Horrible news for the city of Corpus Christi...

[jdavila01]

Does the move having anything to do with Mrs. Dobson dying? Maybe she would have opposed the move.

[bb54321]

She would have definitely opposed the move. She was loyal to the city that allowed her husband's little burger shack grow into a huge corporation. It's a shame they left and it's a blow to CC. Not so much in jobs but in the city's self-esteem, but just the fact that it grew from 1 location to almost 700 goes a long way in saying how great CC is to start and grow a business. It's an entreprenuers dream.

[lemonfresh]

I don't see how one regional business that took 40-50 years to become a regional fixture makes CC an "entrepreneurs dream", no disrepest but come on be realistic.

[missWendyS]

A big corporation moving out of a city is a bad thing, in that it causes job losses which no one wants to happen. on the flip side though, in researching CC for a possible move I have heard it mentioned often that theres not much growth or expansion in the area. Maybe if big corporations, in whom residents depend on for both jobs and financial support (through business taxes and such) keep leaving, maybe that will light a fire under the powers that be in the city to not only allow growth and development, but encourage and pursue it as well? Perhaps Im wrong about this being as I am an outsider looking in? I have read also that in recent years, development and expansion has started to increase over past years. Maybe only small things but small changes are better then stagnation, one would think. Just my humble opinion though

[Kibby]

Originally Posted by achtungpv

If the CEO is the same guy as 5 years ago, he lives in Austin but commutes to Corpus. If he wanted to move it for truly personal reasons, they'd be going to Austin not San Antonio.

First - the CEO of Whataburger is Tom Dobson, born and raised in Corpus Christi. His Dad started Whataburger and then was killed in a horrible plane crash right when we graduated - I went to school with Tom (Ray HS) and then to Del Mar with him.

The data base for Whataburger is in Austin - hurricanes are not the problem and I seriously doubt that it is employee based either. Corpus can surely get hit by a storm but it's not as island like Galveston, Corpus is built on a bluff without the same storm surge problems.

The problem is logistics, especially if Tom is living in Austin as you say. You can't even fly from Austin to Corpus without going to Houston first. The air travel to Corpus is a HUGE problem. I'm betting they chose San Antonio instead of Austin due to tax advantages and incentives that Austin did not offer - that usually key to a move like that. I know that Corpus made some nice offers to get Whataburger to stay but the air travel is a killer. A better airport and more flights would help not only with business but with tourism also.

Most towns in Texas have a lot going for them, Corpus is no exception. Beautiful shoreline, the island, the Aquarium, the Lex, Whataburger field .... it's a great tourist spot, and that brings in a lot of revenue. I think urban sprawl has hurt a lot - working on fixing up downtown is good and it's surely needs more . Fort Worth downtown is a model for cities all over the USA.

Push to work on the downtown area - downtown living, and that will bring more business and re-vitalization. Do somthing with that eyesore called the Coliseum.