A view of what the proposed new headquarters for the Port of Corpus Christi would look like with the new Harbor Bridge in the background. Illustration by Richter Architects
The Port of Corpus Christi will be building a new $23 million headquarters adjacent to the Solomon P. Ortiz International Center. The hope is the new building in the 400 block of Harbor Drive will bring together the entire port family, which is now housed in two buildings along Power Street and Shoreline Boulevard and in rented office spaces.
“I think this is something that will be a landmark just as important as the Harbor Bridge,” said Port Commission Chairman Charlie Zahn. “This project is important to the future of the port.”
Commissioners voted unanimously to award a design/build contract to Bartlett Cocke Beecroft. Completion is projected for 2020, when the new bridge is also expected to go into service.
What to do with the 37,000 square feet of office space now being used by the port will be decided in the next few months, CEO Sean Strawbridge told commissioners. Those buildings were constructed in the 1960s.
“Certainly, there is value in those buildings,” Strawbridge said. “Staff has some ideas that we want to share downstream.”
Port offices have experienced growing pains for some time now. Over the past few years, it has become the nation’s largest exporter of crude oil and the fourth-largest port in tonnage. Pipelines, refineries, and new docks are constantly being built in and around the port. An upcoming dredging project to make the port more easily accessible for very large cargo ships and supermax vessels will spur even more growth and need for space.
“Our biggest asset is not our ship channel, it’s not our docks,” Strawbridge said to the board. “It’s our people and the hardworking men and women that are on the port staff, giving it their all every day.”
