CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi City Council voted Tuesday to make repairs to the Watergarden and get the water flowing again with a total price tag of $9 million.
The near-unanimous vote happened during the regularly scheduled council meeting.
The iconic landmark was was designed by world renowned designer Robert Zion and built back in 1988 for $2.4 million. Over the years, it's been the site of numerous musical events, proms and wedding pictures.
After Hurricane Harvey, the four foot underground equipment room flooded. It has been out of use since. In 2021, the city agreed to pay $4.5 million to get it fixed.
In April, one city board signed off on spending another $3.5 million to finally make the needed repairs, on top of the $4.5 million that was already approved, because more damage was found. That additional $3.5 million to be taken from the Seawall fund.
Council members learned Tuesday it will cost a total of $9 million to get the garden back online.
City leaders said it will take less than a year to fix and "will again be one of the many free quality-of-life amenities our community and thousands of visitors will enjoy."
Fulton Construction finalized the design plans to move the most vulnerable equipment above ground to protect against any flooding and retained the use of the original subgrade vault for water moving equipment.
"Reversing decades of neglect and moving our community forward is again proven in this project," city leaders said in a Facebook post.
Haley Williams and Michael Gibson contributed to this report.