CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — In 2020 the City Council created a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ 5) to fund new development projects on the city's Westside.
The creation of TIRZ 5 was a crucial first step for the proposed Bohemian Colony Project but during Tuesday's council meeting, there was a vote to pull the plug on that idea.
The proposed project was supposed to include 999 multifamily units 777 town-homes and 450,000 square feet of commercial space near Greenwood and Holly.
“Unfortunately, the developer did bring that forward prior to Covid so as we continue to progress through Covid and the logistics and the financials of that project the development agreement was canceled with the developer back in 2022 I believe, and we have not been able to get another developer to do a similar project," Heather Hurlbert one of the city managers said.
Hurlbert said that the land has remained in usage for agricultural purposes meaning it is exempted so no money was being collected during this entire time.
"There’s no money being collected. As a matter of fact the city is. If any revenue has been collected it's being reimbursed for the creation cost the time spent to create it," she said.
On January 31, 2023, the City Council approved a motion to cancel the developer reimbursement agreement with South Padre Investment, Inc. due to selling one-third of the property to a different developer for use in a different project.
The TIRZ was finalized and a development agreement was approved in late 2020.
According to the City of Corpus Christi in Oct. 2022, staff were made aware that the landowner for the property in the TIRZ sold approximately one-third of the land to another developer who proposed a different type of development. The new developer indicated that they had the option to purchase more of the land for future development.
"We have been unsuccessful to find someone for the project so that’s why we’re gonna go ahead and cancel the TIRZ. If there is a project that comes forward that does more creation of a new TIRZ we can definitely do that," she said.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
