Looks like its actually going to happen. Been a long and torturous route getting a ballpark in downtown Tulsa. It all started when a suburban development proposed building a ballpark for Tulsas team. Tulsa didnt want to lose something else to the suburbs so the race was on to try and figure out a way to keep them in town. A new downtown venue seemed to be just the ticket.
The location is ideal. Tulsa has been slowly revitalizing its downtown. There are currently 3 scattered and small areas that have seen some promising growth. This ballpark would be off to one corner and essentially join all three of the areas into one. Especially if there is any development right around the ballpark, which seems likely, and then all 3 unconnected areas would be joined together to become quite a nice and happening place for downtown.
Financing has been very tricky as well. Suffice it to say there wasnt any way to get the citizens of Tulsa to do any tax to pay for it other than part of a downtown assessment. Then donors chipped in to pay for about half. Then the banking fiasco started and financing dried up. So a local foundation and bank stepped in to take that on. They are really rushing to get this thing done by the 2010 season.
Am anxious to see any renderings as they come out, but here is the general gist so far.
60 million, most of which is for the ballpark, a good chunk of that is to secure property around the stadium for mixed use developments. The donors and city want control of the property in order to make sure that the style and type of developments in the immediate area are top-notch and fit with what they want (pedestrian friendly, mixed use, etc.).
30 million is being donated. 5 mill will come from the lease. 25 mill from a special downtown tax assessment.
Slideshow
http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/c...ium/index.aspx
The financing and plan for building this has been one strange soap opera lol. Here is the latest.
Only 1 Bid for Building Ballpark...
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...1_TheTul404183