See OKC’s Scissortail Park’s new SPARKLE – Holiday Walk up close
The Christmas light display is a fundraiser for the Scissortail Park Foundation that’s designed to help fund community programming.
- California entrepreneur Nick Gross is making an eight-figure investment in the new stadium district south of Bricktown.
- The investment includes bringing a future-focused educational platform to Oklahoma City schools.
- Plans for the district include entertainment venues, hotels, and a potential large-scale music festival.
A California investor is joining the team developing the future stadium district south of Bricktown with plans including a music festival “designed to place Oklahoma City at the center of America’s cultural conversation.”
Nick Gross, founder of Gross Labs, announced he is making an eight-figure investment (at least $10 million) with a focus on community-driven education powered by Find Your Grind, Gross Labs’ future-ready learning platform for middle and high school students.
Echo Investment Capital, which is developing the 50 acres surrounding the future MAPS 4 multi-purpose stadium, previously announced NBA star Russell Westbrook is also making an eight-figure investment in the development and will be creative director for the development.
“Sports and entertainment have the power to connect communities through shared experiences,” Gross said. “Partnering with Christian and Russell allows us to create opportunity at every level and support innovative areas of growth in Oklahoma City.”
The district is being planned to be pedestrian friendly and anchored by entertainment venues, restaurants, hotels, music venues and educational hubs. Gross Labs is described as a cultural investment and incubation platform founded by Nick Gross to unite the family’s companies, investments, and social impact initiatives under a single vision — building the future of culture through creativity, community, and capital.
“What we’re building in Oklahoma City rivals any cultural district in the nation,” said Christian Kanady, Founding Partner and CEO of Echo Investment Capital. “It’s more than development; it’s a movement to unite creative and financial capital in one place. With Nick and Russell, we’re proving that the next great American city is being built right here in the center of the country.”
Gross said he first met Kanady through the nonprofit networking group Stand Together when the pair were talking about education and Gross’ Find Your Grind program.
“One thing led to the next and he was telling me about the stuff he’s involved with in Oklahoma. I jumped on a plan to see things first-hand and was blown away by what Echo and Kanady’s team have established across the state.”
Bringing education technology to kids in OKC
Gross said he started Find Your Grind about six years ago as an education technology company for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade.
“We focus on career readiness and self-discovery for young kids to map a path forward for what happens after school,” Gross said. “We take a different approach around what we call a lifestyle first approach to being ready for your life and career. A lot of assessments and tools are out there today that the schools really focus on that puts too much (emphasis) on career. You have kids in middle school who are having to choose a career lane. I think that’s ridiculous.”
Gross said Find Your Grind, which will be expanded to Oklahoma City via the stadium district, works with kids to look at who they want to be and not “what do they want to be.”
“A lot of these kids are going to be moving throughout their careers every two to three years,” Gross said. “There is a new fluidity in how the world works today, how kids find work, and young people want to find fulfillment and meaning behind the things that they choose to get involved in and not just a paycheck.”
The program, Gross said, asks students what kind of life they want to live, who they are as individuals, and to then look at career options as the last point in the process. The program also has an emotional wellness check-in tool that monitors the overall well-being of middle- and high-school students throughout the school year.
Currently, the program is being used in 200 school districts, Gross said. His goal is to expand it throughout Oklahoma City, within which 25 school districts fully or partially operate. He is eager to see how Find Your Grind can help change Oklahoma being dead last in education among all 50 states.
“I’ve already met with some of the amazing superintendents in Oklahoma City who are excited to bring this on and help tell the story,” Gross said. “And in the physical space of the entertainment district that we’ll be doing, we want to actually build a couple of physical spaces where education can exist.”
In a district in which Westbrook has already stated he will be bringing his eye on fashion to the district as part of his role as creative director, Gross said the educational component will not be limited to Find Your Grind. The overall development is expected to hit $2 billion with plans including hotels, restaurants, entertainment and housing.
“We believe there is a lot of opportunity across sports, fashion and culinary arts,” Gross said. “There will be these different and exciting entrepreneurial career pathways that will be taught within the entertainment district.”
Construction on the stadium is expected to start in 2026 and completion in 2028. Gross said talks are still early about how a music festival might be launched in the district. The latest designs for the stadium show it can host concert crowds of between 15,000 and 18,000.
Gross Labs already has relationships with soccer legend David Beckham, golf champion Tiger Woods and singer Avril Levene. Gross said he believes his family office can add to the culture of the new district and the ecosystems that will be created on what is now an empty field. He believes a music festival can and will be a part of that mix.
“I’m on the board of a company called Breakaway that is the largest independent touring festival in the country,” Gross said. “Next year we’re doing 14 festivals in different states across the country. We have artists like the Chainsmokers to Alesso and John Summit and big DJ, EDM and pop acts that do these festivals. So how do we do this in OKC?”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.oklahoman.com ’
