THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Late Summer 2018 25 TheCoastalBend.com Tilman Fertitta may be the best known member of the club of billionaires and corporate titans who have been sent packing, buckets of money and economy- changing ideas in hand, but he’s not the biggest. Cor- pus Christi native and one of the world’s richest men, the owner of Omni Hotels worldwide, Gold’s Gym and more, Robert Rolling, has had sand kicked in his face on more than one occasion while attempting to trans- 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, Dallas based mega-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, Blackard’s 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 feature—what the rest of the country does with their downtown water- fronts, and how those investments have improved 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- ests—the challenge that seems to kill one project after another in Corpus Christi. Gazebos on the Corpus Christi seawall, donated by the Durrill Foundation two decades ago, remain the only structures directly located on the water, other than at the marina. Middle: Illuminated walkways and bridge structures on the Tampa Riverwalk. Lower: Tri-City Marina in Naples, Florida, where dozens of hotels, restaurants, shops, boat charters, and well-maintained public spaces are located.