CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Some big changes are coming to Downtown Corpus Christi, which look to be reverberating into Uptown as well.
"There's been a lot of strategizing and lot of big brainpower on how are we going to make the entry point, what are we going to make the entrance point and how is it going to look to get Downtown," said Water Street Restaurants President Richard Lomax.
Over the last seven years, the city has has performed street maintenance on segments of Leopard, Lipan, Comanche, and Carancahua streets -- entry points into Downtown.
Lomax said the city has made big strides with Downtown development in the last five years thanks to the Downtown Management District (DMD) and now, the Uptown area also is poised to benefit.
With new developments headed Downtown, including a luxury bar and hotel, city leaders said they are working to improve a handful of Uptown streets faster than before to improve access.
"We're looking at all of those," said Dist. 1 Corpus Christi City Councilmember Everett Roy. "And right now, I know we're working on -- from 2021 all the way up to 2026 -- projecting those streets that need to repaired and trying to prioritize and move them up faster if we can."
Roy said about five streets leading into Downtown have been mentioned by local businesses and residents as needing attention, and they could be done more quickly than in the past, because they will be done by city crews instead of being contracted out.
Roy also said he believes improving those streets also can help bring businesses back into his constituency. As they are right now, he said, he can see how the area could be a hard sell.
"Is it a reasonable route to get to my business?" Roy said. "Because if you open up your retail center and you don't have the ability for people to get there, that's not a good thing either."
The City of Corpus Christi has a five-year plan for improving old and damaged Uptown streets.
While there are currently no plans for Antelope and Tancahua streets, they are among those in the Uptown Corridor Development Plan.
Comanche Street, however, will get a full rehabilitation, and sidewalk upgrades, with money from the Bond 2020 Street Improvement Project.
Living through growing pains such as street projects can be hard, Lomax said. His family knows: He said his parents opened Water Street Oyster Bar in 1983, and the family has seen -- and managed to survive -- Downtown's ups and downs over the last 40 years.
After peaking in the 1990s, the area fell off again, Lomax said, during the Chaparral Street remodel. Beginning around 2008, the project was a reason he said many businesses left, discouraged by traffic challenges.
Improvements to Water Street are coming soon, but he aims to be involved during the planning stages so his businesses can prepare.
"As we make these changes and improvements and do the necessary maintenance of our streets," Lomax said. "We're really going to be sensitive to how it feels, and keeping Downtown (accessible)."