Our city’s economy continues to soar with low unemployment, retail development growth, business expansions and relocations and a large uptick in tourism. Much of that success can be linked to the quality-of-life improvements OKC has made over the last three decades with help from the MAPS initiatives. “Investing in quality of life is not superficial or trivial. It is existential. And for a century, the building at the center of this community’s strategic investments in quality of life has been our arena,” Holt said. Holt then took the audience on a journey back in time, highlighting all the investments Oklahoma City voters made about every three decades for a new facility to host major events. Municipal Auditorium (now called Civic Center Music Hall) opened in 1937, the Myriad in 1972 and finally the Ford Center (now Paycom Center) in 2002. Then in 2005, the NBA came calling. Oklahoma City answered by hosting the Hurricane Katrina-displaced New Orleans Hornets. That two-year audition helped us land our very own NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Since the Thunder’s arrival, Oklahoma City has grown from the 31st largest city in the U.S. to the 20th. Economic development projects exploded throughout the metro including several downtown hotels. The annual economic impact of NBA basketball is more than $600 million. “For a century, our city’s arena has been the defining infrastructure piece for our city’s quality of life. That journey from Municipal Auditorium to the Myriad to what we now know as Paycom Center has never been static. Never once have we said, ‘we’re done,’” Holt said. “It has always been a story of vision and aspiration and reinvestment and an implicit understanding that we can never sit still.” According to Holt, Paycom Center is right at the average age of all NBA arenas. Without action soon, he
said, Paycom will be one of the oldest arenas in the NBA – it is already the smallest. Several large cities across the country are building expensive new arenas, hoping to attract a professional sports team like we did. “We always have to remember three things: one, there are a dozen North American cities that used to have an NBA team; two, there are 18 metros bigger than ours that would like to have a team; and three, remember how we got this team,” Holt said. Holt said a proposal to build a new arena should be finalized by summer’s end with a vote presented to Oklahoma City voters before the end of the year. He believes it can be built without raising taxes. Thunder ownership will also contribute to construction costs. “We didn’t come this far…to stop now,” Holt said. “We have the same obligation and opportunity as our ancestors to leave this city better than we found it. This is our generation’s chance to leave a legacy on Oklahoma City’s renaissance story.” Thanks to Presenting Sponsor Oklahoma City Thunder and Host Sponsor Express Employment Professionals for supporting State of the City. About 1,400 people packed the OKC Convention Center last month to hear Mayor David Holt give his annual address.
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