Texarkana starts construction on $18M convention center

— Texarkana, Ark., officials are marking the start of work on a new $18 million convention center and hotel, the second area convention center project to get under way this year.

Construction on a $22 million convention center and hotel began in Texarkana, Texas, this spring, on the other side of Interstate 30. Both of the complexes are funded by private investors, though the Texas-side venture is getting help from a 2 percent hotel occupancy tax.

The Arkansas-side project is expected to be complete in about nine months. That convention center will have space for 1,000 people and several smaller meeting rooms. The attached Holiday Inn will have 127 rooms and suites and a full-service restaurant.

Both centers are targeting local events and weddings, as well as state and regional conferences.

The project’s financial backers, Dr. Hiren Patel and his father, Dinesh Patel, plan to build a water park on about four acres behind the center in a second phase of construction.

“It will be a small water park but will handle Texarkana, U.S.A., and the neighboring cities’ needs,” Hiren Patel said Thursday as officials gathered to celebrate the beginning of construction.

Mayor Wayne Smith said the center was a long time in coming.

“When I first became mayor, I was asked about the convention center. Some said it would never come. I was positive from Day 1, and it’s certainly positive for those naysayers that said this wouldn’t come,” Smith said. “It’s coming and it starts today.”

Work on the Texas-side project began the spring and is to take about 15 months to finish. That convention center also will hold about 1,000 people and the hotel will be a Hilton Garden Inn with about 150 rooms and a full-service restaurant.

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