Community Renewal Good Stories - Oklahoma City

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EZ Focuses on Brownfields Economic Development Potential

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, EZ

Once home to oil-processing facilities, this old industrial corridor in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, EZ is ripe for change. Location and circumstances have combined to make the brownfields surrounding Reno Avenue a prime target for redevelopment. The corridor is strategically close to transportation networks. Not only does it parallel active shortline and major railways, it sits at the junction of two major Interstates: I-35, a primary NAFTA route and I-40, where travelers and truckers rest and refuel.

When asked by city planners what their vision is for investment in this area's future, residents and businesses emphasized the corridor's geographic and historic prominence. The industrial corridor, noted respondents, is the city's front door and currently makes a poor first impression on visitors. With the American Indian Cultural Center set to open to the corridor's south and with the Bricktown entertainment district to the west, Reno Avenue will need to accommodate at least 1,500 additional vehicles per day. Major revitalization efforts are gaining momentum throughout the city as its centennial approaches in 2007.

Respondents pointed out that in addition to accommodating and enhancing tourism, the corridor could become a jobs center. Full utilization of the area-about 250 acres total- could accommodate at least a million additional square feet of commercial and industrial facilities and support hundreds of new jobs in the EZ.

Given all these influences, change in the Reno Avenue corridor is inevitable. Oklahoma City plans to make use of the EZ's tax incentives (wage credits, low-cost bonds, reduced capital gains, and increased deductions, among others) to help ensure that the working traditions of this important area are integrated with the future visions for the entire Oklahoma City community.

For more information on the programs of the Oklahoma City EZ, contact Robbie Kienzle at (405) 297-1740.