CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A project finance zone will be established around the American Bank Center in order to help fund improvements and expansion for the multipurpose events center, despite Gov. Greg Abbott choosing to not sign it.
The zone will allow the city of Corpus Christi to keep 4 percent of the occupancy taxes from hotels in a 3-mile radius in order to fund the upgrades.
Without the project finance zone, that money would be put into a pool and distributed statewide.
But with the money staying local, State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa's office said in a news release Wednesday that the taxes could collect $5 million over the next two years for additions, such as a hotel, and could bring in about $192 million over the next 30 years.
The current problem that the American Bank Center faces, according to local Corpus Christi City Council members, is that it cannot attract the same convention business as other cities around the state because those places have built hotels onto their convention centers for convenience.
"There's no doubt that having a hotel there, connected to our convention center, will certainly improve our ability to attract the larger conventions, and we've lost some business over the last few years because of that," said councilman at-large Mike Pusley in January.
A recent feasibility study for upgrades commissioned by the city of Corpus Christi states that if the city invests in itself over the next 30 years, it would see a $13.9 billion economic boost, another $6.4 billion in new earnings, and more than 3,200 new jobs.
“This is a significant victory for the City of Corpus Christi,” Hinojosa stated in the news release. “Due to the size of our current convention center, we are already in competition with larger markets. This tool will allow us to make much needed repairs and upgrades to our current convention areas, and fund expansion projects that will continue to bring conventions and tourists into our area.”
It will take effect Sept. 1.
Multi-skilled journalist Michael Gibson contributed to this story.
