Schexnailder to break ground

After decade planning, developer foresees hotels, homes, stores

By Amanda Nelson Caller-Times
November 15, 2004

Paul Schexnailder has waited 10 years, since purchasing about 1,200 acres on Padre Island in 1994, to begin implementing his plans for a development so massive it may take 18 years to complete.

"This is my first real estate project," he said. "I've done 10 years of learning."

In 1994 Schexnailder and the late Bert Williams bought about 1,200 acres on North Padre Island with plans to develop the property over the next 10 years.

Schexnailder and Williams were partners in Asset Development Corporation, a spin-off operation of Asset Development Services, a Houston-based energy exploration, operating and investment company they formed in 1988.

They purchased the unsold assets of Padre Isles, the Padre Island community of canal-dredged residential and commercial sites. The acquisition included developed and undeveloped lots for single-family houses, multi-family units and businesses.

The acreage was what remained of a 4,000-acre project started in 1965 by the now-defunct Padre Island Investment Corporation.

Williams died in 1997, leaving Schexnailder to carry out the plans for development, along with Gulf Shores Joint Venture, of which he is a partner.

"Our plan is to make the premiere coastal destination in Texas," Schexnailder said.

That destination will include retail stores, restaurants, residential neighborhoods, and multi-family developments.
It will also include marinas, hotels and a music pavilion.

Schexnailder plans to break ground on the first residential development, Commodore's Point, within the next couple of months.
And Padre Island residents could start seeing the first dramatic changes in about a year and a half, when Schexnailder plans to
begin construction on a piece of his project called Market Landing.

Market Landing, part of which will run along Park Road 22, will be a 20-acre development featuring a 29,000-square-foot grocery store,
15,000 square feet of office space and 20 to 25 specialty shops. It also will contain a 60-room hotel, three restaurants, a music pavilion
and 141 residential condominiums and town homes.

Next in line is Beachwalk Village, located just down Whitecap Boulevard from Market Landing. The around 100-acre development will feature about 300 single-family homes on beachside lots, a 60-room hotel and 16 acres of multi-family units, including condos and town homes.

The estimated total building cost for the developments is around $2 billion.

Market Landing and Beachwalk Village buildings and homes will adhere to certain architectural guidelines and share a distinctive style, primarily Mediterranean and Spanish coastal styles.

Helping to carry out this cohesive style will be New York-based architecture firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners, a company Schexnailder chose to do his land planning. Cooper, Robertson & Partners has designed some big-name projects across the country, including Battery Park City in New York and Disney headquarters and studios in California. The firm also has designed several resort communities in Florida.

Michel Dionne, an architect with the company, said architectural regulations will help ensure growth can be controlled and match the overall look of the development.

Schexnailder, a supporter of the Padre Island Overlay District, which controls architecture, color and signs on some parts of the island, said his design, particularly the Beachwalk Village and resort district, will be similar in design to the WaterColor development in Walton County, Florida.

Dionne, whose experiences include designing planned communities in the Florida panhandle, said Schexnailder wanted to avoid the strip-mall concept and offer neighborhoods with landscaped boulevards and bicycle paths.

"He could just sell his land and do the traditional plotting system, just sell it lot by lot and make his money," Dionne said. "But because he sees great potential in the place, I think he wants the place to be a regional, maybe national destination on the coast."

Selling property into plots is what longtime Padre Island resident John Trice hopes will not happen.

"Paul is our hope for Padre Island," Trice said. "His holdings are so vast he could break it up into 300 pieces, sell it off and make a huge profit.

But Trice hopes Schexnailder will stay the course.

"The last thing we want to see is 300 new commercial property owners trying to create their idea of Nirvana," Trice said.

Contact Amanda Nelson at 886-3678 _or nelsona@caller.com

Copyright 2005, Caller.com. All Rights Reserved.