The Odessa city council unanimously voted Tuesday night to enter an agreement with Sina Realty that will result in two downtown restaurants and a rooftop bar.
Under the terms of the agreement, the city will deed property at Fifth Street and Grant Avenue to Sina Realty. In exchange, Sina Realty will be required to make a $2.5 million investment into the lot, construct two restaurants within 30 months and once in operation, add 25 new jobs to the existing 20 full-time positions they currently have.
Fernando Rodriguez with Sina Realty said the existing El Sinaloense Mariscos & Bar will be located in a 150,000 square foot space on the lot, but there will also be a 3,400-square-foot restaurant with a patio and a 2,100-square-foot rooftop bar.
JCPenney once sat on the lot, but remained vacant for 15 years, said Casey Hallmark, executive director of Downtown Odessa. The building was hit by a car, boarded up and was quite unsightly, she said.
The city bought the property for just under $335,000 in 2016 and spent $178,000 demolishing the building, Hallmark said.
The council also unanimously agreed to start selling water to the Greater Gardendale Supply Corporation.
Odessa City Manager Michael Marrero said the company approached the city of Odessa a few years ago about the possibility of entering the same sort of agreement the city has with the Ector County Utility District for wholesale water.
Under the terms of the agreement, the city will sell the company water at $4.01 for every 1,000 gallons, Marrero said.
The company, which will continue using several wells for their primary source of water, projects it’s average daily demand to be .095 million gallons of water a day, Marrero said.
What they’re receiving represents less than 1% of the city’s typical daily usage, Marrero said.
The company will be responsible for any infrastructure costs, Marrero said.
The initial contract will be for 30 years, but they can potentially extend it twice for 10 years each time, he said.
Jim Wise, president of the corporation, thanked the council for its vote, saying, “I can’t tell you how much this means for the residents of Gardendale.”
He said the corporation will self-fund a portion of the $4 million project, but expects that money will be reimbursed with the American Rescue Plan Act money awarded to them by the county once some federal hoops are gone through.
