Published: April 27, 2007 10:49 am         

Downtown revitalization

• OSU students outline plans to improve downtown area

Discussion of downtown revitalization has taken a new twist and four teams of OSU MBA students have provided the ideas.

A project class headed by Dr. John Mowen, Regents professor, presented four plans for reinvigorating downtown Stillwater. The presentations were held Wednesday at the Stillwater Public Library and a large crowd, including OSU and city officials, listened as each team pitched its plan.

According to Mowen, 15 MBA and two political science master’s students participated in class that began with a read through and critique of the PUMA, or Z plan, that has lead recent discussion of downtown revitalization.

The class also met with Mayor Roger McMillian, City Manager Dan Galloway, key city employees, Downtown Stillwater Unlimited, Still-water Chamber of Commerce, Stillwater Convention and Visitors Bureau and a group with the children’s museum. The groups also met with others on their own.

The teams then selected, researched and visited comparable cities including Blacksburg and Harrisonburg, Va., and Lawrence and Manhattan, Kan.

Mowen said in his introduction the ideas were from the teams and not from OSU or himself. The idea for the class was originated by former OSU President David Schmidly.

The audience also voted for the winning team which will receive a $1,000 cash prize. Mowen said the winning team will be announced next week.

The 20-minute presentations were kicked off with the cowboy country plan. The plan focused on establishing a brand for downtown and a multi use facility for students to gain real world experience and the community to use for entertainment.

A piano lounge and restaurant was proposed by the group to be located in the Knights of Columbus building, 120 W. Ninth. The upper floor was proposed to hold the movie theater.

The theme of the plan revolved around the concept of the modern cowboy and the belief that you should play as hard as you work.

A gateway marking the entrance to downtown was also proposed along with a path from the university to downtown called the cowboy country path.

The next team pitched the downtown district plan.

The downtown district plan not only focused on the downtown area, but Campus Corner and the Strip as well. Downtown projects included establishing a children’s museum in the former Katz building, revitalizing the Leachman Theater to host small stage plays and films and constructing a park and outdoor performance plaza.

The team also proposed moving the National Wrestling Hall of Fame downtown along with establishing a piano bar and OSU student art gallery.

Work near the campus was proposed as a second phase and as a corridor to connect campus with downtown.

The next pitch was the pioneering city plan. The team’s first change for downtown was reconstruction of main street into a boulevard, enhancing the street scape and moving all parking off Main Street. A parking garage was proposed and the pedestrian experience was designed to encourage more time spent and commerce in the downtown area.

An outdoor amphitheater located on 9th Street, between Duncan and Husband, was also proposed as well as development of downtown living.

The final presentation was cowboy-up Stillwater. The team proposed a corridor between the university and downtown to create a physical link. The team also included the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in the corridor as well as a full service hotel and conference center.

Also proposed was the idea of cowboy connections to bridge the resources of the campus with the opportunities and needs of downtown.

A manager was proposed to coordinate activities and oversee daily business. The person would also host mixers designed to form connections between the community, local businesses and the university.

The team also proposed a paint the Pete campaign to raise money. Statues of Pistol Pete are proposed to be painted and placed around town. Funding was proposed to be generated through sponsors or an auction of the Petes.

All of the teams provided funding options and estimated costs for their ideas.

Mowen proposed continuing the work through future classes and projects and said the full plans will be made available.

     

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