Comments on: The Juicy Gossip http://blog.newsok.com/okccentral/2008/04/02/the-juicy-gossip/ The Oklahoman's Steve Lackmeyer covers downtown OKC brick by brick. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:48:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Grant http://blog.newsok.com/okccentral/2008/04/02/the-juicy-gossip/comment-page-1/#comment-136 Grant Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:50:47 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/okccentral/2008/04/02/the-juicy-gossip/#comment-136 Steve, Been wanting to share an opinion with you regarding a possible (probable?) MAPS III project. I have read several times (including in your articles) the prospect of MAPS III including construction of a new convention center. My feeling is the City should approach this with great caution. I believe many resident will respond as I do - which is, we spent a bunch of money renovating the Myriad to Cox, it looks great. If more convention space is needed for continued economic growth downtown I think the City will need to make a very quantified, data-driven case for that. My thought is, why would developing / filling in the "bowl" of Cox not generate sufficient additional convention space for much less than building an entirely new one? Wouldn't a new convention center in addition to Cox create a glut of convention space at least relative to the downtown hotel space? I think it would be better to designate a piece of real-estate in Core to Shore for a potential new convention center but NOT make it part of MAPS III. On one other MAPS III note, I think it would be a VERY good idea to include an outdoor amphitheater as part of the Core to Shore space. Look at downtown Chicago and their Millenneum Park. That's a great venue and OKC could be just as good as that! Steve,

Been wanting to share an opinion with you regarding a possible (probable?) MAPS III project. I have read several times (including in your articles) the prospect of MAPS III including construction of a new convention center.

My feeling is the City should approach this with great caution. I believe many resident will respond as I do – which is, we spent a bunch of money renovating the Myriad to Cox, it looks great. If more convention space is needed for continued economic growth downtown I think the City will need to make a very quantified, data-driven case for that.

My thought is, why would developing / filling in the “bowl” of Cox not generate sufficient additional convention space for much less than building an entirely new one? Wouldn’t a new convention center in addition to Cox create a glut of convention space at least relative to the downtown hotel space? I think it would be better to designate a piece of real-estate in Core to Shore for a potential new convention center but NOT make it part of MAPS III.

On one other MAPS III note, I think it would be a VERY good idea to include an outdoor amphitheater as part of the Core to Shore space. Look at downtown Chicago and their Millenneum Park. That’s a great venue and OKC could be just as good as that!

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