Lubbock County Expo Center closer to meeting fundraising goal, hoping to break ground this year

LUBBOCK, Texas –The Lubbock County Expo Center is one step closer to breaking ground with $7 million dollars left to fundraise in private donations.

Chairman of the Lubbock County Expo Center Board of directors, Randy Jordan, said he and his team have been working together on the project and raising the funds for over five years now.

The Hotel Occupancy (HOT) Tax was voted for by citizens back in 2018 to raise money for the county’s half of the new expo center. Now, Jordan and his team are continuing to raise the remaining funds.

“Nobody wants it any more than our board, our board came together in 2017, we led the battle in 2018 to get the vote and since then, we’ve all had things that have occurred to us, and now we’re operating on the heels of things that none of us had control over,” Jordan said.

Jordan said between COVID-19 and inflation on building materials, it has kept the ground breaking out of reach the last few years. But lately he said the tides are turning and the progress of fundraising is gaining speed.

“We’re the closest we’ve been to getting our fundraising goal, we’re within $7 million of what the other private side goal,” Jordan said.

Most recently, the Moody Foundation donated 6 million dollars to the expo center, earning naming rights to the arena portion.

Jordan said he understands everyone is eager to get the construction underway, but it’s going to take a little more time, donations, and patience before they can get started.

“We’re working as hard as we can to get there, all of the background stuff is done, the plans have been done, the design has been done,” Jordan said. “We know we need it now, we just got to get there, but more importantly, it’s going to take everybody, it’s going to take $100 donations, the thousand dollar donations and the million dollar donations and we’re thankful for all of that.”

Board member on the Lubbock Expo Center committee, Gary Boren, discussed details of the arena and what to expect.

“Events, concerts, events, shows, tractor pulls, rodeos, you name it, it can handle it,” Boren said. “We want to have seating – approximately 9000 seats and when you have something like that, you’re a major force in the Panhandle and we’re excited about that.”

Boren said they hope to break ground on the Expo center this fall.

Jordan and Boren said if you’d like to help out with a donation, you can visit their website here .

They’re also hosting the 3rd annual ‘Expo-nanza’ on Saturday, May 18, to fundraise more money towards the expo center. There will be dinner, live music, silent and live auctions, and raffles.

For more information on the event, click here .

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