Oklahoma City Closer to a New Convention Center
March 1, 2017
The Oklahoma City Council voted on February 28 and approved the preliminary report for the new $288M downtown Oklahoma City Convention Center. Since 2010, The City of Oklahoma City and Populous have been working together to build a new convention center through the Metropolitan Area Projects 3 (MAPS 3), a one-cent self-funded sales tax initiative passed in 2009 by Oklahoma City voters.
Opening in 2020, the Oklahoma City Convention Center will be located on the south end of Oklahoma City’s downtown district directly adjacent to the Chesapeake Energy Arena and the 70-acre downtown park currently under construction. The SMG managed convention center will offer a 30,000-plus-sf ballroom, 200,000 sf of exhibit space and 45,000 sf of meeting space with 27 unique meeting rooms in the three-level facility. Each meeting room will offer informational meeting spaces in the adjacent prefunction space outside for attendees to maximize their time in the convention center. On the first level, 18 loading docks and two drive-in ramps will provide for easy load-in to the four exhibit hall bays.
The interior view will offer an earth tone palette that will carry through the exterior, utilizing Oklahoma’s terracotta color on the outside with landscaping surrounding. Interactive wayfinding will be located throughout the convention center to allow attendees to easily find all of the assets available to them.
“The approval of the preliminary report gets Oklahoma City closer to attracting new meetings and conventions to Oklahoma City. This is a convention center the city can be proud of, because they have invested in it and their community. The preliminary report approval has us moving in the right direction and on to the next steps in the final design and requesting bids from contractors,” said Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau’s President Mike Carrier.
MAPS 3 is a $777 million capital improvement program to improve the quality of life in Oklahoma City. It is funded by a one-cent sales tax initiative that began in April 2010 and ends December 2017. All MAPS projects are paid in full before a project is started. Other MAPS 3 projects coming to Oklahoma City include a modern streetcar system, which will link important districts in and around downtown Oklahoma City, including drop off and pick up points at the new convention center and a 70-acre Downtown Public Park, which will be directly west of the convention center offering a café, a tranquil lake and nature walks.
With the renaissance of Oklahoma City, attendees can maximize their time in the downtown district and surrounding districts. Downtown Oklahoma City offers plenty to see and do including the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, the Myriad Botanical Gardens & Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory and more. Located just steps from the Convention Center, the Bricktown Entertainment District is home to dozens of restaurants ranging from top-of-the-line steakhouses to down-home Oklahoma barbeque as well as nightlife, attractions, a mile-long water taxi and the connecting Boathouse District, which is home to the U.S. Olympic training site for Canoe/Kayak and the only urban whitewater rafting and kayaking center in the world.