HARLINGEN — City officials are mum about the $16.7 million convention center’s projected future revenues.
As part of an agreement, the city and BC Lynd Hospitality, the San Antonio developer building a 150-room Hilton Garden Inn to be attached to the convention center, are required to cover any deficits the convention center might incur.
In February, Brandon Raney, BC Lynd’s chief executive officer, was expected to present city commissioners with preliminary revenue projections.
But it is unclear whether commissioners have received the information.
Last month, the Texas Attorney General’s Office denied the Valley Morning Star’s request for the convention center’s preliminary revenue projections and operating budget.
In its ruling, the Attorney General’s Office upheld the city’s argument the information’s release would give competitors such as the South Padre Island Convention Center, the McAllen Convention Center and the Brownsville Event Center a “competitive advantage.”
“Release of this preliminary analysis would reveal to potential users and vendors the extent to which the city projects that its center will compete with market alternatives, what the center’s users are preliminarily determined to be willing to pay and what vendors supporting the center’s operations are preliminarily determined to charge,” City Attorneys Alan Ozuna and Rebecca Hayward wrote.
“This would give the center’s market competitors, the vendors, and users a competitive advantage, resulting in higher costs to the operation of the center, and lower revenue from users,” the attorneys wrote.
The attorneys wrote the city has not received a final operating budget.
