OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark

[MagzOK]

I know it mentions a ferry, but do you know if there's any chance of another pedestrian bridge to connect this portion to the canal area? I would think it would be very cool to be connected to the OKC trails network since it is the riverfront. I understand the location is cut off from there by the two interstates, but would something be possible.

[Pete]

I know it mentions a ferry, but do you know if there's any chance of another pedestrian bridge to connect this portion to the canal area? I would think it would be very cool to be connected to the OKC trails network since it is the riverfront. I understand the location is cut off from there by the two interstates, but would something be possible.

The river trail already runs to this location.

And there are plans to add a pedestrian bridge to the north side of the river, and the trail will run along there as well:

[PoliSciGuy]

I wonder if there's any plans to tie in the Bricktown canal into the river proper? I know it's not that long of a walk from where the ferry lets you off into Bricktown, but it'd be neat to hop on a ferry in the heart of Bricktown and take it all the way back to the resort. Is the streetcar gonna head across the river as well?

Fun infrastructure questions to think about! Love the possibility of this resort and hopefully more development for the area in general.

[Jake]

^ think someone mentioned that the canal and the river are at different elevations so it's almost impossible to do that unless you built like a complicated lock system.

[Pete]

Right, the canal and river can't be directly connected but the two are within fifty feet of each other. You can take the canal boat to the southern turnaround, hop out and get on a river cruiser.

You can see the river inlet to the right-center here; the boats dock right near the benches. You can also see the difference in grade, hence the winding sidewalk that connects the two bodies of water.

[oklip955]

Any long term plans for the areas east like east of Eagle park. or the area around Eastern and Reno. Its seems like Eastern and Reno is home to homeless people and pan handlers last time I was down in the area. Understand if you go farther east you hit okc land fill areas.

[oklip955]

Also sad thing when going down I 35 say around NW 23 I think you see the land fills to the south. Same when on I40 around Rockwell. Welcome to OkC and look at our land fills. This is not what most people want to see when driving through on the interstates. It really really gives a bad impression of okc. Okc must just be garbage. Hopefully something can be done long term to make these areas look a bit better.

[David]

What a home run for the city, gonna be a few years but this will be fun to watch go up.

Edit: I am also curious about the OKANA name. I like it, I'd just like to know more.

[oklip955]

A agree that is can be a big draw. If one goes to Europe andyou talk to people, our western/Native American heritage are of interest to them. We need to make more of it. More things to do to draw the international tourist. With more of western Europeans being fully vaccinated and tired of lockdowns, and easier to travel to the US, we will hopefully see more international tourism putting money into the local economy.

[jccouger]

Also sad thing when going down I 35 say around NW 23 I think you see the land fills to the south. Same when on I40 around Rockwell. Welcome to OkC and look at our land fills. This is not what most people want to see when driving through on the interstates. It really really gives a bad impression of okc. Okc must just be garbage. Hopefully something can be done long term to make these areas look a bit better.

lol it mostly just looks like a giant dirt/grass mound. I don't think thats a big issue.

[Laramie]

Good partnership with the tribe on this development that will add another luxury hotel to Oklahoma City's portfolio. 400 rooms added to the 606 room Omni & the 146 at FNC will provide 1,152 luxury rooms to our room count.

Not quite ready to add the 374 room two tower 250 high rise hotels from the Randy & Brad Hogan development until something concrete is announced.

Imagine the conventions OKC will be able to bid for in the future.

[Rover]

A agree that is can be a big draw. If one goes to Europe andyou talk to people, our western/Native American heritage are of interest to them. We need to make more of it. More things to do to draw the international tourist. With more of western Europeans being fully vaccinated and tired of lockdowns, and easier to travel to the US, we will hopefully see more international tourism putting money into the local economy.

Would help tremendously if we had at least ONE flight direct from a gateway European city.

[Rover]

Good partnership with the tribe on this development that will add another luxury hotel to Oklahoma City's portfolio. 400 rooms added to the 606 room Omni & the 146 at FNC will provide 1,152 luxury rooms to our room count.

Imagine the conventions OKC will be able to bid for in the future.

Colcord is luxury hotel as well. Ambassador too.

[Laramie]

Colcord is luxury hotel as well. Ambassador too.

Thanks for the reminder. Count up to 1,317

[PhiAlpha]

Colcord is luxury hotel as well. Ambassador too.

and the skirvin

[HFAA Alum]

Some better renderings:

YES! YES! That's what I'm talking about! Riverfront development with crossings to the north side!

This is the beginnings of a beautiful trend I can see developing for the southern riverside. If this gets conceptualized and completed, we will be seeing a trend of riverside venues that will look into establishing commercial and residential developments to anchor it's way to the boathouse. Boardwalks are born of stuff like this, with this and the National Heritage Museum being the anchors, you can bet that tourism will explode for the city. Couple this with the new soccer stadium in development, the encroaching fun district to couple with that already accounted for in the MAPS budget, the renovations to the Paycom Center, roadway expansion, the expansion/modernization of the skyline, and future investments into the northeast quadrant, we are looking at a true renaissance taking place here. I didn't even need to mention stuff like the OAK development and the Classen Curve getting all those new residential midrise and luxury living projects.

Looking into the development costs, I can surmise that this should be a four-year to five-year project barring any delays and budgetary issues. If the OMNI, from groundbreaking to opening day, took three years to build with seventeen stories, this eleven-story endeavor should take four with the ground breaking planned for sometime next year with another year accounted for asset installation. And with crossings made to the other side of the river, it opens the door for widespread commercial implementation along the east-side riverbank. Might as well start planning a boardwalk to connect Wheeler District to this project. If people say that the river leads to nowhere, might as well make the river the destination.

This is a great vision leading to greater possibilities. OKC will soon become a fly-in destination over the next twenty years, ten if it starts really booming up but let's be fair and say twenty.

[Pete]

Among the many other great things about this project, I believe this will finally get things moving in other areas along the river.

There is a pedestrian bridge already in progress (planning/design) near the Wheeler District. This project would bring another. And I bet they would find a way to build the conceptual bridge that would link the lower part of Scissortail Park with Wiley Post Park.

And no doubt we will start to see development south of I-40 and north of the river; to the west of the lower park.

Then, you have Wheeler going great guns farther to the west and they have a big swatch of river frontage.


BTW, it should be mentioned that the Chickasaws also own/control the property along the north side of the river, directly across from OKANA. As mentioned, this would only be the first phase and encompass 40 acres; they would still have 100 acres to develop.


I'm telling you, this is a complete game-changer. I know that phrase gets thrown around a lot, but it's justified here.

[Timshel]

I believe this will finally get things moving in other areas along the river.

Was about to say, seems like this is/should be the kick in the you know what that really spurs further development along the river. Excited to see what this does for the future success of the Boathouse District and how this and other future projects really start to get the river to what we all knew its potential could be.

[Rover]

So glad it is the Chicasaws and not a big corporate chain. This is so much more Oklahoma than a Great Wolf Lodge. More OURS. Let's celebrate Native American success. This will be a big hit.

[ourulz2000]

lol it mostly just looks like a giant dirt/grass mound. I don't think thats a big issue.

Exactly. 15 minutes south of downtown Dallas on I-45, there is a massive landfill right off the interstate. Another monster landfill in Grand Prairie right on I-30 about 10 minutes from downtown Dallas. Kansas City has their huge landfill right off Interstate 435, 10 min from downtown.

[soonerguru]

This is fantastic news. This may not be popular here, but I kinda wish there were a casino announced with this development as well (preferably a non-smoking casino). Still, this looks like a first-class development and a game changer for the riverfront.

Question: is that a pedestrian bridge in one of the renders? If so, is that planned as part of this development or something they envision down the road?
.

[ChrisHayes]

Exactly. 15 minutes south of downtown Dallas on I-45, there is a massive landfill right off the interstate. Another monster landfill in Grand Prairie right on I-30 about 10 minutes from downtown Dallas. Kansas City has their huge landfill right off Interstate 435, 10 min from downtown.

I know it's off topic, but I wish we had waste to energy incinerators here. We could slowly get rid of the landfills.

[PhiAlpha]

Among the many other great things about this project, I believe this will finally get things moving in other areas along the river.

There is a pedestrian bridge already in progress (planning/design) near the Wheeler District. This project would bring another. And I bet they would find a way to build the conceptual bridge that would link the lower part of Scissortail Park with Wiley Post Park.

And no doubt we will start to see development south of I-40 and north of the river; to the west of the lower park.

Then, you have Wheeler going great guns farther to the west and they have a big swatch of river frontage.


BTW, it should be mentioned that the Chickasaws also own/control the property along the north side of the river, directly across from OKANA. As mentioned, this would only be the first phase and encompass 40 acres; they would still have 100 acres to develop.


I'm telling you, this is a complete game-changer. I know that phrase gets thrown around a lot, but it's justified here.

But the real question is…is this a development that will make Dallas and KC jealous?

[dankrutka]

[/B]
But the real question is…is this a development that will make Dallas and KC jealous?

lol. I was literally about to post the exact same question.

[Dustin]

Unbelievable! World class!