Date: Friday January 28, 2022 ⸙ Time: 11:00 am

Venue: Rockport Center for the Arts Parking Lot, corner of S. Live Oak St. and North St., Rockport, TX

ROCKPORT, Texas (Jan. 11, 2022) – Construction on Rockport Center for the Arts’ (RCA) Parking Lot is scheduled to start in late February. Located on North Street between N. Magnolia and Live Oak Street it is scheduled for completion September 2022, around the same time RCA new campus will be completed. The parking lot will surround the historic Train Depot on three sides. The depot was saved through Aransas County’s acquisition of a grant, which allowed for the purchase of the property and having its sole structure donated to the Rockport Cultural Arts District for preservation.

The parking lot will comprise 60 spaces, overhead lighting, landscaping, an irrigation system and sidewalks that connect the lot to RCA new campus located one-block away on S. Austin St. through existing sidewalks. It will provide parking for RCA, community events and general parking for downtown merchants. Construction on the lot will start in late February. The engineer for the project is Hanson Engineering and the contractor is Marshall Construction, both from Corpus Christi, Texas.

The parking lot is made possible through a Community Development Block Grant administered by the Texas General Land Office, and is part of a $53.9 million block grant Aransas County obtained after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

“One of Downtown Rockport’s needs has been to have parking for citizens and tourists to enjoy the unique offerings of the area. Aransas County is happy to have obtained the grant to make this project and many others happen,” said Judge “Burt” C.H. Mills. Luis Purón, RCA executive director said “We are thankful to the leadership of Aransas County forhaving the foresight to include parking that will support 22,000 square feet of new RCA facilities for conventiontourism, programs in all forms of Art, and the many activities in downtown Rockport.”

For more information about the block grant visit: https://www.glo.texas.gov/the-glo/news/pressreleases/2020/may/cmr-george-p-bush-announces-more-than-43-million-in-disaster-recovery-funds-for-aransascounty.html

To RSVP to the groundbreaking email pio@aransascounty.org