Cinnamon Shore won a bidding competition with Palmilla Beach Resort and Golf Community to become the site of an upscale hotel and conference center in Port Aransas. The project was unanimously approved by the Port Aransas City Council on Jan. 17 as a public/private venture. The vote came after hearing presentations from Cinnamon Shore and Palmilla representatives at the council meeting.
The project will be designed to bring in conventions during spring and fall, known in the business as the “shoulder seasons” on either side of summer. The winning bidder will receive a rebate on sales taxes and hotel occupancy taxes generated from the property to help with construction expenses.
A few more steps are necessary before the new convention center becomes a reality. According to the timeline presented at the meeting, the city, Cinnamon Shore, and the public will work together developing plans for the property from now until about April 1. Those plans then will go to the state comptroller’s office for approval, which will take another couple of months. The city has a Sept. 1 deadline to enter into the final development agreement to comply with the state’s tax-break laws.
The hotel and conference center will be included in the new Cinnamon Shore South subdivision on Mustang Island. Development company Sea Oats Group broke ground on the project in October. The 300-acre expansion is expected to cost $1.3 billion and eventually quadruple the size of the existing community.
The development is located on Texas 361 just north of the La Mirage condominiums and includes 150 acres of beachfront.