MAPS 3 lower park construction to begin

Aided by MAPS 3's financial performance, the downtown park will be finished as designers intended.

The MAPS 3 Citizens Advisory Board recommended Thursday that the city council award a $22.3 million contract to Wynn Construction Co. to complete the 28-acre lower park, between Skydance bridge and the Oklahoma River.

The 40- acre upper park, above Skydance bridge, opened a year ago.

Wynn Construction's total bid was $ 2.7 million under architects Hargreaves Jones' estimate.

That enabled the MAPS office to add seven enhancements originally outside the project's budget.

The lower park occupies the former Hubcap Alley along S Robinson Avenue, south from Interstate 40 to SW 15 Street, between Robinson and Harvey avenues.

It has a “panhandle” on the north side of SW 10 between Robinson and Walker avenues, across the street from the Latino Community Development Agency.

The primary features of the panhandle will be an artificial turf soccer field and a sports pavilion with outdoor seating.

Shade pavilions and field lighting will be added as enhancements.

A wooded playground and sections planted in cottonwoods and pines fill out the panhandle.

Moving south, courts for sports such as futsal and basketball will be enhanced with lighting for nighttime play.

The rustic center of the park will be enhanced with a lighted trail and seating.

A plaza at SW 14 Street will get the most expensive of the enhancements, a $1.2 million pavilion with restrooms and shaded, outdoor seating.

The signature promenade beginning in the upper park at the Oklahoma City Boulevard will extend to SW 15, realizing the long- sought “core- toshore” bicycling and walking connection between the central business district and the Oklahoma River.

The enhanced park design with lighting and the second pavilion is financed in part with $ 1.8 million in MAPS 3 revenue that exceeded estimates.

Voters in 2009 approved the temporary 1-cent MAPS 3 sales tax, which expired in 2017.

As of Sept. 30, it had brought in $ 835.4 million, including $32 million in interest, 7.5% above MAPS 3's original $777 million budget.

MAPS 3 has built projects including senior health and wellness centers, the OKC Fairgrounds' event center, and the downtown streetcar and convention center.

Construction could begin within weeks and is expected to be finished by mid 2022.