McAllen Convention Center

South Texas City Hopes to Increase Tourism With New Facility

Jennifer Hiller

The new $50 million convention center in McAllen, built by SpawGlass and part of a planned 162-acre retail and hospitality complex, is on schedule to open in early 2007.

A rendering shows the clay-tile roof and exterior granite of the completed convention center and surrounding courtyards designed to attract native birds and butterflies. Image courtesy TVS & Associates.

A 190,000-sq.-ft. convention center under construction by the Harlingen office of SpawGlass will not only give the Rio Grande Valley region a chance to lure large events and meetings, it's also the biggest civic building project the city of McAllen has ever undertaken.

The McAllen Convention Center is the first element of a planned 162-acre campus that eventually will include a hotel, arts center and shopping mall. An existing veterans memorial was incorporated into the site's master plan.

The $50 million project includes extensive sitework.

"The city of McAllen had been working on this project and had been in the political and planning phase for 10 or 15 years," said John Sellers, McAllen Convention Center manager. "We're proud of it. It allows us to do what we've never been able to do before-recruit the conventions and the association meetings."

The new convention center, which is more than 50 percent complete and projected to finish in February 2007, is on South Ware Road about 4 mi. from the Rio Grande River and includes a 60,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall, 10,000-sq.-ft. ballroom and 15,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

The city of McAllen is also finalizing plans with Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. for a retail center on 60 acres of the campus. The retail center is expected to open at about the same time as the convention center, Sellers said.

And the city is preparing to put out a request for proposal for a 300-room convention center hotel, he said.

The structural steel convention center building uses concrete-reinforced masonry, brick, granite, metal panels and >> precast, said SpawGlass project manager Kirby Baird.

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Workers broke ground on the building in January 2005 but not before hauling more than 500,000 cu. yds. of dirt to the new site to improve drainage. Crews also installed water and sanitary lines for the convention center and future buildings.

"It's a two-phase project, and lot of that was a big earthwork project," Baird said.

Architects for the project are from Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates in partnership with Gignac & Associates of Corpus Christi.

Rob Svedberg, architect with TVS, said the clay-tile roof, arcades, towers and exterior granite lend the building a traditional South Texas feel, while curtain walls help blend some contemporary elements into the convention center.

"The idea was Texas tropics, but also cutting edge and look to the future," Svedberg said. "It's on the crossroads between a traditional place and a more dynamic type of engine."

The main lobby is granite with clay-tile roofs, traditional masonry brick piers and arcades. "It's a rich material palate," Svedberg said. "The commission working with us kept using the word 'timeless.' They were focused on it being solid and gracious."

Because McAllen is considered a world-class birding destination, the convention center includes several small courtyards that will be landscaped with palms and other plants to attract native and migrating wildlife. The main ballroom features a monarch butterfly ceiling.

"They have so many birds and butterflies that migrate through the area," said architect Raymond Gignac. "The ballroom has a custom-designed light fixture with hanging segments of colored synthetic material in oranges and blues that resemble a large butterfly, but they're not an exact representation. It's dramatic."

Additionally, Gignac said the building's main entrance will feature freeze-dried palm trees. Architects considered using live palms, but the energy costs for the building would have been prohibitive.

"They require so much light that the heat would have been incredible," Gignac said.

Eventually, the convention center, hotel, 2,500-seat performing arts center, existing veterans memorial and more than 600,000 sq. ft. of retail space will be defined by a monumental oval pedestrian arcade and fountain that draw the components together, Svedberg said.

The normally dry Rio Grande Valley has meant that construction crews have not lost many days to rain, although they have had to deal with other issues. "We've got dust," Baird said. "We have been using five water trucks to keep the dust down."

Nearly all of the job's subcontractors are based in the Rio Grande Valley, which has pleased and surprised SpawGlass. "We have a lot of local participation, and the people that bid are all qualified to do work of this size," Baird said. "I tell people that I couldn't have planned this to turn out any better."

The contract was hard bid, but Baird said that the city, architects and contractors have been working together on design or cost changes. "It hasn't been an adversarial role at all," he said.

The new convention center will replace McAllen's existing convention center, which was built in the 1960s and seats 1,176 in a small auditorium, Sellers said.

"It's a small convention hall with a low roof and small facilities," he added. "We're doing the weddings and quincineras and the small trade shows." Sellers said the convention center won't give up on those community events.