SAN DIEGO DEVELOPER GETS SUBSIDIES FOR RIVERVIEW HOTEL PROJECT IN BROWNSVILLE

 

Sam Marascos, at center with GBIC's Jason Hiltz and former Commissioner John Villarreal

With our report back in 9/21/2015 the Brownsville Observer covered the interest of San Diego developer Sam Marascos in doing a large scale project at Riverview, that neglected section of land between Mexico Blvd and the Rio Grande River.

Yes, eight years ago Marascos was also said to be working on a downtown mall for Brownsville as well as expressing interest in "taking control" of the North Brownsville Industrial Park.

Overhead picture of Riverview by Diego Lee Rot

Marascos reportedly told the GBIC board at the time that if he was going to be spending "time and money" developing Brownsville, he would need to be given "exclusivity and confidentiality."

Marascos has a track record with his construction of Las Americas Outlet Mall in San Ysidro, CA his biggest success story.

But, he's also experienced failure, such as the Mercado Project at Barrio Logan. 

After Marascos obtained the land for that project for a mere $100, he ran into difficulty, completing no work on the project in several years after promising 300-400 jobs and $307M in revenue to the city.  

Brownsville Herald reporter Steve Clark

Now, Steve Clark reports in the Brownsville Herald 

that two recent developments may render Marascos' proposed Riverview project feasible.

Texas House Bill 5012 now allows for the Hotel Occupancy Tax to be used to develop hotels and convention centers, specifically enabling Marascos' stated plan to build Hotel Rio Grande and an urban village named Riverview Park.

Also, Cameron County's 7/22 creation of a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone for Riverview gives the developer tax relief, another supplement for Marascos' project.