b'E c o n o m i c sInvestment in Upgrades at Lands EndThe own-ership group of Bluffs Landing (above) have expanded their Laguna Shores footprint, building the new water-front KOA RV resort (above/left), voted the best new KOA in Texas. Just a mile down the street, new restaurant The Lookout at Bluffs Landing offers high-end culinary selections like this magnificent 16 oz. Wagyu ribeye steak (left). The Lookout is home to one of the Coastal Bends best-curated bars (below/left), together with the vision of Executive Chef, Joe Brock, and accomplished mixologist, Jacob McClain.to what was then and is today the very last stop at the southern end of Laguna Shores Road, where Bluffs Land-ing is being redeveloped into a resort-class destination for saltwater recreation.Two decades ago, the last stop at the end of Laguna Shores was a biker bar and a boat launch, but after an Austin-based investor purchased the property, a special spot to him where he fished with his father as a boy, piers were built with boat-lift rental slots, a shop and bait stand were constructed, as well as a restaurant, 24-room fishing lodge and events pavilion. The business sputtered along for years, but never achieved the financial success to which the owner had become accustomed with his other ventures.Laguna Shores Road is the last route on the Flour BluffOriginally from London, Clara Dobson, built a career in (mainland) side of the Upper Laguna Madre, running 3business start-ups and hospitality, conceiving and man- miles from the South Padre Island Drive freeway toaging hotel and resort properties in Europe, the Caribbe-Bluffs Landing, the last center of civilization for 75 milesan and Central America, ending up in San Antonio and south via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Port Man- then Austin after wedding a 20-year U.S. Military Veteran sfield. The mainland side south of this point is almostwhom she met while managing a property in Belize. Her entirely privately owned and uninhabitedmost of thefirst client in America is the Bluffs Landing owner who land is divided between the two largest sections of theencouraged her to take over management of the property King Ranch, with private ranches in Kenedy County inalongside her own business partner, Trey Blundell, after between. she delivered an inches-thick report of problems and LAGUNA SHORES is the very heart of Flour Bluffsolutions that stood between failure and success, in her history that goes back 129 years, when the school districtprofessional opinion. Clara spent a year working with was established. Not surprisingly, the Bluffs economythe property as a consultant, then just two years into and culture were built on its connection to the marineher new married life, having become passionate about environmentgenerations of now mostly extinct com- the business and everyone in it, Clara and her husband mercial fishermen and women grew the town before itpacked up and took off for the coastthat was in 2019.was annexed into Corpus Christi, and before the openingUnder Dobsons direction, the business has grown from of the Naval Air Station in 1941. That commercial activitya team of 10 people to a team of over 60, and has seen a was launched from the shores of Laguna Madre, fromcomplete re-brand. The Bluffs Landing events pavilion, the tip of Encinal Peninsula to the north (now the NAS),referred to now as The Landing, has been brought to 90 THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'