State Lawmakers Consider Giving Unfinished Indian Cultural Center To City Of OKC

State lawmakers are considering giving the unfinished Indian Cultural Center and the property it's on back to the City of Oklahoma City.

The Indian Cultural Center has sat unfinished on the banks of the Oklahoma River for going on five years and it's costing the state $7 million a year. So the pressure is on to do something.

State taxpayers have paid $91 million dollars to get the Indian Cultural Center to this point. It will take an estimated $80 million more to finish the project. Private donors have said they will pay half of that, but the legislature still has to come up with the other $40 million.

“With the budget challenge we face this year obviously just having the cash to go out and complete it based on what they believe they need to complete it, isn't really an option,” said Speaker of the House Jeff Hickman.

Speaker Hickman said they are looking at other options including giving the property or facility back to the City of Oklahoma City. In order to constitutionally do that, the state posted a legal publication in the Journal Record. That also made the city take notice. The city has already invested the land plus $5 million in the project and pledged another $9 million.

“That's not our preference,” said Oklahoma City City Manager Jim Couch. “Our preference is to have it completed as the original plan. We think that would be a great asset for the state of Oklahoma.”

Still, Couch said the city would take the property back. But they don't have the money either to finish the cultural center.

“It's a valuable piece of property with a great infrastructure on it and we would do something with it.”

But just handing the center and property back to the city isn't that easy either. Hickman said the state still owes about $50 million on the unfinished project.

“I think the ultimate solution would involve a number of different aspects because it's a complicated challenge,” he said.

Speaker Hickman said he's optimistic they will come up with a solution this session.