CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City leaders are looking at possibly spending at least $10 million to completely reconstruct Water Street.
The project would include turning the roadway into an economic driver much like Chaparral Street by completely lining the street with trees and other shade structures.
The plan was laid out by the Downtown Management District on Tuesday morning to the members of the downtown TIRZ board. The project is in the early stages of development, so the scope of work and the costs have not been decided on yet.
City of Corpus Christi Councilman Greg Smith said that the goal of the project is to take everything one step at a time.
"The project can be done in segments on there. It doesn't have to be done all at once," Smith said. "Whatever funding you have available will give a start. It will make Water Street start to look like Chaparral."
Alyssa Barrera-Mason Executive Director of the Downtown Management District feels that the Water Street project can be a big economic driver for downtown.
"We think it will really be a boom to development and 79% of the frontage on Water Street is vacant land or a surface parking lot," Barrera-Mason said. "So we really think there's a lot of opportunity for development there that this project will really help people see that vision and make it happen."
There are different phasing options for this project. City council will be able to pick any of those options which also could include a total reconstruction of the roadway.
"The $10 million figure is that you do a total reconstruction of the street you replace all of the utilities, all the paving everything," Smith said. "If we go to it and do cut outs for trees and things like that it'll be a fraction of that cost."
3News was told that in the coming months, City staff along with the Downtown Management District will go to council with the different funding options. A project that planners believe can really change the face of this street and downtown as a whole.
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