Last Updated on June 18, 2018, 7:56 AM | Published: June 15, 2018
Groundbreaking for the new $288 million Oklahoma City Convention Center was celebrated on the construction site at SW 7th Street and Robinson Friday with the downtown skyline as the backdrop.
Connection
Long-time south Oklahoma City civic leader Mary Sosa arrived well before most of the crowd.
We asked what she thought the new park and convention center would do for the south side.
“It’s a connection. The city for so long has been divided between the north and the south by the river,” said Sosa.
“Hopefully this is a time when we are no longer divided within this city. We have come together.”
Biggest impact
Before the ceremony, Free Press talked with former OKC mayor Mick Cornett who is running to gain the Republican nomination for governor.
“This is huge for the progress of the city….” Cornett said. “Ultimately it will be the one that will have the biggest impact on our economy.”
He was mayor for 14 years during the time of the most intense discussions about what was needed for the future for downtown.
Cornett said the discussions about what future needs the city had started in 2007.
As mayor, he campaigned for the key vote in 2009 for MAPS 3, a penny sales tax Oklahoma Cityans voted on themselves to raise $777 million.
Proceeds from that tax have resulted in the construction of the convention center, Scissortail Park across the street, and the streetcar lines nearing completion.
Town hall
Current Mayor David Holt kicked off the ceremony with comments that termed the new Convention Center as a type of “town hall.”
“It’s going to be our meeting place,” the Mayor said.
He praised Cornett and Dave Lopez, a civic and business leader in Oklahoma City for decades.
Holt pointed out that Lopez and Cornett had headed up the original committee of 50 people who worked on the “Core to Shore” idea that has resulted in the current construction.
Shocked
Oklahoma City Ward 6 Councilwoman Meg Salyer was on the early committees before she ran for the Council seat.
“When I travel to other cities people are shocked to find out that we could just drop a park and convention center right in the middle of downtown,” Salyer said.
She ran through a list of what would be in the area once finished which included the Omni Hotel just to the north of the Convention Center, parking, housing, amenities in the park, the streetcar and other additions.
Hospitality
The remainder of the speakers ticked through the significance of the hospitality industry being the fastest-growing one in the metro.
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber President Roy Williams, a representative of SMG, the company that will operate the Convention Center, and Mike Carrier, president for the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Williams joined about every speaker in congratulating the voters of Oklahoma City for voting in the MAPS 3 penny sales tax which will allow the facilities to be paid for on the first day of their operation.
Carrier said “it is a great day for Oklahoma City,” then explained the many new types of technology that would allow the Convention Center to meet the needs of many different types of groups.
The numbers
The price tag for construction of the facility itself is $168.2 million, $20 million below budget.
Adding in land acquisition and other expenses, the total project budget is $288 million.
The Convention Center is the biggest single project in Oklahoma City’s history.
It will include a 200,000 square foot exhibit hall that can be divided into four 50,000 square foot sections allowing four different events to be held simultaneously.
The ballroom will be 30,000 square feet with 10,000 square feet of pre-function space, plus a 4,000 square-foot balcony.
Visitors will be able to use digital wayfinding signs throughout and use a skywalk to the Omni Hotel that will be built next door to the north.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
