Norman community leaders announced a plan Wednesday to build a new billion-dollar entertainment development that will house retail shops, restaurants, housing and a new stadium. 

The entertainment venue will be built in the Rock Creek plaza where officials proposed an ill-fated venue in 2017. However, this time around, the project will not draw from city or county funds and instead will be 80% privately funded. 

“Every one of us in this room knows that we have not been acting like a team for the city of Norman over the last decade and a half,” said University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr.

“There is so much that our city and our county have to offer, and the potential has not been realized. We have to look in the mirror, and we did,” Harroz said. 

With less than a year until the university joins the Southeastern Conference, many called for renovations to the university’s facilities and infrastructure to facilitate the influx of new opportunities.

The new plan mirrors one proposed in 2017 by the OU Foundation.  The foundation suggested using University North Park tax increment financing district to build the multi-use arena.  

That plan ran into resistance from the city council causing the foundation to withdraw its plan a year later.

Both the new project and old project included an entertainment district with housing options in the area along with the proposed arena, between Rock Creek Road and Tecumseh Road east of Interstate 35. The land is owned by the OU Foundation.

“This is something that benefits our kids, our grandkids, and generations to come,” Harroz added. 

“As we go out and as we are reaching new heights at OU, the only way to get to the next level is to be able to attract those students that want more,” he said.

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net.