Wheeler Park area emerges as top candidate for stadium
The search for a new site for a proposed soccer stadium has resumed and Oklahoma City Energy owner Bob Funk Jr. confirms the Wheeler Park area is emerging as a top candidate among several being considered.
Funk Jr., who along with Tim McLaughlin owns the city’s only professional soccer team, spent a year negotiating a purchase of 40 acres south of Lower Bricktown that was for decades home to the Producers Cooperative Cotton Oil Mill.
The envisioned project would have included an ambitious mixed-use commercial development adjoining a stadium built to allow the Energy to move up to Major League Soccer. The deal fell apart when the two sides were unable to come to terms.
“Our ambitions haven’t changed,” Funk Jr. said. “Our MLS ambitions are still alive and we want to work toward getting there. And to do that, we have to have a stadium.”
The Wheeler Park area spans both sides of the Oklahoma River along Western Avenue and in the city’s earliest years was home to Delmar Gardens, a destination that mimicked the beer gardens, rides, restaurants and attractions of Coney Island in the early 1900s.
Much of the land to the south of the river is being developed into housing, retail and offices by Blair Humphreys. The site, once home to the Downtown Airpark, is being called Wheeler and is home to a Ferris wheel that overlooks the river.
Consideration of the Wheeler Park area coincides with construction set to start later this
month on the first 14 acres of the 150-acre Wheeler master plan.
"We're thrilled about the prospect of having the Energy play in the Wheeler District," Humphreys said. "We are big fans not only of what Mr. Funk and his team are doing today but also excited about their plans for the future."
Funk Jr. said the Wheeler Park area is one of multiple sites that fit his desire to build a stadium in the city’s urban core and accessible to all parts of the city.
“One of big things about the (cotton oil mill) property that we were looking at — for the soccer stadium — was access to the citizens on the south side,” Funk Jr. said. “That was a big deal to us and it still is. We feel like there needs to be something for Capitol Hill and people south of the river and to bring that population in. Our mantra is to be inclusive.”
The idea of building a soccer stadium in the Wheeler Park area isn’t new.
“When Blair and the Wheeler district did their design charrette, there was a lot of talk then about a soccer stadium being a part of their development,” Funk Jr. said. “I thought that was pretty interesting. I’d love to look at that area — it could be a great area to look at and see what is available.”
Funk Jr. said two years may pass before a site selection is announced. Old studies must be revisited, meetings must be held with area stakeholders, residents and city leaders. The goal, he said, is to be stadiumready for the possibility of obtaining MLS status within six to nine years.
“Each site is very unique in the approach,” Funk Jr. said. “Some are privately owned, some are publicly owned. We have to look at the specific issues with each site. Some have city sewer junctions underneath, some have municipal code issues. We have to work with adjacent property owners and residents. We’ve already had some of those conversations and they’ve been positive.”