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Trust approves TIF allocations to support Clara Luper Civil Rights Center construction
Summary
The Trust approved allocations from TIF 9 and TIF 15 totaling up to $500,000 to help fund the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center (MAPS 4 project); city staff said the funds would primarily support exhibitry and storytelling elements that were removed from an earlier base bid after budget reductions.
The Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust on July 29 approved joint resolutions allocating up to $350,000 from TIF 9 and up to $150,000 from TIF 15 to help fund construction and exhibit elements for the MAPS 4 Clara Luper Civil Rights Center. Christina Beatty, executive director of the Freedom Center of Oklahoma City and the project operator, presented the site layout, program uses and revised budget.
Beatty said the new construction will be just over 17,000 square feet between Madison and 24th (stretching to 25th) along North Martin Luther King Avenue, immediately south of the historic Freedom Center building. The facility includes a divisible main event space sized to seat roughly 200–250 at rounds in some configurations; two classrooms each sized for about 45 people; a boardroom; staff offices planned for up to 21 full-time equivalent positions; and widened gallery circulation for exhibit storytelling.
Beatty said project budgeting has been affected by inflation, requiring a reduction in overall mass (from a previously larger, two-story concept) and moving some highly specialized archival and climate-controlled exhibit spaces into a potential second phase pending additional funding such as the proposed GEO bond. The Trust allocation she requested is meant to incorporate exhibit and storytelling elements into the base bid — material the MAPS subcommittee prioritized so the city’s investment would support content and interpretation rather than just the shell.
Beatty presented a total MAPS project budget of $26.8 million, with $9.6 million allocated for operations and maintenance and about $17.2 million for the project itself; after land, public art and other nonconstruction items are removed, construction is estimated at approximately $11.8 million. The requested TIF allocations would help raise the base-bid construction total to $12.3 million and fund exhibitry and digital storytelling components. The project team has retained Gallagher & Associates for exhibition design and planned a 2027 opening, pending completion of construction documents, bidding and council approvals.
The Trust took a motion to approve the allocations and the item passed. Beatty answered questions about security and artifact preservation, saying much of the archive is paper and the project team plans to digitize material for reproduction in displays while reserving original items to climate-controlled storage in a later phase. She also compared the project to Greenwood Rising in Tulsa and described visits to other relevant museums in planning. The Trust approved the allocations; staff will return exhibits and construction bid details as the design and procurement progress.
