(May 14, 2008)

ROBSTOWN-- City leaders in Robstown are now said to be willing to offer a package of tax incentives to the developers of a planned Outlet Mall near the Regional Fairgrounds.

Today, the county gave the developer a thirty day extension to see if the mall can be built. While the economy is slow right now, leaders from both Robstown and Nueces County said the negotiations are getting close to final deal.

This land is the location of the proposed Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay. For the second time, Dolphin Ventures, the developer, asked Nueces County for a one month extension to finish the feasibility study.

"We feel confident the deal is still a good deal," said Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal. "We're being reassured by our consultant as well as by the developer things are going well and on track."

In Robstown, city council leaders met in executive session for nearly two hours. They're working on a tax incentive package for two phases of the outlet mall.

The first would be for a $60 million 315,000 square foot facility with 75 stores and would bring a thousand jobs to the area. While the second phase will be about 300,000 square feet with the number of stores and jobs still up in the air.

"This is a pretty large project and we want to make sure the developers and the cities, if there are any incentives offered that the right package, is put together to benefit both sides," said Robstown Mayor Rodrigo Ramon. 

The mayor wouldn't reveal what kind of tax breaks are being offered to Dolphin Ventures, but would only say they're negotiating about infrastructure needs, including utilities.

"They're involved going back and forth with the attorneys and bond councils and financing and long term so it's a pretty big process," Mayor Ramon said. 

A big process for a small town that has never given out a tax incentive package, like this. They're just hoping to get this deal done soon.

--Manuel De La Rosa, Area 3 News, mdelarosa@kiiitv.com