New Downtown Arena

[Laramie]

[Bellaboo]

I really want to visit Europe and I’m debating about doing it later in 2024. France or UK was my first thought.

Italy. X 10.

[Rover]

Where you go depends on what you enjoy or are looking for. England, France and Italy all offer different things. Spain is great too. But then Greece is interesting and beautiful. Austria. But I guess we are now way off topic for this thread.

[Laramie]

It's nice to see the confidence OKC voters had with the new proposed $900 million arena without seeing any renderings. To think it passed 7l-29% when many of the polls predicted it would fail.

You're going to see more renderings of potential developments. Just want to see groundbreaking on the Dream & Unscripted hotels.

Seeing the future arena and apartments-hotel complex with more towers added to the skyline.

Want to see our arena reflect the impressive Scotiabank Arena in Toronto:

Construction cost: $404 million in 2021/ Broke ground, 1999--$265 million

Naming Rights

How about the 'Devon Thunderdome.' or 'Tom & Judy Love Coliseum.'

[Rover]

It's nice to see the confidence OKC voters had with the new proposed $900 million arena without seeing any renderings. To think it passed 7l-29% when many of the polls predicted it would fail.

You're going to see more renderings of potential developments. Just want to see groundbreaking on the Dream & Unscripted hotels.

Seeing the future arena and apartments-hotel complex with more towers added to the skyline.

Want to see our arena reflect the impressive Scotiabank Arena in Toronto:

Construction cost: $404 million in 2021/ Broke ground, 1999--$265 million

Naming Rights

How about the 'Devon Thunderdome.' or 'Tom & Judy Love Coliseum.'

Naming rights stay with Paycom

[caaokc]

I hope they take a page out of Little Caesars Arena - they have restaurants and bars with office space above. Restaurants stay open year round and you can also enter them from inside the arena. It’s really cool.

[Laramie]

Naming rights stay with Paycom

Have no problem with the new arena being called Paycom Center); appreciate hearing that Rover, however do you have a link
to the transfer of Paycom's rights' to the new arena.

Our Paycom Center agreement was executed in 2020-21 (15 years); so that agreement would carry over into 2036. You would
think that Paycom could form an agreement with the new arena to transfer those rights.

[chssooner]

Have no problem with the new arena being called Paycom Center); appreciate hearing that Rover, however do you have a link
to the transfer of Paycom's rights' to the new arena.

Our Paycom Center agreement was executed in 2020-21 (15 years); so that agreement would carry over into 2036. You would
think that Paycom could form an agreement with the new arena to transfer those rights.

A new arena doesn't break a contract. That is common law. No need for a link. The agreement is with the THUNDER, not the arena. As long as the Thunder are a thing, there is no need for a link stating the agreement will continue.

[Laramie]

I hope they take a page out of Little Caesars Arena - they have restaurants and bars with office space above. Restaurants stay open year round and you can also enter them from inside the arena. It’s really cool.

Impressive NBA Arena in Detroit . . .

[jn1780]

Naming rights stay with Paycom

Plus Paycom is a good name. Better than fast food pizza.

[SagerMichael]

Paycom Palace

[Laramie]

Paycom Palace

$900 million, Paychom Palace has a nice ring to it. Like the Palace vs Arena, Center, Coliseum & Forum. City will pattern our new arena more closely to Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum:

[April in the Plaza]

Impressive NBA Arena in Detroit . . .

i tend to like the open concourse set up better (like FiServ Forum) but there's obviously a lot of value in having the concourses open on non-event days.

[Jersey Boss]

Paycom Palace

Nah, there is already a Palace on the Praire in Norman

[Bowser214]

I would like to see the Arena that would be an extension of the Myriad Gardens with green space out door cafes, water features lots of greenery bringing the outdoors indoors. Make it magical not sterile.

[CCOKC]

Impressive NBA Arena in Detroit . . .

I visited downtown Detroit in 2019 and was so surprised with how the Little Caesar Arena blended in with the surrounding buildings. Our Uber driver pointed it out to us as we passed by and it wasn't until we walked down Woodward Ave later that I figured out what he was talking about. It has so much retail attached the arenas just blends in with the streetscape. I am not sure if OKC could pull that concept out but I would love it personally. It doesn't hurt that Detroit has all 4 major league sports and the 3 venues are visible to each other. Plus, the Fillmore and Fox Theaters are right there also. Detroit's downtown is just so much mature than ours. Would building and arena spur development like this? I had heard how dead Downtown Detroit was but that was not my experience at all. Maybe moving all of the sports venues back downtown helped.

[jccouger]

Any chance of the group who owns the old Ford site agreeing to a land swap for the Cox/prairie surf site?

Arena between the 2 parks, along BLVD would create an iconic scene. The city wouldn't have to pay for demolition which is more money towards the arena.

The real estate group who has been sitting on this block for decades now would actually have parking & a facility they gain cash flow from.

I know we are in a rush to get rid of the Cox monstrosity but its at least being purposed now. Would rather get great use of that giant empty lot between our 2 world class parks. I know this would kind of kill the idea of keeping the Harvey spine but not sure how super important that is when the spine is basically dead everywhere else south of Devon.

[jn1780]

Any chance of the group who owns the old Ford site agreeing to a land swap for the Cox/prairie surf site?

Arena between the 2 parks, along BLVD would create an iconic scene. The city wouldn't have to pay for demolition which is more money towards the arena.

The real estate group who has been sitting on this block for decades now would actually have parking & a facility they gain cash flow from.

I know we are in a rush to get rid of the Cox monstrosity but its at least being purposed now. Would rather get great use of that giant empty lot between our 2 world class parks. I know this would kind of kill the idea of keeping the Harvey spine but not sure how super important that is when the spine is basically dead everywhere else south of Devon.

They wouldn't want the Cox/Prairie Surf facility that sits on the land. The parking garage is the only thing that would make them money. Tearing down the facility would probably be part of any land swap deal which is a possibility.

[warreng88]

Any chance of the group who owns the old Ford site agreeing to a land swap for the Cox/prairie surf site?

Arena between the 2 parks, along BLVD would create an iconic scene. The city wouldn't have to pay for demolition which is more money towards the arena.

The real estate group who has been sitting on this block for decades now would actually have parking & a facility they gain cash flow from.

I know we are in a rush to get rid of the Cox monstrosity but its at least being purposed now. Would rather get great use of that giant empty lot between our 2 world class parks. I know this would kind of kill the idea of keeping the Harvey spine but not sure how super important that is when the spine is basically dead everywhere else south of Devon.

If that were to happen, it would probably be a land swap and the city would have to demo the old Myriad site for them as that would cost a ton as well.

The issue you would have would be with the design and not creating another super block which would block off access between the parks. In my mind, I would rather have it on the Myriad site with amenities on the same block, REHCO redeveloped by Midtown renaissance (owners) and the old arena torn down and redeveloped into a Texas Live type of development to bridge everything.

[jn1780]

Some of those demolition costs would be offset by money saved not having to dig down for the main concourse to be street level.

[Bellaboo]

Some of those demolition costs would be offset by money saved not having to dig down for the main concourse to be street level.

That would actually be quite a bit of savings, especially not having to haul tons upon tons of dirt. I would suspect the rest of the garage would be removed as well.

[BoulderSooner]

Some of those demolition costs would be offset by money saved not having to dig down for the main concourse to be street level.

i think the sub level demo would actually make it more expensive not less ..

[Dob Hooligan]

That would actually be quite a bit of savings, especially not having to haul tons upon tons of dirt. I would suspect the rest of the garage would be removed as well.

Then you would need to offset the lost parking.

I think the big value is in having the arena on the Myriad site with a focus on year round, non-event revenue generation. And the Paycom site being used for more of the same, while providing seamless interaction with the Convention Center.

[jn1780]

i think the sub level demo would actually make it more expensive not less ..

Keyword is Some. And also the assumption is that the city will have to make pay for the Cox demolition no matter what site gets picked. No one is going to build anything on top of the garage in its current state. So its either be demolished for someone else or demolished directly for the arena.

Then you would need to offset the lost parking.

An attached parking garage will probably be part of the Arena complex with or without the Cox center parking.

[HFAA Alum]

Then you would need to offset the lost parking.

I think the big value is in having the arena on the Myriad site with a focus on year round, non-event revenue generation. And the Paycom site being used for more of the same, while providing seamless interaction with the Convention Center.

In speaking of big value, I may have an idea for the development and how it could better integrate with the parks and interactive nature of the surrounding places, not to mention increase tourism for the city in general. I've been taking a moment to ponder the possibilities of how to utilize the Paycom site. The first would be to take some of the site and turn it over to the mixed development Boulevard Place, it increases the size of commercial possibilities so that more venders can lease space, and increase the footprint for residential, even with the current height limitations invoked.

My second idea is more of an apple-pie-in-the-sky approach, but would be a huge drive for tourism. It utilizes the aquarium plan, provided we're using the same developers for the one in Atlanta. Granted it won't be as big, but I believe that it would probably be just as profitable.


To give a further explanation of what's going on, I'll highlight some things. The block that houses the Paycom would be demolished and transformed into a mixed commercial parking structure that would encompass both facilities, the new arena and the aquarium. Some of the aquarium grounds would be located on the block as well, but also over Reno Avenue (currently Thunder Drive), that area will mainly consist of a large skybridge structure housing things like a food court, gift shops, arcades, displays of smaller marine life, etc, The four-block superstructure will be the bulk of the aquarium itself, housing a lot of the displays for the larger marine animals, this also will make room for the number of aquatic tunnels that are so often seen in the Atlanta development, giving the viewer an endless view of marine life taking place throughout the exhibit. And of course, there will be a skylight to reinforce the necessity for natural light to enhance the experience. The tunnel for Reno Drive will also house a virtual display along the walls, advertising both the aquarium and the home team Thunder. The space can also be used for advertising of local businesses and developments, while also being a pretty lively place to drive through at night coming to and from Thunder games. Granted, this would probably be a $2.3 billion project, taking into account the currently estimated $1 billion in funding allocated for the arena. But it will be a great interaction to have this aquatic space between the forest of the Myriad and the open air venture of Scissortail Park.