Oklahoma City wants to hear from anyone who lives, works or hangs out downtown before it finalizes a sweeping strategic development plan that envisions a car-free stretch of Park Place, a reimagined Santa Fe Station and enough new housing to more than quadruple the district’s current 6,000 units by 2060. City officials opened the public comment period on August 6, and feedback will be accepted through August 30 before the draft heads to city leaders for further review.
The draft Downtown Strategic Development Plan, first reported by News 9, covers the area bounded by the Oklahoma River, Western Avenue, NW 13th Street and Interstate 235, and is built around six guiding principles translated into immediate, short-, medium- and long-term strategies. According to the city, the request for input applies broadly to residents, business owners, employees and visitors, not just downtown property owners. The plan projects downtown housing could grow from roughly 6,000 units today to 22,500 by 2060 — a 375% increase — addressing a housing target that has also driven recent tax-increment financing moves, including the tax deal converting empty offices into lofts.
Behind the plan is Yard & Co., the urban design firm that landed a $750,000 contract with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust in September 2025 to produce the draft, following a competitive bidding process the trust launched earlier that year, according to the Journal Record. The document is designed to build on planokc, the city’s comprehensive land-use framework adopted in 2015 that has guided a multi-year overhaul of development codes toward denser, mixed-use zoning, according to the City of Oklahoma City. Geoff Butler said the new downtown plan presents a generational opportunity to set a compelling vision and collectively work toward accomplishing it, per the same News 9 report.
Immediate Moves: A Downtown Grocery Store and an Entertainment Loop
Among the plan’s immediate strategies is the introduction of neighborhood-serving amenities such as retail, recreation, mobility, employment and education options, per the draft. The plan also aims to introduce a centrally located downtown grocery store — notable given that the closest existing options are the Homeland at Northwest Classen Boulevard and 16th Street and a Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy Store, the report notes…