The people working on a $67 million Lubbock County Expo Center planned for the north side of town didn’t get approval from an oversight board Thursday in what was a long and contentious meeting.
What’s next?
The county’s Local Government Corporation (LGC) took no action on the project, voicing concerns and saying they had unanswered questions, but set two more meetings December 3 and 10.
LubbockLights.com contacted Gary Greenstreet, LGC chair, asking what’s next, but he declined to comment.
The non-profit Lubbock County Expo Center, Inc. (LCEC) have sought LGC approval before the County Commissioners eventually vote to say yes or no. But the Commissioners could vote without LGC approval. The LGC was set up as a “preference” to advise the county on development, construction and operation of the Expo Center, according to the County Judge Curtis Parrish.
Under the latest proposal, there would be two separate debts. The county would borrow roughly $32 million, authorized by voters in 2018 and paid for with a hotel occupancy tax (HOT) and a car rental tax. LCEC would also borrow up to $20 million from PlainsCapital Bank.
The county has $14.5 million in reserve for this project – $10 million of which would be spent up front. Pledges and private donations are also available.
After Thursday’s meeting we published a more condensed version of what happened (which you can read here), planning to come back with this more detailed story.
In the tense two-hour meeting Thursday, the LGC had many questions:
Some LGC board members felt excluded from documents and discussion items and wanted to know why.
What are the details (including collateral) of a proposed $20 million bank loan related to the project?
Since the county, by law, cannot have a bank loan, must the county have a lease or operations contract with LCEC as part of the proposed bank loan?
Should a lease agreement come before the bank loan?
Why did a previous “pro-forma” projection show the Expo Center breaking even, but a new one shows a $500,000 yearly loss? Were projections done correctly?
Who controls the revenue? And who pays for any operating loss?
LCEC consultant Greg Garfield with Garfield Public Private was scheduled to be there in person. His flight from Dallas could not get out on time and he made the presentation by video.
After the meeting, LCEC chairman Randy Jordan told LubbockLights.com, “I think our presentation could have been smoother and I think we probably got hung up a little bit about certain things – and that we weren’t able to really go through ‘boom, boom, boom’ and make the case.”
“We’ve got to go back and satisfy the answers and the questions and negotiate and look at what we can do, not what we can’t do,” Jordan said.
Randy Jordan during an LGC meeting. Credit: Staff photo.
Frustration over who knew, who didn’t
Terms of the bank loan were kept confidential – prompting some LGC members to complain they were kept in the dark. County Auditor Kathy Williams and Civil Division Chief Neal Burt also felt like answers were not forthcoming.
There was also tension because some county officials along with some LGC members heard from specialized lawyers called bond counsel while other LGC members did not.
And some LGC members saw the term sheet on the potential PlainsCapital Bank loan – others had not.
Carl Isett during an LGC meeting. Credit: Staff photo.
“Those of us who have been excluded are just flat out of luck. … Apparently you think we’re not clever enough to understand something complex. …Why don’t we have the information?” said LGC board member Carl Isett.
Garfield said, “I’m sorry people feel excluded from it. We have tried to act in good faith.”
Jordan, after the meeting explained, “I’m not pointing fingers. I feel like their entire board maybe had not been privy – not been given notice of some of the things that we took for granted that had already been distributed.”
LCEC did what it was asked to do, Jordan said.
“It necessarily wasn’t on us. It was on the LGC board to ask for information ahead of time. We were told to ‘come and make your presentation,’ and so that’s what we did,” Jordan said.
LCEC’s slideshow presentation is now available in writing to the LGC board, Jordan said. At the time of this article, the term sheet from the bank remains confidential.
The Expo Center timeline:
August 2018: LCEC non-profit registers with Secretary of State.
November 2018: Voters approve a hotel occupancy tax (HOT).
April 2019: Lubbock Municipal Coliseum just west of Jones AT&T Stadium torn down.
November 2019: LCEC development agreement approved with the county.
March 2021: Local Government Corporation registered with the Secretary of State to oversee the Expo Center project for Lubbock County.
April 2021: LCEC donates land to Lubbock County (northeast of North Loop 289 & North University Avenue).
November 2023: County hires MWM as the lead architect instead of MWM working for LCEC.
February 2025: LubbockLights.com breaks story about city inviting county to put Expo Center at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center site.
November 2025: LCEC announces intention to go forward at North University site.
How does bank loan work?
LCEC has donations and pledges but some of the gifts are given over three to 10 years. So, the plan is to get a loan and pay it back as the donations come in.
Burt raised an objection in the meeting.
“We can go through a bond election, which we did. … But a conventional loan at a local bank is not now – not going to be – an option for Lubbock County,” Burt said.
Garfield gave assurances, saying, “We are absolutely not – nor would we, nor can we – pledge any [hotel] tax … to repaying the private financing.”
Dwight McDonald during an LGC meeting. Credit: Staff photo.
But some of the LGC members, like Dwight McDonald, couldn’t be sure. They had not seen the term sheet from the bank.
“Certain people know. I don’t. And I don’t like making decisions without the information,” McDonald said.
But Jordan reiterated the term sheet needs to remain confidential.
“There are some provisions of that term sheet that would require the … assignment of that lease agreement. There’s some other things and some terminology there that would have to be approved by the county,” Jordan told the LGC.
LGC member Gary Boren responded to Jordan, saying, “That’s a public document that we need to see.”
Burt also had concerns over the proposed bank loan.
“Lubbock County is not a party to that term sheet at this point,” Burt said.
But if Lubbock County negotiates with LCEC on what can and cannot be in the loan, then could someone say the county is – for any practical purpose – a participant in the loan? Burt said.
“It puts the county in a very precarious position to involve ourselves in negotiations of a financial arrangement that we don’t want,” Burt said.
The loan and LCEC
Commissioner Jason Corley was present for part of the LGC meeting.
Corley asked Jordan about the loan – wondering if PlainsCapital Bank made LCEC’s ongoing participation a condition of the loan.
“As I understand, that part of it hinges on having an agreement with Lubbock County to operate the facility. Do I understand that correctly?” Corley asked.
That was correct, Jordan said.
Someone needs to operate the facility and the county is not likely to do that without outside help, Jordan said.
“We would like to be that operator,” Jordan said.
After the meeting, Jordan told LubbockLights.com, “Everybody that provided us a term sheet – that was one of the criteria that they asked for, that whoever’s borrowing the money, in this case, LCEC, that they would be involved in the operations of the facility.”
That means LCEC needs either a lease agreement or a management agreement with the county.
In the meeting, Corley said, “We really need that agreement before you guys can move forward with the taking out any kind of loan.”
“Can you send that out just as bullet points? So that way we can all kind of go through and we start giving you a yay or nay what we’re comfortable with,” Corley said.
Garfield interjected a proposal or a summary can be provided to commissioners and the LGC.
“Everybody can see it, understand it and then vote at the appropriate time,” Garfield said.
The operating loss
LGC members expressed concern about paying back a bank loan if the facility lost money every year.
“We never said the Expo Center was a for-profit organization. … We’ve always said we hope that the Expo Center would break even. Historically, most of those kind of venues do not,” Jordan told LubbockLights.com.
Garfield showed a projection to the LGC and said, “It shows about a $500,000 operating loss.”
“This is not including sponsorships, philanthropic fundraising, naming rights, personal seat license and other programs that we have in our model that we believe is going to make this a viable and going operation,” Garfield said.
He also mentioned a percentage of food and beverage, beer and wine and merchandise sales.
“We’re going to be charging for parking at the venue. … meeting services at the venue. … Ticket service fees, etc. All of those are income streams for the building,” Garfield said.
Williams then asked Garfield, “Can you explain why? What you gave us in September – which everything was kind of in the black – is now in the red?”
Garfield answered, “The design concept was changed. And so we went back and worked on a pro forma that met the revised design.”
“It might perform better and it might perform worse,” Garfield added.
Boren then wanted to know if the county controlled the revenue?
Garfield answered, “I think that would be governed by a lease agreement, which is what we’re proposing between the county and LCEC.”
Boren responded, “I want to give you a word of caution, because the county judge [Parrish] was told by Taylor County that they’re losing way over $1 million a year. Of course, Lubbock’s a bigger market.”
Expo Center coverage
County oversight board withholds blessing for expo center, wanting more answers on financial issues
November 14, 2025
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Future of Civic Center, Expo Center on line in City Council, Commissioners Court meetings
October 14, 2025
March 7, 2025
February 21, 2025
If there is an operating loss, what happens next? There’s estimated $800,000 to a $1 million a year of leftover hotel tax even after the county issues $32 million of bonds.
Jordan said, “You’ve got residual or excess venue tax that can then be used for operations. And that’s what we were proposing.”
Isett said, “Once you take excess bond proceeds to cover shortfalls in income … you’re actually using bond proceeds to pay to keep them out of the Dutch.”
“Whether you feed it with excess bond revenue or HOT tax revenue or ad valorem, you’re still feeding. … And there was never any discussion about using these HOT tax monies for operations – never,” Isett said.
Garfield disagreed.
“The venue tax … has always been available to pay for operations, maintenance, development, design, capital expenditures, operations – everything but the private indebtedness,” Garfield said.
“That should be … in my opinion, the first source of revenue to pay operating expenses on the project,” Garfield said.
Kathy Williams (left) and Randy Jordan (right) during an LGC meeting. Credit: Staff photo.
Williams pointed out the LCEC needs permission from commissioners to that.
“I had the same discussion in Judge Parrish’s conference room about whether or not those HOT taxes would be fully used. And I told y’all then that you needed Commissioners Court approval,” Williams said.
Garfield said, “With the money that LCEC already has in hand and the pledges that it has and the financing term sheet that it has from its lender, we have all the money that is needed to move this project forward.”
Jordan said after the meeting, “Our goal has been from day one, to bring something that can serve the quality of life issues that we truly feel like we need in Lubbock and not become a burden to the taxpayers.”
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