A look at what Oklahoma City is doing to improve itself through its multiyear Metropolitan Area Project

1. OKCCVB
88 CONNECT MAY/JUNE 2015
Is there a better place than Oklahoma City—with
the only state Capitol building in the United States
to have a working oil well on its grounds—to host
400 oil and gas professionals? The answer is no for
Ty Wright, chairman of the Society of Petroleum
Engineers’ upcoming biennial, five-day Production
and Operational Symposium, which was held there
in March 2015 and will return in 2017. “The POS has
been in Oklahoma City for more than 30 years,
and we cater to the oil and gas industry companies
located here,” says Wright.
The Renaissance Oklahoma City Convention
Center Hotel was selected as host property due
Area guest rooms: 16,000
Nearest airport:
Will Rogers World
Convention center:
Cox Convention Center
Meeting space:
152,500 square feet
Meeting rooms: 21
Construction continues on
Downtown Public Park,
which will have 70 acres of
gardens, fountains, a great lawn
facing a stage, a promenade
and a lake. The $132 million
project is scheduled to be
completed in 2021.
The 124-room Holiday Inn
Express & Suites Oklahoma City
Downtown - Bricktown opened
in January, and the 195-suite
Embassy Suites Oklahoma City
Downtown/Medical Center
opened in February.
Brickopolis, an entertainment
center and restaurant in
Bricktown, will open in spring;
Topgolf Oklahoma City
will open in summer; an
80,000-sq.-ft. Cabela’s will
open in fall; and Riversport
Rapids, a whitewater rafting
and kayaking facility, is slated to
open in 2016.
QUICK
FACTS
NEW AND
COMING SOON
Oklahoma City is mapping out its future with its third
Metropolitan Area Project.
The decade ahead looks promising for Oklahoma City, a destination that (surprise!) has 300 days of
sunshine per year and tons of history (for example, its National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
holds an internationally renowned collection of Western art and artifacts and has a 16,500-sq.-ft.
events center). Thanks to the third phase of its $777 million Metropolitan Area Project, known as
MAPS 3, the city is on its way to completing eight significant projects by the end of 2017. The projects
are being funded by a 1 cent sales tax initiative that began in April 2010 and will revitalize the city.
For starters, a new $252 million convention center is currently in the concept stage, with
construction expected to begin in 2016. The center will sit along Robinson Avenue downtown and
include an elevated ballroom with city and park views, meeting space, entrances on all sides of the
building and belowground exhibit halls and loading docks, with footbridges to Myriad Botanical
Gardens and the future 70-acre Downtown Public Park, another MAPS 3 project. Also in the works
is a modern streetcar system, improvements along the Oklahoma River and on the grounds of the
Oklahoma State Fair, and new trails and sidewalks to make the city more walkable. —AD
On the Horizon
SOUTHWEST
to its location near Cox Convention Center and
Bricktown. But SPE members appreciated more
than the convenience factor in a city known for
its meat-heavy cuisine. “We had a Sunday night
reception at the Petroleum Club, looking out
from the 34th floor to the beautiful night skyline
of downtown OKC,” says Wright, also noting
the group had a barbecue lunch at Earl’s Rib
Palace. A native of the city himself, Wright also
recommends Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, the oldest
continually operated restaurant in the state
since 1910, to visitors: “It’s a must-visit if you have
never been.”
[CASE STUDY]
130miles of federal
interstate and
state highways
intersect the city
Bricktown