Almost a decade after its passage, Quality of Life bonds in El Paso will be used for the construction of a new downtown Mexican-American Cultural Center.
Members of the El Paso City Council have approved applying $1.6 million in those bonds to a structure that will go up adjacent to the main branch of the El Paso City Library at 501 N. Oregon Street.
Additional funding is coming from the city’s 2019 Capital Plan, as well as through the reallocation of some $7.3 million in other capital projects.
As designed, the new center will house a theater, exhibit gallery, acting and dancing studio, art studio, and both bar service and dining area, among other amenities.
One of the planned exhibits will be a tribute to the soldiers of Company E, the only Mexican-American Infantry unit to fight in World War II. That unit was made up of around 250 soldiers from Texas.
A plan four years ago to build the center within the nearly 50-year-old Abraham Chavez Theater at 1 Civic Center Plaza was ultimately rejected by the city council.
Work on the center is expected to begin later this year, with a general summer 2023 completion date.
By Garry Boulard
