HARLINGEN — As crews continue to prepare the site of the $16.7 million convention center, a developer has presented the city with the facility’s projected revenues and operating costs.
The preliminary numbers have been submitted by Brandon Rainey, chief executive officer of San Antonio-based BC Lynd Hospitality, Assistant City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez told city commissioners last night.
Gonzalez said Rainey, who will build an attached 150-room Hilton Garden Inn, has also presented the city with a preliminary marketing plan aimed at promoting the facility.
“Staff is ready to promote the convention center,” according to Gonzalez’s PowerPoint presentation.
City Manager Dan Serna said Rainey is also preparing the rental rates to be used to book the convention center.
Next, he said, officials will work to prepare the convention center’s budget, Serna said.
Meanwhile, crews are excavating the construction site, removing poor soil at the corner of Teege Avenue and Brazil Road, Assistant City Manager Carlos Sanchez told commissioners.
Sanchez said crews plan to use fill dirt to prepare the site to support foundation pads on which will stand the convention center along with a 623-space parking lot.
Crews plan to raise the eight-acre site about two feet above the curb, he said.
Like other construction projects, the site requires fill dirt to raise its elevation above the curb to allow runoff to drain.
As part of the project, the city has earmarked $300,000 for fill dirt.
So far, Killian Construction, a Springfield, Mo-based company, has been paid $95,059 for completion of 2 percent of the project, Sanchez said.
The city purchased the eight-acre site for $2.7 million following negotiations with landowner Ezequiel Reyna and BC Lynd in 2015.
In 2013, the city’s independent appraisal gave the eight-acre site a market value of $1.69 million.
The site was part of an 11.25-acre tract appraised at $1.66 million, according to the Cameron County Appraisal District.
Under an agreement, the city will fund construction of the convention center while BC Lynd builds the attached hotel on an adjacent two-acre site.
As the city and developer planned the project, BC Lynd wanted to build the hotel at the site in the Harlingen Heights business district, Mayor Chris Boswell said in an earlier interview.
As part of its finance plan, the city is using $9.7 million generated through the Harlingen Community Improvement Board’s sales tax and $3.8 million in hotel occupancy tax revenue to pay off the debt.
The city is also using $1.96 million from property tax revenue generated through Harlingen’s three tax increment financing reinvestment zones to buy for the convention center’s eight-acre site.
The Community Improvement Board is funding the remaining $800,000 of the land purchase.
