During Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Brownwood Municipal Development District Board of Directors, BMDD Executive Director Ray Tipton provided on an update on a variety of projects throughout the City.

7 Brew Coffee is now open, while Panda Express is still on target for a grand opening and ribbon cutting Feb. 27 at the site of the former OYO Hotel on Commerce Street.

“They still have a 1.58 acre parcel in the back and they’ve got it with some new brokers, and we’ve been pitching that,” Tipton told the Board regarding a third business that will eventually occupy that location.

The Shoppes at Pecan Bayou strip center across Commerce Street, near Wingstop, continues construction on its approximate 8,500 square foot facility.

“Tropical Smoothie Caefe is still the only one that I’m aware of that’s going into that space that has a lease,” Tipton told the Board.

Tipton added Tropical Smoothie Cafe will take possession of their portion of the building in March and start on the interior build out, but there was no timetable to open.

At the Plaza on Main, site of the Shoe Dept. Encore, an 11,000 square foot space adjacent to the business remains available.

“I know the owner of that is targeting a specific business and he has a broker that’s been having conversations, but it’s still super early,” Tipton said. “Another thing that’s really interesting is they have about 3 acres behind the building an a little over an acre on the side of the building that they’re separately marketing for construction projects.”

Regarding the Shops on Commerce, announced during the State of the City back in January, Tipton said, “There working to finish up the demolition and I’m expecting the construction plans any day. They’re trying to get the dirt calculations for it and get the plans in so they can get the construction moving forward.”

As for the parks around town, Tipton said, “Riverside Park is still under construction. Obviously there’s some delays with the roads. We ended up getting roads done in non-paving season so that’s been quite a challenge.”

City of Brownwood Deputy Mayor Marshal McIntosh chimed in, “There’s a lot of utility work that was just finished. We have a new lift station that’s housed at Riverside Park that’s City-owned. That’s been relocated to behind where the bathrooms were in the middle of the park. Encor is finally installing a mini-transformer as of this week or next, so that will allow us to finalize stuff outside of the pavement.”

Regarding the Coggin Park project, which is the extension of the walking trail and construction of the double basketball courts, Tipton said, “We’ve allocated our $330,000 and the City has hired engineering services to basically design all of those amenities, which is part of what our costs will cover. They’ll be working on those plans and surveying, and once the plans are complete they’ll go out for bid, so it’s still going to be multiple months but moving forward I’m really excited.”

Tipton said Allcorn Park, “is pretty much done. The only thing that is outstanding is part of our agreement with the ARC is signage related to them and the Parks Department has been working with them. But all of the sidewalks and amenities are complete.”

Before concluding the meeting, Tipton told the Board, “I do have three outstanding building improvement applications that I’ve had people request to fill out. I feel like those will come in over the next couple months. They’re all in various stages of planning and all downtown businesses. Those are on the horizon.”

Prior to the start of the meeting, Tipton announced Liz Brown as the newest BMDD Board member, as she replaces Ashley Jaynes who took a position as Communications Manager for the City of Brownwood.