Expo center plan going to City Council for study

By Jay Ermis

The Huntsville Hotel Occupancy Tax board voted Thursday night to take a proposal to build an expo center/indoor arena to the City Council.

Board chairman Charles Forbus, Dick Lindeman, Lanny Ray and David DeShaw approved recommending to the council that it order a feasibility study to determine what type of facility is needed, if it’s needed and where it would be located.

Ray introduced the idea to the HOT board during its meeting at City Hall.

“A lot of folks out there have opined to me that we do need a convention center,” Ray said, “but not one that looks like the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio with a bunch of plush conference rooms for doctors, dentists and lawyers because those folks are going to continue to go to the Riverwalk in San Antonio or Vegas or New Orleans.

“We’re not going to attract that type of convention here.”

Ray said Texas communities such as Glen Rose, McGregor and Crockett have used their hotel tax funds to build or partially finance the building of large expo centers and indoor arenas.

Ray said a large expo center and indoor arena are needed in Huntsville, but “I think the indoor arena is the key because of the rodeo crowds we have here.”

Ray said facilities at the Walker County Fairgrounds are too small to accommodate rodeos and concerts.

“Parking is limited and its geographically constrained,” he said. “Promoters are not having concerts out there but they all say it’s not big enough, you can’t sell alcohol out there and also in Huntsville you close your bars too early, which is another issue. That’s what the promoters are saying. Our current facility is just not big enough.

“I know a promoter who takes concerts to College Station because you’re not going to have a country-western concert without selling beer. Whether you like drinking or not, it’s just a reality of the business. You can’t sell anything out at the fairgrounds.”

Ray said a large, steel building with rooms on the side and a big middle room would bring in a variety of shows and at the same time promote tourism and have more people stay overnight, which in turn could bring in more motels and restaurants.

He referred to the Lone Star Convention Center in Conroe “where they have plenty of room and they fill that place with guns shows, boat shows, home shows, trade shows and things like that.”

“They can maximize their profits going to a bigger facility with more parking, more hotels readily available and RV hookups. You look at Glen Rose. It’s a real success story.

“It’s a small town but it’s full every weekend. They have more people showing up for the shows than live in the town. We need a big steel building with side rooms and indoor rodeo arena. If you build this thing, you will see hotels coming in right behind it.”

Ray said building such a facility might also help bring back the Texas Prison Rodeo and “that would place Huntsville on the map.”

But Ray also echoed what HOT board member Dick Lindeman said that a feasibility study is needed.

“We don’t want to go half-cocked and say this is a great idea, let’s do it,” Ray said. “Even if it’s a great idea, we still need slow, sure methodical steps to make sure we’re doing the right things with the HOT money or with grant money. It’s still tax money.

“I have been assured that if we have a facility like this, we would have concerts here that we don’t have now. A facility such as this is long overdue. We’re the last outpost until you get to Ennis.”

Ray also said HOT funds could be used to build such a facility and possibly coupled with grant money to help fund it.

Ray said the HOT board was originally created as a compliance board “more than anything because we had so many problems.”

“Now that we have resolved most of those types of issues we can look forward and start doing things to better the place,” he said. “Since we kind of stopped the leakage, we can now look forward to using the HOT money. (City manager) Bill Baine said leverage it with grants to really do something significant and positive for the whole community and the county would benefit.”