OKC Zoo Leaders Unveil Master Plan With Overnight Suites, New Species

Oklahoma City Zoo leaders are rolling out a multi-million dollar expansion plan they’re calling 'the most ambitious in the Zoo’s 122-year history'.

Some of the headlines include 10 new species, a new café, and overnight accommodations for human guests.

“This is a high-level roadmap for the development of the zoo for the next decade-plus,” Oklahoma City Zoo CEO and Executive Director Dwight Lawson said.

The plan calls for overnight elephant suites for human stays. A reimagined 'Oklahoma Trails' exhibit includes four overnight guest suites with a private outdoor viewing of bison.

“The next 10-plus years we’re going to be focusing on a couple of spots that need some investment and then going back into some of the projects that kind of kicked off the modern zoo that are 30 years old,” Lawson said.

A new Africa Plateau will bring closer viewing of some of the zoo’s favorites like white rhinoceros, wildebeest, and zebras, and also make room for 10 new species including antelope, Gazelles, and vultures.

“The standards around animal care and guest expectations of how both animals are cared for and presented is constantly changing, so between the aging facilities and those kind of standards that are ever increasing it’s time to go back and look at all those places again,” Lawson said.

A brand new 4,500 square foot Red Bud Café is set to take up shop in the center of the zoo, bringing it all together in an area the master plans call the “Heart of the Zoo.”

The price range for all of the projects is between $115 million and $230 million.

“At this level, the projects themselves are fairly conceptual so there’s a lot of detail yet, as you get the individual projects and detailed planning which drives a lot of that cost,” Lawson said. “From the cheaper version to the Cadillac.”

Lawson said the projects would be paid for with private fundraising, possible tax credits, and funding from a one-eighth cent sales tax approved by Oklahoma City voters in 1990.

Zoo leaders said a new amphibian and reptile complex could be the first project to break ground. They said they'll likely begin looking for architects by the end of the year.

Click here to read the zoo’s master plan.