Oklahoma City picks master architect for proposed sports, entertainment district
admin / June 2025
Populous to design soccer stadium, surrounding area
Oklahoma City is jumping on the downtown entertainment district bandwagon, and one of the city’s most popular athletes is on the team leading the charge.
A private investment group that includes professional basketball star Russell Westbrook hired the architecture firm Populous as master architect for a proposed entertainment district in the Bricktown section of downtown Oklahoma City, according to a statement issued by the development team of Echo Investment Capital, Russell Westbrook Enterprises and Robinson Park. The district is expected to be anchored by an open-airsoccer stadium for Oklahoma City Energy FC and is set to include retail, dining and public spaces.
From Atlanta to Milwaukee to Edmonton in Canada, developers are trying to create clusters of entertainment and sports venues in city centers, hoping that a mix of stages, sports facilities and new types of entertainment like virtual reality can draw consumers and tourists year-round. The new wave of entertainment districts typically contains some combination of hotels, apartments, retail, restaurants and offices amongst the entertainment venues.
“In today’s world, it is oftentimes impractical to locate sports venues within densely populated neighborhoods,” according to Selbert Perkins Design, a Los Angeles-based branding and placemaking firm that’s not involved in the Oklahoma City project. “Instead, sports venues are built and then neighborhoods are created around them [to create] entertainment districts,” the firm said on its website.
In the Oklahoma City effort, Echo Investment Capital, Russell Westbrook Enterprises and Robinson Park are teaming up to develop the entertainment district on a vacant 38-acre site at 6 SE Fourth St. in Bricktown. The site is a short walk from the home arena for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, Paycom Center, as well as a minor league baseball stadium and the MAPS 3 Convention Center.
“This project is about shaping a destination, a place where community, commerce and culture mix in meaningful ways,” Phil Kolbo, principal at Populous, said in the statement.
New arena
The proposed entertainment district is also near the site where a replacement arena for Paycom Center is planned. Oklahoma City voters in 2023 approved a sales tax to fund construction of the new arena.
Westbrook, a former player for the Oklahoma City Thunder who now plays for the Denver Nuggets, will serve as creative director for the entertainment district project, according to the statement.
“We’re not just building a sports-anchored entertainment district, we’re reimagining how a city comes together,” Westbrook said in the statement.
As sports and entertainment districts like the Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Gulch in Nashville, Tennessee, have proven popular, developers in other cities are lining up resources to create their own versions.
In Atlanta, the $5 billion Centennial Yards project is slated to include a Live Nation-managed music venue and a Cosm virtual-reality entertainment experience along with apartments, dining and public spaces.
Developers in Milwaukee hope the proposed Iron District will include a new soccer stadium along with a music and entertainment venue, hotel, apartments and restaurants.
And the proposed Ice District in Edmonton, Alberta, will be the largest sports and entertainment district in Canada when completed, according to its developers. cv
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