The Humble City Council voted Feb. 9 to approve a 10-year lease renewal agreement for the Humble Civic Center and Arena with Humble ISD.
The agreement is a renewal of the original lease agreement written 20 years ago when the city built the arena in 1997. Humble ISD paid the city $350,000 over the course of the contract. That original agreement allowed Humble ISD to use the arena 20 days per year and use the civic center five days per year.
The city and Humble ISD have been in discussions for the last year to negotiate the renewal.
“The renewal guarantees five days’ use of the civic center to the school district each year,” Humble City Manager Darrell Boeske said. “The district will be charged for the use at a rate equal to 75 percent of the nonprofit rate that is normally charged. We have agreed to extend that rate to all the schools in the district, just not on a guaranteed (availability) basis.”
The district uses the facility for things such as career day, job fairs, teacher in-service training, Quest High School graduation, college night, etc.
Boeske also said, “The Humble ISD Education Foundation Barbecue Cook-Off and Rodeo and the gala are now handled by the Humble ISD Education Foundation, and not the district. Those events are covered under a separate contract with the foundation with the same guarantee of availability and the discounted rate.”
Boeske said he was pleased with the civic center and arena facilities.
“They have brought much recognition to our community. They have a tremendous economic impact on our community. We have approximately 2,000 people a week come through the facility. These people stay, eat, play and work in our community,” Boeske said.
“The center has hosted many wonderful events,” he said. “To list just a few, we had the reception for the movie “Tin Cup,” with stars like Don Johnson, Rene Russo and Kevin Costner. And we’ve had several concerts with Clay Walker, Michael McDonald, the Pointer Sisters, Martina McBride, Ray Price and Darrell Singletary.”
