Lubbock council approves Design A2 to explore expansion of Memorial Convention Center; cost estimate due in weeks

The Lubbock City Council voted unanimously April 28 to approve a resolution advancing Concept A2 for further development of a planned expansion and renovation of the Lubbock Memorial Convention Center.

City Manager Bob Atkinson told the council the action is a next step in a multi‑stage process that began with a Convention Sports & Leisure (CSL) needs assessment. He said the resolution authorizes staff and the design team to refine the selected concept and produce a concept‑level budget and phasing plan. "Design Concept A2 is approved for the limited purpose of furthering future discussion and exploration of the potential development, expansion and renovation of the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center," Atkinson read from the resolution, stressing the approval is not a commitment of funds.

Paul McKeever, an architect with TVS, presented the preferred scheme (8.2/A2) and described program elements that grew from stakeholder workshops and the CSL study: a 60,000‑square‑foot flexible hall that can subdivide, a 40,000‑square‑foot ballroom created by converting the existing exhibit hall, additional meeting rooms, and a connector to create up to 100,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space.

McKeever said the flex hall could be configured with roughly 4,000 retractable seats plus about 2,000 floor seats for a concert capacity near 6,000, and large hangar doors would permit oversized exhibits and indoor‑outdoor events. He also described enclosing the existing plaza (solarium) with a skylight and infilling lower‑level parking to create roughly 14,500 sq ft of additional lower‑level meeting rooms and about 7,500 sq ft above, producing net meeting‑space gains when combined with other changes.

On schedule and phasing, McKeever said if Phase 1 design began in earnest Jan. 1 the Phase 1 flex hall portion could open in mid‑2029, with full multi‑phase build‑out potentially concluding in 2029–2030 depending on phasing decisions. Phase 1 was estimated at roughly 120,000–123,000 square feet of built area including circulation and support spaces; parking and certain elements could be deferred to later phases, McKeever said.

Atkinson and the mayor outlined possible financing tools: a project finance zone (PFZ) authorized by state legislation to retain incremental revenues locally and a possible venue (hotel) tax election. Atkinson said staff expects to return a concept‑level cost estimate in about 4–6 weeks so the council can refine financing and timing, and that any revenue measures requiring voter approval would follow the statutory timetable.

After brief questions from council members about kitchen size, parking impacts and phasing, the council approved the resolution by unanimous voice vote. The resolution states explicitly that approving the concept is not a binding commitment of funds; the next steps are concept‑level costing, financing analysis and, if needed, voter action for any hotel‑tax measure.