CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City of Corpus Christi officials brought in OVG 360 this summer with hopes of turning the American Bank Center around.
Now, though, city council members tell 3NEWS that the company’s promises aren’t being kept, and the ABC’s top execs might be jumping ship.
According to city manager Peter Zanoni, the city brought on OVG-360 in July to replace the American Bank Center's former venue management company SMG.
Since that transition, however, council members say there have been some snags -- including two of the arena's key execs leaving the company.
"We don’t know who is running it now,” said councilman at-large Mike Pusley. “At least, I don’t as a council member."
Pusley said some other frustrations the city has had with OVG involve maintenance and updates to the facility, which he says are progressing slower than promised.
"I can't imagine they are far down the road if they keep changing out the guys running it,” he said.
District 3 councilman Roland Barrera said he's disappointed with how some of the city’s signature events have been managed, including utilizing local businesses.
"Local vendors have been much more consistent than the individuals running the American Bank Center," he said.
He said he hopes these issues can be remedied.
"Part of the reason we made that change is because we wanted more consistency, but right now, they have obviously had a lot of turnover," he said.
Zanoni said the city will meet with OVG leadership Wednesday to discuss who will be taking over as the building’s general manager.
“It’s been led very clearly by Brian Martin to date,” said OVG 360 Regional Vice President Keller Taylor. “He will be transition out and, as you noted, we do have a GM candidate coming in tomorrow, so we expect a very quick transition, and we have a very qualified candidate coming in who will continue the positive momentum we have going at the ABC across the board.”
A local woman was hired to fill the second open management position – hospitality manager -- Zanoni said.