We broke the news on March 4 that the City is planning a major expansion of the Convention Center south of San Antonio Avenue, up to the edge of Overland Avenue.
Our worry then was that the City planned to demolish the three remaining historic buildings on the north side of Overland, between Leon and Santa Fe.
Yesterday our City Council voted under agenda items 35 and 36 to purchase 301 and 320 W. Overland Avenue from Mike Churchman for a total of $4,790,000. In both cases, the motion was made by Rep. Canales and seconded by Rep. Limon and passed with a vote of 7-0, with Rep. Acevedo absent. See the 7:44.00 mark on the City video.
We have indicated in blue on our map the remaining historic buildings on Overland. We feel it is critically important to protect and refurbish those buildings as part of the larger project to restore the buildings of the former Arena Footprint. That way the cultural character of the area will be preserved.
Thankfully, the City did not purchase any historic buildings.
For more details, we invite you to read the excellent report by Aaron Montes of KTEP. He tells that the Hotel Occupancy Tax Capital Fund will pay for the acquisition.
The plan is for expanding the public facility so that the City can host larger and more prestigious conventions in the future. We are not opposed as long as no historic resources are destroyed in the process.
There was very little discussion among the City reps before their votes and no suggestion of where the City will come up with nine figures to fund the project.