CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The next election is scheduled for Nov. 7, and for Corpus Christi residents, one of the items on the ballot will be 'Proposition A.'
City leaders would like to repurpose the City’s existing quarter-cent sales tax.
They aim to use the funds for not only repairing and maintaining the Seawall infrastructure but also improving regional parks throughout the city.
This could encompass Commodores, Bill Witt, Cole, Labonte, Parker, Salinas, and West Guth parks.
Additionally, the funds will be allocated for street repairs, road improvements, and attracting more direct flights to our airport. It permits funding for maintenance, repairs, and renovations of the Selena Auditorium, the Arena, and the Convention Center.
Part of this plan involves the city's participation in a privately built and managed Convention Center Hotel. This final proposal appears to be the most contentious, drawing significant opposition from local taxpayer groups and hotel operators, among others.
Hawthorn/Candlewood Suites Director of Sales Joshua Tijerina said that some individuals are upset due to the lack of input.
“Not only from the public at large, but also from hotel owners themselves, who have built multi-million-dollar properties without any type of subsidy," he said. "And now, here the city is trying to push to ballot a proposition that will allow them to subsidize a local hotelier to come in and build a hotel.”
In regard to the upcoming election, the word "hotel" is not on the ballot, but city participation in a private sector built and managed convention center hotel is an eligible use of 'Proposition A' funds, and that's the part that seems to have the most opposition.
Rob Hunden is the President and CEO of Hunden Partners out of Chicago, the real estate development advisory firm who has been working with the city on this project. He said that he does not anticipate the utilization of Type A funds for the privately developed hotel.
"This will not be a publicly developed or owned hotel," he said. "We don't need those funds. All of the hotel developers we have socialized the upcoming development process with have told us that they can finance their hotels using rebates from the state and local taxes that they generate on site, like property taxes, sales taxes and hotel taxes. These are things that are standard incentives used all over the state. So, these are tax revenues that don't exist today, and would only exist if a hotel is built."
3NEWS asked Hunden if the city would lose money by having to perpetually cover hotel losses.
"To be frank, the opponents are flat wrong, and I don't know if they're misinformed or if they are purposely misinforming folks, but the city will not own the hotel and, therefore, will not lose money on it," he said. "There have been more than 70 cities with successful convention center that have participated in the financing of one or more headquarter hotels. Most Texas cities have two or more headquarter hotels because it has worked for them. Indianapolis is developing their fifth headquarters hotel because they work to drive the visitor economy and support thousands of jobs. These hotels are 100% critical to the success of the convention center and they do generate operating profits."
Hunden said that the project is more complex than people realize.
"The whole point of the total project, which most people don't know, includes a renovation and expansion of the American Bank Center complex, the development of the headquarters hotel, and critically, a mixed-use district, which most people don't know about, which is live-work-play-visit," he said. "So, retail, restaurant, other future hotels, residential, office. The whole intention here is to copy the best ideas that have been done in cities around the country, using the tools that Texas has provided to get you the visitor economy that you deserve."
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