OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – City leaders in Oklahoma City say big changes are coming to the Innovation District.

Earlier this week, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt announced that the city council approved a plan for a new $177 million development known as Convergence.

Officials say it all started with Innovation Hall, a $10 million MAPS 4 project located just northeast of downtown Oklahoma City.

“This is a concept that was developed over the last few years that we committed to in MAPS 4. We have dollars in MAPS 4 that really helped with placemaking, and one of the projects is Innovation Hall. This is supposed to be the center of the Innovation District, which is just northeast of downtown. Maybe a place that some other people might think of the Health Sciences Center or OU Health, but we’re kind of branding it the Innovation District,” said Mayor David Holt.

Now, officials say a development featuring a hotel, offices, and public spaces has been approved by the Oklahoma City Council.

“MAPS has a longstanding track record of bringing public dollars that are then matched by private dollars. Think about how MAPS built the canal and then you’ve got all the people building restaurants and movie theaters all around it. Well in this case, we had $10 million for this Innovation Hall that we expected actually to have a direct match of $10 million for a total of 20. But this private development known as Convergence came forward and proposed a $180 million development. So we really felt like the return on the $10 million was incredible and quick,” he said.