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2024 Market & Utilization Study

Market & Utilization Study

The 2024 Market & Utilization Study was prepared for Washington County by Hunden Partners and completed in April of 2024. The study documented the Expo's utilization, compared the facility to comparable venues in the regional market, and identified potential opportunities for additional event business along with areas where the consultant recommended facility improvements. The full study is available for download below as a complete document or by chapters of interest.

Questions Addressed in the 2024 Study

The following summarizes questions addressed in the 2024 study and the consultant's reported findings.

What is the market opportunity for a renovation or expansion of the Washington County Expo?
- The consultant identified regional livestock and equine events as the market segment with the most potential for additional utilization.

What type of facilities are most desired by current and potential new users?
- An enclosed arena, a secondary arena for warm-up purposes, and a minimum of 400 stalls.

Can the facility generate revenue on the weekdays?
- The consultant reported existing weekday demand from local users within the current event space.

Are Livestock and Equestrian Associations interested in an expansion or renovation of the current Expo facility?
- Some groups expressed interest. The consultant noted that booking these events would require entering an existing annual rotation of facilities across Texas.

How well do the recommended facilities fit on the existing site?
- The consultant reported that the existing site could accommodate the recommended facilities, but noted site inefficiencies and continued parking constraints.

Does it make more sense to relocate the Washington County Expo to another site?
- The consultant did not recommend relocation, citing the utility infrastructure costs associated with developing a new site at the recommended scale.

Current Facility & Comps

Current & Comps

The linked document contains the study's documentation of the existing facilities and the comparable regional venues the consultant reviewed.

Convention/ Cattle/ Equestrian Market Trends

Equine & Livestock Trends

Meeting & Convention Trends

The 2024 study included trend analysis for the equine, livestock, meeting, and convention markets. The consultant reported growth in the regional equine and livestock sectors and identified meeting and convention demand in the area as underserved relative to available facilities. The full trend analyses are linked above.

Plan Sections

This section contains a summery of key sections from the Markert & Utilization Study

Visitor Data

Visitor Overview

The 2024 study estimated annual attendance at the Expo grounds at approximately 177,000 visitors. The attendance methodology is described in the linked visitor overview.

Economic Impact Projection (30-Year, Build Out)

Local Impact

The 2024 study included a 30-year economic impact projection for the full Master Plan build-out. The projection, its assumptions, and its methodology are set out in the linked document. The projection models the complete Master Plan and is not a projection for any individual project.

Full Plan

Final Market & Utilization Study

Site Recommendations & Estimated Project Costs

Note on scope: The figures below reflect the full build-out contemplated in the 2024 Market & Feasibility study, estimated at $141.3 million. The proposition on the November 3, 2026 ballot is limited to $15,450,000.00 for a multipurpose facility.

Estimated Project Costs

These are 2024 order-of-magnitude cost estimates prepared by Convergence Design for each potential improvement identified in the study. They are planning estimates only. They do not reflect current pricing, and they do not represent commitments, appropriations, or approved projects. Convergence Designed analyzed the Project recommendations and developed high-level project costs for the Project.

These project costs assume the renovation of the current Expo site of 42 acres.

The total project costs for developing the Washington County Expo at the current site is estimated to be $141.3 million. Construction costs are estimated to be $112.7 million and soft costs are estimated to be $28.6 million.

These costs are considerably less than the total project costs of developing the recommended build-out of a new site. Additionally, there are buildings currently on site that only need renovation and not a total rebuild. However, due to the current site parameters, there is no acreage to develop RV spots.

Washington County Expo Order of Magnitude Cost Estimate (Fairgrounds Site)

Feature	Arena Size (SF)	Build Type	Gross Area	Unit.	Construction Cost	Soft Cost	Total Poject Cost
Show Arenas
Main Arena	38,500	Enclosed & Climate Controlled	77,000	GSF	$30,800,000	$7,700,000	$38,500,000
Warm-up Arena	26,400	Unenclosed	26,400	GSF	$1,100,000	$300,000	$1,400,000
Secondary Arena	31,500	Covered & Open Air Concept	36,225	GSF	$7,300,000	$1,900,000	$9,200,000
Total	96,400	--			$39,200,000	$9,900,000	$49,100,000
Feature	Count	Build Type	Gross Area	Unit	Construction Cost	Soft Cost	Total Poject Cost
Animal Stalls
Horse Stalls	300	Covered & Open Air Concept	69,120	GSF	$3,400,000	$900,000	$4,300,000
Large Animal Pens	300	Covered & Open Air Concept	69,120	GSF	$2,400,000	$600,000	$3,000,000
Small Animal Pens	250	Covered & Open Air Concept	14,400	GSF	$1,500,000	$400,000	$1,900,000
Cattle Tie Stalls	850	Covered & Open Air Concept	935	EA	$1,500,000	$400,000	$1,900,000
Total	1,700	--			$8,800,000	$2,300,000	$11,100,000
Feature	Size (SF)	Build Type	Gross Area	Unit	Construction Cost	Soft Cost	Total Poject Cost
Function Space
Exhibit Hall Space	30,000	--	54,000	GSF	$18,900,000	$4,800,000	$23,700,000
Ballroom Space	20,000	--	45,000	GSF	$20,300,000	$5,100,000	$25,400,000
Meeting Room Space	10,000	--	21,000	GSF	$8,400,000	$2,100,000	$10,500,000
Total	60,000	--	120,000		$47,600,000	$12,000,000	$59,600,000
Feature	Size (SF) / Count	Build Type	Gross Area	Unit	Construction Cost	Soft Cost	Total Poject Cost

Support Cattle Building	100 pens	Covered & Open Air Concept	23,040	GSF	$1,200,000	$300,000	$1,500,000
Food Court Structure	9,000	Covered & Open Air Concept	10,350	GSF	$2,100,000	$600,000	$2,700,000
Ampitheater	--	Outdoor & Uncovered	2,500	pax	$8,800,000	$2,200,000	$11,000,000
Parking	2,333	Surface Parking	2,333	PS	$5,000,000	$1,300,000	$6,300,000
RV Spots	75 spots	With Full RV Hookups	75	sites	-	-	-
Total	--	--	--	--	$17,100,000	$4,400,000	$21,500,000
GRAND TOTAL					$112,700,000	$28,600,000	$141,300,000

Source: Hunden Partners, Covergence Design

Project Resources by Timeline

2024 Facility Condition Assessment

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2024 Market & Utilization Study

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Multipurpose Facility

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