WHAT'S DIFFERENCE BETWEEN C. DEL NYLON, WELLS FARGO?

By Juan Montoya
One is a boarded up building adjacent to other buildings which have seen their better days and sit on a half-block without existing parking.
The other is a functional six-story building that sits on an entire city block plus another half a block for drive-thrus and plenty of parking.

Yet, the City of Brownsville paid $2.3 million for the first and Cameron County negotiated the purchase of the second for...$2.3 million.

This despite claims by former mayor Pat Ahumada, who said the city first rejected the Casa's purchase when it was first considered because it was not necessary and parking space was already in possession of the city. Nonetheless, Mayor Tony nMartinez – through his law parter Horacio Barrera – negotiated with owner Abraham Galonsky (Barrera's neighbor) on the final price tag. It was paid for by the issuance of Certificates of Obligation that did not require voter approval.
The county closed on the Wells Fargo purchase in late February, paying $2.3 million, or slightly under the property’s appraised value, Cameron County Judge Pete Sepulveda Jr. told the local daily recently.
The six-story building had been on the market since Wells Fargo moved to a new building across the street in June. Sepulveda said county commissioners haven’t formally discussed which county offices will be moved to the new location, though some functions of the district clerk’s office could move.
Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez said that he had run into Reba MacNair who mentioned that the building was up for sale with a price tag of close to $5 million.
After the county and real-estate representatives of the seller entered nto negotiations, the price was whittled down to the $2.3 million. Dominguez said the cost would probably be borne by the county's capital improvement budget.
The county's closing on the bargain-basement price for a modern building (one of the top floors is entirely paneled in mahogany), the existing eight lanes of drive-thrus, and the ample parking apparently upset Martinez, the force behind the purchase of the Case del Nylon for the exact price as the bank building.
"He was pissed," said a courthouse insider. "He wanted to buy the building for the University of Texas. His kind of legacy."
As it was, the JP courts renovation was going to cost the county $1.9 million. Now, with the Wells Fargo building, the county clerk and tax assessor-collector's office out of the courthouse, freeing up the necessary space for the JP courts and the two new county courts-at-law. In fact, the county had lacked the space for the new County Counrt-at-Law #5 in the plans.
Sepulveda said just as much.
“Definitely the tax assessor’s office makes a lot of sense because of the drive-through facility,” he said. “We might take some services from the county clerk. We’ll look at maybe housing some (justices of the peace), then we’ll see what other departments could go in there.
“This facility has a lot of parking area, which is what we’ve always lacked at the downtown courthouse. It was a great opportunity for us. We thought it made a lot of sense.”Sepulveda also said that the new building may also house offices for the city, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, or Texas Southmost College. He also said that the move will mean many more county employees downtown during working hours, which could aid downtown revitalization.
So – aside from the obvious parkng space, downtown location, and the quality of the building's superiority of the Wells Fargo Bank over the Casa del Nylon – what does the purchase of both for the same price by the city and county tell us?
Simply, that the county looked out for the benefit of its taxpayers and the city under Martinez felt no qualms about handing out public money to political and financial cronies.