BEAUMONT, Texas – City officials in Beaumont, Texas are taking the initiative to make a riverfront, downtown hotel a reality.
As reported by The Beaumont Enterprise, Mayor Robin Mouton says they don’t just want a “regular hotel” near the Beaumont Civic Center, but a “full-service hotel with a convention center, a ballroom to hold 300- to 500-person events, meetings rooms, breakout rooms, a pool, and a fitness center.”
Mouton told the local newspaper the city misses out on conventions because they do not have an appropriate hotel in the downtown core.
“We have missed out on a lot of economic development and conventions,”’ she says, adding the first step is for the city council to determine the specifics of the hotel, such as a location, number of rooms, and hotel brand.
At a recent council meeting, councilors voted to authorize an agreement with a consultant to conduct studies and plans that, among other steps, would determine the estimated costs of the hotel and develop a business and financing plan.
However, the first step would be a market study to determine whether the entire plan is even feasible for the city.
The Beaumont Civic Center is a 6,500-seat arena where concerts, conventions, trade shows, and exhibitions are held. Its banquet room’s maximum capacity is 2,000. It has 29,300 square feet of ground-level exhibit space and 12,000 square feet of space on the second level for a combined space of 41,300 square feet.
