b'Tilman Fertitta may be the best known member of the club of billionaires and corporate titans who haveGazebos on the Corpus Christi seawall, donated by the been sent packing, buckets of money and economy- Durrill Foundation two decades ago, remain the only changing ideas in hand, but hes not the biggest. Cor- structures directly located on the water, other than at the pus Christi native and one of the worlds richest men,marina. Middle: Illuminated walkways and bridge structures the owner of Omni Hotels worldwide, Golds Gym andon the Tampa Riverwalk. Lower: Tri-City Marina in Naples, more, Robert Rolling, has had sand kicked in his faceFlorida, where dozens of hotels, restaurants, shops, boat on more than one occasion while attempting to trans- charters, and well-maintained public spaces are located. form his hometown into a nationally-known waterfront destination. Ray L. Hunt, one-time owner of Woodbine Development, who built Westin and Hyatt golf resorts across the country, was once interested in developing a golf resort on Mustang Island, but it became clear to him in 2006 that Corpus Christians had no interest in giving up vehicle access to even a small stretch of gulf beach. Bass Pro Shops proposed to purchase the old Memorial Coliseum on Shoreline Blvd. and convert it into a boating and outdoors superstore, but they were run off. Intrawest, the Canadian resort developer that built San Destin on the Florida Panhandle, wanted to invest more than $1.5 billion in a resort and entertain-ment district at Lake Padre on North Padre Island, but a small band of motivated naysayers, assisted by an in-effective effort at communicating the pro argument, led to the defeat of a pedestrian beach proposal at the ballot box in 2006, killing the project.Currently,Dallasbasedmega-developer,Jeff Blackard, is tied up in a six-year-long legal battle with a small, stealthy band of opposition to what would seem like an obviously great opportunity: the develop-ment of the abandoned and overgrown former Pharaoh Valley golf course into a modern, mixed-use, Italian themed village community of homes and businesses. Even with $300 million in funding, a 40-year resume of success, and relentless persistence, Blackards proj-ect will be tied up in court for years to come, while property values in Pharaoh Valley remain stagnant and the populations of native wildlife and vagrants thrive on the former golf course.Thus, the visual theme of this featurewhat the rest of the country does with their downtown water-fronts,andhowthoseinvestmentshaveimproved quality of life for their communities, including jobs and economic prosperity. In all of these cities, someone has had to put public interests ahead of personal inter-eststhe challenge that seems to kill one project after another in Corpus Christi. Concludes on page 129TheC talBend.comom THE COASTAL BEND MATHE CGAOZINEASTAL BEND MAFEATURED: The StGAZINEories that MattLate Summer 2018ered 101TheCooasastalBend.c 25'