10 Nov Texarkana Council Approves West Broad Street Lighting, Facade Loan and Airport Items

The Texarkana, Texas, City Council on Monday approved up to $200,000 in downtown funds for new West Broad Street lighting and a $50,000 facade loan for a Main Street building, according to the Texarkana Gazette. The council also acted on several Texarkana Regional Airport items, among them the $10 sale of the old airport terminal to Texarkana College.

The lighting plan calls for sixteen poles fitted with lamps, plus string lights hung overhead, on West Broad between North State Line Avenue and Spruce Street. Estimated at roughly $225,400, the project includes a contingency set at 20%. The city’s share, capped at $200,000, comes from its Downtown Enhancement Fund. The Texarkana Community Development Corp. and the nonprofit Main Street Texarkana are partners in the project, and other sources, including private donors, are expected to contribute.

The facade loan goes to Let’s Get Lit TXK LLC, owned by Morgan Major and Morgan Harris, for the building at 218 Main St. City Planning Director Daphnea Ryan said the property is being turned into House of Light, a collective for beauty and wellness, with exterior restoration meant to keep its historic look. The loan committee backed it unanimously, and repayment runs 10 years at 4.9% interest.

At the airport, the council followed the Texarkana, Arkansas, Board of Directors, which approved the terminal agreement the previous week. One agreement lets the airport authority convey the old terminal and its improvements to the college for $10. A second lets the college rent more than four acres surrounding it for aviation instruction and workforce training. Council members additionally signed off on the airport’s 2027-2032 Capital Improvement Plan and a Williams Painting contract for airport work. The agenda describes a facade restoration contract covering the Jim E. Yates Terminal, the firefighting facility and the wooden directional signs, paid through a TxDOT grant plus the airport’s operating account.

A $269,000 Garver work order will add paving within Runway 4/22’s safety area. An Arkansas Economic Development Commission grant covers the cost, and the two cities’ matching contributions do not increase.

The consent agenda also listed contracts for structural work at the Waggoner Creek wastewater treatment plant, at up to $554,320, and for replacing a sewer line on Beaumont and Caddo streets, at up to $931,801.36. It also included the purchase of 12 self-contained breathing apparatus units for up to $114,350.

The next council meeting falls on Monday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m.