About

The State Capitol building was built between 1914 and 1917 and is home to all three branches of State government and vast collections of State art. The State Capitol building had never undergone a comprehensive restoration despite its century of use and harsh Oklahoma weather.

The Project is a six-year, estimated $245 million restoration effort that will completely modernize the State Capitol building. The Project includes modernizing the building’s infrastructure and shoring up the limestone façade while
upgrading the functionality of the building for tenants and visitors alike. Investigation and construction
work began in 2015. For more info, visit their website:  https://capitolrestore.ok.gov/

The Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, which will be located in the Tulsa Arts District, will be a museum dedicated to the creative spirit of Oklahoma’s people and the influence of those artists on popular culture around the world. Stories featured in the museum will include movies, radio, television, illustration, literature, theater, Wild West Shows and Route 66— all connected to a sense of time and place through the language of music.  For more info, visit their website https://www.okpop.org/

The First Americans Museum is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the heart of Indian Country, on a 33.6 acre site on the Oklahoma River. The FAM’s museum experience intends to feature interactive exhibitions, educational programming and events in a structure exceeding 140,000 square feet, containing architectural spaces that will echo Native American values and traditions, and inclusive of outdoor experiences including a large promontory walk. Groundbreaking on the FAM began in 2005, but construction was halted in 2012 when dedicated funds for the FAM were exhausted. Contracts for design updates and other preparation for construction-related activities on the FAM resumed in the fall of 2017, with the intent of the FAM opening to the public in 2021. The budget to complete the construction of the FAM is $50 million, with funding coming from the following three sources: (i) $25 million in proceeds from the Series 2018B Bond, (ii) $16 million from private and tribal contributions previously deposited in the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum Completion Fund (the “AICCM Completion Fund”) created pursuant to Section 1226.20 of the NACEA Act, a portion of which has already been expended towards completion of the FAM, and (iii) $9 million from the City of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (the “City”) pursuant to Section 1226.2 of the NACEA Act, which amount is required to be deposited into the AICCM Completion Fund. Monies on deposit in the AICCM Completion Fund may only be expended for the purpose of completing the FAM. In addition, the City will assume responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the FAM after it opens to the public.

The American Indian Cultural Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is the source of the $16 million previously deposited in the AICCM Completion Fund, intends to spend approximately $15 million on the design, display, and acquisition of exhibits for, and other expenses of, the FAM, the funding of which will come from private and tribal contributions. More information can be found on their website: https://famok.org/

The Project has been named the “Next Generation Facility” or “NGF” for short. The NGF will be constructed on the grounds of the current Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center (the “COJC”) location in Tecumseh, Oklahoma. The NGF will consolidate the three existing OJA secure care facilities located across the State, including the COJC. The COJC is on 30 developed acres of a 147.7 acre plot and has been in use since 1919.

The NGF will include up to nine cottages that will provide living quarters for up to 144 residents. The Project is being planned and staged to minimize disruption to the day-to-day operations of the COJC, which will continue to house youth during the construction of the Project. This centralized campus will replace obsolete housing units that were designed and built for other purposes and other populations.

The NGF will focus on providing rehabilitative and therapeutic services in a specifically designed facility for juvenile justice programming. The NGF will encompass residential cottages for male and female youth in OJA’s care along with a modern health services building. To help its residents be physically active, the Project includes a regulation size soccer field that may also be used for football and baseball/softball, and two outside basketball courts (one for each of the male and female residents).

Consolidation of OJA’s three existing secure care facilities into the NGF will result in a more therapeutic environment for its residents and better working conditions for OJA staff, and will also result in significant savings by consolidating services such as cafeteria, laundry and maintenance. Further, use of technology and smart housing unit design in the NGF will allow OJA staff to be more efficient and effective.