University Town Center

[BG918]

My understanding is that the special election could mean nothing and get challenged by pro-arena interests in court.

[SEMIweather]

I don’t think the election is going to mean anything given that it’s being advertised as non-binding, but it is very obvious that the Norman Council is looking for any reason not to pass this. Compare and contrast the past six months in Norman to the six months leading up to the OKC arena election last year.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Yes. It seems clear it is just a way to engage the public so they have a voice. If it is a Yes then the council moves on and points to that being the reason. If it is a No they can wash their hands.

[Prunesmoothie]

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[bison34]

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All meaningless, as Norman, in their never-ending attempt to get in their own way, are wanting to have that prime property stay empty, as the citizens will vote no. I hope OU builds 2 miles north in Moore, just to spite Norman.

[jedicurt]

All meaningless, as Norman, in their never-ending attempt to get in their own way, are wanting to have that prime property stay empty, as the citizens will vote no. I hope OU builds 2 miles north in Moore, just to spite Norman.

The vote is non-binding... so it doesn't matter if they vote no. the city council could approve it even before the vote if they choose

[bison34]

The vote is non-binding... so it doesn't matter if they vote no. the city council could approve it even before the vote if they choose

Why would they do that, especially if they ever want to be re-elected? And it opens them up for being sued for breach of fiduciary duty. It just seems like they never really wanted to approve it, and them seeing a no vote will make it a lot easier to tell OU off.

[BG918]

Why would they do that, especially if they ever want to be re-elected? And it opens them up for being sued for breach of fiduciary duty. It just seems like they never really wanted to approve it, and them seeing a no vote will make it a lot easier to tell OU off.

Yet OU has no issue spending $175M on a Football Operations Facility and potentially another $200M on stadium upgrades (west side upper deck/suites). If they can't get a deal done with Norman OU will find the money for a new arena, and it will be on-campus. They already have the worst arena of all SEC programs.

[BoulderSooner]

Yet OU has no issue spending $175M on a Football Operations Facility and potentially another $200M on stadium upgrades (west side upper deck/suites). If they can't get a deal done with Norman OU will find the money for a new arena, and it will be on-campus. They already have the worst arena of all SEC programs.

the football ops facility is currently stalled .. because of money ... and we will see if the stadium upgrades happen .. (they have been stalled for years now)

[The]

the football ops facility is currently stalled .. because of money ... and we will see if the stadium upgrades happen .. (they have been stalled for years now)

I was surprised to see Pete say it’s still on. I think NIL and uncertainty is killing the capital projects for OU Athletics.

[FighttheGoodFight]

All meaningless, as Norman, in their never-ending attempt to get in their own way, are wanting to have that prime property stay empty, as the citizens will vote no. I hope OU builds 2 miles north in Moore, just to spite Norman.

Doubtful it goes anywhere but in UNP or they just keep playing in Lloyd Noble for the future. In the last presser even Harroz walked back his commented on putting it in Moore or OKC.

[Pete]

Additional renderings:

[citywokchinesefood]

This is likely completely not viable, but why not have OU take over the current Paycom Center? With the potential for rail transit between downtown and Norman you could get Students to and from the Arena relatively easily. The value of the land seems like the biggest potential hurdle.

[ChrisHayes]

This is likely completely not viable, but why not have OU take over the current Paycom Center? With the potential for rail transit between downtown and Norman you could get Students to and from the Arena relatively easily. The value of the land seems like the biggest potential hurdle.

People are freaking out about the new basketball arena being in Norman, but not at the OU campus. I can't imagine what they would say about it being 20 miles away.

[unfundedrick]

People are freaking out about the new basketball arena being in Norman, but not at the OU campus. I can't imagine what they would say about it being 20 miles away.

And the Paycom center land is much too valuable to have the arena used for a few OU games per year. The finances are just not doable for either OU or for OKC.

[jedicurt]

And the Paycom center land is much too valuable to have the arena used for a few OU games per year. The finances are just not doable for either OU or for OKC.

lets also not forget that LNC and this new arena will be used for more than just mens and womens basketball. Womens gymnastics will be there, as well as several other events that the university uses it for.

[TornadoKegan]

It is obviously time for them to reconsider the plan for UNP. They really should negotiate a plan with GGP, who owns Sooner Mall, to construct the lifestyle portion of UNP and relocate all the stores from Sooner. Then I would go through there and tear down Sooner Mall and redevelop it as a commercial business park - something we don't have much of here. One that would fill up, I would look at the area south of Main Street and start expanding through there and even relocate the strip mall stores (not the restaurants) to UNP.

When I say business park, I'm thinking something on the scale of: http://www.arrowheadpark.org/APA%20W...dpark-2010.pdf

Probably highly unrealistic, but concentrating the bulk of the retail/shopping in one dense location would help the project overall. Then you have the ability to redevelop land as a high density business park that would increase the commercial population of the city and assist with tax revenue (and probably values) even more.

I think sooner mall might want to look at possibly renovating to have a second floor then Macy's may be more likely to show up only issue. Not sure if it has the demand they might be better off relocating to another part of norman like unp as mentioned

[TornadoKegan]

There is barely enough room on OU main Campus there is nowhere else to put it

[TornadoKegan]

I am voting yes for it. I think it will help norman in the long run (even if norman goes into a little debt)

[Boop]

What a waste of time and money to keep delaying this over a non-binding vote. Essentially a poll.

I hope Moore comes in and blows Norman away and gets this, in the end. Norman doesn't deserve it.

I doubt they will move arenas to Moore

[bombermwc]

There is barely enough room on OU main Campus there is nowhere else to put it

They could certainly get it on the LNC parking lot if they wanted to. It wouldn't be in the center of the lot any longer, but it would definitely fit. Butt that puppy right up to the wall of LNC like the new fairgrounds arena. But they don't have the funding. Remember, this is all temporary to give OU time to fundraise for a new campus arena. That's why they aren't putting any money from the university into it, just the foundation. Temporary can be a long time though.

That LNC lot is valuable parking for so many events too, it would impact other things. Softball/baseball/soccer/football/students daily/etc.

I still think the whole thing is super dumb and the place is going to be empty most of the time before it folds like the one in Bixby did. SpiritArena or something...its a church now.

[BoulderSooner]

Why would they do that, especially if they ever want to be re-elected? And it opens them up for being sued for breach of fiduciary duty. It just seems like they never really wanted to approve it, and them seeing a no vote will make it a lot easier to tell OU off.

lol because it will be a different council ... and second no it doesn't ..

[sooner333]

I still think the whole thing is super dumb and the place is going to be empty most of the time before it folds like the one in Bixby did. SpiritArena or something...its a church now.

I don't think it will be like Bixby because it will have a better tenant than the Bixby arena (which had the G-League team as its major tenant) and because it will be nicer. But, I'm a little skeptical about what kind of musical acts would go there. It seems kind of an in-between venue when most acts around here seem to play big shows or get their act subsidized by the casinos.

[BG918]

There is barely enough room on OU main Campus there is nowhere else to put it

Wrong. There is plenty of room next to existing athletic and parking facilities on-campus. UNP is a horrible place for the arena.

[BoulderSooner]

Wrong. There is plenty of room next to existing athletic and parking facilities on-campus. UNP is a horrible place for the arena.

lol