(click for full details)

Companies joining Wallace-Bajjali on the development team include:
• Architects: HKS Sports and Entertainment Group, Lavin Architects, Architexas
• Construction Consultant: Western Builders
• Construction Manager: Ewing Construction
• Financiers: Estrada-Hinojosa, Civitas
• Hoteliers: American Property Management, Wyndham Worldwide
• Sports: Southern Independent Baseball (Amarillo Sox), American Association
of Independent Professional Baseball

“This is an amazing team,” said David Wallace, partner and co-founder of Wallace-Bajjali, “representing
top firms from Texas and throughout the nation. When companies like these commit to a project, we know the kind of excellence they will bring to it.” (Click for full details)

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/15204831/downtown-revitalization-project-will-not-raise-taxes

The big question for many in Amarillo is how the $113 million dollar downtown revitalization project will affect your taxes?

The developers at Wallace-Bajalli say it will not raise taxes for the people living in Amarillo for several reasons. They say the money to build these projects will be paid up front by private investors.

Money will also come from user fees from events at the baseball stadium and fees at the parking garage. There is expected to be a 10% surcharge on items such as baseball games, concerts, and other functions at the multi-purpose event center.

Dave Wallace with Wallace-Bajalli says "through the funding sources and that capital resources, it will not cost the taxpayers a dime of ad-valorem taxes and it will not affect your tax rates at all. If you use it you pay for it. If you don't use it, you don't pay for it."

The existing hotel occupancy tax, which comes from hotel stays in Amarillo, will be reinvested into the development of the event venue and the parking garage.

“This is a banner day for the future of Amarillo,” said DAI Executive Director Melissa Dailey. “Voters rejected the divisive wedge issue ballot items and reaffirmed downtown redevelopment by a margin of greater than two-to-one.”

With 60 of 60 precincts reporting, the races for Commissioner and Mayor were called Saturday night, as were the ballot measures. All three ballot initiatives were rejected by decisive majorities, thereby upholding the lawful downtown urban design standards and sign ordinance, and maintaining the current tradition of all Amarillo voters electing all the commissioners.

“Downtown is the heart of Amarillo,” said Dailey. “In this election, the people of Amarillo stood up and were counted in support of progress towards a better future. DAI is grateful for the widespread public support for downtown redevelopment, and we look forward to working with Amarillo’s new Mayor and City Commissioners.”

“Our elections are a sacred trust,” said DAI Board Member John Lutz. “All sides made their appeals in the public square. Neighbors joined together to listen, weigh the information, and cast their votes. Now is the time when we move forward with unity; the people have spoken.”

For more information about Downtown Amarillo and the public redevelopment process, and to provide feedback, please explore the resources online at www.downtownamarillo.com.

Perhaps rampant conspiracy theories and speculation about "the suits" lording over struggling downtown landowners are unavoidable. Internet froth too easily supplants reality in contemporary culture. Wired though we may be, the "unplugged" often carry the argument.

Property owners downtown have endured decades of neglect, bad planning and periodic, dead-end schemes with little to show for it besides leaky roofs, empty buildings and another year's taxes.

For better or worse, downtown remains the city center. If current planning and revitalization efforts finally yielded stalwart property owners a bit of gain, the whole city accrues much more in terms of improved property values and tax collections. Certainly for many, it will remain the most significant measure of success for current revitalization efforts. (Click here for full story)

Taxpayers will get a more solid idea of the costs of possible large-scale projects for downtown Amarillo in August.

"There are so many different variables that, at this point in time, (cost estimation) is a moving target," David Wallace said Tuesday.

Wallace's company, Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, must present to city leaders in mid-August a list of projects determined to have the best chance of success, he said. The Sugar Land-based firm is the City of Amarillo's master developer for downtown projects in the area surrounding the Amarillo Civic Center. (Click for full story)

Amarillo, Texas - A big piece of Amarillo's history is now for sale... Something many say will either make or break downtown revitalization.

Those we spoke with today say in many ways, the success of revitalization in downtown Amarillo will be centered around this building... The Herring Hotel, which has been vacant for the past few decades.

J. Gaut of J. Gaut & Associates says, "It sits on the skyline of Amarillo. It's between the police department and the Civic Center and it's so visible from I-40. I think Center City revitalization will be much more complete once something is done with the building. As long as it's empty and on the skyline, it's going to just kind of an eyesore I think."

Some developers have said the Herring would possibly be an option for the convention center hotel.

Other possibilities for the building include mixed use space with offices and apartments or condos and lofts. (click for full story)

Not only will it determine who will occupy all five of the city's commission seats for the next two years, but it also will decide three measures brought to the ballot box by petition.

Anger by some residents appears to be the driving force behind the petitions. But to be brutally honest, depth and breadth of that anger seems a bit dubious.

And the measures should be defeated when all the ballots are counted May 14. (click for full story)

AMARILLO -- Amarillo has taken a dramatic and pivotal step toward a new age of public-private cooperation.

City commissioners this past week approved a partnership with Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, based in Sugar Land. Wallace Bajjali becomes the primary development partner with the city for two significant downtown projects - a convention hotel and a multi-purpose event center, which would include a baseball stadium.

The agreement also gives the developer opportunities to develop projects on other city land near the Civic Center - as long as the city agrees with its potential use. (full story)

AMARILLO -- A Sugar Land firm will pay the upfront costs of planning large-scale projects in downtown Amarillo and only be reimbursed if the projects win City Commission - and likely voter - approval.

The commission Tuesday unanimously approved a pact to create a public-private partnership with Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, a Sugar Land company that has been involved in more than $1 billion in urban redevelopment projects in Waco and elsewhere.

Under the pact, Wallace Bajjali will serve as master developer for a proposed convention center hotel, possible multipurpose event venue and other potential projects on city-owned land in the vicinity of the Amarillo Civic Center. (full story)

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Among the topics Amarillo City Commissioners addressed yesterday, perhaps the most important was the downtown Amarillo redevelopment agreement consent agenda.

Commissioners gave the green light to that agenda that creates a private-public partnership between the city and Wallace Bajjali development partners, to help fix up downtown.

We asked one of them, what exactly does this agreement allow Wallace Bajjali to do?

"To go out finally and develop proposals and budgets and feasbility studies on a hotel, on a multi-purpose events venue and bring those back to us and allow the city at some point to make a decision about whether to procede with the actual building of those facilities," said Brian Eades, Amarillo City Commissioner, Place 2. (full story)

Disclosure: My great-grandfather was in the movie business.

That is, he owned and operated the Mission Theatre in Menard, a town on the edge of West Texas whose population peaked at 2,674 nearly six decades ago. The building has been mostly dormant for nearly 60 years, since he closed the theater in 1953. It flooded in 1980, and a decade later the roof collapsed. In the years before a new one could be put on, trees began to grow through the floor.

In 2010, Kaci Kothmann formed the Mission Theatre Restoration Foundation, a small band of Menard residents who hope to reopen the theater. “It would be fantastic for the community,” Kothmann said. “To help create business, create revenue, create some interest and hopefully put Menard a little bit more on the map.”

That statement is music to the ears of Amy Barbee, the executive director at the Texas Cultural Trust, which is leading a push to redefine the state’s understanding of the role of the arts as a driver of economic growth, not just cultural niceties. With financial hardships making people keep their wallets snapped shut, and as the Legislature looks to scale back the state’s spending by up to $27 billion over the next two years, expenditures that are seen as luxuries may quickly be cut.

“It’s more than fluff,” Barbee said. “We want to tell the qualitative and quantitative story that the arts truly are economic development.” (full story)

"The Art of Economic Development," prepared by TXP Inc. for the Texas Cultural Trust and the Texas Commission on the Arts, includes a multimedia component for each the report's featured communities. This example focuses on the way Amarillo has leveraged the arts. (Click here to watch video)

"Redeveloping downtown is crucial to Amarillo's continued and future prosperity," says Mayor Debra McCartt. "Selecting Wallace Bajjali as our development partner is a significant milestone among the many steps in this process. Wallace Bajjali is an experienced public-private developer with a record of success and were looking forward to the resources and leadership the Wallace Bajjali team brings to the table." (full story with video)

AMARILLO - Amarillo Globe-News business reporter Karen Welch discusses the City of Amarillo business scene with Larry Lemmons of KFDA, NewsChannel10. Filmed Jan. 26, 2011. Today's topic: City selects private partner for downtown redevelopment. (click here for video)

AMARILLO, TX -- The Amarillo City Commission found no red flags Tuesday to stop its pursuit of a public-private partnership for downtown redevelopment.

Commissioners directed city staff to draft a deal creating the partnership with Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, a Sugar Land firm that has been involved in more than $1 billion in urban redevelopment in Waco and elsewhere.

The instruction came after commissioners heard extensive information collected about the company by city staff and the Strasburger Price law firm of Dallas. Commissioner Ron Boyd did not attend Tuesday's meeting. (full story)

AMARILLO, TX — The Amarillo City Commission today directed staff to proceed with the next steps in the redevelopment of downtown, including drafting a formal agreement with Wallace-Bajjali Development Partners for public-private partnership efforts on city-owned land. The recommendation and confirmation of a redevelopment partner for the City followed extensive research and a lengthy due diligence process.

“Redeveloping downtown is crucial to Amarillo’s continued and future prosperity,” says Mayor Debra McCartt. “Selecting Wallace Bajjali as our development partner is a significant milestone among the many steps in this process. Wallace Bajjali is an experienced public-private developer with a record of success and we’re looking forward to the resources and leadership the Wallace Bajjali team brings to the table.” (full story)