OKC seen as getting shot as true tourist destination
Chickasaw Nation’s OKANA Resort and Indoor Waterpark could be key to city’s chances
Tourism, already a significant employer for Oklahoma City, may reach new heights with the creation of hundreds of new jobs with construction set to start next year on a $300 million resort and indoor waterpark.
OKANA Resort and Indoor Waterpark, to be built by the Chickasaw Nation next to the First Americans Museum, adds to the ongoing transformation of the Oklahoma River south of downtown, turning what once was an eyesore into one of the city's top attractions. The museum is already proving to be a national draw with visitors from 48 states attending during the opening week. Visitation at the museum since the Sept. 18 debut totals 28,600.
A May 21 economic study commissioned by the Chickasaw Nation reports the resort is expected to have a 10-year combined resort and visitor spending impact of $1.3 billion.
Chickasaw officials believe the resort will, combined with the museum, draw visitors from across the country and worldwide.
“Undoubtedly, an entertainment and lodging complex of this magnitude will add significantly to the exciting progress going on in Oklahoma City,” said Bill Lance, Chickasaw Nation Secretary of Commerce. “Initially, the resort is projected to employ 400 people and the annualized economic impact Year One is projected to be $97 million.”
Plans for the OKANA resort were announced Thursday. The development, to begin construction in June 2022, will include an 11-story, 404-room hotel, conference center, entertainment center, spa, waterpark, outdoor lagoon, Native American crafts and goods retail, boutique shops and dining.
The resort, set to open in 2024, is forecasted by Hotel & Leisure Advisors to create 800 direct and indirect jobs, a $23.1 million payroll. An additional 158 jobs, $4.5 million payroll and $18.5 million in annualized economic impact is expected with visitor spending outside the resort.
The resort will be built by Manhattan Construction, which previously teamed up with Flintco in building the First Americans Museum. The resort construction is expected to generate 1,404 jobs, an $80.7 million payroll, and $226.3 million in construction spending.
At the heart of the project is a vision expressed early on by Chickasaw Gov. Bill Anoatubby: the goal of creating a museum where Native American culture and history is celebrated while also providing tribal members across the country a market to create and sell their crafts and goods.
Resort amenities will include boutique shops and 11 restaurants, an outdoor recreational lagoon and beach.
Mayor David Holt sees the 404-room OKANA hotel, second in size only to the 605-room downtown Omni, along with the OKANA conference center as a draw for Native American conferences and groups that otherwise might not have considered Oklahoma City for their events.
“These are groups that we might not otherwise get to our convention center,” Holt said. "These groups I’m talking about are tied to Native American and Indigenous organizations and causes. There is no other place in the country that makes sense for them other than to come here.”
The location of the First Americans Museum and OKANA resort is at one of the busiest cross country highway junctions of Interstate 35, which runs 1,569 miles from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minnesota; and Interstate 40, which runs 2,556 miles from Barstow, California, to Wilmington, North Carolina.
That represents corridors from coast to coast and border to border. About 146,000 vehicles travel daily along I-35
through the junction while I-40 carries 125,000 vehicles daily as it passes the museum. Planners for OKANA, however, are looking at the resort being marketed as an extended-stay destination.
“This is not a transitory type destination,” said Chad Claborn, who along with Alan Marcum has helped guide planning for the resort on behalf of the Chickasaws. “We’re not trying to pull people off the interstate to stay in the hotel. This is a destination in itself. The goal is to provide an extended weekend trip, three or four nights, people who want to come to the museum, stay overnight, experience the resort, the waterpark and our other onsite attractions.”
The Chickasaws believe the market is ready for the resort. The only other hotel in Oklahoma with an indoor waterpark is located in Clinton, an operation attached to a Holiday Inn Express lacking the shopping, retail, dining and culture that will be a part of OKANA.
Planners expect OKANA will draw 25% corporate and conference visitors and 75% leisure visitors. Local staycation guests are typically a part of that leisure market and resort planners believe the Oklahoma City market is largely untapped.
The first hotel and waterpark in the United States, the Polynesian Resort Hotel and Suites in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, opened in 1989 and in ensuing years a chain of similar operations by Great Wolf Lodge opened across the country, including Kansas City, Kansas, and Grapevine, Texas.
The Grapevine and Clinton waterparks are heavily marketed in Oklahoma City. The Clinton waterpark is 28,000 square feet and the Grapevine waterpark spans 80,000 square feet. The two-level OKANA waterpark will span 107,600 square feet.
A Chickasaw study completed for OKANA reports the Wisconsin hotel and waterpark has one room for every 500 households in its market, while the Oklahoma City market is one hotel room for every 2,600 households.
When the OKANA resort opens, it will be connected via pedestrian bridges, trails and Oklahoma River Cruisers with some of the city’s top attractions, including the Boathouse District and RiverSport, Bricktown, Stockyards City and the Wheeler District.
Those attractions are connected to other destinations, including the Oklahoma City Convention Center, Scissortail Park, the Myriad Gardens, Paycom Center, the Oklahoma City Memorial and an array of art galleries and museums, entertainment, dining and shops.
Downtown, home to just one hotel in the 1990s, now offers visitors a choice of 20 hotels with two more, The National at the former First National Center, and the Renaissance Hotel in Bricktown, set to open this winter.
“The number of hospitality and lodging options available for OKC visitors of all types has exploded in the past few years,” said Roy Williams, CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. “The economic impact of a commercial development of this magnitude, especially in proximity to the new park and the First Americans Museum, builds on the momentum achieved in our city in recent years.”
Staff writer Steve Lackmeyer is a 31year reporter, columnist and author who covers downtown Oklahoma City, related urban development and economics for The Oklahoman. Contact him at slackmeyer@oklahoman.com. Please support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.