UTB opens Casa Bella doors

BROWNSVILLE — Signs were clear Saturday that the partnership between the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College is on its way to ending.
The strongest indication was the new UTB student dorm complex, Casa Bella, bustling with arrivals.
The buildings themselves are not new. This summer UTB bought the complex for $11.71 million, a price below its $14.2 million appraisal after construction in 2009. The complex began as private student housing.
UTB-TSC President Juliet V. Garcia said there was a demand for student housing during the partnership, but there was not a business model to make it work if built by the school. However, the complex’s developer asked UTB-TSC if it could use the dorm plans to build back then.
“After a couple of years they didn’t do well and they decided to sell,” Garcia said of the complex, then called La Estancia. “We had been talking to them about it. ... It all worked out and in May we made the deal.”
Now, there is a waiting list of at least 100 for student housing.
Opening the Casa Bella dorms signifies a new day for UTB, Garcia said.
“Are you kidding?” Garcia said with a laugh when asked if the opening of the first UTB dorm was emotional for her. “I’m hiding it well. It is.”
Garcia said UTB is moving forward.
“It is an emotional moment for us. You can’t get to second base with your foot on first,” Garcia said. “We’re not on a second. We’re on third, and this is the first homerun. It really was.”
Casa Bella began its new life Saturday morning with UTB-TSC faculty, staff, students and parents attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by student move-in day.
Most importantly for a dorm, there were students to fill it as they gathered in line to register and receive their keys.
Garcia said The Village at Fort Brown, a TSC-owned property, will no longer be used for UTB students.
“The biggest reason is, the housing is not good housing,” she said. “It was 30 years old when we bought it. So, it needs to be razed and we need to start over. That’s going to be Texas Southmost College’s work to do. It won’t be compliant for housing.”
Ivonne Montes de Oca, 18, said she braved a 12-hour bus ride from Waco to Brownsville to move into her dorm room on Saturday. She will be a freshman majoring in business management.
“It’s big!” she said opening the unit’s door for the first time. “It’s gorgeous. Like a hotel or something.”
She said she was not aware of the UTB-TSC split.
Saturday was only her third visit to Brownsville, she said.
“It’s nice. It’s really friendly,” she said of the city, noting she has a cousin enrolled at UTB-TSC. “I’ve got to find out where all my classes are, worry about my books. ... I’m kind of trying to absorb the feel of it, I guess.”
Romealdo (CQ) Lopez helped his son Erick (CQ) move in Saturday, unloading the back of an SUV and grabbing a handful of dress ties. He said he was aware of the UTB-TSC split and The Village at Fort Brown.
The main reason his son chose UTB, though the family lives in Mission, was because of its early medical school acceptance program, he said.
“It’s a blessing because it has everything here,” he said of Casa Bella. “It looks secure. ... I have a lot of confidence in them because right now when we arrived it’s very organized and clean. ... It’s really nice, isn’t it?”