CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi City Council approved a motion Tuesday that would pave the way for revitalizing the Staples-Leopard Street areas by adding up to $340,000 to a contract the city had with a planning firm, bringing it to a total of $590,000.
Other projects to be completed with this budget include the Midtown Area Development Plan and the Heritage Park Utilization Plan.
According to a copy of the Master Services Agreement the city has with Asakura Robinson Company LLC, the initiative, known as the Staples/Leopard Street Corridor Revitalization Plan, will create a plan for revitalizing Staples Street from Interstate 37 to Six Points and Leopard Street from Upper Broadway to the Crosstown Expressway.
The city states in a news release that those areas were identified as key commercial corridors in the 2018 Downtown Area Development Plan.
“This action today set forth reinvesting and planning for the future of this area for the first time,” said city councilwoman Paulette Guajardo. “Let’s re-imagine this area. Re-envision the midtown area development.”
City councilman Ben Molina also spoke after the council approved the motion.
“The Staple Street Corridor is important. It is an area that is in need of revitalization,” Molina said. “I have been in contact with several business out along that area and we are working on a game plan ourselves to help clean that area up, and so this will just augment those efforts.”
Guajardo added that with the arrival of the new Harbor Bridge, the Staples Corridor will be important to the city.
“This is our home base — City Hall is our home base,” she said. “And we’ve been beautifying it, and we’re going to continue to do that."
According to the Master Services Agreement, the objective of the plan is to:
- Create sustainable and attractive key Uptown corridors with the purpose of creating a coordinated sense of place along the corridors that builds and sustains occupancy and attracts investors.
- Guide future public and private development and lay the foundation for a strong local economy anchored by new development and redevelopment.
- Create conceptual drawings to help re-imagine the corridors that includes improvements such as landscaping to create attractive walkable streets and shade for pedestrians.
- Identify a specific implementation plan.
