In a move that is expected to lead to the expansion of the El Paso Convention Center, members of the City Council have approved spending nearly $5 million for the purchase of two decades-old buildings.
Both of the structures are in the city’s Union Plaza, not far from the John F. Williams Convention Center at 1 Civic Center Plaza. Along with several other properties, the two structures had an assessed value in 2018 of nearly $3 million.
One of the buildings, at 320 W. San Antonio Avenue, was built in 1915 and measures around 33,500 square feet. The second building at 301 W. Overland Avenue is more than 70 years old and is one story in height and just over 19,000 square feet.
Both structures are one block to the southeast of the convention center, with their sites seen as providing more room to enlarge the footprint of a facility that was originally built in the 1970s and upgraded and expanded in 2002.
City officials have said that the center, which houses around 80,000 square feet of exhibit hall space, would be capable of hosting larger events if it had more convention and exhibition space.
In a statement, El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson likened the effort to enlarge the convention space to similar convention hall expansions in Austin and Dallas. “El Paso must also rise to meet the expectations of 21st Century event planners,” he remarked.
Austin is currently seeing a $1.6 billion expansion of its center; while Dallas is spending $15 million to upgrades its Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
April 25, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of the City of El Paso
