Just spoke with Hunter Goodwin. I am going to forget a lot of details. And for sure my paraphrasing is going to mislead from what he intended to say. So if anything I say makes you think "oh, Brian Alg said that Hunter Goodwin said "XYZ" so Hunter Goodwin is bad," please recognize that there is a really good chance I accidently misled you. He was super nice, was open to my questions, etc. even though he's a busy guy (especially today I imagine) and I am just some guy who called him from the internet.
But the big thing that I learned was that there was kind of a two option RFP. One option was to purchase the 1.00 acre in red below. The other was to purchase the whole 1.57 which includes the L shaped section off to the right in blue.
He said that he was told the city strongly favored leaving the 0.57 off to the right as park, open space, etc. The idea was that if it were not left as greenspace and whatnot that people would scream bloody murder and the bid would not be accepted for political reasons. Also, there was an indication that the city strongly favored minimizing the student housing aspect in favor of retail and mixed-use stuff, because if this was seen as just another student residential high rise people would scream bloody murder and the bid would not be accepted for political reasons.
He indicated that had he known the city was willing to bite the bullet and be willing to take a bid that builds on the full 1.57 acres, that's what he'd have put in his bid. And that's the big disconnect between OG's expectations and the outcome. I am sure I am leaving some things out but I wanted to relay what I could.
But the big thing that I learned was that there was kind of a two option RFP. One option was to purchase the 1.00 acre in red below. The other was to purchase the whole 1.57 which includes the L shaped section off to the right in blue.
He said that he was told the city strongly favored leaving the 0.57 off to the right as park, open space, etc. The idea was that if it were not left as greenspace and whatnot that people would scream bloody murder and the bid would not be accepted for political reasons. Also, there was an indication that the city strongly favored minimizing the student housing aspect in favor of retail and mixed-use stuff, because if this was seen as just another student residential high rise people would scream bloody murder and the bid would not be accepted for political reasons.
He indicated that had he known the city was willing to bite the bullet and be willing to take a bid that builds on the full 1.57 acres, that's what he'd have put in his bid. And that's the big disconnect between OG's expectations and the outcome. I am sure I am leaving some things out but I wanted to relay what I could.
Brian Alg
Brazos Coalition for Responsible Government and Moderator Restraint
Brazos Coalition for Responsible Government and Moderator Restraint
