The Bryan city council is pursuing two federal infrastructure grants.
The council, acting as the city’s commerce and development board, agreed during a special meeting on February 22 to give the Brazos Transit District (BTD) two acres of land as part of BTD’s application to build a parking garage to serve the city’s Legends events center. The proposed garage at South College and Rountree would also contain retail space. A city of Bryan spokeswoman told WTAW News February 24 that BTD was still estimating the cost of the project. On February 28, after the original webstory was posted, a BTD spokeswoman told WTAW News that the district will own the garage for 40 years, then the city take over ownership. During the council meeting, the council was told that the city would own the building. The BTD spokeswoman also said they will not make a financial contribution to their grant application towards the $24.85 million dollar building.
The council then approved applying for a $44 million dollar grant from the same federal program to replace streets and utilities. The location is the last section of downtown Bryan where replacement has yet to be done.
The council agreed that local funding for the downtown grant application would be limited to cost overruns. That is after learning that this grant does not require a local match.
The council also learned that the grant rules will use Bryan’s 2010 census population, which allows Bryan to be eligible.
And the maximum amount of money in this grant program was raised from $25 million to $45 million.
Click below to hear comments from a WTAW News visit with Bryan city councilman Paul Torres and comments from the February 22, 2023 Bryan city council meeting.
