FREDERICKSBURG, Texas — The Texas Rangers Heritage Center is located just off East Main Street in south Fredericksburg. The memorial park has statues, a pavilion, an amphitheater, and a Texas Ranger Ring of Honor with around 500 names of rangers killed in the line of duty.
The Former Texas Rangers Foundation, a nonprofit, signed a lease for the property back in 2011 that required them to build those improvements and build a museum on the property by February of 2025.
But, when the museum never got built, the City of Fredericksburg decided it wanted the property back. Then the nonprofit called KENS 5.
In a statement two weeks ago, Mayor Jeryl Hoover told KENS 5: "It is with regret that we find ourselves in this position, but after more than 13 years of working in good faith with the leadership of the Foundation, we are compelled to take this action. Our original agreement, the 380 Economic Development Agreement of February 2011, required the Foundation to build a major museum facility on publicly owned land. In exchange, they were granted a lease for $1 per year...As stewards of public funds and public land, the City has an obligation to enforce the terms of the Agreement."
The city had also sent the nonprofit a letter saying their lease would be terminated by December 5th.
Nonprofit President Joe Davis, a former Texas Ranger himself, told KENS 5 the letter still came as a shock despite the previous agreement.
"Prior councils and prior mayors, they've always said 'Joe we want you here and if you don't get it built in the allotted time we are going to extent the contract," Davis said.
The city had already extended the contract at lease once.
The nonprofit president said they had lined up a construction company in 2020 but the project was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation later significantly increased the cost of the museum project.
At the same time, Davis said the site currently has two annual events, including a "Celebrate Texas" day where the site is visited by members of the Comanche Nation from Oklahoma. He said they also have class field trips, boy scout campouts, a Christmas celebration and other events.
Davis told KENS 5 the property was important to the local community and he would like to renegotiate the lease with the city to keep their events going. He also wanted to know what would happen to the property if the city does take it over.
"That's what our question is. What are you going to do with this property? Do you have other plans for it or what?"
KENS 5 reached out to the City of Fredericksburg to find out why they wouldn't renegotiate the contract and what would happen to the property if the city took it over.
The following week, City of Fredericksburg spokesman Sean Doerre said he had "what I considered to be a productive meeting" with the Former Texas Rangers Association which is over the foundation.
Doerre did not say what the result of that meeting was.
KENS 5 again asked what would happen to the property if the City of Fredericksburg took it over.
Doerre said via email, "I don't view this as a pertinent matter until the deadline has passed for them to respond to the notice of default of our 380 Economic Development Agreement."
The nonprofit confirmed that Former Texas Ranger Association President Matt Lindemann, along with several association board members, did meet with the City of Fredericksburg this week.
The nonprofit doesn't know what will happen to the property of the city takes it over. KENS 5 will continue to follow the story after the deadline.
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