Currently, the Downtown Management District is actively working to promote the downtown area, increase leisure activities, create living space and beautify the district.

The DMD has created this website in order to expand the visibility of Downtown Corpus Christi beyond its geographic borders. One marketing method via the Internet targets people who are searching for places to visit in Texas or Corpus Christi through effective search engine ranking methods. In addition, our efforts of letting the community know that this site is here as a resource for information and calendar events will create a site that is visited and valued.

Litter Critter is keeping our sidewalks and gutters clean and free of debris build up. Critter made his debut the first of April 2005, and has been working hard over the past months. In addition to the $30,000 ATLV, the DMD has hired a full-time operator and groundskeeper. As a result, the sidewalks of Downtown and the landscaping have a much more colorful and cleaner appearance. In this photo you see Councilman Rex Kinnison and Mayor Henry Garrett christening Critter.



Another capital project stirring attention lies in the development of a greenbelt between Shoreline Blvd. and the seawall. One of our board members recently said that this precious and beautiful area had been planned improperly from the start. He said that the very notion of taking an existing green belt park and cutting it up with streets on each side should be considered preposterous! So, why would we not promote the reverse? With wonderful leisure space comes visitors and residents. With tourist dollars, more improvements can be made. With residents' voices being heard, changes of enhancement to this area can be effected. In both instances, business opportunities grow.

Last year, our Mayor and City Council gave the go ahead to move the concept forward. In November 2004, Phase I of the Bayfront Master Plan was passed by City voters through a Bond Referendum. Construction is planned to begin in 2006 and completed in 2008. Phase I will be implemented between I-37 at Shoreline Blvd. and run north to the American Bank Center. To view the plan:Bayfront Master Plan

On August 23, 2005, City Council approved an $800,515 contract with local architecture firm of Gignac & Associates to conduct public hearings, look into traffic concerns and develop construction documents that will be used to rebuild several blocks of Shoreline Boulevard north of Interstate 37. Gignac's contract is the first part of an estimated $11.6 million project, which will reroute traffic along the northern end of the seawall and create a more pedestrian friendly area with parks and pathways.







The DMD along with Work-Force 1 recently completed a program for an educational and artistic endeavor for Downtown this summer. We had 15 students come Downtown every weekday for 6-weeks at which time they went through an educational process learning about the rich culture and history of this region. Subsequently, they worked with teachers and create story-boards which they will then converted into artwork. The artwork was juried and the 12 winning pieces were painted on the 12 remaining traffic control boxes in Downtown. To see other traffic control boxes in this project click hereand scroll down to Traffic Control Boxes.

A similar program was implemented 4 years ago when the students painted 5 traffic control boxes. The program was tremendously successful.

New ambiance has been added to the main drag of Downtown. A six block length of Chaparral Street, punctuated by intersections bordered with oak trees, are now illuminated every night of the year. At the end of 2002, the DMD delivered electricity to each of the 23 oak trees. The branches are decorated with white lights and powered to bring additional lighting to the intersections,and most most of all to add excitement and ambiance to the thoroughfare.


The DMD makes contributions to several public events that take place within or adjacent to the District. The purpose is to help promote the event and to bring people into the District. Recently, the DMD began a program of its own and dubbed it ArtWalk. The event takes place on the last Thursday, every other month. The program is designed to place regional artists in Downtown venues to exhibit their art while enabling business owners to familiarize their products to the general public. ArtWalk is co-sponsored by a group of young professionals called "Corpus Christi focus." This group's emphasis is to volunteer and promote activities in Downtown in an effort to stimulate a creative environment condusive for young professionals to live and recreate in. Not only is there art to enjoy, but also entertainers scattered along the way to help put smiles on the faces of those attending the event. A project of Art for All, Inc. For locations and dates for ArtWalk, click on Events and Festivals

Housing plays an integral part in the vitality of all downtowns. Realizing this, the board's 2003 Workshop ranked housing as one of its top prioities over the next five years. One of the first steps to encourage housing development is to change some of the city's ordinances currently in place. The DMD staff is working with City staff regarding these ordinance revisions. One downtown residential project is underway at this time, a second one recently completed, and a third is on the drawing board. Exciting times are ahead as we head toward a 24/7 Downtown.

The coolest thing about the blistering summer of 2004 was the life-sized, brightly colored pods of dolphins swimming the streets of Downtown Corpus Christi sending waves of delight throughout the commuity. We embarked on one of the most exciting, creative, community oriented public art projects that Corpus Chriti has ever seen. Chicago, Houston and San Antonio can have their cows, Cincinnati their pigs, and New Orleans their fish, because now Corpus Christi "Dances with Dolphins."

Imagine 25 brightly colored dolphins dotting the downtown sidewalks and medians of Shorline Blvd. These whismically designed, life-size, fiberglass dolphins were exhibited beginning April 2004. Artists were invited to create designs for the dolphins and sponsors chose which one(s) they wanted to underwrite. At the end of the exhibition, dolphins were sold at a public auction gala, with proceeds benefiting local charities.

Enjoyed by thousands of viewers, this project benefited community charities, promoted businesses, increased tourism and brought accessible public art to Corpus Christi for both visitors and residents. However, the most satisfying part of this project, was the excitement, involvement and togetherness it brought to our community. The DMD is honored to have contributed the seed monies to kick start this Art for All, Inc. project for Downtown, and to supply the staff to take care of the day-to-day running of such a project.

We experienced many sad faces as dolphins were removed from their temporary homes and prepared for auction. May 20, 2005, was a sad day for many, but a exuberent day for others - those who were the lucky ones who won their dolphin for keeps and for a price.

Ten of the dolphins were pre-purchased by their original sponsors and 15 went to the auction block. The event, FIN-ale, netted approximately $50,000 for Art for All, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization that was created for the purpose of developing simular public art projects and to purchase public art in the furture. For more about Dances with Dolphins click on Dances with Dolphins on this website.

In the spring of 2004, the DMD completed Phase I of the tree-planting project for Downtown. The first phase was the Peoples St. / Schatzell St. Corridors. Old tree stumps were removed, shorter palms were planted to provide needed sidewalk shade, and blooming trees such as Crepe Myrtles were planted along with Highrise oak trees - 73 trees in all. All beds were covered with Asian Jasmine groundcover. Phase I was a $55,000 project.

In 2005, and the DMD completed Phase II of Trees & Sidewalks, One Block at a Time. Seventy-eight more trees were planted. Phase II planted trees in the 200-500 blocks of William Street, and 100-300 blocks of Water Street. Sidewalk beds will be filled with landscape mix and topped with crushed, packed granit which is ADA compliant. Phase II cost approximately $65,000.

Phase III was recently completed, with 4 blocks of Starr St. and three blocks of Twigg St. as the designated areas to receive fifty trees. Three hundred and twenty-four plants were also added to the mix. In addition to Phase III, one of the main entries into downtown - Hwy 181 as it connects with Twigg St. at Mesquite St., will have some added landscaping designed and installed by TXDoT. The DMD is partnering with Beautify Corpus Christi and TXDoT on the addition.

Since 2004, 200 trees have been added the the streetscape of downtown along with over 1,000 plants.





The DMD is offering to its property owners in good standing, an opportunity to take advantage of a grant sponsored and funded by the DMD. The grant pays $3.00/sq.ft. for sidewalk tearout and replacement. The DMD hopes this will encourage property owners to take advantage of the program and either replace damaged sidewalks adjacent to their properties or upgrade their sidewalks. For more information concerning the sidewalk grant click on DMD Sidewalk Partnership Grant Program


The DMD is refurbishing the 23 flower-beds at the 6 intersections of Chaparral Street. The beds were recently cleaned out and fresh landscaping soil with additives replaced the original soil. On April 17th, volunteers from CCfocus planted new xeriscape plants in the beds. All beds have existing oaks trees. The new plants, along with ground cover add a fresh and attractive face to the main street of Downtown for Spring. Adjacent to these flower-beds are concrete benches lined with D'Hanis tile. Over the years the tile has disintegrated and chunks have dropped out the benches. We will begin reworking these benches over the next couple of months.


Banarama began ten years ago, and is still a vibrant and vital component of Corpus Christi's bayfront. The banners seem to have a life of their own. They go down and then they go up and then they go down again with the threat of a hurricane. They are constantly being redesigned as the attractions change their emphasis and they are periodically reprinted for the sake of vibrancy. Banarama, a self-sustaining program, again recently made another change - a new addition. In 2004, Corpus Christi won the title of "All America City" and the DMD partnered with the City to display a banner that tells the world how proud we are of our community's accomplishments. Banarama is temporarily down due to the reconstruction of the seawall.

















The old Lichtenstein Building was once the center of activity and excitment Downtown. As retail moved out of Downtown and into the malls, this Downtown landmark's appearance became sad, unloved and depressing. One weekend in February 2004, CCfocus activated their first Dust Off Downtown venture. They cleaned out the inside of the first floor of the building then washed all the windows inside and out. The next step was for the DMD to move in and hang historical photos of Downtown Corpus Christi. With the help of Murphy Givens, who is a columnist for the Caller Times, specializing in history, we had access to wonderful old photos of early Downtown street life. These photos were enlarged to 5' x 6' photos that were laminated onto marine-grade plywood. Each photo has information written below that identifies the place and occasion of the photo. We then hung 9 photos that range in dates from 1868 to 1940's. This effort has been discribed as "putting lipstick on a pig," but until this property is developed, it looks pleasant from the sidewalk and it provides entertainment to pedestrians as they move from one location to the next. You do the best with what you have at the time while working for something better.