How we know this: read on 2026-09-21 — the City of South Padre Island’s official Convention Center Expansion site (linked from myspi.org, hosted at ccexpansion.my.canva.site), the City Council roster on myspi.org, and two Port Isabel–South Padre Press reports: the 19 March 2026 account of the 3 March open house and the 13 July 2025 open-house notice. The single most important correction: the City’s own site states that Option B was chosen on 18 August 2026 — there was no “Plan C” adoption, and this post’s slug and original headline were wrong about that. Also left out for want of a source: a “$92 million” cost (the City says $98 million), a $12.75 million 1992 construction cost, the “ghost tree” grove name, nine acres of native maritime forest and wetlands behind the building, a black-box theatre and parking lot bulldozing it, the description of the site as a final landfall for songbirds crossing from the Yucatán, Broaddus & Associates as the author of the lost-booking figures (they came from City informational displays), a “$17 million” venue-tax figure (the displays said about $16 million), and a guaranteed-maximum-price demand attributed to a named council member.
What was actually decided, and when
The City’s official Convention Center Expansion site states it plainly: “Option B was chosen at the August 18, 2026 City Council Special Meeting.” The site links the meeting video and the agenda.
The same site describes the undertaking as “a multi-phase project with an estimated cost of $98 million” that “will more than double the facility’s footprint — from 92,834 to 188,481 square feet.”
Council has been choosing between lettered options, not “plans.” As the options were framed in the project record: Option A — renovation and exhibit hall expansion; Option B — renovation, exhibit hall expansion and a ballroom; Option C — all of that plus additional meeting space. B is the middle road, and B is what carried.
The project also has a long tail: the City notes that efforts to expand the existing Convention Center “have been in the works for over 15 years,” and its site hosts more than 100 recorded meetings on the subject.
Why the City says it needs the space
At a 3 March 2026 open house, Council Member Joe Ricco presented the expansion and the City gathered resident feedback on display boards, renderings and surveys. Ricco noted the facility opened in 1992, following discussions among community leaders in the late 1980s about building a venue to attract conferences to the Island, and said expansion could help fill the slower months: “We’ve been looking for ways for decades to fill the gap in September, October, November and December.”
The figures on the City’s informational displays, as reported by the Press:
- Events with more than 1,500 attendees often cannot be accommodated, because of limited exhibit and meeting space.
- Between 2018 and 2025, South Padre Island lost 356 potential events, representing approximately 69,000 room nights and an estimated $37.6 million in economic impact.
- In fiscal year 2024–2025, events at the facility generated more than $14.6 million in economic impact, with over 68,000 attendees and nearly 22,000 room nights.
On scale, one careful caveat. As presented in March 2026 by project architect Raymundo Gignac, the existing exhibit hall held about 22,000 square feet, and the concept then under consideration would take the facility to about 50,000 square feet. That was a March concept; nothing we could read establishes that the 50,000-square-foot exhibit hall is the scope of the Option B design chosen in August. Treat it as the direction of travel, not the adopted number.
The county’s condition: leave the trees at the south end alone
The Convention Centre sits on county-owned land, which gives Cameron County a say — and the County used it. According to the City’s expansion site:
“The Cameron County Commissioners unanimously voted to authorize the County Judge to provide written notice to the City of South Padre Island regarding the proposed improvements and expansion of the South Padre Island Convention Center, conditioned on keeping all existing plant and tree growth intact on the southern end of the facility, including within and around the roundabout known as Orca Circle.”
Two letters from Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., sent 9 July 2026 and 17 August 2026, are posted on the City’s site, along with letters of support from regional leaders and organisations.
That is the real shape of the vegetation fight, and it is narrower and better documented than the version in circulation: a unanimous county vote tying written notice to keeping existing plant and tree growth intact at the southern end of the site, Orca Circle included. If you have heard the grove described in more dramatic terms — a named grove, a specific acreage, a songbird-landfall argument — we could not find a source for any of it, so we are not repeating it.
How it would be paid for
Funding displays at the March open house indicated that approximately $42 million could be available without issuing bonds: about $16 million from the City’s venue tax fund and approximately $26 million from excess reserves held by the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The venue tax behind that first pot has a paper trail. At a special election on 8 November 2016, Island voters authorised a 2% hotel occupancy tax to finance a venue project — which the ballot language described as covering a convention center annex, Padre Boulevard medians and improvements, amphitheatre(s), sports and community venue improvements, parking and related land purchases. Approval took the maximum hotel occupancy tax from all sources in the city to 16.5% of a room’s price. The City records more than 1,000 votes cast on the proposition; the Press reports it was approved by 819 voters. Resolution No. 2016-35 then created the venue project fund, approved and signed by then-Mayor Bharat R. Patel at the 16 November 2016 Council meeting.
The City also links a C. H. Johnson Consulting feasibility study, a Convention Center Development Market Study dated 15 April 2026, a project financials page and a 2026 resident survey.
Who is working on it
- Gignac & Associates, LLC — architect/engineer services, awarded 6 September 2023 at 7.35% of total construction cost. Raymundo Gignac is the project architect.
- Broaddus & Associates — professional services, acting as Owner’s Project Manager on the project record.
- Blake Henry, Executive Director of Visit South Padre Island, who has spoken publicly for the project: “South Padre Island is not only a beautiful destination but also a vibrant community.”
- Mayor Patrick McNulty, who urged residents to attend the open houses: “Your input is invaluable as we shape the future of our Convention Center.”
The Council voting on this consists of the Mayor plus five members elected at large. As of 2026-09-21 the roster is Mayor Patrick McNulty, Mayor Pro Tem Rees Langston, and Council Members Lisa Graves, Joe Ricco and Aarin Hartwell, with Place 1 vacant pending the 3 October special election. (Joe Ricco is a Council Member, not Mayor Pro Tem — that is Rees Langston.)
The Convention Centre is at 7355 Padre Boulevard.
Sources
- City of South Padre Island Convention Center Expansion site (official, linked from myspi.org) — “Option B was chosen at the August 18, 2026 City Council Special Meeting”; the $98 million multi-phase estimate and the 92,834-to-188,481-square-foot footprint; the A/B/C option definitions; the Cameron County Commissioners’ condition on plant and tree growth at the southern end and Orca Circle; the Judge Treviño letters of 9 July and 17 August 2026; the Gignac & Associates award date and 7.35% fee; Broaddus & Associates; the 2016 venue tax ballot language, 16.5% maximum rate, “more than 1,000 votes cast” and Resolution No. 2016-35; the feasibility and market studies; the “over 15 years” and 100-plus recorded meetings.
- Port Isabel–South Padre Press, “Residents question SPI Convention Center Plans” (19 March 2026) — the 3 March open house and Joe Ricco’s presentation and quotation; the 1992 opening; Raymundo Gignac as project architect and the about-22,000 to about-50,000 square foot exhibit-hall concept; the 1,500-attendee limitation; 356 lost events, about 69,000 room nights and about $37.6 million; the FY2024–25 impact figures; the roughly $42 million available without bonds, about $16 million venue tax and about $26 million CVB reserves; and the 819 voters.
- Port Isabel–South Padre Press, “SPI hosts open house for Convention Center expansion plans” (13 July 2025) — Blake Henry’s title as Executive Director of Visit South Padre Island and his quotation; Mayor Patrick McNulty’s quotation; and the 7355 Padre Boulevard address.
- City of South Padre Island — City Council — the current roster: Mayor McNulty, Mayor Pro Tem Rees Langston, Council Members Lisa Graves, Joe Ricco and Aarin Hartwell, and Place 1 vacant.
- City of South Padre Island — Government — the Council is a Mayor plus five members, all elected at large.