PHANTOM RR SWITCHYARD DEAL FRAUGHT WITH "IFS"

By Juan Montoya
Sam Marasco's San Diego, Calif. LandGrant Development's railroad switch yard deal to build a tax-funded downtown revitalization district where no downtown currently exists and to pay for it with future taxation increments on the land has many "ifs" attached to it.
And the boundaries of the (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone) TIRZ district includes most of the heart of the downtown business district although the actual river front development and actual construction of the project are well to the south of the zone proposed. (see graphic. Click to enlarge)
That means that using 2015 as a benchmark, any increment in ad valorem taxes raised there over the amount received in 2015 and into the future will go to the developers, that is, Marasco and his associates. The project area is outlined in yellow. The TIR
This deal was hammered out between the city and LandGrant in a meeting where city attorney Mark Sossi, Ambiotec's Carlos Marin and some port commissioners were present. Marin, then, is the linchpin to this for-profit version of Marasco's LandGrant Brownsville Downtown Revitalization.
It's interesting that – like most Marin-led proposals – no other developers were allowed to participate in the process.
And it is also his "signature" that none of his money is involved in the proposal that could benefit Ambiotec in the millions. We guess that they not only teach Harvard graduates about systems management, but also how to manage these systems to their personal enrichment.

The city would also be required to approve public infrastructure, uses, and the project and a financing plan for infrastructure and improvements. The city would use the Tax Increment Financing to capitalize the project with the tax increment. It would also be required to "work diligently" to maintain schedules.

There is no cost estimate on how much the city would be required to spend (or borrow) to uphold their end of the agreement, but based on the project boundaries, it could easily top $100s of millions in infrastructure and engineering.  

According to the presentation, the area envisioned for the project is bounded between East C. Street and East Fronton Street and between South 11th Street and East Fourth and the land bounded by Sam Perl Blvd. and the Rio Grande and between the B&M Bridge and the Gateway Bridge."
The company that presented the Feasibility Recommendation Plan (FRP) and the Riverfront and the Railroad Reuse Plan (RRUP) is LandGrant Development, of San Diego, Calif., and is owned by Sam Marasco, who made a presentation before the city and the port of Brownsville commissioners. Marasco's plans have been approved at public hearing and incorporated into the Foundational Development Agreement between LandGrant and the city.
Some of these "ifs" are:
1. When and "if" the Brownsville Navigation District decides to turn over (donate is the city's preference) the land it was deeded when Union Pacific abandoned its ownership
2. When and "if" the port commissioners decide that they want to sell the land to the city – and the city then gives it to LandGrant Development – it would still carry a trove of deed restrictions that must be cleared by the city.
3. When and "if" the port decides that it wants to set a price on the prime real-estate
5. When and "if," if it deal falls through, the city agrees it will have to pay the port the price at the appraisal then, and not in 2016 prices
4. When and "if" the Texas Water Quality Board clears the area for development after it examines it for potential toxic contamination from decades of railroad use that included transporting of hazardous materials, etc.
5. When and "if" the City of Brownsville – following a year of conditional turnover of the land to the city – is satisfied that the city has maintained the land properly
And perhaps the largest obstacle:
6. When and"if" the Texas Attorney General issues an opinion that land deeded over to a private developer working for profit constitutes a "public use," a requirement on any land turned over form one public entity to another.
Until then – and tied to a timetable that the city agreed with Marasco's LandGrant – it is hard for anyone to see that all these "ifs" will be resolved.
If it stretches much further than the 2018 construction timetable in the city-LandGrant Foundational Development Agreement, litigation from LandGrant could result charging that Brownsville has breached its contract contained in the agreement.