Convention Center

[Pete]

Looks like they are getting close on the new substation:

[David]

Oklahoma River, future convention center draw new trade show

Paddlesport Retailer, the official trade show for paddlers, is set to start a five-year stint in Oklahoma City that is expected to start with more than 1,000 vendors and 600 buyers.

...

“They do on-the-water demos; that's a big deal for them,” Hollenbeck said. “They set up their booths at the convention center. But one whole day is on the water. It's really easy for them here to bring a truck and set up or even walk to the water. In Salt Lake City, it was 45 minutes to the water.”

Mike Knopp, executive director of the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, saw a site inspection delegation wowed by the river, the hotels, restaurants and entertainment in Bricktown, and plans for the future convention center.

“They came out having very low expectations,” Knopp said. “They left not wanting to look at anyplace else.”

Reads like a pretty huge get for the river/convention center.

[d-usa]

If they stick around with the new center they will be even closer, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a factor.

[Bellaboo]

If they stick around with the new center they will be even closer, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a factor.

Yes, it's booked for the next 5 years, so they get in on the new CC.

[warreng88]

OKC already planning art for new convention center

By: Brian Brus The Journal Record September 19, 2017

OKLAHOMA CITY – Although the groundbreaking ceremony for the new MAPS 3 convention center is still months away, Robbie Kienzle is already thinking about the best places to dress it up with art.

Kienzle is City Hall’s arts and cultural affairs liaison, responsible for working with the city Arts Commission, artists, and cultural organizations to invest in public art on city properties. The city recently put about $11,000 into decorative fencing at Fire Station No. 23, for example, to beautify the yard while providing a little bit of privacy for the crew, and $207,000 for a memorial sculpture at the new downtown police department headquarters.

The convention center’s total budget is $288 million, via the Metropolitan Area Projects temporary 1-percent sales tax. However, city ordinance keys a 1-percent art contribution to construction costs on public properties, so the projected art budget will likely be closer to $1.86 million, MAPS 3 project manager Todd said.

Even allowing for management costs, that’s a significant amount of money for art, Kienzle said. Then again, the convention center is a significant undertaking: 200,000 square feet for an exhibit hall, 45,000 square feet for meeting space and 30,000 square feet for a ballroom. It will lie east of the 70-acre MAPS Park, bounded on the north by SW Fourth Street, south by SW Seventh Street, west by Robinson Avenue and east by Shields Boulevard.

The center will be adjacent to a high-rise luxury Omni-branded hotel and 865-space parking garage. Kinziel said the convention center is considered a separate site for determining art budgeting and installations. City officials are considering a traffic roundabout or circle on Robinson Avenue at SW Seventh Street, adjacent to the center’s south parking lot, large enough for semi-trucks to maneuver.

Kinziel said that after meeting several times with the convention center design firm, Kansas-based Populous, she envisions one of the outside art installations will serve a second, functional purpose of site branding of some sort. That art should help visitors know they’ve arrived at the facility, she said – in short, a signature landmark.

“We talk about some of the things they would have liked to have included in the design but couldn’t afford because of value engineering or other constraints,” she said.

City officials try to provide guidance so artists can meet expectations of appropriateness without too many creativity-stifling constraints, she said. In outlining requests for proposals, or RFPs, staff and commission members provide information such as the budget, history of the site, surrounding environment and overall intent of the art.

Kinziel said two other commissions are being considered as well, inside the center at the main atrium and secondary atrium to the south.

Kinziel is eager now for the formal budget figure so RFPs can go out in a nationwide search. That information is expected within the next few weeks.

There’s little reason to rush the process, however, since convention center construction isn’t scheduled to begin until March or April. The Downtown Design Review Committee is still considering alley easements for the area.

[Plutonic Panda]

I swear I don't think I've seen one public project in OKC that I haven't seen the word value engineering associated with it in one way or another.

[Rover]

I swear I don't think I've seen one public project in OKC that I haven't seen the word value engineering associated with it in one way or another.

Value engineering occurs on virtually every public or private project .

[Plutonic Panda]

Value engineering occurs on virtually every public or private project .

At least publicly, i don't see it in California. If it does, then it's behind closed doors.

[TheTravellers]

^^^ If Rover means here in OK/OKC, it's absolutely true and why a lot of the stuff here (in road construction and other things, not just public art) is so half-assed and needs fixing way sooner (ha) than it should.

[Rover]

^^^ If Rover means here in OK/OKC, it's absolutely true and why a lot of the stuff here (in road construction and other things, not just public art) is so half-assed and needs fixing way sooner (ha) than it should.

NO. I mean all over the world. I've worked 100s of projects in virtually every state and more than 30 countries and value engineering goes on everywhere. Owners are always looking for ways to save money.

[Rover]

At least publicly, i don't see it in California. If it does, then it's behind closed doors.

Worked 5 years in California. Believe me, value engineering is a regular topic.

[Pete]

You can see they have cleared almost all the buildings to make room for the convention center and Omni.

One exception is the OG&E data center in the lower left corner, which the City is still trying to acquire for a parking garage.

They have also filed final plans for approval by the Downtown Design Review Committee.

[shawnw]

final plans for the convention center, the Omni, or both? are there changes from what we've already seen?

[jccouger]

You can see they have cleared almost all the buildings to make room for the convention center and Omni.

One exception is the OG&E data center in the lower left corner, which the City is still trying to acquire for a parking garage.

They have also filed final plans for approval by the Downtown Design Review Committee.

Damn, OGE won't fork over that tiny little property even though they were basically gifted the stage center property?

[Anonymous.]

Tiny? That lot is huge.

[jccouger]

Tiny? That lot is huge.

Oops sorry, I thought he was referencing the building directly north of the substation.

[ChrisHayes]

When is construction scheduled to start?

[Hondo1]

Was wondering the same thing. Seems it has taken a long time to get this project started.

[stile99]

Was wondering the same thing. Seems it has taken a long time to get this project started.

I can't even come close to agreeing. The agreement with Omni was literally signed just a couple months ago. As far as I know, construction is scheduled to begin some time next year, with a target date to be open 2020. Looks like they're exactly where they expect to be in the timeline right now.

[Pete]

They have to first move the power station, get design approval, have building permits filed and approved and get construction bids.

All that stuff is on-going and work should start sometime in 2018.

[Hondo1]

When I voted for approval of the maps tax in 2009 I really hadn't given much thought to the timeline of when the convention center would open but if you had told me it would take eleven years, I would have been quite surprised.

[Rover]

When I voted for approval of the maps tax in 2009 I really hadn't given much thought to the timeline of when the convention center would open but if you had told me it would take eleven years, I would have been quite surprised.

Yes, but if you told someone from another city that from the time we approved a new cc til it was fully paid for was only 11 years, they would be amazed.

[stile99]

Why would this surprise you?

https://www.okc.gov/government/maps-3/maps-history

"Every MAPS initiative has essentially been a 10 to 12-year process, and the same is expected of MAPS 3."

https://www.okc.gov/government/maps-3/about-maps-3

"Voter approved: Dec. 8, 2009
Tax duration: April 2010 to December 2017
Construction duration: 2012 to 2021 (scheduled)"

Again, 100% precisely on schedule.

[Pete]

When I voted for approval of the maps tax in 2009 I really hadn't given much thought to the timeline of when the convention center would open but if you had told me it would take eleven years, I would have been quite surprised.

On the initial timeline it was to be one of the last projects started and completed, then influential members of the convention center committee used their considerable influence to move it way up, but ultimately there was the debacle with trying to obtain the site south of the Myriad Gardens and due to those delays the timing ended up pretty much as originally planned.

[catch22]

I think alot of that is just plain perception and ignorance (not in the bad use of the word) at the time. The first MAPS programs wee ambitious, but people really didn't have a broad interest in downtown, or even OKC for that matter, like you do now. People didn't go downtown. People, for the most part, did not track these developments from conception to completion. Now that excitement and pride in downtown have boomed, people aren't just watching from afar. People are going to meetings, people are watching things happen from conception. For people who aren't watching, and don't care the transformation of the Scissortail Park area will be an overnight change. They aren't paying attention to the planning and ground work. They will drive by one day and see a big building under construction, and two years later they will say "Wow! That came up out of nowhere!". The rest of us have been waiting a decade or more.

I see this effect strongly now when I come back to visit, I don't keep up with this stuff like I used to. When I come back home even after several months, I am amazed at the changes. If you are watching from a distance, things are happening fast!