wrecking ball and bulldozer.

Instead, the group working on a deal stuck with it, keeping alive the possibility of restoring the property.

Local developer Amenome closed on the purchase of the property in February 2022, and the architecture firm Method Group will lead the development.

Amenome owner Kevin Rice noted that the buildings are on land listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He wanted to save the structures from a historical perspective.

Now called Quincy Park, the campus will become 72 studio apartments of about 350 square feet rented at around $700 a month.

Tulsa is at the front end of a housing shortage. This challenge has not devolved into a crisis as other cities have allowed; there is time to invest and turn it around.

A recent housing assessment determined that the city needs to invest about $245 million a year in housing in the next decade to meet demand. That public-private investment includes housing for residents across the economic spectrum.

As the Quincy Park project shows, this doesn’t have to be new housing on unoccupied land. Imagine what can be done with Tulsa’s dilapidated hotels, former retail stores, empty office buildings, old factories and substandard homes.

Properties dragging down neighborhood values and attracting crime can be transformed into jewels of an area. There just needs to be incentive and collaboration to make that happen.

We congratulate and thank all involved in the Quincy Park project — including the city of Tulsa, PartnerTulsa, Tulsa Development Authority and Amenome — for sealing the deal and becoming an example for others.