New Downtown Arena

[Tyson]

Prairie Surf is my favorite option because not only cause I'd like for it to get torn down but it also leaves the opportunity for high rise development on the REHCO property to fill in the skyline gap between Devon and BOK. Not complaining about any option they choose cause I'm just so happy it's happening!!

[Pete]

I just worry about moving the arena farther from Bricktown.

We don't need to try and create yet another entertainment district; we need to better bridge the things we do have and stop spreading ourselves so thin all the time. Makes it very hard to create critical mass in a city with no true center and I've been saying this for decades.

Bricktown should be awesome and not only that, it gives visitors a place to go and walk around. That already happens to a fair degree but we need to finally get that canal to the place it should be.

[Tyson]

I just worry about moving the arena farther from Bricktown.

We don't need to try and create yet another entertainment district; we need to better bridge the things we do have and stop spreading ourselves so thin all the time. Makes it very hard to create critical mass in a city with no true center and I've been saying this for decades.


Bricktown should be awesome and not only that, it gives visitors a place to go and walk around. That already happens to a fair degree but we need to finally get that canal to the place it should be.

Thanks for putting that to words so well... that helps me form my opinion more clearly. Bricktown is so impressive and holds so much of the city's charm.

[chssooner]

I still like the Cox site. Why create a second super block on the RECOH site?

[jdross1982]

I just worry about moving the arena farther from Bricktown.

We don't need to try and create yet another entertainment district; we need to better bridge the things we do have and stop spreading ourselves so thin all the time. Makes it very hard to create critical mass in a city with no true center and I've been saying this for decades.

Bricktown should be awesome and not only that, it gives visitors a place to go and walk around. That already happens to a fair degree but we need to finally get that canal to the place it should be.

I know it is not going to be on this site but that is why I mentioned up thread that putting the arena in East Bricktown would be a huge win as well.

[Bill Robertson]

I just worry about moving the arena farther from Bricktown.

We don't need to try and create yet another entertainment district; we need to better bridge the things we do have and stop spreading ourselves so thin all the time. Makes it very hard to create critical mass in a city with no true center and I've been saying this for decades.

Bricktown should be awesome and not only that, it gives visitors a place to go and walk around. That already happens to a fair degree but we need to finally get that canal to the place it should be.

This. And very well put. The COX site best unifies the entertainment areas already existing. Solidifying one area as the downtown entertainment destination. I hope, and believe, the city decision makers think this also.

[catcherinthewry]

I would be willing to bet it will be MidFirst Bank. They may be the only Oklahoma City bank large enough to fund a loan like this. Or BOK. Can't just have any bank front $10's of millions. Only certain banks are even legally allowed to.

And I doubt they would use a Chase or Bank of America for them.

I know someone who makes big loans for MidFirst. With a project this size they normally partner with several other banks to spread out the risk. Of course he does commercial lending so it might be different in the case of a municipal loan.

[Pete]

There are also a ton of hotels in Bricktown (11 + several more just to the east) and those in the CBD would still be very close to Cox: Skirvin, Colcord, National, Sheraton, Wyndham, Courtyard; even the Omni and Fairfield are just a block away. And of course, the Boardwalk at Bricktown would be close to the Cox as well.

[EtanEiko]

Do we have any idea when the location of the new arena will be selected?

[Pete]

Do we have any idea when the location of the new arena will be selected?

It almost has to happen sometime next year.

It takes a long time to finalize the design, draw up all the construction docs, and then build something this large and elaborate elaborate.

[warreng88]

I know someone who makes big loans for MidFirst. With a project this size they normally partner with several other banks to spread out the risk. Of course he does commercial lending so it might be different in the case of a municipal loan.

Me too, it is called syndicated lending. Five banks partner together and each has a chunk of the loan with one lead bank. This is not to be confused with participation lending.

[Canoe]

If it does go on that parcel, you may remember that the preliminary designs for the convention center went to great lengths to preserve the "Harvey Spine". I'm not sure how important that is considering Devon is right in the middle and a good deal of the time you can't pass through the rotunda (on Harvey) anyway.

But I would hope they would find a way to link the two parks that did not involve an enclosed structure, as more often than not they are locked up.

Again, I'm more worried about leaving the Cox Center which would be a great travesty IMO. That place should have been torn down a long time ago and if not now, when?

Pete,

Can you make the case on why the Cox Center should be torn down? It is just old or is that the curb appeal is it out of fashion?

[Pete]

It almost has to happen sometime next year.

It takes a long time to finalize the design, draw up all the construction docs, and then build something this large and elaborate elaborate.

Here is the schedule for the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

Keep in mind, they already had and controlled the site, they had a ton of lead-up and design time before this version was published (they had proposed various designs as much as two years before this), the site was very easy and straightforward, AND even though this schedule was shared right before the start date, they *still* missed groundbreaking by over 6 months. On top of all that, they already had MAPS 3 money to spend and were moved up to first in line for MAPS 4, so the big financing issue for the arena was never a factor here.

They want the new arena to be open no later than 2029 and prefer 2028. They have to get moving *now* and I'm sure they've done a lot of prep work but they really can't spend any money on designs until the site is finalized and they get their financing in order.

So, before they can even start any of the steps shown below, they have to decide on a site which almost certainly is going to be complicated, just with negotiations and then figuring out what would be required at that site.

Realistically, to be open before 2030, they have five years to get this done to provide for the inevitable slippage.

[jn1780]

Pete,

Can you make the case on why the Cox Center should be torn down? It is just old or is that the curb appeal is it out of fashion?

Not Pete, but yes to both. Plus, it operates at a lost. City justifies that by saying we need to grow film industry.

[Pete]

The Cox site has been obsolete for a long time and was 100% superfluous when the new convention center opened.

Unless you actually walk around the perimeter of the building -- which I've done many times -- you don't realize what a completely dead, ugly, and barrier to movement it presents.

Even the few windows on the north and south elevations are black and you can't see in at all. We might as well have the county jail there, right in the center of billions of public and private investment.

[Shortsyeararound]

Ok- there are just too many posts to go back and scour, but I have two questions;

If the Cox site was chosen, where would Prairie Surf go?

And does the money that was earmarked for the Paycom shift into this or will they still use that to upgrade until the new arena opens?

[Teo9969]

Ok- there are just too many posts to go back and scour, but I have two questions;

If the Cox site was chosen, where would Prairie Surf go?

And does the money that was earmarked for the Paycom shift into this or will they still use that to upgrade until the new arena opens?

Yes, MAPS 4 money is reallocated to this project

[king183]

Who owns the lot east of the Bricktown Ballpark? Is it the city? Or the owners of the Okc Dodgers? That seems like an interesting option.

[caaokc]

The Cox site has been obsolete for a long time and was 100% superfluous when the new convention center opened.

Unless you actually walk around the perimeter of the building -- which I've done many times -- you don't realize what a completely dead, ugly, and barrier to movement it presents.

Even the few windows on the north and south elevations are black and you can't see in at all. We might as well have the county jail there, right in the center of billions of public and private investment.

I've also herd that structurally, the building is NOT great - basically hanging on by a thread

[JAW]

It really needs to be the Cox site. If a tunnel can be built that pours right into the canal, that would do so much for revitalizing the canal and Bricktown in general. Right now, Paycom feels disconnected from Bricktown, because theres a major street, a rail, and two parking lots on the east side of said road/rail that lead you to the lazy lower Bricktown area. Imagine people leaving the game and walking right into the upper canal, what that would do for development of upper Bricktown (and by extension, lower Bricktown).

Do we know what will happen with Prairie Surf? Any rumblings of a new building of their own? I'm not that familiar with how well they're doing financially, and if they have the investors to develop their own modern soundstage complex. It would be nice to keep Prairie Surf Studios sometime downtown, even though that Cox site really needs to go to the new arena.

[Pete]

Who owns the lot east of the Bricktown Ballpark? Is it the city? Or the owners of the Okc Dodgers? That seems like an interesting option.

The City owns that lot.

[chssooner]

Who owns the lot east of the Bricktown Ballpark? Is it the city? Or the owners of the Okc Dodgers? That seems like an interesting option.

I don't want to force the relocation of the comedy club. It was hard enough for OKC to actually get a comedy club (and a very good one, with top-notch acts all the time). Now we want to make them move?

Nah. If they move, they may not re-open. They aren't super high-margin venues. Plus, that close to the Criterion? I don't know if that lot is even big enough, in the end.

[Pete]

Regarding Prairie Surf, they do not seem to be that busy, especially after Tulsa King left.

There are a handful of local companies that generate as much production, they are just in smaller facilities. As a reminder, the city's deal with PS is a money-loser, several hundred thousand a year.

The city has the right to turn out PS after the base term of 5 years, so they may need to buy them out (ironic because the city is already losing money) and get them to move on. Since the lease started in 2021, they have the right to be there through 2026 and obviously they would have to be long gone before demolition and construction could start.

[BoulderSooner]

Who owns the lot east of the Bricktown Ballpark? Is it the city? Or the owners of the Okc Dodgers? That seems like an interesting option.

there are a few issues with that lot ... 1 it is not big enough unless you ED all of the land to the north all the way to sheridan

2 the arena would then required to be brick ... and parking would also be a bigger issue .. then the cox site or west of the current arena ..

[jdross1982]

I don't want to force the relocation of the comedy club. It was hard enough for OKC to actually get a comedy club (and a very good one, with top-notch acts all the time). Now we want to make them move?

Nah. If they move, they may not re-open. They aren't super high-margin venues. Plus, that close to the Criterion? I don't know if that lot is even big enough, in the end.

The site is 3.5 additional acres than the paycom complex now.