Cranes on the Skyline, Dirt in the Suburbs

Published October 26, 2026

If you’ve driven through downtown lately, you’ve seen it: the cranes are back. And if you’ve driven out toward Piedmont, east Edmond or Newcastle, you’ve seen the other half of the story, where whole fields are turning into neighborhoods seemingly overnight.

I pay attention to this for a simple reason. Where the city is investing, and where builders are buying land, tells you a lot about where values are headed over the next five to ten years. You don’t have to time the market perfectly. You just have to understand the direction it’s moving. So here’s my rundown of what’s been announced or broken ground around the metro this year, and what I think it means for you.

Downtown: a 2028 that looks very different

Three big projects are all pointed at the same year, and together they’ll change what it feels like to live near the core.

Continental Coliseum. The Thunder’s new home broke ground on March 26 on the old Cox Convention Center site, with Continental Resources taking the naming rights two days earlier. It’s a $900 million-plus build funded largely by the one-cent sales tax voters approved, and it’s slated to open in late summer 2028.

The MAPS 4 stadium. On June 1, the city broke ground on a $121 million, 10,000-seat multipurpose stadium on nine acres east of the Convention Center, south of Bricktown. OKC’s pro soccer club will call it home, a United Football League team is set to launch there in 2028, and the public schools will use it for games and graduations.

The airport. On October 13, Will Rogers unveiled a 25-year expansion concept it’s calling “Cleared for Takeoff,” aiming to grow from 4.6 million passengers a year to 20 million, with a new parking garage and terminal work in the first phase. No full price tag yet, but it signals real confidence in where this city is going.

One more worth knowing about: on the west side, near the airport, the city’s housing authority and Nashville developer Elmington broke ground October 7 on West Haven Flats, a $57 million, 132-unit workforce apartment community expected to open in fall 2028. Attainable housing near the job centers is a big deal for a growing metro, and this is the kind of project I’d love to see more of.

The suburbs: where the rooftops are going

The downtown projects get the headlines, but the growth that actually shows up in your home’s value is happening on the edges.

Suburb	Population growth, 2020–2025	What’s driving it
Newcastle	+38%	Larger-lot neighborhoods such as Riverview Estates
Piedmont	+27%	New-home communities, $113M school bond for new campuses
Mustang	+23%	SH-152 reconstruction and new-home communities
Yukon	+17%	New tax-increment district along Yukon Parkway
Edmond	+6% (past 100,000)	East Edmond 2050 plan; downtown townhomes and infill

Edmond crossed 100,000 residents last year, and the next chapter is east of I-35. The East Edmond 2050 plan is the framework, and the “15A” proposal inside it envisions roughly 4,500 homes, 120 acres of commercial and 200 acres of open space across 645 acres. Closer in, the city council approved an $11 million townhome and live-work project called Hurd Courts in downtown Edmond on September 14, alongside a renovation of the Broadway Building into offices, a restaurant and a basement venue. Downtown Edmond is becoming a real walkable district, not just a strip of Broadway.

Piedmont has grown about 27% since 2020, and the schools are building to keep up, with a $113 million bond for new elementary and intermediate campuses. Communities like Northwood Village are where many of my builder clients are focused right now. (Residents have also been asking pointed questions about a proposed data center, which is worth watching if you own out there.)

Yukon is up about 17% since 2020, and the city has approved a tax increment financing district along Yukon Parkway to pull in new investment. Mustang is up 23%, and Newcastle, south of the river, is the fastest-growing suburb in the metro at 38%, driven by larger-lot neighborhoods like Riverview Estates.

To the south, Moore landed a major employer in June: McKesson is building a 330,000-square-foot automated distribution hub in the North Moore Industrial Park, expected to support 200-plus jobs initially and more than 600 by 2029. And in Norman, the council approved Bob Moore Farms North in April, a 55-acre master-planned community with 786 residential units off 36th Avenue SW.

What this means for you

If you’re buying. Growth corridors are where patience pays. A home in east Edmond, Piedmont or Newcastle bought today is buying into infrastructure that hasn’t been built yet: the schools, the retail, the roads. That’s where appreciation tends to come from. The trade-off is construction traffic and a few years of living next to a job site, so go in with clear eyes. Downtown and Bricktown-adjacent condos and townhomes are a different bet: a 2028 that brings an NBA arena, a stadium and a bigger airport is a strong tailwind for walkable living near the core.

If you’re selling. Proximity to any of this is a marketing asset, and most listings don’t use it. “Ten minutes from the new Thunder arena” or “in the East Edmond growth corridor” tells a buyer something about the future, not just the floor plan. I make a point of telling that story in every listing where it applies.

If you own land or a builder relationship. This is the moment lots are being bought and platted. Several of the builders I work with are actively looking for ground in these corridors, and the window to be part of the next phase is now, not after the roads are in.

The bottom line

Oklahoma City is in the middle of one of its biggest building cycles in decades, and the suburbs are growing right alongside it. None of this guarantees anything about any single home. But it does tell you the direction of travel, and in real estate, direction matters more than timing.

If you want to talk about what these projects mean for your street, your neighborhood, or a piece of land you’ve been thinking about, I’m always happy to sit down and map it out. Same conversation whether it’s a $200,000 starter home or a $2 million estate. Start with a home estimate, or send me a message.