City council approves $3 million MPEC upgrades

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - The MPEC is set to receive more than $3 million in upgrades after receiving approval from Wichita Falls City Council.

In the 26 years the building has been around, city staff said they have only made minor upgrades and it is due for a big one.

Wichita Falls city staff said they are ready to update and modernize the MPEC and with a brand new hotel and convention center being built next to it, they wanted to match the style.

They will work on different sections at a time, including the banquet rooms, exhibit hall, bathrooms, carpet walls and much more. When it is all said and done, they said it will compliment the hotel and convention center perfectly.

“If we have a big event that has people staying at the hotel, events going on at the conference center and it flows over to our exhibit hall with people going back and forth across the street, we want it to have the same look and feel,” Blake Jurecek, City of Wichita Falls assistant city manager, said. “We want it to compliment each other so we can bring those larger events that aren’t just for the new conference center but actually get rent space and have larger events that extend over to the exhibit hall.”

During construction, there will be areas in the MPEC that are closed and temporary walls will be put up. However, they don’t expect that to cause any issues with events while upgrades are being made.

They expect the upgrades to be finished around the same time the hotel and convention center is getting finished, which is the summer of 2023.

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