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Price tag for American Bank Center transformation grows

The city's plan to renovate the American Bank Center and expand the convention center connecting it to a 600-room hotel is going to cost around $800 million.

The transformation of the American Bank Center, which will be complete with a hotel-convention center is now expected to cost nearly $1 billion.

3NEWS has learned that there are a number of companies from across the country that have shown interest in being a part of the project.

The city's plan to renovate the American Bank Center and expand the convention center connecting it to a 600-room hotel is going to cost around $800 million to complete. The city expects to fund a portion of that with local and state sales tax dollars. Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo led the charge on this project which has already attracted developers.

"We have talked to developers that have reached out to us. We're hoping some of these seeds come to fruition some of these conversations, some of the interest that we hear about," she said. 

Guajardo said that this is the largest project that the city has ever been a part of. She believes the return on investment will be worth it. 

"We are talking about $14 billion in economic impact to us over the next 30 years. We've never seen that kind of return on investment," she said.

City of Corpus Christi Assistant City Manager Heather Hurlburt runs the city's fledging economic development efforts.

She said around a dozen developers have expressed interest in the convention-hotel project the the city has hired a retail recruiting company to work on bringing other new business to town.

But that may not happen as quickly as the convention center project.

"Usually the retail recruitment is not an overnight or even a 12-month, process. Usually, this is a 36 or 48 or 60 months or perhaps even longer," she said.

While Hurlburt wouldn't confirm any of those possible businesses coming to town, she is confident that the city's economic future looks bright.

    

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