Kaiser Family Foundation To Provide Funding For Tulsa Arena Project

Tulsaâ€™s BOK Center is back on budget. <br/><br/>With the cost of construction running over estimates by $45-million, a Tulsa County oversight board voted Tuesday to change up the budget and put that

Tuesday, July 18th 2006, 6:09 am

By: News On 6

Tulsaâ€™s BOK Center is back on budget.

With the cost of construction running over estimates by $45-million, a Tulsa County oversight board voted Tuesday to change up the budget and put that much more into the downtown arena and overhaul of the Tulsa Convention Center.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says it is a change requested by Tulsa's mayor, helped out by a private foundation, and approved Tuesday morning by the new Tulsa County Vision Authority.

That body met Tuesday and added $45.5-million to the budget to build the arena - and renovate the convention center. Tulsa County tapped all of what's now expected to be the surplus from the Vision 2025 tax, cutting it so close, an outside source, a private foundation, was needed to guarantee the last $10 million of it.

The George Kaiser Family Foundation provided that loan, which they announced along with a $10-million gift to complement a Vision 2025 related project along the river. George Kaiser Family Foundation executive director Ken Levit: "The foundation is making a $10-million gift to improve the river area to jumpstart a new period of beautification, enhancement and economic development along the banks of the Arkansas River."

Tulsa County is confident the Vision 2025 tax will collect enough money to pay for the arena and convention center and the mayor is confident this new amount will be enough to finish the job.

As it stands now, the total cost for both will be around $244-million.