Tulsa's Young Professionals has opened voting on projects to redevelop downtown parking to the public.
TYPros' Street CReD event focused on making south downtown a walkable, enjoyable place, and this contest is a continuation of that. Chair Isaac Rocha said it's another way to get people thinking about an area that could be more than parking lots.
"We're hoping to show the potential of what could happen with the surface parking," Rocha said. "Hopefully funders in the private sector will see the potential and possible look at one of these projects and say, 'We should have this in our south downtown.'"
Architects submitted ideas ranging from a food truck park to a green space. Kenton Grant said his firm went with a sports complex because there are only professional venues downtown right now.
"You have professional fields at the Drillers," Grant said. "You have the BOK Center, which brings in hockey and other events, but there wasn't really anything with a community tie to sports.
"And that's why we really liked and grabbed onto the idea of having a sports complex that was nonprofessional based, purely for the community, the schools and the people of Tulsa."
Drawings of the concepts are on display at Foolish Things coffee, 1001 S Main St. Voting is online at bit.ly/votecred. A winner will be announced July 16.
