OKC: Interesting Stadium Rumor

Wow what a game changer. it certainly fits with everything prodigal is doing so far . I've always believed that whoever got the stadium built would be the fo to succeed in Oklahoma City. I still think however that the nasl effort has stalled. I still consider this to be a rumor until it can be substantiated lol hope it's true my guess is that the site for it would be along the oklahoma river you know over where their putting in that new park

 

OK, let me interject a bit of reality here, since this is what I do.

1) Words Have Meanings:

There is no such thing as a "preliminary construction bid". No contractor is going to submit a legally binding bid on a structure where the construction documents are not complete enough to be adapted to a given site. That would mean that the foundations and structural system design were not complete and any changes necessary for adaptation to a given site could add significant costs (30%-50%) to a project. No GC or CM is going to eat that and no competent Owner is going to pay the Change Order OH&P hit that a GC/CM would add for that kind of cost inflation.

The Owner may be seeking a preliminary construction estimate on a set of partial construction documents from either qualified general contractors (GC) or construction managers (CM), but if that is correct and this is just the "planning stages", then the estimate is just that, and estimate. It will be based mostly on the cost of past projects of similar size & design with a lot of factoring for the market and cost inflation between the final cost of the completed project and the projected construction mid-point of the project to be built. I'm not aware of any 7,000 seat stadiums that have been built in Oklahoma in the last decade, specifically with bar and/or restaurant accommodations, so that base model is going to have to come well outside of our markets which makes the estimation difficult at best, unless you can find the project in a very similar market.

2) Where could it go?

It's not like OKC is bereft of 10-30 acre parcels of land to put this type of construction, but they would want to lean towards the larger site to accommodate any hope for expansion for an MLS level (18-22k seating) with OKC's parking requirements in the existing zoning code as well as being as close to the core as possible. Locating closer to one suburb or the other will limit your draw from the others and the draw from the core.

There is the site that the Kirkpatrick group purchased recently for starters, and a parcel or two east of downtown, but the latter sites would be significantly more expensive to obtain. The danger of buying cheap land is that it's cheap for a reason.

The cheaper the parcel typically means the more public infrastructure you have to ask the city to build to you, or a more extensive structural/foundation system to accommodate poor soils or in the worst case, removal of buried debris and/or hazardous materials. Case in point, in estimating the costs for the AICCM at the SE/C of I-35/I-40, the state thought it was getting a great deal when it accepted the 20 acres of free land from OKC to build on. The they started poking around and found all manner of buried debris that had been dumped there when OKC was tearing down it's downtown, along with a lot of abandoned oil pipeline infrastructure, which was required to be removed and replaced with suitable soils for construction. Dirt may be cheap, but hauling it in and out of somewhere isn't.

If they buy lease land that already has tenants, then they must pay to relocate said tenants (Federal law) or hold construction until those leases expire. If they work to assemble a parcel from multiple owners, there is the potential for a holdout to delay the project and extract an unreasonable price for his land, or in the case of the Kelo family, not sell at any price. OKC will be reluctant to use any eminent domain powers, specifically because of the fallout of the Kelo v. New London case as most states put higher thresholds on eminent domain usage, and in most cases, eliminated that power where the benefit is primarily or solely private. And given the political climate of Oklahoma for using government authority of taking anything but civil rights, that ED action won't go far.

Long story short, this won't be interesting until they have purchased a site and drilled the 150 or so holes in the ground necessary to ascertain what is present on the site so that they can actually put together a set of construction documents.

 

I would hope, but I never assume. Most people aren't really aware of the hoops and hurdles of getting a small commercial building built, let alone a major public facility project, especially if any public funds are involved.

Correction, Humphreys Group - I got my moneyed elites of OKC mixed up between the Kirkpatrick Family and Kirk Humphries, former OKC mayor, now developer. They purchased a piece of Chesapeake land adjacent to the downtown airpark.

Ties? Unknown, but I'm sure they're all acquainted from the days of the Funk operated Blazers using the Myriad while Kirk was mayor.

 

Leonard Sullivan is your friend:

http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Searches/AN-R.asp?ACCOUNTNO=R092441075

Purchase price was 2 million


Attached is a detail of the land they own in and around, including Downtown AirPark

 

Who, Chesapeake or Humphreys?

Chesapeake owns tons. The only parcels I can find Humphrey Group owning (under that group name) are the 8 or so parcels down by the river

 

Either build on it or sell it to cut their losses. Unlike Devon they're only building 5-7 stories on their campus, but it's a big campus.

But they're so overextended that the either have to drill & extract gas on all of their leases or lose them, but the more that they drill & pump, the further down they drive the cost of gas.

 

Anyone see the survey put together by the Energy regarding a SSS located downtown? Any thoughts, reactions, comments...?

 

Yes, the date and location both caught my attention too. As well put together as this organization is, having this all lined out would not surprise me. Up until around the first of the year, I didn't expected much out of prodigal. My expectations were about what the Barons are. It's still early, but I'm very impressed with the effort thus far.

Are you thinking this would be privetley funded or a OKC MAPS thing. My bet (based on all parties involved) is a MAPS project.

 

My money is on the downtown air strip owned by the Humphreys. The survey mentioned music events. The air strip already host music festivals there.

I asked my friend (who is a nephew to Kirk) and he said he doubted that the Thunder would allow a SSS to be built before any more improvements to the arena. For what ever that's worth...

 

It was built in the early 2000's. They did just renovate much of the arena. I thought the same thing too. My friend just sees it as the Thunder being priority #1. He's also a die hard Thunder fan and NOT a soccer fan. So, his opinion is a bit biased.

 

The arena opened in June of 2002

 

Yeah, I can't see boxing being anywhere else then the casinos.
I think the people of OKC would be more inclined to approve a SSS to be built on tax dollars if we had an actual MLS team. Maybe so though. If you sell it as a "multi purpose venue" PLUS have a soccer team that's selling out most or every game.

 

The motor cross/Xtreme sports events would be awesome though.

 

True. I'm sure with with all the pieces involved in this organization, it'll get done. They're in bed with all the right peeps.

 

Are you not familiar with sports teams owners?