One Former and One Current State Rep Are Set To Get Part of Lucrative Houston Airport Contracts
Aug. 18—City Council on Wednesday passed a highly lucrative contract granting food and beverage shops inside Bush Intercontinental Airport to a partnership that includes a former legislative colleague and longtime friend of Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Airport concessions contracts, among the most profitable available at City Hall, typically inspire lengthy debate and often a fair dose of controversy.
That hardly was the case Wednesday, when one 10-year contract was approved unanimously with almost no discussion and a vote on another was delayed for a week. The two deals, offering food, beverage and retail space inside the airport's newly renovated Terminals D and E, would bring an estimated $116.4 million to the city's coffers over the next decade. The operators getting the contracts would see far more gross revenue than that.
There was no public council briefing on the deals, a common though not required practice with high-profile matters. And the city publicly has not identified which coffee shops, restaurants and bars were included in the proposal and will appear before travelers in the Mickey Leland International Terminal, D- West Pier and International Central Processor. The city said it will publicly announce the vendors after the second contract passes City Council, and it allowed time for council members to ask questions privately.
An affiliate of London-based SSP Group is leading the food and beverage contract approved Wednesday, which will include 16 store fronts. Multiplex Inc., the concessions company founded by former state Rep. Helen Giddings of Dallas, is a 6 percent junior partner in that deal.
Giddings has owned the concessions company since 1989. She served for decades with Turner in the Texas House and once said they had desks, offices and Austin condos directly next to each other during their tenure there.
The SSP deal also involves Karen Garcia, the wife of Roland Garcia, who chaired the city's Hispanic Advisory Council for Turner. Garcia held the same role under then-Mayor Annise Parker. Bidding documents show he attended the conference meeting about the bid in September. Karen Garcia's KHG Consulting LLC is a 5 percent partner in the venture.
State Rep. Ana Hernandez, a Houston attorney who served for a decade with Turner before his election to City Hall in 2015, is a 10 percent partner in the retail contract now set for a vote next week, which is headlined by Paradies Lagardère.
Augusto Bernal, a spokesman for the Houston Airport System, touted Giddings' long career in concessions, including numerous businesses at Dallas Love Field Airport. And he said there is nothing that "generally precludes a state representative from participating in a city contract."
"The Mayor is not involved in the procurement or bid selection process," Bernal said. "He does not evaluate or select vendors, contractors or subcontractors and has no role in the bid process. The Mayor did not speak with any individual regarding the bid process on this contract."
Darryl Carter, a Houston attorney and lobbyist for Paradies who is a 20 percent partner on that contract, worked for Turner's first mayoral campaign. He threw a fundraiser for City Council member Tiffany Thomas last month, during the period when bidders are not allowed to speak to elected officials about their proposals.
Thomas said she was not aware at the time that Carter was involved in the bidding process and they had not discussed it. Once she learned he was, Thomas said, she returned the $5,000 check he wrote her at the fundraiser.
The retail deal features Tumi, a luxury luggage company, and Nap Bar, a Houston concept that offers sleeping spaces to customers, although it is unclear if those particular brands will be included. The registered agent for Nap Bar, Khaliah Guillory, served on the mayor's LGBTQ Advisory Board.
Also involved in the SSP partnership approved Wednesday: Alan Bergeron, a local owner of Denny's and Shipley's Donuts franchises who serves on the city's Office of Business Opportunity Advisory Board, a 4 percent partner; LaTrelle's, a Houston-based food brand manager with a long history in Houston airports, which will operate four units in the proposal; Charles Bush, owner of Vault Bar & Club, a 7 percent partner; and Mario Cediel, who used to work for SSP America and managed concessions at IAH for the company, whose Cediel Concessions Management is listed as a 3 percent partner.
At-Large City Council member Michael Kubosh was the only member to speak about the contracts, and he did so quickly.
"I had considered tagging this matter, but I spoke to a representative for this entity and they answered all of my questions," Kubosh said of the SSP contract. "That hasn't occurred yet on (Paradies) and I understand they're trying to get a hold of me, so I'll be supporting (SSP)."
The contracts typically are cash cows. The city, which gets between 5 and 23 percent of gross revenues depending on the type of store, anticipates reaping in $116.4 million over the decadelong deals, including $75 million in the SSP contract approved Wednesday.
The eight food concepts currently in Terminal D, which include three coffee shops, have made an average of $12 million combined in annual sales from 2018 to 2020, according to bidding materials. The new deal includes double the number of concepts, and those sales numbers came during disrupted travel years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 13 retail shops there made a cumulative average of $16 million a year in the same time period.
The last time City Council approved concessions contracts in 2015, questions were raised about a party hosted by Cindy Clifford, a partner in one of the contracts, at then-Mayor Parker's house. She also hosted fundraisers around the time for five council members. Carter at the time hosted two council members' gatherings, neither of whom remains on council. That year's process culminated with another lobbyist accusing Clifford of shoving him in the hallway outside council chambers.
The city also has an open request for proposals to control Hobby Airport's concessions, as well, that is likely to reach City Council soon.
Mike Morris contributed to this report.
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