At the time of the bombing, which killed 168 people, the city's downtown was still suffering from the oil bust of the mid-1980s. The blast damaged more than 300 buildings, 17 of which were total losses. As recently as 2000, the area still showed scars: boarded-up buildings, broken windows and rubble where shops once stood.
But today, Oklahoma City's downtown is thriving, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Bricktown district is buzzing with night life, people are moving downtown, there is a gleaming new federal building blocks from where the Murrah building once stood and property prices are booming. Add to that two successful stadiums, a $52 million performing arts center, a $22 million central library, a "Riverwalk" type canal, a trolley, clubs and restaurants, and the downtown of the once-sleepy city of 500,000 is bustling.
In Oklahoma City, a canal in the Bricktown area of downtown is a big tourist draw. Oklahoma City laid the foundation for its revival two years before the bombing when a slim majority of voters approved a sales tax increase to give what became a $350 million boost to the area. The project proved so popular that residents joke that it is hard to find anyone who admits to voting against the raise. Ultimately the tax money led to $1.5 billion of public and private investment being poured into downtown Oklahoma City without any state funds and without the city taking on any debt.
Now, young singles and empty nesters are moving downtown in unprecedented numbers, revitalizing the Deep Deuce district, a historic African-American area that flourished during the jazz era, but had fallen into disrepair. Two new large hotels have been built downtown and four more are on the way. Property values in some parts of downtown have grown by about 500 percent over the past 15 years.
Next week, the city will mark the 10th anniversary of the bombing with a week of events that includes a concert at the Ford Center and a marathon that will wind through city streets.
Even before the bombing, Oklahoma City's downtown had been desolate — destroyed by failed urban renewal projects and a flight to the suburbs.
Today, Oklahoma City is the second-largest city in the continental U.S. in land area behind Jacksonville, Fla., but just 29th in terms of population. And the tourists have come. Hundreds of thousands of visitors a year come to the Oklahoma City National Memorial to view the rows of empty chairs representing the lives lost and to visit a museum commemorating the event.
A couple of blocks away the $88 million Ford Center, a 20,000-seat arena that opened in 2002 draws huge crowds to the area. In 2003 it was one of the top-10 concert-ticket selling arenas in the world, according to Pollstar, a music-industry data provider. Newer additions include the $52 million Civic Center Music Hall and a $22 million library, while a $133 million American Indian Cultural Center is about to break ground just south of downtown. One of the biggest draws is a Bass Pro Shops superstore, which brings 2.3 million visitors a year downtown.
The downtown economy has also benefited from the success of local companies. Devon Energy Corp., now the largest independent U.S. oil and gas company, has grown strongly while hamburger chain Sonic Corp. built its new headquarters on the banks of the Bricktown Canal.
But the revival is far from complete. Nearly one-third of the city's downtown office space sits vacant, nearly double the national average, according to CB Richard Ellis, a Los Angeles-based commercial real-estate services company. While the downtown population has doubled in the past 10 years, only about 1,000 people live there.
