Tulsa Stadium Trust announced existing debt is being refinanced through the sale of tax exempt and taxable municipal bonds. This refinancing can benefit the property owners in Tulsa’s Inner Dispersal Loop assessment district, since a lower interest rate can result in significant savings, allowing the debt to be paid off more quickly.
“The IDL area has experienced tremendous growth, with millions of dollars in private-sector investment, increased downtown property values, a growing downtown resident population and important sales tax revenues,” said Arlo DeKraai, Tulsa Stadium Trust Chairman. “This move to retire ONEOK Field debt expeditiously can help downtown property owners save money and allow us to focus on future Tulsa investments.”
This year, ONEOK Field drew more than 401,000 people for Drillers games, the second highest attendance yet. The highest attendance record was met at 408,183 in its first year of operation in 2010. In total, ONEOK Field has hosted more than 1.5 million fans for Drillers games, plus nearly 200,000 people in four years at special public events.
In addition, ONEOK Field has been selected as the venue for the 2015 Big 12 baseball championship, and for the first time since 2004 the Tulsa Drillers have been named the Texas League’s Organization of the Year – an award given annually to honor the league’s most successful operation.
From an economic standpoint, 50 investment projects totaling $710 million include conversions of historic office and warehouse buildings to alternative uses such as hotels, residential lofts, museums and commercial uses, in addition to new development projects, improvements to highway and bridge infrastructures, streetscaping projects and renovations to existing properties.
Since the new home of the Tulsa Drillers was announced, 30 property sales have occurred that also experienced a previous sale after January 2000. These properties experienced a combined increase in value of 70 percent.