The proposed project to be built on a 28 acre tract at 4555 N. Expressway 77/83(roughly between the Courtyard by Marriot and La Quinta Inn and Suites) would include a 138 room, 4-story Hyatt Hotel, an 8,000 sq.ft. event center and a hospitality, tourism and management teaching facility by UT-RGV.
Total investment for the project is estimated at $37,100,000 with the City of Brownsville committing no more than $11,000,000.(The city's participation includes $2,000,000 for infrastructure, roads, landscaping, etc., but also another $6,000,000 from the city's Hotel Occupancy Tax over 20 years. An additional $3,000,000 in Hotel Occupancy Tax could be included, "if justified," thus the $11,000,000 total.)
The agreement, between the City of Brownsville and the Hernandez Foundation(Mike Hernandez III) is contingent upon UT-RGV "choosing the site for their new teaching facility."
A dual enrollment high school program is included with a projected 60 students in the fall of 2020, 250 by 2023.
Just for comparison, an 8,000 sq. ft. event center would provide less than half the space of the current Brownsville Event Center's 17,000 sq. ft. facility at 1 Event Center and 1/20 of the McAllen Convention Center's 174,000 sq. ft.
The 4-story, 138 room hotel will total 84,284 sq. ft.
McAllen is so far ahead. Waiting on UT-RGV to build a hotel is absurd!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing in this article about UT-RGV "building a hotel." The Hernandez Foundation says their decision to build a hotel is contingent on the university locating a hospitality, tourism and management teaching facility at that same location.
DeleteJim,!
DeleteLet me write you a piece on how the $32 million dollar investment can be made in order to benefit the Hernandez Foundation, City of Brownsville, CDCB, BCIC, Hyatt, and UTRGV.
-El Guardian Del Pueblo
Hilarious. Will never happen.
ReplyDeleteOh great! Carlos Quintanilla wanted the taxpayers to buy him an airline and Mike Hernandez wants the taxpayers to buy him a hotel. They both used the same methods, come in from outside and interfere in elections.
ReplyDelete