Springfield reps visit Oklahoma City

More than 40 representatives of Springfield’s government and business communities visited Oklahoma City on Aug. 10–12. It was the 13th annual community leadership visit coordinated by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

The purpose of the visits, which began in 1994 with a trip to Spartanburg, S.C., is to pick up ideas from other communities experiencing similar growth and challenges. Oklahoma City was chosen because of its downtown redevelopment efforts and school enhancement programs, according to Brad Bodenhausen, the chamber executive vice president in charge of coordinating the annual trip.

Downtown Oklahoma City is known for Bricktown, a redeveloped warehouse and rail district which now houses the Ford Center sports arena, Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark, numerous restaurants and shops – including Bass Pro Shops – and hotels, including two by Springfield developer John Q. Hammons.

Urban Districts Alliance Executive Director Rusty Worley noticed the city’s downtown progress, most notably the Bricktown canal, which features interactive fountains and a water taxi service.

“Water attracts people,” Worley said. “We’ve seen that from the interactive fountain at Jordan Valley Park. We’ll continue to work on water features here in downtown and how they can be incorporated into the overall design.”

Much of Oklahoma City’s redevelopment is part of the MAPs, or Metropolitan Area Projects, program. The program receives funding from a voter-approved 1-cent sales tax, which has reaped $360 million for redevelopment efforts.

“They’ve really reshaped their image and diversified their economy through that program,” Bodenhausen said. “That public investment leveraged private investment – hotels and other major facilities – that bring total investment to $2.4 billion in downtown.”

The city has since taken the idea to the schools, creating the MAPs for Kids program that has raised more than $500 million to rebuild or renovate every school in the Oklahoma City school district.

Tom Rankin, owner of Sperry Van Ness Rankin Co., was intrigued by the tax idea.

“It was neat to see how, where we oftentimes piecemeal our property tax initiatives, they did one large one that did a lot of different things for a lot of different people,” he said.

Doug Pitt, real estate developer and president of ServiceWorld Computer Center, said the trip made him proud of what Springfield has accomplished.

“It reaffirms what we’ve done right in the redevelopment of our downtown,” Pitt said. “Oklahoma City is in the same situation we were a decade ago, and they’ve come out of it really strong, as we have.”

The delegation also noted Springfield’s influence – the group stayed in one of the two Hammons hotels and visited Bass Pro Shops during its trip.

“It’s interesting to travel a few hours down the road but still see such a strong presence from the Springfield business community,” Bodenhausen said.