By: Steve Lackmeyer
Published 5:23 p.m. CT March 11, 2025

An Oklahoma contractor that built Oklahoma City’s new convention center, Devon Tower and the state Capitol dome, is teaming up with a Minneapolis contractor that built two of the country’s three newest NBA arenas to build a new $1 billion arenathat will be home to the
Oklahoma City Thunder.

The new partnership, Flintco-Mortenson, was hired Tuesday to build the arena, which is set to open by June 2028 on the block that was last home to Prairie Surf Studios and for almost 50 years served as the city’s convention center.

Flintco, founded in 1908, is headquartered in Tulsa and previously built Paycom Center, the city’s current arena. Mortenson Construction specializes in large arenas and stadiums and built two of the newest NBA arenas, Fiserv Forum (home of the Milwaukee Bucks) and Chase Center (home of the Golden State Warriors).

Dave Kollmann, president at Flintco, was part of the team that built Paycom Center, which was a bargain for the city when a miscalculation of subcontractors’ bids resulted in a surprisingly
low construction cost of $65 million when other arenas were costing more than twice that amount.

The first arena was built bare bones and was almost put on hold when the city failed to attract an NHL expansion team. The new arena is being built as an NBA home and entertainment venue that is to meet or exceed the league’s specifications and requirements.

“It is a testimony to Oklahoma City and the reinvestment that’s going to come to downtown,” Kollmann said. “It is full circle from us being involved in the first arena25 years ago and then being involved with this and keeping Oklahoma City big league.”

The Oklahoma City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to hire Flintco-Mortenson after the newly created partnership was recommended by a committee consisting of two Thunder executives, two employees of the city’s MAPS office and the city engineer. Flintco-Mortenson was chosen over two other proposals by Austin Commercial and a joint-venture between Turner Construction and Lingo Construction.

The selection of Flintco-Mortenson was far different from the process used in 1999for the Paycom Center.

“Back in 1999, at that time, the city went with the competitive bidding act where all the bidders take a set of documents and then have to turn in a bid at two o’clock,”Kollmann said. “And then they are read out loud and the low bidder gets the job.”

Since then, Kollmann said, state laws were changed to allow cities to use construction-managers. The new approach allows the contractor and architects to work together on design and pricing estimates.

“What that means is we are hired on a qualifications basis, not a price base,”Kollmann said. “We’re going to do bids, but it will not be at the contractor level, itwill be at the subcontractor level.”

The Oklahoma City Council previously hired MANICA Architecture as the Design Architect and TVS as the Architect of Record in October.

Kirk Mammen, vice president at Flintco and project manager, said he expects the public will get its first glimpse of conceptual designs this summer.

Mammen said the first task for the new partnership is to look at the conceptual designs created by MANICA and begin cost estimates.

“That’s a huge milestone to move forward, so we’re going to be looking at things that make sense and where to invest the dollars,” Mammen said. “We will then be going to our partners (Mortenson). They were selected for a specific reason. They have expertise in this area and they have finished two of the last three NBA facilities.”

Paycom Center’s seating for basketball is 18,203, which includes 36 executive suites and 48 terrace suites.

Mammen said he does not expect a big difference in the seating count at the new arena, though the seats themselves will be more spacious and comfortable, and the overall square footage target is at least 750,000 square feet compared to 581,000square feet at Paycom Center.

Some questions and challenges remain ahead for the project cost, notably an announcement Tuesday by President Donald Trump that he is going to double tariffs from 25% to 50% on Canadian steel and aluminum.

In response, analysts with Morgan Stanley warned domestic construction costs will go up because the United States is a net importer of steel and aluminum from Canada.

“It will have an impact and we are seeing it now with tariffs on other countries like China,” Mammen said. “It depends on where a trade partner sources their materials. They may look at materials locally that they hadn’t looked at in the past. But that takes time.”

Mammen said Flintco is experienced at dealing with volatile material costs from the daily changes seen with the construction of the city’s new convention center during the pandemic.

Timing is tight for the arena. Demolition of the old convention center is set to start this spring with construction to follow starting in February 2026. The arena is due to open by summer 2028 in time for the 2028-29 NBA season.

The city, Mammen said, is better prepared for such a large project than it was 25years ago in terms of labor and infrastructure. He expects peak employment at the job site will top 1,000 workers.

The new arena will be funded by a 72-month, one-cent sales tax that will start when the MAPS 4 tax ends and will not increase the sales tax rate. The arena will also be paid for with $70 million in MAPS 4 funding and $50 million from the Oklahoma City Thunder ownership group.