The Lubbock County Expo Center is moving along in its 2.0 iteration after county leadership gave an initial nod to its preliminary designs.
On Monday, the Lubbock County Commissioners Court approved several items, but only after County Judge Curtis Parrish tried and failed to set guidelines on the project.
The item of contention — a resolution that would put in writing the county’s intent to lease the expo center to the private entity charged with fundraising the private funding portion of the $67 million project.
For context, through a bond, the county is expected to contribute $40 million to the project, leaving the private entity — the Lubbock County Expo Center board — to fundraise the rest.
In that resolution, Parrish asked the court to set a deadline of June 22, 2026 for LCEC to finalize its portion of the project funding through an amendment.
“That’s a three-month time period that we would have for LCEC to secure their finalized closed loan with an accredited financial institution and operates as an open line of credit, and combined the total amount sufficient to fund LCEC’s cost of the venue project,” Parrish said. “If LCEC is unable to secure the sufficient funding before this, then the resolution becomes null and void.”
No other commissioner seconded the amendment, so it failed. All commissioners were present at the meeting.
Parrish questioned the court after the amendment failed, asking if they were OK with the project being in the same place it is currently. Both Commissioner Cary Shaw and Jordan Rackler pushed back, saying they don’t think the county will have the same problem as it had in the past eight years.
“That’s what we said seven …” Parrish said before being cut off by Commissioner Mike Dalby, who asked for decorum.
Parrish also brought a second amendment that would change the $5 million reserves of the project for operational cost — should it ever operate in the red — to be moved up to $10 million.
“Under the original agreement that we had with LCEC is that LCEC would provide a $10 million operations fund for this for the venue,” Parrish said.
Randy Jordan, chairman of the LCEC, pushed back, saying that under the new plan, $5 million would be an adequate reserve amount.
The amendment ultimately failed as no other commissioner seconded it.
The court also unanimously passed three other items — reaffirming Lee Lewis as the construction manager with Parkhill being the new architects, cutting ties with the old expo center architects MWM Architects and allowing for the use of venue tax funds for planning, acquiring, establishing, developing, constructing, renovating and operating the project.
Mateo Rosiles is a reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and USA TODAY Network in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him: mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock expo center designs move forward despite county judge’s concerns
Reporting by Mateo Rosiles, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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