Happy New Year Padre Islanders!! We are excited about 2015 at Coastline Properties and what’s in store for our little piece of paradise. We read an article you will see printed “below” from Kris TV yesterday and felt it necessary to get you up to speed on what has been happening with the Schlitterbahn project. What I can and will tell you is that the headline is incredibly misleading and we do find it troubling that this is the 2nd media outlet in the past 60 days that has tried to negatively spin this project, and the funny thing is they are making themselves look like ridiculous in the process. Yes it is true things have not gone smoothly on this project but if you know anything about land development and real estate with 100 million dollar+ projects with multiple partners involved, there are always going to be bumps in the road. As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” This project is not a race, its more like a marathon. When Schlitterbahn fully opens there doors people will have long forgotten about this lull in time. I find it often troubling how media outlets intentionally create headlines to prey on the human emotion of fear, just to generate an audience so they can continue to sell their advertisers on inflated viewership data by creating fear based content to draw in unsuspecting people.
In Contrast I have also taken the liberty to post a second article from of our Most Informed Padre Island Journalist “Dale Rankin, Owner of the Island Moon” This article was printed just a few weeks ago that has a much more detailed and accurate depiction of the speed bumps in schlitterville project. The first thing you will notice is a headline that is neutral, and his article clearly spells out many details to help people understand what’s happening. The reason that Dale Rankin is so well liked on our Island is because he always does his best to keep us all informed with a non biased point of view, and if he does insert his personal point of view he does let us know the difference between it and the actual facts of the content. Thanks Dale for your tireless work in bringing us the Island News every week! ~Coastline Properties
Before You Read the Articles Below WATCH THIS VIDEO to see the Progress so far!
KRIS TV ARTICLE – Jan 6, 2015
“Schlitterbahn in Financial Trouble”
CORPUS CHRISTI – KRIS 6 News has learned that Schlitterbahn is in financial trouble.
The official opening of the park on Padre Island has already been delayed, and now, the company owes over half a million dollars to multiple vendors who’ve worked on the upcoming water park.
At least six different vendors have filed liens against the company for more than $137,000, and one contractor, Texas Descon, has filed a lawsuit against the company and its owners, saying that it’s owed nearly $700,000.
We spoke to partial owner Jeff Henry on the phone today. He told us this problem started when the scope of the project doubled in size.
When that happened, the money ran out, and when the money ran out, he and the other owners debated for months over how to proceed with additional funding.
The delay led to vendors not getting paid, but now, Henry says they’ve solved the funding issue, and says all of the vendors should get paid within ten days.
“We’re trying very hard to get a positive spin back on this project, to get it moving and get it finished, so we can open it and kids can start having fun, and the older kids can start having jobs. We’re just sorry that we had these problems and we’ll try not to ever have them again,” Henry says.
Henry says the increase in project size does mean there’ll be two to three times more jobs available once construction is complete.
The company plans to officially open the park this summer
Island Moon Article – Dale Rankin
What’s Going on at Schlitterbahn – Dec. 24th, 2014
As I have made the rounds of Island holiday parties this Christmas season the most common question I have heard is what you see printed above:
“What’s going on at Schlitterbahn? I have refrained from writing about it because I have been awaiting the resolution of events going on behind the scenes that I know will sooner or later gel straightened out and my intent was to wait until that happens to say anything. But as time has gone by the stories have gotten wilder and wilder. “I hear they have gone broke and are going to declare bankruptcy.” Or, “I hear the financing fell through.” Or the best one “I heard the city has condemned the building and it is going to have to be tom down.” It was that last one that made me decide that waiting any longer was not a good idea. So let me begin by addressing those three questions/assertions; No, No, and No.
Here ’s what’s happening
Here is what I have learned by talking to the people involved in the deal. I will leave them nameless here because they have not consented to be quoted. but the information is first hand. Here’s what I know. The project has not gone broke and financing did not “fall through.” What has happened is that the project has grown by almost twice since construction began and that requires more money. How to handle that has caused stress among the partners and they are in the process of reorganizing themselves. Some of the partners may opt to be bought out by other partners, or they may not. It is unknown at this point which partners will stay in and which may opt out.
But what is known is that the partners, if they so choose, can write a check to finish the project. lt’s pretty hard to “go bankrupt” under those conditions. It will get worked out in due course. So far about $49 million has been spent on the project and from what I’m told it is believed it will cost around $69 million to finish. The language in the tax incentives from the city – primarily Sales Tax and Hotel Occupancy Tax which are in the neighborhood of $122 million and which are a crucial part of the park’s business model – requires that the exterior of the building and the park be “done” by next March. In that vein you may have noticed work has resumed on the rides at the south end of the park and also on the exterior of the building. More workers have been added of late and more, l’m told, will be added after the first of the year. So far the City of Corpus Christi has declined to release about $3 million money from the Type A Board requiring that the building’s exterior be finished first even though that was originally part of Phase ll of the project, to avoid a political backlash for releasing public money for a project with an unfinished building. It’s a glitch not a deal killer and it too will be resolved in due course.
I am in communication with the people involved in the project and they assure me they will inform me when the current questions are resolved. I would point out that this is a privately- funded project – with no public money in it yet – and the developers are not required to release anything to the public even when it is. That has been part of my reluctance to write about the mid-course adjustments going on now. But as we all know the Coconut Telegraph on The Island is quick to report and is almost always wrong. So in the absence of good information bad information has filled the vacuum. Rest assured that if the project ever looks like it is in trouble I will be the first to say so; it is not. I know that the folks who read the legal filings have found a lawsuit from a contractor who claims he is owed about $660,000. There is a dispute there but it has nothing to do with the park’s developers not being able to pay. It too will be resolved in course. Which leads to the final rumor making the rounds — that the building has been condemned and must be tom down. I have to admit that one is pretty creative. Stupid yes. but creative. I have been inside the building many times and can tell you that when people see it they will be impressed. It is finished throughout with wood taken from the trees that burned in the fire in Bastrop a few years ago and it is a beautiful building. If they start tearing it down l‘ll let you know.
Everybody take a deep breath
So just let me say this. Everybody just take a deep breath. Don’t believe any crazy rumors. I can’t tell you exactly when the last bit of work will be finished there; projects this big take a while to get completely done and are complex by nature, some bumps in the road are to be expected. ‘There is still a lot of concrete to he poured but there is time and money to do it and it will get done. Expect the park to be open by Spring Break 2015 and for some work to continue on through the summer season while the park is open. The people behind this project know what they are doing and it will get done.
One ugly fence
Now, as for that fence along the Aquarius Extension: I have to agree with you that is one ugly fence. But I would just point out that the same people who are calling to complain about the ugly fence are the same ones who called to complain about the “junkyard” they saw before the fence went up. You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. This too will be fixed in due course. If having to look at an ugly fence is the worst thing that happens to you today you should thank your lucky stars. Once the park opens all of this will he forgotten.
