CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Some Corpus Christi city leaders recently traveled to Oklahoma City. Their goal: to learn about best practices in cities with convention centers and connected hotels.
It comes with the establishment of a Project Finance Zone this month, which could help pay for an expanded convention center and a new hotel in Corpus Christi.
City manager Peter Zanoni said this was officials' second trip to Oklahoma City this year, meeting with their city officials, convention-center director, hotel operator and people in the community, to learn about what has worked there.
The 500,000 sq. ft. Oklahoma City Convention Center opened in January 2021 and features 27 meeting rooms and about 45,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.
A hotel is also next to the convention center, with more amenities within walking distance.
Zanoni said a city consultant recommended visiting Oklahoma City to see what inspiration it could bring to the Coastal Bend.
"We can do great things," Zanoni said. "To include a brand-new convention-center hotel, built by the private sector, and big improvements to our convention center -- and that's what we know we can do based on what we've seen here locally in recent years and based on the examples we've seen across the country."
Zanoni said the visit showed how Oklahoma City has invested in itself, transforming it into a growing area that people want to move to. That is something he is confident a commitment to the convention-center business can do in Corpus Christi, too.
"I think we have the commitment of the community and the mayor and council," he said. "We can see it in the past four years that I've been city manager, that investing in ourselves, making a difference in our assets, our quality-of-life amenities, really turns a city around, and we're so excited about that."
Corpus Christi's largest convention center was built in the late 1970s and is part of the American Bank Center. Zanoni said decades of neglect and a lack of breakout rooms for training sessions during conventions are reasons why it needs an upgrade.
A key missing piece, according to him, is a hotel, which could be a reason why Corpus Christi is losing conventions that might come here otherwise.
Thanks to the Project Finance Zone, Zanoni said hotel occupancy taxes can can help with funding. He said convention-center expansion here would cost between $200 million-$300 million, and a new hotel would cost about $400 million.
City leaders plan to visit Kansas City, Missouri, or Louisville, Kentucky, next in September or October.