BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A new hotel is coming to Brownsville, but this one is set to be the biggest and tallest and it will house the largest convention and meeting center in town.
It’s a seven-story, 170-room Embassy Suites that will add more rooms to the city’s 2,000-plus bed lodging industry.
The hotel is expected to cost from $25 million to $30 million and will have the biggest conference room built by private enterprise.
Bharat “Barry” Patel, CEO of Ruby Red Hospitality, said his company is making a major investment in Brownsville because of the city’s growth and its leadership.
“Our aim is to bring a new business, not to cannibalize what is already here,” he said, addressing a crowd at the site where the hotel will go up off Pablo Kisel Boulevard. “This Embassy Suites will have the latest design the company has today.”
Patel said the level of growth taking place in Brownsville, largely spurred by Space X and LNG, is something to be reckoned with.
“This hotel represents a huge investment for us,” he said. “This will be our ninth hotel in Cameron County and the first Embassy Suites in Brownsville.”
Ruby Red Hospitality’s line of hotels includes an Embassy Suites in McAllen and four other lodging businesses on South Padre Island.
Asked about the cost of their investment in Brownsville, he said, “It’s a little too early to tell right now.”
How about a ballpark figure?
“Somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million to $30 million,” he replied.
Brownsville Mayor John Cowen Jr. said the hotel marks a new era of growth, progress and hospitality in the city.
“This hotel will create more jobs and more economic development,” he said. “It’s a monumental investment.”
Alan Guard, Brownsville’s deputy city manager, said the conference center in the hotel would be about 12,000 square feet. “That’s big,” Guard said. We will be able to bring, not the national municipal groups, but the Texas state groups that have 400 or 500 members. They will be able to come to Brownsville now for a conference. This is a game-changer for us.”
Asked if it was a lot of work to bring Ruby Red Hospitality to Brownsville, Guard said: “It is always a lot of work. But I think they wanted to be here. They know where a good business opportunity is.”
Patel, Cowen, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez and scores of business and other elected officials attended the groundbreaking event held on Monday, Oct. 27.
