Resort may call Padre Island home
Traffic along beach key issue in $500M plan
By Nick Nelson Caller-Times
December 8, 2005
An international resort development company has signed a letter of intent with a local development group to build a $500 million resort community overlooking the beach on Padre Island.
The letter, signed Nov. 30, started the clock ticking on a 90-day deadline to determine whether the company will move forward with the plan. The largest issue for the company is whether the beach in front of the development will be pedestrian-only, according to the local developer and city officials.
The company is interested in 1,800 feet of beach that wasn't part of the 4,200 feet the City Council voted to close to vehicular traffic.
The development group, called Gulf Shores Joint Venture, is a partnership between Austin developer Paul Schexnailder and Los Angeles-based development firm The Day Group. Gulf Shores received the letter of intent from the international company, which Schexnailder said he could not name because of a confidentiality agreement.
"I can tell you that when we do announce who that is, there will be no doubt that it is a first-class resort development company," he said.
Schexnailder said the resort would be feasible only if the council voted to restrict traffic on the beach between Packery Channel's south jetty and the Nueces County Park No. 1 - a distance of 7,434 feet. This length would include roughly 1,800 north of the seawall and 1,400 feet south of it.
Councilman Mark Scott said the city would be in the wrong if, after years of calling for resort development on the island, it jeopardized the deal by allowing traffic on the beach in front of the proposed resort.
"I think we made a mistake," he said. "We have public policy responsibility to fix that mistake."
Scott suggested that along with restricting the additional length of beach, the council should commit to amend the city charter so that future beach closures would require a citywide public vote. Because state law only allows one charter amendment every two years, and because Corpus Christi's charter was last amended in November 2004, the vote couldn't take place until at least November 2006.
In October, the council voted to ban traffic on the 4,200 feet of beach in front of the island seawall. After the council's decision, a group of citizens started a petition to undo the council's action with a citywide referendum vote in May. As of Wednesday, the group had collected about 5,100 verified signatures of the 8,000 required to put the issue to a public vote. The new ordinance still is awaiting approval from the Texas General Land Office.
Schexnailder said city staff and elected officials have made clear their desire for resort development on Padre Island. He said such a request assumes "resort quality" beaches, which he believes means no vehicles.
The resort was designed by New York-based architecture firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners. Schexnailder said the company planned the project in accordance with the city's Area Development Plan for Mustang and Padre islands. The plan, approved by the City Council in April 2004, states that the city will "encourage the highest development standards within the area's boundaries to create a unique 'sense of place.' "
The plan is the type of development city officials envisioned when they successfully pursued the dredging of Packery Channel, a waterway connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Laguna Madre. Packery Channel was a decades-old dream of developers because it would allow quick access for pleasure boats to the open gulf.
The city's plan for the Packery Channel Tax Increment Financing Zone calls for pedestrian-only beaches between the south jetty and the south end of the seawall. The TIF zone is a mechanism for capturing revenue from increased property values near Packery Channel to pay for improvements in the zone.
Schexnailder said his development group has completed years of planning and preparation to bring the resort to the island, based on the city's own plan for pedestrian-only beachfront. Now, he expects the city to make good on its commitment to accommodate resort development.
"If we want a resort at the beach," he said, "we must have a resort beach treatment where the resorts go."
The first phase of the resort would be built out over five to seven years and would include 1,000 to 2,000 residential units and between 75,000 and 150,000 square feet of office, commercial, restaurant, retail and entertainment space. He plans two more phases, similar in scope and value, which means a long-range investment of about $1.5 billion.
City Council members were mixed in their reaction to Scott's proposal to restrict traffic on the 7,434 feet of beach while committing to a charter amendment.
Councilmen Rex Kinnison and Jesse Noyola said they already had committed publicly not to restrict traffic on any more beaches without a citywide vote, and they didn't want to go back on their word. Council members Melody Cooper and John Marez said they would base their decision on the overall public sentiment regarding the matter.
Councilmen Jerry Garcia and Brent Chesney and Mayor Henry Garrett could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening. Councilman Bill Kelly has recused himself from such votes because he owns property in the area.
Pat Suter, a vocal supporter of the petition to rescind the council's October decision, said the recent push to close more beaches was just what she and others predicted would happen once the beach along the seawall was closed.
"They're doing exactly what we said they would do - if they could get the 4,200 feet, the very next thing they would do would be to grab more land," she said. "They're doing what we were afraid of."
Suter said she supported the idea of a charter amendment but that the council could not guarantee a future council would make good on a commitment to do so.
Schexnailder said if the beach is not converted to a pedestrian beach, he would likely parcel the land and sell it off. But he said doing so wouldn't be the best use of the land and wouldn't be the overwhelming magnet for tourism that he and city officials have been pursuing for several years.
"One of things that we learned through the economic studies we conducted is that to go out there and build one hotel or to go out there and build one condominium is not going to create a destination," he said. "It's got to be done with a critical mass large enough to create attention within the state's travel patterns."
Contact Nick Nelson at (361) 886-3678 or nelsonn@caller.com
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