Fort Bend County is looking to add a hotel and convention center near its arena, but first, it's looking to Rosenberg for help.
ROSENBERG, Texas (KTRK) -- Fort Bend County is looking to add a hotel and convention center near its arena, but first, it's looking to Rosenberg for help.
Two years ago, Fort Bend County opened the Epicenter. An arena that Craig Polke lives a mile from.
He remembers what traffic was like when some of the first events took place.
"People couldn't get into the graduation, and kids were running across the street trying to get to the ceremony," Polke recalled.
Fort Bend ISD students scrambled to arrive at the Epicenter. Polke said traffic has improved, but it's still busy.
"I go the back way," Polke said. "If I know there's something there, I'm going to swing around the back way."
A route Polke acknowledges he may need to take more often, with what else could be coming to the event space.
"Well, we didn't buy into it, but it's progress," Polke said. "How do you stop progress? I'm not thrilled with it, but I'll deal with it as it comes."
The county is exploring the idea of adding a hotel and a convention center next to the 230,000-square-foot arena. It's something the county economic development director, Carlos Guzman, said is needed.
"By us having this, we're able to open up the facility to even more shows, more conferences, things that typically are not coming to Fort Bend," Guzman explained. "We'll be able to compete for those."
To make it happen, Guzman said they're asking Rosenberg to give up money. Right now, the city gets tax revenue from hotel stays.
The county wants the city to allocate the revenue from the new hotel to the county to help pay for the project for the next 30 years.
"Other hotels around the Epicenter would benefit because they would get people staying there," Guzman said. "The city gets to keep all of that stuff. Any retail. People are going to be eating at restaurants. They get to keep that."
Guzman said the county would use about $160 million in taxes for garages and the conference space. He said private dollars would pay for the hotel.
If Rosenberg gives approval, he hopes the county will sign off and have it finished in the next few years. Development, he said, will include parking upgrades with the garages to help with traffic.
Progress, though, that'll keep Polke searching for back routes.
"I thought all it was going to be was the Epicenter, but apparently it's going to be a whole lot more than that," Polke said.
In a statement, Rosenberg said council members moved forward to add the item to a future agenda. ABC13 is not sure which meeting the discussion will take place in.
Council is set to meet next on Oct. 21. Council members said they want to hear from the public before any vote is made.
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