BROKEN ARROW — Activity east of the Creek Turnpike in Broken Arrow is a reminder that a $93 million, 12,500-seat outdoor amphitheater will be a new addition to the area’s roster of music venues.
The Sunset — that’s the name of the amphitheater — will rise on property located north of New Orleans Street (101st Street) adjacent to the Creek Turnpike and near Broken Arrow’s Rosewood Elementary and Events Park.
As of May 27, the park temporarily halted the booking of events in order to facilitate construction of public infrastructure improvements and the development of the Sunset at Broken Arrow amphitheater. The city’s website said the closure is necessary to ensure the safety of construction teams and visitors to the park.
Dirt has been moved, and machinery is on site. Sunset at Broken Arrow LLC plans to begin construction on the amphitheater later this year and finish by late 2025 or early 2026.
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On Monday, it was announced that the Oklahoma Department of Commerce is partnering with the City of Broken Arrow and Wagoner County by providing up to $39.5 million in matching funds through the Enterprise Zone Incentive Leverage Act. This will help fund necessary infrastructure improvements for development of the amphitheater, hailed as a public/private partnership.
The city committed to improve the public infrastructure (at a cost of approximately $28 million) in and around Events Park. VENU, known as Notes Live when the project was announced, committed approximately $71 million to build the amphitheater.
Asked about the $39.5 in matching funds from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Aaron McColloch, media relations director for the City of Broken Arrow, said that, in simplest terms, the state is not writing the city a check for $39.5 million. Instead, the state has committed 3.55% of future state sales tax generated from the expected development of restaurants, hotels and retail in the Tax Increment Finance District that was created in the area.
McColloch said the city will fund the public infrastructure improvements, which have already begun, and will receive an increment of future state and county sales tax collections, as well as the city sales tax, from the TIF. That revenue will be used to help pay back the city for the cost of new roadways, water lines, sewer lines, stormwater lines and parking.
Public infrastructure advancements so far that can be seen, according to McColloch, include:
• The south section of the new 43rd Street just east of Rosewood Elementary School. This new roadway is part of the plan to increase ingress/egress points at Events Park to mitigate traffic congestion and essentially help drain the parking lot empty within 40 minutes of concert’s end.
• A new sanitary sewer line is being installed.
• The main entrance into Events Park is being widened.
The news release about the project getting a boost from the Enterprise Zone Incentive Leverage Act said the Oklahoma Department of Commerce determined the amphitheater “is more than $100 million revenue positive” to the state through June 2049. With the investment, the state acknowledges the amphitheater has the potential to become a significant tourism destination.
“This project is one of only four other projects that have taken advantage of the Leverage Act,” said Jon Chiappe, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce’s director of research. “We hope that, through this collaboration, more communities will consider this program.”
The news release said the Leverage Act allows the state to stack capital with a partnership of private and local government funding by matching sales tax collections at the local level with state tax dollars. The incentive can be used to support a particular project located in an enterprise zone or in support of a major tourism destination project that would positively impact a nearby enterprise zone.
A news release included quotes from Broken Arrow Mayor Debra Wimpee and City Manager Michael Spurgeon about the importance of the amphitheater project and the state’s newly announced support.
In January, the city of Broken Arrow approved the Tax Increment District #5 plan, which involves implementing a new sales-tax-only TIF boundary that covers the Broken Arrow Events Park and adjacent nonresidential properties in a specific location. In addition to the amphitheater, the TIF is expected to include the development of restaurants, hotels, a convenience store and potential future opportunities with NSU-BA. Tax increments will be utilized to pay for or reimburse infrastructure project costs for up to 25 years.
Wagoner County partnered with the city and agreed to capture a portion of its new incremental county sales tax revenues (100% in 2024-2027, 75% in 2028-2029, 50% in 2030-2031 and 25% in 2032-2033) for infrastructure improvements.
When the amphitheater debuts, the venue will be operated by and booked in partnership with Live Nation.
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