{"id":332255,"date":"2026-06-11T14:43:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/332255\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T14:43:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:43:21","slug":"expo-center-project-inches-forward-with-help-from-county-attorney-heres-what-needs-to-happen-over-next-few-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/332255\/","title":{"rendered":"Expo Center project inches forward with help from county attorney, here’s what needs to happen over next few months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lubbock County\u00a0will\u00a0borrow\u00a0roughly $32 million\u00a0before the end of\u00a0year\u00a0if the current\u00a0plan for the Expo Center stays on track.\u00a0The money gets paid back from hotel\u00a0and car rental taxes \u2013 not local property taxes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s oversight committee for the project, the Local Government Corporation (LGC),\u00a0met Wednesday to get an update on the status of the project\u00a0\u2013\u00a0planned\u00a0for North Loop 289 and North University Avenue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Project\u00a0at a glance:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Multipurpose\u00a0venue\u00a0on\u00a080 acres\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concrete floor\u00a0\u2013 dirt can be brought in for certain events\u00a0<\/p>\n

5,500 fixed seats and up to 7,000 with floor seating\u00a0<\/p>\n

$55 million construction\u00a0<\/p>\n

$67 million total development\u00a0<\/p>\n

County\u2019s\u00a0portion\u00a0is\u00a0roughly $32 million\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remaining cost from private fundraising by Lubbock County Expo Center (LCEC)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previously set for\u00a0129,000 square feet\u00a0\u2013 now\u00a0165,000 square feet\u00a0after revisions\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone, I think, that I\u2019ve spoken to, believes that we\u2019re taking care of our business and moving\u00a0forward,\u201d said Ashley Cox, a\u00a0staff attorney for Lubbock County.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0a big change\u00a0from November\u00a0when the LGC withheld approval amid concerns financial information was not available from LCEC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cox began working in December to coordinate information and get LGC\u2019s approval for a timetable of\u00a0objectives.\u00a0The project stalled until March when the LGC voted to go forward \u2013 on condition either private fundraising be in hand or a loan was approved to cover any shortfall in fundraising.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ben Garcia, an LGC board member, told Cox,\u00a0\u201cOne difference I\u2019ve noticed is your presence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guy Henson, also a board member, agreed, saying, \u201cYou\u2019re exactly right.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Garcia, again speaking to Cox, said, \u201cThank you. There may be a lot of other wonderful people involved in the process, but I feel like\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0the conductor\u00a0\u2013\u00a0like\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0the maestro.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chairman\u00a0Gary Greenstreet said, \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be where we are without your help.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In November, LCEC\u00a0chairman\u00a0Randy Jordan held a press conference saying the building would be\u00a0129,000 square feet.\u00a0\u00a0When the project started moving again, the architectural firm Parkhill made a few revisions to the plan\u00a0\u2013\u00a0which now includes a concourse and concession area.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Wednesday meeting,\u00a0Amber Moenning,\u00a0LCEC\u00a0executive director said, \u201cIt\u2019s 165,000\u00a0\u2013\u00a0approximately\u00a0\u2013\u00a0square feet.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AshleyAshley Cox (left) and Amber Moenning (right) in the June meeting of LGC. Credit: Staff photo.<\/p>\n

The Lubbock County Expo Center continues fundraising donations for the private side of the LCEC\u2019s public\/private partnership with the county.\u00a0LCEC hopes to lease the facility from Lubbock County \u2013 an agreement is scheduled to go to County Commissioners on June 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But LCEC needs to borrow money until the fundraising is finished.\u00a0\u00a0The bank loan needs to assign the lease to the\u00a0bank\u00a0and commissioners will be asked to approve the assignment in July.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next,\u00a0the $32 million county bond needs approval from the office of Texas Attorney General \u2013 set for August. The county will then give final approval for bonds in October or November.\u00a0Voters approved the hotel\/rental tax in 2018 by a margin of\u00a0roughly 65 percent\u00a0to 35 percent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Related posts\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lubbock County\u00a0will\u00a0borrow\u00a0roughly $32 million\u00a0before the end of\u00a0year\u00a0if the current\u00a0plan for the Expo Center stays on track.\u00a0The money gets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-332255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}