A new era for public transit in Brownsville begins Saturday, when the city’s fixed Route 30 bus will be replaced by an on-demand ride-share pilot in partnership with Uber.
Beginning Friday, riders in the Route 30 service area, which spans the city’s southeast, can request an UberX or UberXL trip through the Uber app — or by phone — to travel anywhere within the designated zone.
Trips that start and end inside the service boundary will be free of charge, paid for jointly by the city of Brownsville and Cameron County.
Inside a Brownsville Metro bus. Courtesy of | Brownsville Metro
“This partnership represents a new chapter in how we think about public transportation,” said Gennie Garcia, director of Brownsville Metro. “By combining innovation with accessibility, we’re expanding mobility options for our community and making it easier for residents to get where they need to go.”
The pilot, officially branded BMetro Route 30 Rider Share, is part of the city’s broader effort to modernize transit service and evaluate cost-efficient alternatives to underused bus routes.
Officials said the final day for the traditional Route 30 bus will be Friday.
How the program works
Riders can download a monthly BMetro Route 30 voucher by clicking the link provided on the city’s website or by searching “Brownsville” under the Vouchers section of the Uber Wallet. The voucher applies automatically at checkout for eligible rides.
Service hours mirror BMetro’s existing schedule: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Sundays. Riders must be 13 or older, with parental consent required for minors using Uber Teen.
Those without smartphones can call (833) USE-UBER / 873-8237 to request a ride.
Accessibility features
City officials emphasized that accessibility was built into the program design.
UberX supports screen-reader tools like TalkBack and VoiceOver for riders who are blind or have low vision, and all drivers must accept service animals.
Riders are encouraged to report any denials through the Uber app or at help.uber.com/riders.
More details, including a service-area map and QR code for voucher access, are available on the city’s Route 30 Southeast webpage.
A fenced walkway for pedestrians lines the B&M Bridge. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
Cameron County already owns shares of three international bridges connecting Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico, but it’s on track to own four after a deal with railroad giant Union Pacific closes. And in the coming years, it could own five different bridges.
To finance the deal, Cameron County commissioners approved $33 million in revenue bonds in October to fund their equity stake in the Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge – otherwise known as the B&M Express Bridge. The 50% ownership will cost $31 million, while an additional $2 million will go toward renovations. The funds will be repaid over 30 years, and financing is expected to close by the end of December, pending any issues.
County weighs options for bridge
The B&M Express Bridge comprises two structures: a single railroad track built in 1909 and reconstructed in 1953, plus four vehicular lanes – two in each direction.
Pedestrians walking into Mexico use the historic railroad bridge, while those heading into Brownsville on foot use the vehicular bridge, which features a dedicated sidewalk.
News interview with Cameron County, Texas administrator Pete Sepulveda about why the municipality is borrowing $33M to buy the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge. Stay tuned to @RGVBizJournal for more. This is what the bridge traffic was like heading into Mexico on a Friday night. #brownsvilletx#brownsville#RGV#Mexico#matamoros
Cameron County officials told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal that the railroad track could be repurposed for pedestrian use, revamped as an additional vehicular lane, or leveraged to create a new trolley system connecting visitors, commuters, and residents alike between Brownsville and Matamoros.
“I think that having the B&M Bridge under the control of the county will allow us to have a much better flow of traffic in and around the downtown area,” said Pete Sepulveda, Cameron County administrator and Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority executive director.
For example, on a recent Friday evening, the line of passenger vehicles waiting to cross the B&M Bridge into Matamoros stretched for at least half a mile, with cars honking and pedestrians crossing to return to Mexico without a dedicated crosswalk.
“It will allow us to be able to work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and better utilize their resources, enhance wait times at the different bridges, and perhaps come up with different crossing options for pedestrians and passenger vehicles,” Sepulveda said. “I think long-term it’s huge for the county. If we can expedite the pedestrian traffic to where they can be pre-cleared by CBP and make their crossing a lot faster, a lot safer, then I think that’s the type of service the community deserves.”
“It’s a steel bridge, so it’s structurally sound, and we can utilize that as a passenger lane for vehicles, for a trolley to come between Matamoros and Brownsville, or pedestrian or bicycle. We’re going to have to give it some thought,” he said.
Bridge system revenue climbs
In 1969, the Gateway International Bridge, which connects downtown Brownsville to Matamoros, was built. For decades, it was used by pedestrians, passenger vehicles, and commercial trucks until trucks were diverted in the late 1990s. It’s 100% owned by Cameron County.
In 1992, the Free Trade Bridge, also known as the Los Indios-Lucio Blanco Bridge, was built for $31.6 million. It has a total of four lanes for both passenger vehicles and commercial traffic. Cameron County owns 50%, while the cities of Harlingen and San Benito each own 25% of the Free Trade Bridge.
A pedestrian walks from Brownsville to Matamoros along the B&M Bridge. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
As a result, both the B&M Express Bridge and the Gateway International Bridge stopped accepting commercial traffic.
“If y’all recall, prior to 1999, the commercial traffic would stack up all the way past Four Corners [neighborhood],” Sepulveda told Cameron County commissioners during a recent meeting.
He then showed bridge traffic over two decades with downturns during Mexican peso devaluations and the COVID-19 pandemic, but in recent years, bridge traffic has been on an upward trend. While Brownsville has several bridges, U.S. Customs and Border Protection lumps all of the bridges’ border crossing data under a single port of entry.
In July 2025 alone, those bridges accommodated 225,330 pedestrians, 753,445 passenger vehicles, 25,000 trucks, more than 350 buses, and 84 trains.
Pedestrians pass through the pay gate at the B&M Bridge. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
“Hopefully long-term we’re able to increase the total revenues and maybe we will couple that with a decrease in the [Cameron County] property tax rate,” Sepulveda told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal.
The Cameron County International Toll Bridge System generated $22.7 million in operating revenue in 2023, most of it from tolls. That’s about $3.2 million more than the previous year, when the system earned $19.5 million.
Operating costs also rose slightly, from $5.5 million in 2022 to $5.8 million in 2023. After expenses, the bridges generated $16.8 million in operating income, up from $13.9 million the year before.
The system still has about $11.4 million in outstanding debt, which it pays down at a rate of roughly $1.1 million a year.
Other bridge projects in the works
Beyond record crossings and revenue gains, Cameron County’s bridge system is also in the midst of significant expansion, backed by new federal contracts and presidential approvals.
In December 2024, the Biden-Harris administration awarded a $264 million contract to modernize the Gateway International Bridge. At the time, the bridge saw a monthly average of 92,000 passenger vehicles and 89,000 pedestrians. Improvements include expanding processing lanes, building new inspection facilities and upgrading infrastructure. Construction on those improvements is expected to begin in 2026.
In August, President Donald J. Trump approved a $10 million presidential permit for a new pedestrian-only walkway at the Gateway International Bridge, designed to run alongside the current bridge.
For the past five decades, only one bridge has connected South Padre Island to the rest of the Rio Grande Valley’s mainland, with three main roadways leading traffic to the island: Farm-to-Market Road 510, State Highway 100, and State Highway 48.
Traffic slows on the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
Cameron County officials lauded the plan for its impact on emergency evacuation, its ability to ease traffic congestion, and its potential to spur economic development on the north side of the island.
“It will allow the island to continue to grow and develop that northern part of the island,” said Pete Sepulveda, Cameron County administrator and executive director of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority. “I’m convinced that it is a high priority for the state of Texas.”
A 2012 federal environmental study found that capturing runoff before it enters the bay could reduce pollution, protect seagrass and tidal flats that shelter endangered species, and help preserve the ocelot habitat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump Administration must sign off on the project.
Comments are open through Nov. 21.
The Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway partially collapsed in 2001. Courtesy of | U.S. Coast Guard | Robert Wyman
There’s a virtual open house on Nov. 5 and an in-person meeting on Nov. 6 at the South Padre Island Convention Center starting at 5 p.m.
The Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway was constructed in 1974. It carries motor vehicle traffic to and from the island, and when it’s shuttered to vehicular traffic for special events, it also serves as a bridge for runners and cyclists.
The project is now moving forward because, in 2023, the Texas Transportation Commission designated the future bridge as SH 104, adding it to the state’s highway system. That means TxDOT’s budget, from both state and federal sources, would cover the cost of the bridge.
It was previously under the purview of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority as a toll road. That plan was paused in 2017 when the Texas legislature moved away from new toll road projects statewide.
Pete Sepulveda
“TxDOT is working on a connecting road that will eventually connect the city of Edinburg to South Padre Island,” Sepulveda said. “So that is key to the future of the Rio Grande Valley, being able to have proper transportation infrastructure in place.”
The big goal is to bring interstate connectivity to the Valley, such as I-69, which is under construction, but it’s happening piece by piece. The future SH 104 would run east from South Padre Island to SH 77 in Cameron County and Hidalgo County’s interconnection with SH 281.
“It’s not just a second causeway to South Padre Island because it’s got components heading west towards Hidalgo County,” he said.
Sepulveda mentioned that the goal is for Cameron County to connect to Interstate I-37 near Corpus Christi, and said TxDOT is moving forward on three segments of SH 77 near King Ranch to bring the roadway up to interstate standards.
“I think in the next five years or so we will have a seamless Interstate corridor that we’ve been working on for decades here in the Rio Grande Valley,” he said.
Cameron County officials released new figures on Wednesday showing that SpaceX’s growing presence at Starbase is expected to generate more than $13 billion in gross economic output and support about 24,000 local jobs through 2026.
Starbase, Texas, where Elon Musk is building his rocket-launching test facilities. Courtesy of | Jenny Hautmann
The updated Starbase Local Impact Report, prepared by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and shared by Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., also credits SpaceX with more than $305 million in indirect tax revenue and $147 million in local supply-chain spending tied to its operations at Boca Chica Beach.
“I thank SpaceX for choosing Cameron County as the home of Starship development and, more recently, moving their corporate headquarters to Starbase,” Treviño said in a written statement. “Their commitment to our region has transformed our local economy, from high-skill job creation to critical infrastructure improvements.”
According to the report, more than 350 local suppliers are now part of SpaceX’s vendor network.
The Starbase residential community. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
County officials said the company’s continued expansion has boosted area schools, workforce training programs, and high-wage manufacturing jobs tied to rocket production and launches.
Cameron County — one of only two Texas counties with all six major modes of transportation (seaport, airport, highway, rail, pipeline and space) — has positioned itself as a logistics and research hub for aerospace and related industries. Harris County is the other.
“As SpaceX expands their production capabilities, bringing high-paying manufacturing and engineering jobs directly to Starbase, we will continue to see a new age of growth for all of South Texas,” Treviño said. “We look forward to a continued partnership working with SpaceX to grow our local economy … while restoring dunes and enhancing public access to our cherished coastline at Boca Chica.”
County leaders said the next phase of collaboration will focus on streamlining permitting, expanding public-private partnerships, and strengthening workforce initiatives to prepare residents for aerospace, engineering, and advanced-manufacturing careers.
STARBASE — The newest city in the Rio Grande Valley is growing at rocket speed.
Since its incorporation in May, Starbase has issued nearly 150 building permits and drawn an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in construction — from new housing and community buildings to large-scale SpaceX facilities that are reshaping the once-remote stretch of Boca Chica Highway.
Starbase has only been a city for about five months, but its inspectors have already been busy processing hundreds of building permits, records obtained by the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal show.
Located along a lonely stretch of Boca Chica Highway leading to the Gulf, the city serves as the epicenter of Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. Since incorporating this spring, the company town has seen a burst of residential and commercial activity as it transitions from a private enclave into a functioning municipality.
According to data compiled by the city’s subcontractor, SafeBuilt, more than 130 residential permits have been issued over the past four months, and 587 residential inspections have been completed — with a pass rate of nearly 83%.
Kent Myers
“The city has just been incorporated since May, so we have seen quite a bit of residential and commercial development here,” Kent Myers, Starbase city administrator, said, in a recent interview.
During the same time frame, the city also issued 16 commercial permits and 39 commercial building inspections with a passing rate of 89%.
Most residential permits were issued in June, the data shows. Six out of 16 commercial permits were issued in September.
Details about the city’s commercial building permit applicants and projects were not immediately available online nor in person at the most recent city commission meeting, just the aggregate figures.
Starbase residents just recently won a petition for the U.S. Postal Service to add the city to its mail system, rather than Brownsville, but the city has yet to obtain a new zip code.
“I think that speaks positively to the community and our growth and expansion. We’re adding jobs, and people that work here need places to live, and so I think that’s why you’re seeing that increase,” Myers said.
On the streets of Starbase
Bicyclists inside the gated Starbase residential community. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
Starbase residents lease dozens of tiny homes inside the city, which has grown beyond 500 people, public records show.
On Wednesday, residents rode bicycles and walked to a Starmart retail store along brand-new sidewalks, even as utility work continued nearby.
The activity unfolded behind electric gates, erected for what the city describes as a public safety measure.
State records show several commercial construction projects have been launched inside city limits, but it was not immediately clear whether all those projects have been inspected yet.
A city under construction
Development inside Starbase has accelerated rapidly since the city’s incorporation, with a wave of construction projects ranging from infrastructure and housing to education and manufacturing.
The RioWest mixed-use development under construction since 2024. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
State records and permit filings show SpaceX leading much of the activity, investing tens of millions of dollars in new facilities, support buildings, and employee housing designed to expand the company’s growing footprint along Boca Chica Highway.
In 2024, SpaceX built a six-story parking garage for $21 million along Boca Chica Highway inside what is now Starbase. In January 2025, the company filed paperwork for a $1 million “interior” power plant at SpaceX.
In February, SpaceX filed a $189,000 construction permit for a small medical clinic inside the manufacturing site.
In March, another parking garage and multifamily project worth $2 million — known as Grace Lot Multifamily — was filed for construction in Starbase, state records show.
Public records also show there are dozens of children living in Starbase.
In April, a $20 million school for children, known as Ad Astra Phase I, was filed to serve students from infancy to 12th grade.
In May, the city spanned about 927 acres, mostly along Boca Chica Highway from the beach to the outskirts of Brownsville. Large portions of unincorporated land remain in between, including Cameron County tracts, Texas Parks and Wildlife property, and even federal lands.
In June 2025, state records show a $22 million community building filed for new construction in Starbase.
In September, state records listed construction permits for a $2 million restaurant known as Chompy’s.
The Rio West development will feature a roof deck that overlooks the Rio Grande. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
A mixed-use development known as Rio West has been under construction since March 2024. The $8.9 million project, located several miles from SpaceX’s manufacturing site and the core of Starbase, will feature a grocery store, retail shops, a café, and employee parking. Inside Rio West, a separate $6 million restaurant will include an outdoor deck overlooking the Rio Grande River.
While there are quite a few hospitality amenities built or under construction inside the city, including a sushi restaurant and recreation center, there is no indication that those properties are open to the public. Nearly all are owned by SpaceX and they are heavily plastered with private property signage, armed guards, and security dogs.
In recent months, SpaceX posted a job announcement for a general manager of a hotel that would cater to its employees and guests — a position that didn’t appear to suggest the hotel would be open to the public.
Gross retail sales across the Rio Grande Valley increased by 5.6%, or nearly $325 million, in the first six months of 2025 when compared to the same time frame last year, according to the latest data from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts released on Thursday.
Retail activity is a key economic indicator because many communities rely on slices of local sales tax allocations to keep local government and its services afloat.
Despite higher gross sales, the Rio Grande Valley lost more than 1,900 retail outlets over the year during the second quarter, which ended June 30.
The Valley’s four-county region — Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr, and Willacy — did show moderate growth in gross retail sales compared to their 250 counterparts statewide, data shows.
It was not immediately clear whether the existing retail outlets sold more merchandise or if inflation, the increased price of goods, contributed to the higher gross retail sales data.
Hidalgo County alone lost about 1,000 retail outlets, but reported higher gross sales. It ended the second quarter with 7,107 establishments and $3.8 billion in sales, up from $3.5 billion in 2024.
Cameron County lost 697 retailers over the year as of June 30, but its gross retail sales still increased from $1.61 billion to $1.68 billion.
Willacy County lost 36 establishments, dropping from 168 to 132, but it also grew in terms of gross sales from $29.3 million to $29.6 million.
Starr County lost 86 retailers, dipping from 549 to 463 outlets, but it also grew gross sales from $166 million to $176 million.
Signage for a Brownsville retail center. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
About 30 counties across Texas — most of which had fewer than 1,000 retail establishments — saw double-digit retail sales growth for the year ending June 30.
Guadalupe County is among the larger counties with significant retail sales growth. There was a 23% increase over the year, with 2,300 retailers. Brazoria County experienced a 10% increase in retail sales across 4,300 retailers. However, both of these counties also lost retail outlets, about 300 and 500, respectively.
More than 100 Texas counties experienced a decline in retail sales growth and the number of retail outlets when comparing the second quarter of 2024 to 2025.
Notably, Nueces County had a 0.40% decline in gross retail sales to $1.77 billion, while it also lost 471 retail outlets.
El Paso was among the hardest hit Texas-Mexico border communities.
Its retail sales dropped 4.3% over the year from $3.8 billion to $3.6 billion, and saw a loss of 780 retail outlets for a total of 6,393 as of June 2025.
For a breakdown of the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area, check out this chart. And for the Brownsville-Harlingen metro here, see this chart.
City of Starbase officials delayed a vote to approve a municipal annexation plan and expansion of its extraterritorial jurisdiction that would have added more than 1,200 acres to the city’s boundaries on Wednesday night.
Starbase City Council members deliberate Wednesday. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
The agenda item was tabled until their next regularly scheduled meeting on Nov. 19.
“The annexation was part of the Rockhands mitigation area, so we want to annex it into the city limits so we can implement the wetlands preservation,” said Kent Myers, Starbase city administrator. “It was tabled until the November meeting to gather additional information.”
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was listed as the owner of the swath of land just north of the city boundaries, according to the agenda, but not on Cameron County deed records as of Oct. 14.
Residents attend the Starbase City Council meeting. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
The city of Starbase did approve a resolution to create a volunteer advisory committee known as the natural resources committee tasked to oversee restoration of wetlands, beach dunes, and more.
The five-member committee would be comprised of self-described subject matter experts who are residents of Starbase interested in environmental conservation efforts for two-year terms.
The committee is expected to advise the city on best practices for its planned Rockhands wetland mitigation area.
The city of Starbase — a municipality formed around SpaceX’s rocket launch site at Boca Chica Beach — is preparing to expand again.
Officials are expected to vote Wednesday on annexing 1,256 acres of nearby land, a move that would expand the city’s footprint and extend its reach further into Cameron County’s coastal area, public records show.
Blue area shows proposed 1,200-acre annexation. Courtesy | City of Starbase
Starbase plans to host a public hearing to expand its extraterritorial jurisdiction and then vote to annex the land into city limits. The city’s ETJ must be expanded to encompass the new city boundaries, according to Starbase’s agenda packet posted about 7 p.m. Tuesday. The agenda itself was posted last week, and the packet was added after an inquiry by the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal.
In late August, the U.S. Corps of Engineers issued a public notice to create the Rockhands Preservation Bank, a proposed environmental preservation project aimed at offsetting the expansion of the Starbase launch area. The launch site, in the dunes of Boca Chica Beach, is slated for a 21-acre expansion, which would affect 5.8 acres of wetland and 9.6 acres of tidal flats.
The largest expanse of land proposed for annexation, spanning 1,212 acres, is divided between two tracts, which deed records show are owned by Lower Texas Coastal Mitigation LLC. The company has offices in the Houston area, including Crosby and Humble.
Lower Texas Coastal Mitigation is controlled by Rampart Properties LLC, which is co-owned by James H. Carpenter and James J. Janke, Texas incorporation records show.
In the early 2000s, Rampart Capital Corporation was a publicly traded company controlled by Carpenter and Charles W. Janke, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission records show.
The two other land parcels under consideration for annexation are 21 acres and 22 acres, respectively, inside the Rio Grande Beach subdivision.
However, the city of Starbase describes the landowner of the parcels to be annexed as SpaceX in its agenda packet.
Starbase is expected to provide city services to the 1,200-acre annexation for 10 years, according to its municipal services agreement.
Annexations accelerate as city boundaries shift
The city has been frequently annexing more land into its city boundaries over the past few months, according to its public records. In May, Starbase was 927 acres inside Cameron County. Although it was unclear exactly how many acres the city encompasses as of mid-October, due to the flurry of map changes resulting from annexation.
Starbase did not respond to an interview request for this news story.
Most of the residential homes were tiny homes leased by individuals, records show.
The city of Starbase is expected to grow by annexation again in October 2025. Courtesy | City of Starbase
Property values and ties to SpaceX
In July, Cameron County estimated that the market value of all real property inside the city of Starbase was $371 million. When business personal property was included, the total appraised value was $790 million. About $10.4 million of which is exempt through tax abatement, records show.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and its subsidiary, including DogLeg Park LLC, own nearly 500 parcels of land in Cameron County with an appraised value of $364,042,188, appraisal district records showed on Tuesday.
That’s only real property; it doesn’t include personal property, which is the value of the objects inside a building, such as computers or manufacturing materials in warehouses.
The largest real property account, described as the buildings and improvements associated with Starbase, is appraised at $334,500,060 alone.
The city of Starbase is likely to approve the annexation measure as city leaders and elected officials have close ties to SpaceX, records show.
San Francisco-area investors are betting on SpaceX’s draw for rocket launch site visitors, workers, and subcontractors with plans to build a $14 million Marriott along Boca Chica Highway in Brownsville, Texas, Department of Licensing and Regulation records show.
Crowds wait for a SpaceX rocket launch in August 2025. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
The 125-room hotel is slated to be built near the intersection of South Padre Island Highway and Boca Chica Boulevard. This road leads to Elon Musk’s rocket-launching compound and the growing city of Starbase, Texas.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket launches have drawn more than 11,000 people to South Texas during each test flight, Cameron County officials said.
The new Courtyard Marriott hotel would span 75,914 square feet and sit about 3 miles away from the Brownsville International Airport. Construction of the four-story hotel is scheduled to begin in November and be completed by January 2027.
People behind the new hotel
Boca Chica Builders LLC owns about 10 acres of land across two plots along Boca Chica Boulevard, next to the Posada De Las Palmas apartment complex, Cameron County Appraisal District, and deed records from 2022 and 2023 show.
SpaceX headquarters in the new city of Starbase. Photo Credit | Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza
Boca Chica Builders is owned by Walnut Creek, a California-based Hall Equities Group run by Mark Hall, a San Francisco-area serial entrepreneur. The California company is a self-described group of private investors that builds and manages real estate developments nationwide.
ZMC Hotels shares an address and employees with Hall Equities Group. Rick Henderson is both the director of construction management for hospitality assets at Hall Equities Group and senior vice president of design and construction at ZMC Hotels. The hotel group has at least 55 hotel properties in its portfolio across 18 states nationwide, with brands like Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Best Western, Choice, and Wyndham.
A representative of Boca Chica Builders was not available for comment.
A growing hotel cluster in Brownsville
Boca Chica Builders is also working on a $13.5 million Hyatt Studios next door to the Marriott, a 4-story tall, 120-room hotel spanning 61,125 square feet, Texas Department of Licensing and Inspection records show. Construction of the Hyatt Studios will begin Oct. 20 and wrap up in December 2026.
The land for one of the hotels was purchased from Boca Chica Land LLC, operated by Brett Barnett, Donovan Dekowski, and Jessie Rodriguez in Victoria, Texas. They also run Regency Integrated Health Services LLC, a nursing home. The other plot was owned by Sylvia Holzman, records show.
In 2023, Hall Equities Group announced that it had approval to build self-storage on the property where the hotels are slated to be built. That self-storage project was estimated to open by the end of 2025. It was immediately not clear whether plans had changed regarding the self-storage project. As of Thursday, there were no state construction records available for that plan.
Mystery plans for a hotel next to SpaceX
In 2023, the investor group also boasted that it had acquired a 38,000 square foot lot surrounded by the SpaceX manufacturing facility and announced plans for a “hotel and high-density housing for Starbase employees and visitors.”
But there are no records that would indicate there is a hotel on that lot, either.
Instead, there is a commercial lot next to SpaceX’s Gigabay and Megabay owned by Lacey Town Center LLC, which shares the same address as Hall Equities Group and ZMC Hotels.
Lacey Town Center bought the land next to SpaceX from Sandra Powers and Herman Otis Powers, a small business owner who runs a financial services company, and his spouse, who works for the Brownsville Independent School District. The sale price was not disclosed in deed records.
Cameron County intends to purchase Union Pacific Railroad’s ownership stake in the Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge Company, bringing the century-old crossing under county control to expand oversight of cross-border trade and travel.
The deal, announced Wednesday, is expected to close in late 2025 or early 2026 and will fold the B&M Bridge into the county’s International Bridge System, which already manages the Gateway, Free Trade, and Veterans bridges. Together, those crossings supported more than 5.6 million travelers and over $20 billion in trade in 2024.
While Cameron County officials have yet to disclose the price tag, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. said the acquisition is more than a historic milestone, noting negotiations began about two years ago.
“Securing the Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge Company is a transformative moment for Cameron County,” Treviño said in a news release Wednesday. “We’re preserving a vital piece of binational infrastructure and deepening our partnership with Mexico to support bi-national transportation, commerce, tourism, and cultural exchange.”
The B&M Bridge opened in 1910 and has been expanded twice, in 1953 and 1992. In 1997, a four-lane toll bridge was added alongside the original span.
County Administrator Pete Sepulveda Jr. said the experience of running three international crossings positions Cameron County to modernize and streamline the B&M.
“Our goal is to streamline the operation of the B&M Bridge just as we have our other bridges,” Sepulveda said. “Over the last five years, we have invested in our bridge crossings to make them among the safest and most technologically advanced international bridges from Brownsville to San Diego, California.”
The acquisition comes as Cameron County pursues major infrastructure upgrades. A $260 million modernization of the Gateway International Bridge is scheduled to begin in 2026, and the Veterans International Bridge completed an expansion in 2024 that increased its passenger-vehicle inspection capacity.
The county has also secured presidential permits for two new crossings: the Flor de Mayo International Bridge upstream of the B&M and a pedestrian span next to the Gateway.
Commissioners are set to consider the stock purchase agreement with Union Pacific at their Oct. 7 meeting.
