Port of Corpus Christi moves forward with building new $23 million headquarters

Tim Acosta | Corpus Christi

Show Caption Hide Caption What maritime pilots do The Caller-Times takes a closer look at what it takes to guide more than 8,000 vessels each year through the waters of the Port of Corpus Christi.

The Port of Corpus Christi is moving forward with plans for a new $23 million building that officials hope will usher in a new era of growth.

Talk about a new building for the port has been ongoing for the past several years, with the concept included in the port's strategic plan in December 2013. Port staff has been divided up in two buildings along Power Street and Shoreline Boulevard built in the 1960s and contain about 37,000 square feet.

With the port experiencing rapid growth over the last few years — it is now the nation's largest exporter of crude oil and fourth-largest port in total tonnage — it has required a bigger facility to match its increasing needs. Some staff is even being housed in rental office space, port officials said.

"This project is important to the future of the port," said Charlie Zahn, chairman of the Port Commission.

"I think that this is something that will be a landmark that will be just as important as the Harbor Bridge," he said. "I will tell you — I want the community to understand this — there is a definite need for this building. It's not just something that we want — we need to have it."

Port commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to move forward with awarding a $23 million design-build contract with Bartlett Cocke Beecroft for design and construction of the new facility.

The new building will be situated adjacent to the Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center in the 400 block of Harbor Drive. Port officials said the facility will feature a design that will take advantage of and complement views provided by the Harbor Bridge replacement currently under construction.

"What you have approved really sets the table for the future of this organization," port CEO Sean Strawbridge said to the commission after the vote. "Our biggest asset ... is not our ship channel, it's not our docks — it's our people, and the hard-working women and men that are on the port staff that give it their all every day."

The new building is tentatively scheduled for completion in 2020, the same year the new bridge is scheduled to open. The Harbor Bridge will be demolished in 2021.

Decisions on what to do with the existing port buildings at Power Street and Shoreline Boulevard will be decided over the next few months, Strawbridge said.

"Certainly there is value in those buildings," he said. "Staff has some ideas that we'd like to share downstream."

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