Rebuild or repair? Major decision facing SPI birding center

SOUTH PADRE ISLANED - Just a few weeks before the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center was to open, Hurricane Dolly came rumbling through.

That changed everything.

Now, there's even some talk about tearing down the four-story structure and starting all over.

"What I will tell you is that we are having discussions with the builder about the degree of impact the storm had on the building," said Cate Ball, who was named manager of the birding center about a month ago. "The storm got water inside the building."

Water damaged electrical wiring and soaked metal supports, which have begun to rust. Ball said. The concern is how much the rusting will impact the building in the long term.

"The structural integrity is good, but it's a metal frame building and the metal posts got wet," Ball said.

"There are discussions among the builder, architect and insurance company about addressing the supports that got wet."

Railing on the boardwalk was also damaged, but that has been repaired.

In the meantime, some work is continuing, including scaffolding on the observation tower.

For now, Ball is a staff of one working out of her home. She will eventually hire a staff.

The building was supposed to open last month, she said, but now, "I have no clue on a date."

Whatever decision is made, Ball said the center will open in 2009.

The birding and nature center, adjacent to the South Padre Island Convention Centre, is the final piece of the World Birding Center, a network of three state parks and six municipal facilities stretching from Roma in the west to South Padre Island in the east.

The eighth site, Resaca de la Palma State Park near Olmito, opens to the public this month with its grand opening planned Dec. 6.

When finished, the SPI site will consist of a $5.1 million building and three inter-connected boardwalks that take birders over a cattail marsh that features birds such as clapper rails, soras, pied-billed grebes, long-billed curlews, great blue herons, tri-colored herons, willets, least bitterns, common moorhens, marsh wrens and common yellowthroats, just to name a few.

The building will have two offices, a boardroom, information desk, gift shop, restrooms and small auditorium.

But the most unique feature of the center is the inside-outside observation tower that gives visitors a sweeping panorama of the boardwalks and ponds of the wetlands as well as the birding-rich Laguna Madre.

The SPI birding center comprises 34 acres, of which 17 acres is wetlands.

Ball said plans are for the birding center to be open seven days a week, 365 days a year, from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

There will be an admission fee.

The town of South Padre Island is funding most of the center, $5.2 million, Ball noted, but additional funding comes from a $1 million grant from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

The Texas General Land Office has provided $60,000 for a boardwalk and another $40,000 for signage. In addition, there is $186,000 from donations.

All in all, Ball expects the SPI birding center to be something special.

"We obviously think we're a world-class birding center and we want to make it complementary to the rest of the World Birding Center," she said.

Ball admits to being anxious for the center to open, but first a decision needs to be made whether to rebuild the center or repair the damage.

"I don't know when the decision will be made, but we need to do it quickly," Ball said. "We need to start moving on it."