Wallace-Bajjali to build $14.3 million garage at city of Amarillo's expense

Not that anything like that is going to happen in Joplin, of course, but in the other city in which Joplin's master developer, Wallace-Bajjali Development Partners, is wheeling and dealing, it looks as if the city is going to be left owning all of the properties and may have to ask residents for a tax increase at a later date.

The plans for the latest version of Wallace-Bajjali's Amarillo development, which, for some reason, no longer has much to do with Wallace-Bajjali were presented Thursday night at a public meeting and some of what has been promised might seem familiar to Joplin residents.

City officials claim the project will "reinvigorate downtown Amarillo, increase city sales tax revenue, and spur private development."

Just like in Joplin a lot of it seems to be going through the government and not much through private development.

Brochures summarizing the project and copies of proposed contracts with Irving hotel developer NewcrestImage and Sugar Land developer Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, the firm building the parking garage, were available at the meeting.

NewcrestImage will pay $45 million to build an Embassy Suites hotel while the city will use debt financing for Wallace Bajjali to build the garage for about $14.3 million.

Contracts for the $32.2 million stadium are not yet finalized.

The city will own all of the buildings and lease them to developer/
operators.

Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole, asked if residents would have a chance to vote on some of the more outrageous parts of the project, including public-private partnerships on a ballpark, the hotel, and Wallace-Bajjali's garage said they already had when they elected the city council.

The project, the mayor said, may include