In the 16 months since the Bell family donated 100 acres to the city for a new sports complex, the city has had it designed, found someone to operate it, spent $1 million on it, created a nonprofit foundation that can accept donations for it and collected donation promises from businesses and corporations.
What they haven’t done is sign a memorandum of understanding with Centurion, the company that is supposed to secure financing for the vast majority of the project. They also haven’t definitively determined how it will be financed. Nor have they broken ground, which was supposed to have happened in late January.
Emails obtained by the Odessa American under the Texas Public Information Act show tensions have been running high for months regarding the financing and questions still remain — about Centurion, the MOU and the role of the Texas Attorney General’s Office in the project.
In recent interviews, Council members Mark Matta and Steve Thompson sought to downplay any issues with the complex. They said there is nothing to be concerned about and they promised the sports complex will be built with revenue bonds issued though Centurion.
Background
Back in February 2023, the Odessa City Council agreed to hire Synergy Global for $15,000 to conduct a sports complex feasibility study. Synergy, which develops and manages multi-sports facilities and recreation centers, helped create a $25 million sports complex in Heath, a $125 million complex in Colorado and a $40 million project in New Jersey.
The city conducted an online survey to gauge the community’s interest in such a complex and what features should be included. It then held a couple of community meetings.
In May 2023, the Bell family announced a donation of 100 acres to the city for the sports complex with the understanding a park would be named for the late Amy Bell. At that time, the city envisioned a $50 million sports complex in the Parks Bell Ranch area that would be an 80,000-100,000 square foot complex with 20 volleyball courts, 10 basketball courts and a track, plus 8-12 multi-purpose fields for soccer, football and lacrosse and up to eight baseball/softball fields.
The city created the nonprofit Amy Bell Sports Foundation so it could accept donations for the complex and obtain sponsorships.
In September 2023, an agreement was executed with RADDSports to “design, develop, construct, equip, manage and maintain” the complex.
During that same month, the Texas Monthly reported the project had morphed to become a $70 million project. The magazine reported the complex is going to be a 140,000 square feet with 30 pickle ball courts, 20 volleyball courts, 10 hardwood courts, a portable 200-meter banked competition track, fitness centers, conference rooms, offices, a concession area, a cafe and a retailer. In addition, outside there will be 12 fields for soccer, football and lacrosse and up to eight softball and baseball fields. There are also plans for athletic training and physical therapy.
In October 2023, Synergy Sports’ Jason Boudrie told the council he anticipated groundbreaking for the complex would be in late January 2024.
Boudrie said the site plan for the complex campus had been finalized and contracts had been signed with architects, a civil engineer, a cost estimator and sports field contractors to do their pre-development work, he said.
Boudrie also said they’d identified everything that could be sponsored at the complex, like fields, courts, parking lots and buildings. Theoretically, there are $50 million worth of “sponsorable assets,” he said.
It was reported then that Synergy planned to lease the complex to the foundation and the City of Odessa would be the foundation’s beneficiary. RADDSports, it was reported, would manage the property.
That same month, emails show Thompson was busy trying to secure donations and sponsorships for the complex, telling Emily Holeva from Exxon Mobil the non-profit foundation has been created. He also wrote, “By the way, we are in a public private partnership to build the complex and the funding is secured.”
In December, City Manager John Beckmeyer received the OK to re-appropriate $950,000 from the $93 million in certificates of obligation approved by the council in August 2019 and put it toward the Amy Bell Sports Complex.
Then in April the city council was told a deal was being worked on that would allow the non-profit group, Sports Foundation of Texas, to ground lease the property from the city for the development and financing of the park for a period of 99 years at a cost of $1 per year. At the same time, the Centurion Foundation, a Georgia nonprofit, would sublease the property at $1 per year and then they would lease it back to the foundation, with the base rent being decided prior to closing.
If everything goes to plan, Centurion will finance the complex, lease it to Sports Med Properties and then they will lease it to the foundation. Sports Foundation of Texas is no longer involved at all.
The complex will still be operated by RADDSports.
Problems
The first inkling there might be a problem with financing came in a May 24, 2024, email from City Attorney Dan Jones to Beckmeyer and the city council.
“The good news is that Centurion wants to finance the sports complex with the City of Odessa. However Centurion admitted that it has never done this type of financing before in the State of Texas. Centurion has not completely fleshed this plan out as it should have done prior to pitching the financing to the City of Odessa,” Jones wrote. “Centurion failed to research the unique legal obstacles presented in Texas. Oddly enough, in recent weeks Centurion has finally brought its attorneys on board with this project and the writing of the (memorandum of understanding).”
Four days later, an outside attorney for the City of Odessa, Jeff Whitfield, emailed Jerimi Ullom, the attorney for Centurion. In the email, Whitfield said the city would be OK using a bond issuer from outside Texas, but they’d have to speak with the bond issuer’s attorney to clear Texas legal hurdles.
He also wrote, “The city was not comfortable signing the MOU as presented because it made them responsible for reimbursement fees to be incurred by Centurion and others before the parties were comfortable that the proposed financing terms could survive the Texas legal obstacles we discussed on our call. Instead, the city wants to propose an MOU that allows the parties to be reimbursed after the research is complete and the final transaction documents have been executed by the parties.”
Also in May, Collin Sewell, who heads up the foundation, informed Beckmeyer, Jones and others via email that he was not comfortable opening an account or receiving donations until the financing had been approved.
On June 26, Whitfield indicated in another email that he’d received a proposed MOU from Centurion, but without the edits he suggested nearly 30 days earlier.
On July 11, Ullom apologized for the delay, attributing them to vacations and suggested they speak on the phone about the MOU and a conversation is held on July 16.
In an email to Jones that day, Whitfield indicated Centurion president Ben Mingle was surprised no one on his team had discussed possible legal issues with bond insurance and leases.
“He thinks these questions should be resolved before we proceed further with anything, because he does not want to spend much money or have the city spend much money until we know there are no major obstacles to the process,” Whitfield wrote of Mingle.
Impatience begins to show
On July 24, both Jones and Matta ask Whitfield and Boudrie for an update. They were told there wasn’t one.
“This is beginning to take way too long. The funding needs to be solidified asap either with Centurion or by another avenue. Originally, work on the complex was to begin in April and here we are, end of July, and it seems like we are no closer,” Matta wrote.
Matta asked Boudrie if he could help speed things up.
“We’re at the point where if this is beyond their scope, we need to know now so we can move in another direction.”
Boudrie emailed back, saying he, too, was frustrated and didn’t know why it was taking so long to hammer out the MOU.
“I can tell you it’s not beyond their scope, they’ve done much bigger projects,” Boudrie said.
A flurry of emails were exchanged on July 29. It had been 13 days since anyone heard from Centurion.
Thompson wrote of Boudrie, “This man is (sic) not done what he said he could do. I think we’re fixing to be embarrassed. Listen, he looks like (to) me we’re gonna be in a real tough position and look really stupid. I believe we cannot wait any longer. We must force something to happen or the project is over. Hope I’m wrong just sharing with you. My gut feeling.”
Two and a half hours later, Matta emailed Boudrie directly, saying, “It would be great if work could start on the complex by end of August. We have some detractors, mainly being led by a member of the council (in my opinion) so any progress that we can make on the complex is going to go a long way.”
Beckmeyer emailed council members around noon, “I’ve spoken with Dan this morning on my thoughts and we should probably all have a very candid discussion on where we go next.”
In the meantime, Boudrie emailed Ullom and asks for an update, saying, “A number of city council members have reached out with some concerns about the length of time it’s taking as construction costs are going up.”
Ullom wrote back to say he’s meeting with Texas bond counsel Bill Avila at Bracewell and he believed getting the Texas Attorney General involved “seems like the first step.”
Twenty minutes later, Boudrie assured Matta and Councilmember Denise Swanner he’d spoken with Centurion’s attorney, who said “a finalized MOU should be coming your way soon.” He also mentioned the need for the Texas Attorney General’s Office to review the MOU.
Boudrie also wrote Ullom back with several questions about the Texas AG saying, “I don’t think Centurion (let alone the city) wants to proceed with the MOU before we all know if the funding approach suggested will be blocked by the Texas AG. Right?”
Later that afternoon, Ullom emailed Whitfield and Boudrie to say he’d spoken with bond counsel and he’s been told “the Texas AG has made it known that he does not like Texas municipalities using out of state bond issuers to accomplish projects.” He also said if they went with an out-of-state issuer, the AG would have to review the MOU.
That email prompted Whitfield to email Jones to tell him Centurion had determined the AG’s Office would have to be involved.
“They propose the city enter the staged MOU we proposed, which now includes the provision allowing them to be reimbursed if the transaction falls apart for any reason beyond Centurions control.”
A question over pay
On Aug. 2, Jones fired back, apparently willing to play hardball.
“Tell Centurion that it needs to be prepared to get paid only if the deal is completed. As of now, Centurion has no skin in the game. Moreover, the city of Odessa has paid $1M and has nothing to show for it. Please remind Centurion of this fact.”
Whitfield sought to clarify Jones’ position, asking if that meant Centurion, its builder, Synergy and anyone else involved wouldn’t be paid until the funding process was complete.
Over the next few email exchanges, Jones informed Whitfield that Centurion “will only get paid when Centurion delivers financing…Remember there has been $1M paid and nothing to show for that money except unfilled promises.”
“I must protect the city as much as possible. The city should not be on the book for paying for Centurion’s research dealing with the Texas AG, that should’ve been done over a year ago, before it had Boudrie approach the city. Simply bad business on Centurion’s part.”
Jones suggested to Whitfield that he come up with a system where Centurion would get paid for its “successes.”
On Aug. 6, Whitfield wrote, “The challenge for us is that none of us have seen a transaction like the one proposed by Centurion play out (sounds like no one has).”
Whitfield informed Ullom and Boudrie the MOU should be re-worked to show Centurion will be paid based on time, percentages of work completed and the tasks Centurion expects will be completed moving forward.
Communication issues
As of Aug. 19, the city had yet to hear back from Centurion.
Emails show the lack of communication did not sit well with Thompson.
On Aug. 17, Thompson emailed Boudrie and copied Jones and Beckmeyer:
“Good afternoon Jason. I just needed to convey to you I’m working my tail off raising money for the sports complex and people keep asking me where the funding stands. This is getting pretty embarrassing as a year ago you told all of us you had 107% of the close of the project secured. Obviously that was not the case. As far as I know, two more weeks have passed since we’ve heard from anyone. I’m just one council person, but I have my ass on the line with all these oil companies, etc. and my credibility. I sincerely hope this gets resolved quickly.”
Then, on Aug. 19, Thompson again emailed Boudrie: “Jason, I’m so disappointed you have not delivered what was promised and now seem to be dodging all of us. Obviously your relationship with Centurion is not what you held it out to be.”
Boudrie accused Thompson of being passive-aggressive and unprofessional. He said he’d spent the weekend with his family and Beckmeyer had been appointed the point person on the project.
He also told Thompson Synergy and Centurion was currently working on funding for three other projects and had half a dozen lined up.
“They’re moving through funding because their legal counsel introduced us to their bond counsel at the beginning of the process. We asked for that introduction 18 months ago from Odessa and were told it wasn’t necessary and everything happened at the city council level,” Boudrie wrote.
He continued, “Throw in the unknown of the AG needing to approve the project, which again, we would have known about at the beginning of this process had we been introduced to your bond counsel then.”
Thompson’s emails apparently raised Matta’s ire as well. On Aug. 19, he emailed Boudrie, Thompson, Jones, Whitfield and Beckmeyer. He later copied Swanner on the email.
“This has gotten out of hand. We all need to STAY IN OUR LANE and do the job we were to do from the beginning of this project! This is what happens when individuals over step their bounds and the ONLY ones that suffer are the citizens.”
On Saturday, Matta said the project will be paid for with revenue bonds issued in either Georgia or Texas. He and Thompson said the delay was caused because Centurion did not realize there was a need to get approval from the AG’s Office.
“They’ve done many of these projects, but they’ve never had to deal with the AG. This is something that was new to them, something that we never anticipated,” Matta said. “The project is still going through. It’s still going to be funded through Centurion, so nothing’s changing.”
He said Beckmeyer is meeting with representatives of the AG’s Office Tuesday.
As for the unsigned MOU, Matta insisted the negotiations underway are typical.
“The emails going back and forth about how they’re going to get paid. It’s just normal whenever there’s a project this big. There’s nothing out of the ordinary,” Matta said.
Dirt is being moved now and work on the complex should begin “within a month or so,” Matta said.
Officials have said construction would take 18 months.
Thompson said he has received verbal commitments for donations from Chevron, Occidental, 1PointFive, Forrest Brothers and Sewell Family Dealerships.
