(San Benito News/Ray Quiroga)
By RAY QUIROGA
publisher@sbnewspaper.com
In yet another chapter in the ongoing dispute involving the embattled Resaca Village retail center off of Business 77, near Sam Houston Blvd., in San Benito, officials representing the San Benito Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and City of San Benito held a press conference on Thursday, March 27 to discuss their concerns regarding a lien placed on the property.
The lien was placed on the nine acre, resaca-front development by the City’s depository bank, Texas Regional Bank (TRB), founded and headquartered in the Rio Grande Valley in 2010, accusing the EDC/City on defaulting of on a $3.4M lien on the property; but during Thursday’s press conference, City officials insisted that the lien did not go through the proper bureaucratic channels as per the City/EDC’s agreement with the bank, thus calling the lien’s legitimacy into question.
The press conference was led by San Benito EDC attorney Michael Pruneda, who was flanked by San Benito City Manager Fred Sandoval, San Benito Mayor Ricardo “Rick” Guerra, and City/EDC staff. During the press conference, Pruneda announced that the San Benito EDC has officially initiated legal action against TRB to protect public funds, assets, and, “the well-being of the San Benito community.”
In a prior statement, Guerra remarked that, “Witnessing an unfinished Resaca Village, for years, was not what was bargained for. It was our obligation to put each of you (the citizens) first and place our faith in the judicial system.”
He added, “We recently learned that our City’s depository bank, Texas Regional Bank, recorded a lien of over $3.4 million on our Resaca Village property. Neither our City commission nor the board of directors of our Economic Development Corporation voted for this. We have filed a lawsuit to protect our City.”
During the press conference, Pruneda reinterred Guerra’s statement, further explaining that the lien was not approved by the San Benito EDC’s Board of Directors, nor the San Benito City Commission as mandated by the entities’ binding agreement with the bank.
Officials also presented two visual aids, one featuring the timeline of EDC board meetings where no indication of the approval was found, and other featuring an up-close signature of former EDC Executive Director Ramiro Aleman reportedly as the signee on the bank’s lien, according to Pruneda.
Furthermore, the total amount of two liens (the first going through the authorized and documented channels) tallied approximately $6M, yet the most recent tax filing for Resaca Village by its development company, VARCO, indicated its valuation at just over $2M.
Officials at the press conference went on to add that a thorough investigation is underway, which may result in civil and/or criminal charges. Pruneda said that the investigation involves locating and interviewing former EDC board members who sat on the governing body at the time of these events and interviewing past EDC employees.
The underlying issue stems from the City’s ongoing legal entanglement with VARCO, which, in 2018, the EDC contracted to construct and manage the Resaca Village retail center.
The project’s progress slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and VARCO requested an extension of the project’s deadline. In a prior interview, Guerra said VARCO, hoping for a second extension, last spring, sent a representative to speak with him and the city manager. They agreed to discuss the project with VARCO, but the City wanted to renegotiate the contract because the original one had expired.
Shortly after, Guerra received a call from a reporter about VARCO suing the EDC. “By the time I got back to the City, I got a call from another newspaper… and that’s how we found out (about the suit),” Guerra previously explained.
Guerra claims VARCO never “came to the table” to discuss the matter properly before suing. Three years before Guerra’s run as Mayor, the EDC entered its contract with VARCO to construct the Resaca Village shopping plaza. Now, some seven years later, the project is still unfinished, and the EDC wants to take it into its own hands. VARCO sued the EDC to maintain control of the development, and the EDC countersued for nonperformance.
According to the bank’s website, in September 2021, the first TRB was opened in Houston in the Memorial City area. In July 2022, the bank expanded into the Dallas- Fort Worth market with the acquisition of AccessBank Texas. This expansion gave TRB banking centers in north east Dallas, Downtown Fort Worth, Denton, Krum and an ITM (interactive teller machine) in Ponder.
According to its website, as of December 31, 2022, TRB recorded assets of approximately $2.63B with banking centers across the Rio Grande Valley, Texas Hill Country, Houston, and DFW Metroplex.
“Without a doubt, the influence of its broad shareholder base and team of well-known and seasoned bankers has made Texas Regional the ‘Bank of Choice’ in the Texas markets,” reads the website.
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