Thu May 31, 2007
Tourism agency plans move to tourist siteRelated Information

By John Greiner
Capitol Bureau
The day before the Legislature went home last week, legislators authorized a $9 million bond issue for the Tourism and Recreation Department to buy half of the Journal Record Building near the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.

The agency has been looking for a new home for more than a year, spokesman Mike Fina said Wednesday. It now occupies the sixth floor and a coffee shop on the fifth floor of the First National Building in Oklahoma City.

State Rep. Susan Winchester, who is on the board of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation, suggested the agency look at the Journal Record Building, Fina said. After officials toured the building, legislation was introduced to obtain authorization for a bond issue to buy the east half of the building and refurbish it, Fina said.

If the sale goes through, the agency will own 80,000 square feet of space, he said.

The Journal Record Building is a great location to house the agency because it's near the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Fina said.

"One of the selling points is the memorial is the No. 1 visited tourist site in Oklahoma,” he said.

The agency had some preliminary negotiations with the City of Oklahoma City, which owns the building, and now will begin negotiations in earnest, Fina said.

The building at 621 N Robinson was damaged in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.

The federal building had to be razed, but the Journal Record Building survived.

"It's is such a sturdy old building. They didn't have to do a lot of structural changes,” Fina said. "It's a testament to what a great building it is.”

The Tourism and Recreation Department also will try to buy a 120-space parking lot across the street, he said.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum occupies the west side of the Journal Record Building.

The Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism is in the part of the building the tourism agency wants to buy, he said.

If the deal closes, the institute will remain in its current location and will lease the space from the Tourism Department, Fina said.