Oklahoma City approves $102.2 million in tax reimbursements for OKANA resort, water park
The Chickasaw Nation will receive $102.2 million in tax increment financing dollars for its $342.1 million OKANA resort and waterpark after the Oklahoma City Council approved an agreement Tuesday.
The resort will sit adjacent to the First Americans Museum, on land that was not generating property or sales tax while it was owned by the city. The $102.2 million will come in the form of reimbursements totaling 100% of property tax payments and 90% of sales tax payments generated by the development.
“It’s structured right now as an annual payout,” said Joanna McSpadden, the city's Economic Development program manager. “They pay in their property tax, and then we pay it back to them.”
The agreement represents the highest amount of traditional TIF reimbursement funding to date for Oklahoma City. A similar agreement for the Wheeler District totaled $80 million in reimbursements.
The OKANA resort will feature an 11-story, 400-room hotel, conference center, water park, outdoor recreational lagoon, entertainment center, dining and retail. It is expected to open in 2024, and a second phase could include an aquarium.
Some city council members raised concerns that the resort, and the First Americans Museum, are hard to access for residents and visitors without a car. Ward 6 Councilwoman JoBeth Hamon asked City Manager Craig Freeman about extending a bus route that would drop people off at the site.
"I struggle with these types of partnerships and deals when they're still leaving a lot of people out in being able to access the benefits," Hamon said. "I just want to keep putting that at the top of the conversation if we are going to move forward with this."
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC's OKANA resort to receive $102 million tax assistance from city
