Stillwater NewsPress

Local News

Related Photos

  • The new Stillwater Convention and Visitors Bureau office, located on West Sixth Avenue, will open in early- to mid-July. Neel Arora

    61611visitorsconvention2.jpg
June 18, 2011

Stillwater visitor's center construction nearly complete

By Joe Lanane joelanane@stwnewspress.com

STILLWATER, Okla. — Construction is nearly complete on a new visitor’s center that will welcome guests as they enter Stillwater from the city’s west side.

The 3,600-square-foot building on West Sixth Street — the former Shalimar Taste of India — will also serve as the new Convention and Visitors Bureau office. Work should be complete by early- to mid-July, said Cristy Morrison, CVB executive director.

The welcome center is located along the town’s primary entrance on the correct side of the road as visitors enter Stillwater, she said. There will also be a 24-hour information center visitors can access even when the office is closed.

Both the CVB and the project are funded entirely by hotel tax dollars, she said, rather than city money. Hotel revenue is up 17 percent from this same time last year, Morrison said, further boosting her office’s efforts to promote Stillwater.

“What’s cool about this project is that visitors will essentially be financing the impression of future visitors,” she said.

The building’s owner, Jim Griffith, agreed to lease the property for $6,000 per month to the CVB, which recently transitioned under city authority. The Stillwater City Council approved the lease agreement in early March in a deal city manager Dan Galloway called “a good arrangement for the CVB.”

Much of that money will help Griffith recover remodeling costs, he said, which are “well north” of $100 per square foot.

“It’s not taking any tax dollars away from the citizens,” he said. “I would not have done this if I didn’t believe in what the CVB was trying to do here.”

Griffith, a former CVB board member, understands the importance of having a Stillwater visitor’s center, Morrison said, making him an ideal partner for this project.

“He’s investing an enormous amount of money into this project,” she said. “He genuinely understands that CVB provides a valuable economic tool for the community.”

Everything about the building is brand new except the four original walls, Griffith said. The project’s contractor, Alexander Construction Company, began working in mid-March to convert the former restaurant.

“You’re literally changing the use of the building,” said Ken Alexander, president of Alexander Construction. “But, for the money they’re paying, it would have been hard to find a spot with this many amenities.”

The building will include four main offices, a reception area, two work stations, a kitchen, conference room, copy center and ADA-compliant public bathrooms — to go along with 44 parking spaces, he said.

A weeklong open house will be held sometime in August or early September, Morrison said, so the public can tour the remodeled building.

“In a year people will drive by and wonder when we built a new building,” Griffith said. “They won’t even remember this was a remodel.”

Text Only
Local News