MIDLAND, Texas — The Preserve at Midland has captured the attention of everybody in Midland.
Perhaps the biggest reason why is because of a new zoo that is promised to be on the way.
Good news for Midlanders: it's on track to get started sometime soon.
Project Coordinator Charles Harrington, among others, will be going to Midland City Council on January 9th to get approval for a special use designation.
"It’ll be the zone change for The Preserve, and that's the retail, offices, restaurants and other things in front," Harrington said. "It will also have what we call a special use designation.”
The current property the project will be on - formerly the Nueva Vista Golf Course - is listed as "Agricultural" and the special use designation will allow the zoo to operate.
The former golf course is about 220 acres in total. Harrington says about 51 of those acres will be for the zoo and that, when it opens, the zoo will take up around 26 to 27 acres to allow room for expansion.
However, even when the property was still a golf course, there were issues regarding flooding and draining, especially when the rain came tumbling down.
Which is why Zoo Midland has been doing their homework on how to keep that from happening.
“We're in the middle of doing a floodplain study and also what we're going to do to improve the flooding issues out there and that property,” Harrington said.
Engineers have been evaluating the elevation of the ground and how much water comes through. Part of the Preserve project is for an 18-acre lake, which project officials are trying to take into account with the study.
The total cost of the project was also discussed by Harrington, who says that the cost is flexible and could change as construction goes on.
“The current estimate is approximately $115 million. As subject changes, this project will take three years to build, so during that time period, it can increase some," Harrington said. "Right now we're close to $70 million that we're looking to do. So it'll leave us a little gap to catch up.”
Payment for the zoo will be done entirely through donations as well, which Harrington says means that there will be no stress on the taxpayer's shoulders.
“It's all private. There's no city dollars involved in this and there's no county dollars involved," Harrington said. "We haven't asked for anything from Midland Development Corporation. This is strictly a private zoo built on donations.”
As for the main zoo attractions, a number of animals will be coming down to Midland. Each will be able to live comfortably in Midland's climate as well.
“The zoo director, he's a fan of rhinos, so we will have some rhinos that you can touch. We'll have some giraffes, people like to be able to feed the giraffes," Harrington said. "Right now in terms of the carnivores, we're talking about not as big as a lion or a tiger, but we're talking about maybe some jaguars and things of that nature.”
Other animals that could be seen include hyenas and other types of dogs.
The zoo will include areas such as quiet areas for people to take a breather, entertainment areas for the kids and even a space that can be rented out to host large events such as weddings.
Zoo Midland will be hiring up to 80 employees, half of which will be full-time staff. Veterinarians will also be hired to help keep the animals healthy while Harrington also says that the Zoo Director, Jason Green, has over 30 years of zoo experience and will contribute to keeping the animals happy and healthy.
A lot of civil site work still has to be done regarding roads and drainage work. That construction and others regarding the zoo is expected to begin in later March or early April of next year with a proposed finish date of 2027.