Church and multi-purpose center slated for construction near Packery Channel in 2025

Community partners attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, April 29, to learn more about a new multi-purpose, family-oriented center slated to be built on North Padre Island near the Packery Channel Nature Park in 2025.

Known as the Lighthouse, the 32,000-center is designed to serve as a community hub offering a wide range of amenities and activities for residents and visitors of North Padre Island. It will be built on a plot of land located at 14126 South Padre Island Drive between the Best Western and the former Christus Spohn Medical Center.

Mayor Paulette Guajardo, Precinct 4 County Commissioner Brent Chesney and representatives of Waymaker Development, an economic development firm based in Austin that is leading the project, gathered to commemorate the new facility, which will feature a 3,600-square foot restaurant, outdoor pickleball courts, a basketball court, a playground, medical and retail tenants, and picnic tables along the waterfront of Packery Channel.

Real Life Church, a 501(c)3 organization with campuses in Austin and Corpus Christi, is the property owner and will be the anchor tenant on the second floor, hosting church services, island events, concerts, community gatherings, weddings and more.

Real Life Church-Corpus Christi currently offers a Sunday morning service in a space provided by the Island in the Son United Methodist Church on NPI, but the organization and its pastors will move into the new multi-purpose center once it opens, explained Jerad Watson, a spokesperson with Waymaker Development.

The church-based concept for a mixed-use building will be a first for NPI, noted Eric Perardi, another spokesperson with the firm, who laid out a vision of a destination for residents as well as tourists.

“We want to bring mind, body, soul, spirit, wellness and entertainment all into one place,” he said. “We looked at the island and thought, ‘Why build another building that doesn’t serve the community A lot of church buildings are only used one or two days a week. Putting the outdoor pickleball courts, event center, stage and playground here will create a parklike atmosphere where people want to come and hang out all the time rather than just a few hours on the weekend.”

Waymaker is modeling the multi-purpose center after a much larger building in Cedar Park, the Crossover, an athletics, worship, retail and entertainment complex that houses the Church of Whitestone—part of a larger plan to expand church-based real estate by combining multiple amenities into one location.

That center is home to a variety of family fitness, medical and wellness companies, and once complete, the Lighthouse will serve as a space that provides retail tenants with access to the event center and restaurant, Watson said.

Renting the facility spaces to multiple tenants is a way to share the cost of the building, providing a way for the church to divert funds back into the community and spend money on other projects.

“We have a similar model in Austin, where the church hosts events 6.5 days out of the week and offers a service on Sunday morning,” Perardi said. “The restaurant will be the catering service for the event center and create more revenue opportunities. The church will run events and create income five or six days out of the week to help offset the cost of rent.”

Watson said the developer has already gotten some leads from other tenants and that the church will be non-denominational and have multiple pastors, including a campus, youth and kids pastor.

Micah Davidson, the founder and lead pastor of Real Life Church, as well as an online campus that hosts viewers in 27 countries around the world, spoke at the ceremony, quoting from the Scriptures as he told the group how he hoped the Lighthouse center would create a space for people to connect with neighbors as well as attend church.

“We pray that you bless Waymaker Development, the architects, the engineers, the general contractor, Weaver Construction, and all who are a part of this construction,” he said. “We pray that there will be no delays and that soon we will see a structure, a building, a place for everyone on island to come and find connection, experience community.”

The mayor approved of the innovative idea and thanked Waymaker for investing in a new structure for the island that was connected to faith in bringing together families and that envisioned something beyond tourism.