City-owned venues fill need

Full-service hotel would satisfy other requirements


Folks at the Port Aransas Community Center applaud winners in the Port Aransas Rod and Reel Club fishing tournament, a private competition, on the evening of Saturday, July 28. The Community Center, which can be reserved for everything from weddings to election balloting, has been used 85 days so far this year.

Folks at the Port Aransas Community Center applaud winners in the Port Aransas Rod and Reel Club fishing tournament, a private competition, on the evening of Saturday, July 28. The Community Center, which can be reserved for everything from weddings to election balloting, has been used 85 days so far this year.

With some Port Aransas leaders planning an effort to lure a hotel-conference center to town, folks might wonder what kind of use the town’s Civic Center and Community Center get.

Sylvia Cortez stands in the Port Aransas Civic Center on Monday, July 30. She works as facilities coordinator for the City of Port Aransas, handling bookings, set-ups and more for the Civic Center as well as the Community Center.

Sylvia Cortez stands in the Port Aransas Civic Center on Monday, July 30. She works as facilities coordinator for the City of Port Aransas, handling bookings, set-ups and more for the Civic Center as well as the Community Center.

The Civic Center has played host to (or is booked for) a total of 45 events on 114 days this year, according to Sylvia Cortez, facilities coordinator with the City of Port Aransas. Those numbers could rise if more events are booked before the end of the year.

The Civic Center, which is part of the city hall complex, in the 700 block of West Avenue A, was booked for 100 days in 2011, Cortez said.

Annual events at the Civic Center have included the Whooping Crane Festival, the Ellis Memorial Library book sale, Port Aransas Garden Club style show, fishing tournament functions, St. Joseph Catholic Church’s Winter Texan Dance, Christmas events and Port Aransas Education Foundation fundraisers.

The Civic Center building will hold 1,100 people in a standing room-only situation, or up to 800, if seating is arranged in a theater style, Cortez said.

At the Community Center, 400 N. Alister St., the facility has been booked for 115 days this year, Cortez said. The building was used 99 days in 2011, she said.

Typical events at the Community Center include weddings, family reunions, elections and meetings of local organizations.

The Community Center building, which underwent remodeling about four years ago, holds 200, standing room only, or 150 with seating.

The Port Aransas City Council on Thursday, July 19, gave the Chamber of Commerce Tourist Bureau its blessing to take a look around and do preliminary work toward trying to lure a fullservice hotel with a conference center to Port Aransas.

As part of the same 6-0 vote, the council gave the chamber the go-ahead to explore possible uses for a 67-acre tract of land that the city owns adjacent to the Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture. The city holds a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build a marina there, and other development surrounding a marina is possible.

The chamber doesn’t have the power to make deals, but it can put wheels in motion, and it will keep the council informed on what it finds, according to Glenn Martin, co-chair of the chamber’s economic development committee.

While the chamber will be researching uses for the 67 acres and also trying to lure a full-service hotel with a conference center to town, the hotel won’t necessarily go on the 67 acres, chamber officials have said. A hotel could end up locating elsewhere in town, officials said.

Ann Bracher Vaughan, president and CEO of the chamber, has said Port Aransas needs a hotel that has a conference area, plus smaller meeting rooms and a kitchen capable of preparing meals for scores of people at a time.

The chamber gets many inquiries from organizations interested in holding events here, but it’s hard, and often impossible, to accommodate them, Vaughan said.

Being able to accommodate such groups could bolster the Port Aransas economy during times of the year when tourists may not be flowing into town so much, Vaughan said.

The Civic Center and Community Center serve important roles, but they aren’t capable of doing everything a full-service hotel with a conference center can do. That means giving visitors a place to sleep overnight, meet in general session in a conference room, break up into groups for other smaller sessions and eat meals prepared on site – all in one facility.

The Civic Center is spacious, and breakout sessions could be held in the attached council chambers and at the next-door library, but that’s about it, and if it’s raining, the walk to the library could be a wet one.

Cortez said the kitchen in the Civic Center can be used to prepare meals for a few hundred people. Vaughan isn’t so sure about the kitchen’s capabilities and pointed out that some large groups using the Civic Center have used caterers that prepared meals off-site and brought them into the building.

What’s not contested is that there are no hotel rooms connected to the Civic Center.

The Community Center is even more limited. Folks say it’s a charming building with great history, and Perez said the kitchen there can serve dozens of folks at a time. But there are no smaller rooms available for breakout sessions, and the closest hotels are a few blocks away.

“Most groups need a meeting room for general sessions and break-out rooms to accommodate at times up to four to six various meeting rooms, Vaughan said. “(Neither) the Civic Center nor the Community Center have such facilities. Professional meeting planners always try to book a full service hotel for their groups so they can conduct meetings and activities and have access to on-site catering services and meals under one roof.”

As its name suggests, Port Royal Ocean Resort & Conference Center is capable of hosting conferences, but the business lies just outside the Port Aransas city limits. That means none of the hotel-motel tax collected there goes into city coffers.

On average, the chamber is contacted two or three times a month by people interested in booking a place in Port Aransas for weddings, reunions, corporate retreats or small conferences, Vaughan said.

“If the adequate facilities were available, soliciting (groups) would open up a whole new opportunity for us,” Vaughan said. “A fullservice hotel and conference center could propel Port A. into a very competitive option for over 500 possible groups of up to 200. In turn, this would then bring additional visitors to Port A during our shoulder season and generate economic activity for our businesses on a year-round basis.”

Questions? Comments? Contact Dan Parker at (361) 749- 5131 or dan@portasouthjetty.com.


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