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Conceptual design
| Site plan | Participants | Financial
structure |
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Participants: Currently we have a combination of company members
(both Class A and Class B) and professional people who are donating
both time and services to help make this project continue to move
forward. In addition, nearly 500 surfers from both the local surf
community as well as other parts of the United States have already
signed up to become surfing members. This shows the demand and acceptance
of such a landmark venture to other potential investors who are considering
this project to be a noteworthy investment opportunity. Almost every
surfer who has signed up as a potential member has offered time and
just about every type of service just to SEE THIS HAPPEN! I am grateful
for the overwhelming support that the local surfing community has
shown me and will continue to develop this new concept park in a professional
level deserving of each and every one of you. The surfing membership
group is strong, but the private investor levels are in need of more
participants who can offer capital for the build-out phase as well
as professional services in exchange for sweat equity. Go to the
"Investor Information" page for more specifics. |
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James Fulbright:The concept behind Surf City Texas is
James' brainchild. He is the owner and majority shareholder of
Surf City Texas, L.L.C. An avid gulf coast surfer since the age
of 12, James grew up in Houston and graduated from Lamar High
School in 1976. He then attended Texas A&M University and
studied Environmental Design and Building Construction from 1976-'80.
James initially entered the surfing industry by becoming head
machinist at Freestyle Fin Systems in 1982, headed up by Donn
Leva. From that point on, he went from doing surfboard repairs
out of his garage as a sideline job, to opening a small surfshop
in 1985, Strictly Hardcore Surf Specialties (now Surf Specialties
Corp).
For the past 18 years, he has split his time between owning and
managing a successful retail business and being the owner and
primary shaper at Major Surf Corp., a manufacturing business,
which builds surfboards under numerous local and international
labels including Hurricane, Hynson, Bessell, Linden, Kingsley,
Max McDonald, Walden, Mike Casey, Prime and others.
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Donn Leva: Investor/Designer/Consultant
Donn Leva grew up in Houston, and at age 14, started surfing in
1968. A shaper for ten years and one of the early pioneers of
shortboards in Texas! Leva spent his teen summers in California
and Baja, moving on to the less crowded islands of the Caribbean
in his twenties.
A graduate of Lamar High School in Houston and later educated
in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture at Texas A&M
University. He has twenty-two years experience in the marine composite
industry, including nineteen years as founder and president of
Freestyle Fin Systems. Leva has patents and designs which include
the original Freestyle Fin System, the Aercor Fin technology,
sail and power boats, offshore oil equipment and composite housing.
His contributions to Surf City Texas are conceptual/logistical
design and prototype development.
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Mark T. Fowler:Vice President, Investment Services Group,
Transwestern Commercial Services
Mark has over 20 years of varied real estate and finance experience.
Formerly with JP Morgan Chase Bank for nearly 15 years, he most
recently served as Vice President of the Community Development
Lending Group performing client management duties for Texas' affordable
housing developer client relationships in promoting the Bank's
statewide CRA program.
He moved there from the Bank's Real Estate Banking Group where
he served as a Credit and Lending Officer, originating multi-family
residential construction loans in managing a regional real estate
credit portfolio with over $250 Million Dollars in outstandings.
From 1988 to 1996, Mark worked in the Bank's Loan Management Group
where he was responsible for the statewide marketing of foreclosed
assets achieving 640 individual property sales totaling over $475
Million Dollars, playing a vital role in the operations and attaining
an overall ORE portfolio reduction of nearly $1 Billion Dollars
in the aggregate.
Prior to entering banking, Mark was Vice President at Centeq Companies
(now Camden Property Trust) managing its Southeast U.S. operations
regional real estate investment platform in Atlanta.
Mark is an Executive Committee Board Member of the Downtown Historic
District, Board Member of the Credit Coalition of Houston and
longtime supporter of Houston Realty Breakfast Club, past retail
chairperson of Downtown Houston's Economic Development Committee,
and served within local chapters of several national real estate
organizations including ULI, CCIM, HBOR, and NAIOP as well as
several state housing finance organizations including THALFA,
TACDC, and TDHCA. On the local front, Mark is also active with
the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Greater Houston Preservation
Alliance and St. John the Divine Church.
Mark earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from The University of
Texas at Austin, Texas.
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Don Gardner: Investor/Landscape Designer/Consultant/Business
owner
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Ronnie Boegler: Design/Interactive communications/Web
Development/Video Production. An avid surfer and native Texan
Ronnie brings over 17 years of design and communications experience
to the team.
A graduate of Pearland High school in 1987. Ronnie started his
career in communications in the US Air force. Attending college
at the University of Alaska he studied communications from 1989-1991.
Working his way into a new position he studied at the Sony Institute
in San Jose and migrated to life behind the camera lens. Serving
as a fully qualified aerial videographer he gained years of experience
accumulating hundreds of flight hours and over 55 hours in fighter
aircraft.
Pursuing his dream, Ronnie Left the military in 1996 to start
Quest Media Productions. Over the next 2 years the company gained
industry recognition for work on high profile multimedia, web,
design and video projects. Hard work and recognition resulted
in the selling of the business to Insync Internet Services in
1999. At Insync Ronnie lead numerous high profile web projects
from inception to completion including the Houston Texans and
The Houston Red Cross.
Ronnie is the owner and producer of Seek Surfboards. He started
the popular website Gulf Coast Extreme and now operates the online
community for all texas surfers www.gulfsurfer.com
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Joel Helmke: Business Developer/ Planner/ Management
Education: Masters of Science – Healthcare Administration
- SWTSU 1996
Bachelors of Science – Psychology - UH 1992
Bachelors of Beach - TAMUG 1988
High School – Graduated from Dulles HS, Sugarland, TX
Job: Department Administrator , MD Anderson Cancer CenterResidence:
Midtown – Galveston Island
Yrs Surfing: 17
Travels: California, Oahu, Costa Rica, New Jersey, Washington
State
Favorite local spot: 45th St Jetty, with the wife, the kid and
the neighbors.
Joel is helping Surf City Texas, L.L.C. develop a sound and solid
business plan from not only an accounting and management perspective
but also as a longtime, avid Gulf Coast surfer who sees the demand
and ultimate success of such a venture if structured and managed
properly. His educational background, business experience and
his conservative and realistic approach to business planning make
him a perfect addition to the Surf City Texas group.
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Craig Cammack: Electrical Engineer. Electrical Design/Cost
estimating of electrical apparatus/Computer Drafting.
Electrical Engineer and Texas surfer at heart. He was born in
Houston and surfed in Galveston from the age of 12. Spent most
of his weekends in Galveston at his parent’s house just down
the street from the original surf specialties location. Graduated
from Stephen F. Austin High School in Houston and then went on
to Graduate from the University of Houston in 1993 with BS degrees
in Electrical Control Systems and Computer Aided Design. During
that time he shaped surfboards under the name of Stik Shapes to
help fund college and his surfing habit. On his quest for surf
he moved to Corpus Christi and eventually out to Hawaii where
he resides now with his wife and two daughters. There he has been
employed as an electrical engineer for the past 6 years with a
total of 10 years of practical experience. His contributions to
Surf City Texas are cost estimating, electrical, lighting, and
Computer Aided Design.
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Lee Cisneros/Darrin Harvey: Certified Architect/ Planner/CAD
Drafting.
Formed in 1998, South Texas Architectural (www.southtexasarch.com)
is comprised of the partnership of Darrin Harvey and Lee Cisneros.
South Texas Architectural provides professional Architectural
and Construction Management services for a wide variety of construction
and planning projects.
Both partners are 1993 graduates of the University of Houston
College of Architecture and were raised on the Texas gulf coast.
Surfing since high school, they both enjoy weekend surf sessions
off the Galveston Seawall and the occasional trip to Southern
California and Mexico.
The past decade, Lee Cisneros has worked on many commercial and
civic projects including the Renovation of the Civic Center Tunnel
system located in downtown Houston, Midtown Houston Redevelopment
projects, Houston Parks and Recreation parks, and various private
commercial projects. Lee's expertise in entertainment and commercial
design has led him to design entertainment facilities through
out the country and for the United States Military overseas.
Darrin Harvey has owned his own Custom Residential Design practice
since1995 and also provides construction-advising services to
owners, contractors, and other designers. Several of his residential
designs can be found in the Woodlands, Houston Museum District,
and throughout the Houston area. Darrin works closely with several
local developers and Builders in maintaining the latest in design
and building construction techniques.
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Rob Kite: Coastal Engineer
An avid surfer and native Texan, Rob brings years of experience
in water wave mechanics and fluid dynamics to the project.
Rob was raised in Houston and after graduating from Lamar High
School in 1988 he pursued a degree in Marine Science from Texas
A&M University at Galveston. After graduation he left to work
in South America for a seismic survey company and developed his
surfing skills abroad. He relocated to Corpus Christi in 1996,
and joined the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus
Christi to work in their coastal and estuarine division. There
he was assigned to a team to investigate the circulation patterns
of Laguna Madre.
In 1997 Rob headed back to Texas A&M University to pursue
a second degree in Ocean Engineering with heavy emphasis on coastal
processes. His passion for the coast provides him with the focus
and dedication to see Surf City Texas develop from a concept into
a reality.
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Kalon Morris: Professor of Marine Science, Saddleback
College
Harvard University, BA Magna Cum Laude in Earth and Planetary Sciences
1998
Scripps Insitution Of Oceanography, MS in Oceanography 2001
Associate Professor of Oceanography, Mira Costa College, 2001-2002
Professor of Marine Science, Saddleback College, 2002-current
Member of the American Geophysical Union 1999-current
Volunteer Member of Surfrider Foundation's invited Environmental
Issues Team
For the past year I have been focusing my energy on teaching,
developing couses in Marine Science and Meterology at Saddleback
College; at the same time continuting to investigate my research
interests which include the dynamics of shoaling and breaking surface
gravity waves, as well as the surfzone currents they produce. I hope
to recieve a Ph.D. for my research in the next few months. I have
long dreamed of a perfect man-made wave; I hope to combine my knowledge
of wave physics with the new wave cannon technology to make Surf City
Texas the ultimate non-marine surfing experience. |
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Chris Cahill : Legal Counsel
Chris is a partner in the Galveston law firm of Mills Shirley, which
was established in 1846 and is the oldest law firm in Texas. He
lives in Galveston with his wife Susan and his children Tristan,
Jillian and Ian.
When it's right Cahill can usually be found at his favorite breaks
- the east side of the Flagship, 53rd Street or the Octagon(e) in
Surfside.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from
Texas A&M University in 1984, and his law degree from The University
of Houston in 1988. He has maintained a business and real estate
practice at Mills Shirley for fifteen years.
Chris has been involved with the project since its inception. He
is committed to helping see the project to completion and will be
there when James takes off on the first wave.
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Additional potential surf club members offering services.
Terry Roy: Compilation of venture capital groups and assistance
in obtaining grant writers.
Chad Moran: Lifeguard instructor. Teacher NASCO (National
Aquatic Safety Co.) lifeguard courses.
James Hardeman: Plant
Data Technologies. Equipment Automation.
Stephen Allen: Mechanical Engineer
Jeroen Bergen: General Manager of Food Services.
Jerry Brown: Technical construction opinions. The Hanover
Co. VP of construction.
Larry Bell: Banker 20 yrs. Financing structures and financial
assistance opportunities.
Ben Gottschall: Waterproofing membranes, caulkings, coatings,
epoxy crack injections. RSI Restorations Services Inc.
Rodney Howard: Management operations in the entertainment
field, public facilities and city government work.
Ron Guidry: Marketing, advertising and graphics. Marketing
dept. at Ernst and Young.
David Nieto: Medical/lifeguard staff. ACLS certified. Senior
at UTMB (Anesthesiologist)
Damian Ferguson: Mechanical Engineer
Lance Grady: Architectural Lighting Designer
Tony Livesay: Safety Engineering. Fluid Dynamics. Lifeguard
instructor
Paul Johnson PE : Project Manager for Jacobs Engineering.
Experience in wave tank testing.
Mike McIntosh: Senior Systems Designer for
VARCO.
Keith Siegal: Commercial paint contractor. Owner PRO COATS.
Chris Clodfelter: Enviornmental Phase I assessments.
Aurelien Poecker: Mechanical Engineer.
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