New Downtown Arena

[Sean21]

It’s gonna be on the cox center site. This shouldn’t be a discussion at this point. Paycom will be demolished

[Urbanized]

A highly qualified source has been sharing the polling with me for the past few weeks at it has always been around 60-30 with the balance undecided. Seems the undecideds fully swung to “yes.”

[macchiato]

Thank GOD it's over, so much bickering over what was assured. Let the countless speculation over potential site locations start. I'm throwing my hat in for the Producers Co-Op Oil Mill site, such a prime location.

[Urbanized]

It’s gonna be on the cox center sight. This shouldn’t be a discussion at this point. Paycom will be demolished

Well, hate to break it to you but it IS a discussion point.

[Laramie]

Proposition to fund new $900 million Downtown Oklahoma City arena passes.

KOCO-TV 5 - The passage comes with an agreement from the Thunder to stay in Oklahoma City through 2050
With all precincts reporting, about 71% of voters were in favor of funding a new downtown Oklahoma City arena.
More than 41,000 voters cast ballots to approve the proposition.

The newly approved plan calls for the arena to be funded by extending the MAPS 4 one-cent sales tax for an additional six years, which would include $70 million from previous money already set aside for the Paycom Center. The one-cent sales tax won't start until 2028.

Thunder ownership also agreed to contribute $50 million.

Keep OKC Big League campaign says vote will have long-lasting impact on city.

.

[April in the Plaza]

Thank GOD it's over, so much bickering over what was assured. Let the countless speculation over potential site locations start. I'm throwing my hat in for the Producers Co-Op Oil Mill site, such a prime location.

It won’t be there. We know that for sure.

[PhiAlpha]

It won’t be there. We know that for sure.

Let the next round of bickering begin!!!!

[macchiato]

It won’t be there. We know that for sure.

Yeah I'm aware it's an oil contamination site that would likely cost a billion to clean up but a kid can dream.

[jn1780]

Hard to beat free land. Biggest expense with Cox site is demolition and utility relocation. Budget will dictate where it goes.

[Teo9969]

Potential sites would include:

1. Cox Site
2. Strawberry Fields
3. Rehco
4. Producers Coop
5. Lower Parkside
6. Somewhere Riverside

Can anywhere else downtown even make sense from a footprint perspective?

[Urbanized]

Hard to beat free land. Biggest expense with Cox site is demolition and utility relocation. Budget will dictate where it goes.

Time is money, and time will be as important to the selection process as is money. There is more to this than you are considering.

[Sean21]

Time is money, and time will be as important to the selection process as is money. There is more to this than you are considering.

Then be all mean tell us. We’re all ears.

[jn1780]

Open field at Chisholm Creek it is then! Lol But, seriously negotiating land purchases takes time also. I could be lacking in imagination, but more likely I just remember how the convention center site selection went down. Maybe that's the surprise ?

[Laramie]

Potential sites would include:

1. Cox Site
2. Strawberry Fields
3. Rehco
4. Producers Coop
5. Lower Parkside
6. Somewhere Riverside

Can anywhere else downtown even make sense from a footprint perspective?

We should see a site selected soon--Early 2024. Imagine the impact on the skyline a $900 million arena will
make on Oklahoma City, hope it's as impressive as Kansas City's T-Mobile and seat well over 18,203 and slightly
over 750k total square footage. This will be BIG LEAGUE!
.

[borchard]

OK, wait. Let me put on my kevlar armor before I say this..... Why not the Fairgrounds?
1. TONS of "free" land
2. Copious parking
3. There's NOTHING there, and it would help the fairgrounds.
4. It would mostly likely spur economic growth around the fairgrounds, which could really use it.

There. I said what I said. It is what it is.

Discuss

[Urbanized]

No.

[jn1780]

OK, wait. Let me put on my kevlar armor before I say this..... Why not the Fairgrounds?
1. TONS of "free" land
2. Copious parking
3. There's NOTHING there, and it would help the fairgrounds.
4. It would mostly likely spur economic growth around the fairgrounds, which could really use it.

There. I said what I said. It is what it is.

Discuss

The horses were the ones who voted no last night. They were hoping for a MAPS for mega horse barns.

[Canoe]

OK, wait. Let me put on my kevlar armor before I say this..... Why not the Fairgrounds?
1. TONS of "free" land
2. Copious parking
3. There's NOTHING there, and it would help the fairgrounds.
4. It would mostly likely spur economic growth around the fairgrounds, which could really use it.

There. I said what I said. It is what it is.

Discuss

I can see it now. Cut back from a commercial break: "Welcome back to the Oklahoma State Fair and OKC Thunder Basketball." I am sure the other Oklahoma state fair will love this idea.

[caaokc]

It’s pretty clearly gonna be the Cox/prairie surf site. Prairie Surf’s website says it 1.3 million square feet. So much room to work with.

[PoliSciGuy]

OK, wait. Let me put on my kevlar armor before I say this..... Why not the Fairgrounds?
1. TONS of "free" land
2. Copious parking
3. There's NOTHING there, and it would help the fairgrounds.
4. It would mostly likely spur economic growth around the fairgrounds, which could really use it.

There. I said what I said. It is what it is.

Discuss

To give a non-snarky answer: because the city and businesses have invested a lot in the Bricktown/Scissortail area and rely on a lot of foot traffic from game days. There is no supporting hotel or restaurant infrastructure out by the fairgrounds. Now, if we really wanted to go nuts and build a mixed used development out there, that includes businesses and hotels, then we’re talking. But we’re also talking about a much more massive outlay of public funds.

[Urbanized]

It’s pretty clearly gonna be the Cox/prairie surf site. Prairie Surf’s website says it 1.3 million square feet. So much room to work with.

It’s not clear at all. I am personally rooting for that location, but there are some barriers. Just as there are barriers to other locations. In the case of Prairie Surf the primary obstacle is time. And Prairie Surf’s lease.

[caaokc]

It’s not clear at all. I am personally rooting for that location, but there are some barriers. Just as there are barriers to other locations. In the case of Prairie Surf the primary obstacle is time. And Prairie Surf’s lease.

That’s true, it’s just the most consistent one I’ve read.

[Urbanized]

The Thunder wants to be in the new building in ‘29 or ‘30. The Prairie Surf site is subject to a currently-in-place lease, which would require some type of buyout and relocation consideration. The Prairie Surf site is also in a massive structure that will probably take a full year to demolish and prepare for a new building, but not after a massive amount of mechanical that run through the building are relocated. Lots of complicating factors and a tight timeline. Other sites are nearly build-ready.

All of that said, the Prairie Surf site makes the most sense for the City and for the urban fabric, and the giant site offers much more co-development and integrated mixed use opportunity.

[therhett17]

Build it on the old Ford site between Myriad Gardens and Scissortail Park. That lot is such an eyesore

[jn1780]

I guess we will just have to wait for a formal cost-benefit analysis for each potential site. I just don't think that much time is saved with other sites, not enough time saved anyway with the other costs associated with those sites. Producers Coop maybe if they started cleaning it up really soon.

The old Ford dealership site could be play, if they did a land swap for Paycom or Cox land.