Brownsville Metro Advisory Board Meets~Completion of Downtown Parking Garage Reset for Spring of 2015.

From the editor:  Below is a report from the Brownsville Metro Advisory Board meeting held at 5:30 PM on the second floor of the multi-modal facility.  Our pics were accidentally erased and will be added to the article tomorrow.  

Original Completion Date for Parking Garage

While the proposed downtown parking garage is now targeted for completion in the Spring of 2015 at the earliest, the Brownsville Metro Advisory Board, meeting Wednesday on the second floor of the multi-modal facility, wants it known that the 60 or 70 spaces reserved during the day for Metro staff are available after 5:00 PM for visitors to downtown.  This includes the 40 spaces fenced on three sides west of the convenience store on Adams St. and International as well as the 25 or 30 slotted diagonally along the north side of East Adams Street between 13th Street and the multi-modal facility.

Financing is still the issue for the downtown parking garage originally scheduled for completion in the Fall of 2013.  Actually, $1,500,000 has already GBIC approves some tweaking of the financing, original construction documents(blueprints) will be ready in 60 days.

been approved for the project, but $500,000 of that is already due as an interest free repayment.  Andrew Munoz, the Assistant Director of Brownsville Metro, is confidant that original financing is enough to get the project off the ground with a bit of restructuring.  There is no hint as to how the entire project, estimated to cost $5,100,000, will be financed.(Some in town doubt that estimate is accurate, thinking the project may actually cost $7,000,000) Munoz states that once

A surprisingly successful aspect of the multi-modal facility has been the units leased by fast food entities Church's Chicken, Wing Stop and Subway.  Four more such units are available for lease at $1.50 per square foot.  The units are simply four walls, a ceiling and utilities, leaving the tenant to design the plumbing to suit and then concrete the floor.  Kiosk space is also available in the mulit-modal station lobby at $450 per month.

The proposed Texas House Bill #2423 that would have regionalized mass transit in the RGV, with the command staff likely in Edinburg or McAllen, is dead.  This means that Brownsville retains control of its metro system,  Actually, three new buses are being added to accommodate the three new cross valley lines.

Kiosk Inside Multi-Modal

 A blue line will run between South Padre Island and the multi-modal, while a red line goes to McAllen and finally a green line links the Pan American campus in Edinburg with downtown Brownsville.

Twenty more bike racks will be added to the fifteen already at the bus station.  Racks will also be positioned in front of the proposed parking garage and at the pedestrian mall between Washington and Elizabeth Streets at 14th.  That pedestrian mall was recently resurfaced with concrete, replacing the brick pavers at a cost of $330,000.  Grading issues necessitated the change, along with the need for electrical and plumbing upgrades. The contractor and architect will be splitting the cost of correcting a drainage problems that manifested itself after the recent rains.