\u00a0$17 million in upgrades<\/a> made to the 100 year old facility, which also serves as a popular space for weddings, luncheons, and community events.<\/p>\nThe Ortiz Center is about to be back in business after the extensive makeover.<\/p>\n
Danielle Converse, the Port’s Foreign-Trade Zone Manager, helped guide the walkthrough maneuvering around crews making final touches.<\/p>\n
“We are so excited to get back in the building, we’re working on the construction punch list you can see by walking through the facility. We’re almost there,” Converse said.<\/p>\n
As the final countdown continues, chairs are being dusted off, equipment checked, and microphones tested.<\/p>\n
“Mic check 1,2,3,” one staff member called out as crews prepared for Tuesday’s meeting.<\/p>\n
Converse said the layout has been completely reimagined.<\/p>\n
“And it’s completely re-figured, if you recall we used to have the commissioners sitting on this wall, which really limited the space.”<\/p>\n
She added that commissioners will now benefit from improved infrastructure.<\/p>\n
“Latest and greatest technology I think the commissioners are going to love it.”<\/p>\n
Chief External Affairs Officer Omar Garcia said the new permanent setup will make the facility more efficient.<\/p>\n
“More specifically we have a lot of upgrades to our technology, new flooring, new paint, it feels like a new building,” said Garcia. “The current setup will allow for a faster, more efficient way to attract more business without having to move tables and chairs, everything you can imagine.”<\/p>\n
Much of the improvement came from behind-the-scenes upgrades, including a new HVAC system, mechanical enhancements, and technology that will improve broadcast quality.<\/p>\n
“When commissioners go into executive session this is the room they will have that in,” Converse explained while showing off one of the newly redesigned spaces.<\/p>\n
She said most of the major work is complete, but crews are still adding some finishing touches.<\/p>\n
“We should start seeing the finer things, like furniture and decor, looking forward to having the community come in and see everything.”<\/p>\n
While the Port Commission meeting is set for Tuesday, the Port expects to welcome the public back to the Ortiz Center in the new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of the meeting, 3NEWS was given an exclusive first look at the $17 million in upgrades. CORPUS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-81076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81076","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=81076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}