Restroom rising STAFF PHOTO BY PHIL REYNOLDS Workmen set up walls in a building that will house a restroom and storage area near the boat trailer parking lot in Roberts Point Park. Work is about 25 percent complete at Roberts Point Park, where a $1.5 million multi-job project is making improvements to restrooms, relocating the Patsy Jones Amphitheater and building a lookout at the end of Roberts Point.

The project will place the new amphitheater about halfway between the end of the point and the Texas Department of Transportation ferry landings. It will overlook the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, with audiences looking over the water past the amphitheater stage.

While the construction is under way, Sunset Sounds performances on the second Friday of each month are being held at the Fred Rhodes Memorial Pavilion.

The new outlook being built on the old Patsy Jones Amphitheater site will give visitors a view toward San Jose Island and the Lydia Ann Lighthouse.

In proposing the amphitheater move and outlook construction to the city council, architect Carolyn Jones noted, "It is, after all, Roberts Point." The idea is that people should be able to enjoy the view from the point, while the amphitheater doesn't require the point to be enjoyed.

Also under way are new restrooms across the street from the pavilion and a restroom-storage building adjacent to the boat trailer parking area near the boat ramps.

The boat ramps themselves will be repaired using a grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Boat ramp repair is not part of the harbor improvement project authorized by city council members.

Yet to be started as part of the harbor improvements are jobs that will relocate the fish cleaning station, which is now adjacent to the boat ramps; pave more area for parking boat trailers; rebuilding of the sign at the Dennis Dreyer Municipal Marina entrance; improvements to the pavilion; and expansion of the harbormaster's office.

Progressive Structures Inc., of Corpus Christi, the successful bidder on the project, has promised that construction won't interfere with any events scheduled for the park. The projects are to be finished around September.

A separate project will see a new floating dock at the marina. The dock, for transient boaters, is being paid for by a $366,000 federal grant. Plans call for it to be built between the existing transient docks and the harbor breakwater.