McAllen business deal sours over publicity

McALLEN - A group of Mexican businessmen may not buy Westside Park from the city, concerned the resulting publicity would make them targets of criminal organizations, according to the attorney working to broker the deal.

If the group were to make an offer on the city-owned property, the investors' names, which have been kept private so far, could become public information under U.S. law.

And reports of kidnappings and other means of extortion have become increasingly commonplace across Mexico since President Felipe Calderón sent federal troops to fight the drug cartels.

"You start off with a general proposition - no one wants their financial information out there. Then the concern is heightened even more because of the security issues in Mexico," said Ray Thomas, a partner McAllen law firm Kittleman, Thomas & Gonzales, LLP. "Some may go forward; some may say, ‘We're not interested.'"

Last week, McAllen officials, who first put up the 41-acre park for public auction in February, granted Thomas' request to push back the city's deadline to May 23. The city has stipulated it will only consider plans for an "upscale residential development," including some combination of townhouses, condominiums or townhouses.

Whether the investors' identities would become public after an offer would largely depend on McAllen city officials, says City Attorney Kevin Pagan.

"It kind of depends on what sort of entity or business they have established," Pagan said. "If it's a company specifically set up for that project, which doesn't have any history, we would need a little information on the people behind it."

Under that scenario, the investment group could request their information be withheld from public view. The Texas Attorney General's office would have to rule on the request.

"Whatever (information) they give us is potentially public," he said. "But there are certain exceptions to the public information act which allow us to withhold proprietary information... honestly, I'm kind of shooting in the dark until I see what they submit."

Westside, which is on the auction block for a minimum bid of $23.2 million, is located on a growing commercial strip on Ware Road, just north of Expressway 83 and across the street from the year-old McAllen Convention Center.

In a recent interview, Mayor Richard Cortez said he hoped the sale of the park would allow the city to create new parks that would double the acreage Westside provides. State law would require voters to approve the deal first.

Nearing the end of the park's second auction, the Mexican investment group is the only entity to express interest in purchasing the property. According to Thomas, there is concern among the investors over the asking price, which is about $6.5 million above a recent appraisal the city commissioned.

"(The price) they're asking has scared a lot of buyers away," Thomas said. "But there are also people who have a lot of hope and a lot of confidence in the city's future."