(This story was updated to add new information.)
Events ensuing from the controversial award of tax incentives for a downtown Corpus Christi hotel have, at this point, spanned years — transpiring across the legal system and municipal processes.
It started with a request for $2 million to further the development of a Hilton Homewood Suites hotel. The decision has been heavily scrutinized, between supporters, who have defended the project and what led to endorsing it, and skeptics, who have suggested the project’s sales tax funding was won through misleading means.
The Caller-Times extensively researched the timeline of events, reviewing City Council and Type B meeting materials, minutes and archive broadcasts, as well as litigation documents, a Corpus Christi Police Department PowerPoint presentation, and detectives’ investigatory report that eventually ended with the district attorney’s office declining to take the case.
Here’s what you need to know about what led up to the investigation, the investigation itself and where it stands now.
Timeline of events
April 13, 2022
A news release published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency states that the agency’s local flood maps had been finalized and would become effective Oct. 13, 2022.
July 22, 2022
Development of the property near North Chaparral Street and Lomax Street is conceptualized as a hotel with about 120 rooms, according to a Dec. 11, 2023, presentation to the Type B board, which oversees sales tax incentives. The hotel is planned to include a rooftop bar, retail space and an outdoor patio, a memo shows.
Oct. 13, 2022
Area flood maps go into effect.
February 2023
Developers meet with staff from the city’s Development Services Department and are “made aware of the need to modify the design to accommodate the new flood requirements,” according to a City Council agenda memo, dated March 11, 2024.
Developers then “worked to modify the design to maintain the street level activation while meeting the FEMA requirements and develop a cost estimate for these modifications,” the memo shows.
“Street level activation,” as described in the document, includes retail, public space and outdoor dining areas, with costs to include “necessary floodwall and dry flood proofing to allow for consistent street level access.”
Sept. 27, 2023
The hotel developers, Elevate QOF LLC, submit an application for tax incentives, according to a presentation by the city auditor’s office during a Sept. 9, 2025, City Council meeting.
Dec. 11, 2023
A presentation on the hotel and proposed tax incentives is heard by the Corpus Christi B Corp., also known as the Type B board, which oversees distribution of sales tax incentives.
The presentation shown as part of a public hearing, led by architect Philip Ramirez — among the developers of the hotel — includes a slide showing a screenshot of a news release about the Oct. 13, 2022, effective date for new flood maps on FEMA’s website.
The date the news release was published — April 22, 2022 — and the release number do not appear on the slide.
The FEMA requirements had not been anticipated when first developing the project, Ramirez said, and the new requirements, such as elevating the first floor, “kind of hit us midstream.”
A portion of the funding request, he said, was for “aspects of the infrastructure that we had to build out in order to mitigate the floodplain issues.”
“The other part is to help us build out the amenities on the first floor in order to try to keep our overall cost down to where we can make the rent manageable for another local purveyor,” Ramirez said.
Jan. 22, 2024
The Type B board approves a request for a grant of as much as $2 million for the project, according to board minutes.
Leah Pagan Olivarri, then board president, addressed justification for the funding in the meeting.
“The reason that the board, I believe, agreed that this was a worthwhile project is not because of all the FEMA floodplain zone requirements and everything, but mainly because we saw this as a kind of capstone project in the downtown area to spur other development,” she said.
Feb. 20, 2024
The City Council votes 7-1 to approve the developer’s funding request on first reading. City Councilwoman Sylvia Campos abstains and City Councilman Michael Hunter votes in dissent.
The presentation includes among its slides the same screenshot of FEMA’s website that was shown in the Type B board meeting, and the discussion during the City Council meeting largely revolves around FEMA requirements.
Ramirez was not present for the presentation, which was led by representatives of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp.
Feb. 27, 2024
The ordinance is slated for a second reading but is withdrawn, according to the City Council meeting minutes.
February 2024 through April 2024
Investigations by city management determine that the image on the FEMA slide “had been altered as part of a ‘scheme,’” according to the presentation by the city auditor’s office on Sept. 9, 2025.
April 16, 2024
An email sent by City Attorney Miles Risley to city officials on Sept. 19. 2025, includes a PowerPoint attachment dated April 16, 2024.
The PowerPoint describes the ordinance that passed on first reading as for “costs associated with FEMA AE Flood Zone requirements and exterior upgrades for Homewood Suites by Hilton.”
According to the presentation, the second reading of the item “has been delayed to ensure the City Council has all the information on allegations.”
“City has informed the applicants of the allegations, but City Management wants all of the City Councilmembers informed of all of the allegations before voting, so the City Councilmembers are not surprised after or at the vote,” the presentation states.
April 23, 2024
The City Council approves the tax incentive on its second and final reading in a 5-3 vote. City Council members Jim Klein, Campos and Hunter vote in dissent. City Councilman Gil Hernandez abstains.
The second-reading verbiage differs from the first reading, stating that the incentive is for “street level retail, public space, and outdoor dining area activation including gray box and finish out including necessary floodwall and dry flood proofing to allow for consistent street level access.”
An agenda memo included in the meeting materials states Homewood Suites would serve “as a catalytic project in the heart of downtown that will activate almost an entire city block.”
While the description of the ordinance during the Feb. 20, 2024, meeting had largely focused on FEMA compliance, the focus should have instead been on “maintaining the street level retail activation consistent with the surrounding area by incorporating flood control aspects and the build out of the retail spaces,” the memo states.
In the same meeting, competing hotelier Ajit David — and later litigation plaintiff — shows council members “the altered screenshot,” according to the Corpus Christi Police Department’s PowerPoint presentation planned for Jan. 27.
Ramirez is not present at the council meeting.
May 15, 2024
David submits a complaint to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to CCPD’s PowerPoint presentation.
August 2024
The city auditor’s office begins an investigation following receipt of allegations, according to the city auditor’s Sept. 9, 2025, presentation.
Sept. 30, 2024
David files a petition asking that a judge declare the city’s ordinance for the funding as “void, invalid, and not enforceable,” based, in part, on an assertion that “it offends public policy to have allowed solicitation of City’s tax-payer dollars by use of an Altered Federal Document.”
Nov. 18, 2024
City attorneys file an answer to the petition, denying “the material allegations” made in David’s petition, while also asserting David does not have “standing conferred by statute.”
Aug. 21, 2025
The city auditor’s office issues a memo to the City Council recommending an independent external investigation into the matter.
Aug. 27, 2025
Elevate QOF LLC, the hotel developer, files a petition to intervene in David’s lawsuit. The company denies “any allegation and/or insinuation of wrongdoing” and seeks a judgment that the approval of the incentive is valid, proper and enforceable.
Sept. 9, 2025
The City Council votes to refer what is then described as the Homewood Suites fraud allegation to outside counsel for investigation.
The motion passes 4-1, with Mayor Paulette Guajardo and council members Roland Barrera, Carolyn Vaughn and Everett Roy abstaining. Guajardo, Barrera and Roy had voted in favor of the hotel incentive in 2024.
Sept. 10, 2025
Corpus Christi Police Department detectives receive from a deputy chief a link to the City Council’s Sept. 9, 2025, meeting, according to an investigation report. CCPD’s “Integrity Team is organized to investigate,” according to the CCPD presentation.
Sept. 16, 2025
CCPD and Texas Rangers personnel meet with an FBI special agent, who states she is turning the case over following consultation “with the (U.S. attorney) who saw no violation of federal law,” according to the CCPD investigation report.
Sept. 23, 2025
The City Council authorizes $444,000 to be spent on legal representation for the city and Guajardo in David’s lawsuit.
Oct. 7, 2025
The majority of the City Council votes to hire outside attorneys who are not legally representing the city to conduct a separate investigation into the Homewood Suites situation.
Oct. 14, 2025
CCPD meets with the district attorney’s office, which “concluded the facts and circumstances in this instance do not constitute a criminal violation,” according to CCPD’s PowerPoint presentation.
Oct. 27, 2025
The Type B board votes to hire legal counsel.
Nov. 25, 2025
Corpus Christi Police Department detectives interview Ramirez.
Ramirez states that he created the PowerPoint presentation quickly and did not review it before sending it, according to an accounting of the interview in the police report.
There had not been an “intent to deceive anyone; it was just a formatting error,” Ramirez told the police, according to an interview summary in the report.
The point of the slide had been the Oct. 13, 2022, date, he said.
The investigation report states later that “it is very probable that the missing dates and release number was not a formatting error, but who would be able to testify with 100% certainty that it wasn’t.”
“It is hard to believe that the document was transferred onto a PP and somehow the two dates and the release number disappeared,” it states.
There had not been an allegation of quid pro quo, according to the report.
Dec. 16, 2025
The district attorney’s office states that it will not be taking the case, according to the police department’s investigation report.
Jan. 27, 2026
The majority of the City Council votes to delay a police department presentation on its investigation, pending the findings of the outside attorney’s investigation.
The police department’s planned, but unshown, presentation had stated that “the investigative team was unable to establish probable cause or otherwise substantiate any violation of applicable State or Federal criminal law. Accordingly, the investigation is hereby deemed closed, with no further criminal inquiry warranted at this time.”
Feb. 10, 2026
A City Council executive session item shown on the agenda lists the lawsuit as a subject. There are no open-discussion items shown.
Feb. 17, 2026
The City Council’s agenda for its Feb. 17 meeting shows an item for a presentation by the CCPD on its investigation findings related to the Homewood Suites case.
An item for a presentation of an investigation by outside attorneys is not listed.
Kirsten Crow covers city government and water news. Have a story idea? Contact her at kirsten.crow@caller.com.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Here’s what led up to the now-closed Homewood Suites investigation
Reporting by Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
