Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville's owners of record are free in Cameron Appraisal District's public-domain roll: Brownsville ISD and Texas Southmost College hold the most valuable ground, the federal government the most land, CBL owns Sunrise Mall, HCA and Tenet own the two big hospitals, and the Port leases its LNG sites - but no public record states what anything sold for.
11 buildings · 11 with an owner established · 11 sources · 5 tier B · 6 tier A · prepared 2026-10-15
Can you find out who owns it?
Texas keeps no public title register; ownership is read from the county appraisal district. Brownsville lies in Cameron County, where the Cameron Appraisal District publishes its 2026 certified roll - owner of record, mailing address, legal description, deed date, type and instrument, state class, acreage and value for every account - as free downloads (text, JSON and a one-row-per-account spreadsheet) plus a parcel shapefile, and states that the information 'is considered in the public domain'. Deeds are recorded by the Cameron County Clerk, whose online Official Public Records search sells copies at $1 a page, $5 to certify and $5 a search. What no record holds is a price: Texas has no mandatory sales disclosure, and sales an appraisal district obtains privately are confidential under Government Code Sec. 552.149.
Is ownership public?An open dataset names the owner
Cost of one title searchOwner of record free (Cameron Appraisal District certified exports); deed copies $1.00 per page, $5.00 per certification and $5.00 per search (Cameron County Clerk)
Bulk ownership dataCameron Appraisal District 2026 Certified Data Export (simplified): one record per account, 224,133 accounts countywide, 77,084 in the City of Brownsville taxing unit (CBR); free, stated to be in the public domain
Sale pricesNo transaction data published
1
The marquee buildings
The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.
| Building | Use | Owner | Owner type | Last price paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunrise Mall 2370 N Expressway 77/83, Brownsville 911,500 sq ft (total centre; 242,175 sq ft in-line GLA) |
Retail | CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (CBL SM Brownsville LLC) 100% CBL's 2025 10-K lists Sunrise Mall, Brownsville, TX as opened 1979, acquired 2003, last expanded 2015, 100% owned, 911,500 sq ft, in-line stores 97% leased at $454 a foot; anchors Barnes & Noble, Cinemark, Dick's, Dillard's, JC Penney, Main Event. Schedule III carries it at $43.5M gross (dated 2003) and marks it 'Encumbered by the secured term loan'. On the 2026 roll the mall parcel (CAD 57651, 13.79 ac, $27.9M market) and the Cinemark, Dick's and outparcel accounts stand in the name CBL SM Brownsville LLC, mailed to CBL's Chattanooga office; six accounts, about 40 acres, $42.0M. The $43.5M is book cost, not a price. Owning entity's name from the 2026 Cameron CAD roll (s1). |
REIT | —B |
| Rio Grande LNG export terminal (site) State Hwy 48, Brownsville Ship Channel north shore (outside the City limit) about 1,000 acres, 15,000 ft of channel frontage |
Industrial | Brownsville Navigation District of Cameron County Land owner and lessor. NextDecade's 2025 10-K: Rio Grande LNG leases about 1,000 acres from the Brownsville Navigation District of Cameron County, primary term to 12 July 2053 plus two 10-year renewals. Trains 1-5 are under construction (Phase 1 about $18.0B; Trains 4 and 5 about $6.7B each), owned by joint ventures in which NextDecade expects up to about 20.8% (Phase 1), 40% (Train 4) and 50% (Train 5) of distributions; GIP, GIC and Mubadala are among the equity partners. The roll carries Rio Grande LNG LLC's 969.45-acre leasehold ('Land Lease #4375') and $805M of construction in progress; neither is in the City's taxing unit. |
Government | —A |
| Valley Regional Medical Center 100 E Alton Gloor Blvd, Brownsville 25.8 acres |
Institutional | Columbia Valley Healthcare System, L.P. (HCA Healthcare) The 2026 roll names 'Columbia Valley Healthcare Sys LP' as owner of the hospital account (CAD 50623, dba Valley Regional Medical Center, 25.82 ac, $24.6M) and an adjoining 11.1-acre reserve; two accounts, about 37 acres, $26.4M. HCA Healthcare's 2025 Exhibit 21 lists Columbia Valley Healthcare System, L.P. and Brownsville-Valley Regional Medical Center, Inc. among its subsidiaries. Owner from the roll; parent from the filing. |
Public company | —B |
| Valley Baptist Medical Center - Brownsville 1040 W Jefferson St, Brownsville |
Institutional | VHS Brownsville Hospital Company, LLC (Tenet Healthcare) Tenet's 2025 10-K lists 'Valley Baptist Medical Center - Brownsville, Brownsville, 240 [licensed beds], Owned'. Its Exhibit 21 lists VHS Brownsville Hospital Company, LLC (Delaware) as a 100%-owned subsidiary. On the 2026 roll that company owns the hospital account (CAD 29951, 6.61 ac, $24.0M) and four more, $25.5M in all, mailed to Tenet's Overland Park tax office; Valley Baptist Realty Corp holds a further 2.4 acres at 800 Jefferson. Owning entity's name from the 2026 Cameron CAD roll (s1). |
Public company | —B |
| Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport 700 S Minnesota Ave, Brownsville about 1,700 acres |
Civic | City of Brownsville Wikipedia's infobox gives the owner as the City of Brownsville and the area as 1,700 acres; a new 91,000 sq ft terminal opened in 2021, and in 2014 the City bought 8.2 acres for about $200,000 for a proposed runway extension. On the roll the terminal building (CAD 128471, 'Brownsville South Padre Island', building only) and the surrounding El Jardin blocks of 88-188 acres stand in the name City of Brownsville or 'City of Brownsville (Airport)'. |
Government | —B |
| Brownsville Sports Park 1000 Sports Park Blvd, Brownsville 159.4 acres |
Civic | Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation Not the City itself: the 2026 roll names Brownsville Community Improvement Corp (the City's economic-development corporation) as owner of Lot 1, Brownsville Sports Park (CAD 252040, 159.42 ac, $2.46M, exempt), on a gift deed dated 30 Mar 2004. An 8.8-acre reserve on Sports Park Blvd is privately held. |
Government | —A |
| Texas Southmost College main campus 80 Fort Brown St / 1780 Ridgely Rd, Brownsville 49.0 acres (main account) |
Institutional | Texas Southmost College District The roll names Texas Southmost College District on the 49.02-acre main campus account (CAD 37898, $76.2M) and the 34.4-acre ITEC Center on Mexico Blvd ($24.4M); the district holds 69 accounts inside the City, about 129 acres and $115.0M - more value than any owner except Brownsville ISD. |
Government | —A |
| UT Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville campus University Blvd / Ringgold Rd, Brownsville |
Institutional | Board of Regents of The University of Texas System Inside the City the roll names the UT Board of Regents on 63 accounts, about 195 acres and $36.1M, among them an 80.2-acre tract at 25th St & Ringgold (Los Tomates Banco), 41.56 acres bought in September 2013, University Park lots including one with the dba 'UTRGV' at 2395 University Blvd, and the 7.34-acre University Apartments. The campus core adjoins Texas Southmost College's land; which buildings sit on which owner's parcels is not stated in the roll. |
Government | —A |
| Gateway International Bridge (US port of entry) 1350 E Elizabeth St, Brownsville |
Civic | Cameron County The roll names Cameron County on a 0.62-acre account with dba 'Gateway Bridge' at 1350 Elizabeth St (CAD 27876, exempt). The bridge structure itself is not separately listed. |
Government | —A |
| B&M (Brownsville & Matamoros) International Bridge E St Francis St / Rio Grande, Brownsville |
Civic | Brownsville Matamoros Bridge Co The roll carries 'Brownsville Matamoros Bridge Co' with a building-only account on 12.45 acres of the Espiritu Santo Grant (CAD 62825, $1.99M, class J5 - railroads) mailed to 1400 Douglas St Stop 1640, Omaha, which is the mailing address Union Pacific's and Missouri Pacific's accounts also use; a second account is in the name 'Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge Co' (2 ac). The roll does not state who owns the bridge company. |
Private company | —B |
| SpaceX Starbase (City of Starbase - outside Brownsville) 1 Rocket Rd, Starbase |
Industrial | Space Exploration Technologies Corp Context only: Starbase is its own city (taxing unit CSTB, 381 of the company's accounts), not part of Brownsville. The 2026 roll names Space Exploration Technologies Corp on 498 accounts countywide (real and business personal property), about 2,405 acres; its largest is 'Buildings & Improvements' at 1 Rocket Rd, Starbase ($462.7M). Only three of its accounts are in Brownsville's taxing unit: equipment at the airport industrial park (1900 Billy Mitchell Blvd, 2100 Les Mauldin Rd) and a 1.65-acre leasehold on Navigation District land. |
Private company | —A |
2
The core land
The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.
Computed from Cameron Appraisal District's 2026 certified roll (simplified export of 29 Jul 2026), restricted to accounts whose taxing units include the City of Brownsville (CBR). Values are CAD market values for tax year 2026, not prices.
Real-property accounts in the City68,817 accounts on about 93,470 acres; $15.67B market value
Plus 6,680 business-personal-property and 1,587 mobile-home accounts. Acreage counted once per parcel. Cameron CAD 2026 export, read 2026-10-15.
Highest-valued account$76.2M - Texas Southmost College main campus
CAD 37898, 49.02 acres at 1780 Ridgely Rd, exempt. The highest taxable account is Linde Inc's air separation unit in the North Brownsville Industrial Park ($54.2M, 7245 Industrial Circle). Countywide the largest is Rio Grande LNG's $805M construction in progress, outside the City.
Downtown (Brownsville Original Townsite)2,063 accounts on about 364 acres; $367.4M
Accounts whose legal description names the Brownsville Original Townsite. The City holds 163 of them ($44.4M), Cameron County 52 ($18.5M), Solaris Management Solutions LLC 28 ($10.1M) and Brownsville ISD 14 ($8.7M).
Sale pricesNone recorded
Texas has no mandatory sales disclosure, and the roll's deed fields give a date, type and instrument but never a price.
3
Who owns the town
At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.
Inside the City of Brownsville's taxing unit the largest landholder by far is the federal government - wildlife-refuge, battlefield and border land on the city's eastern and southern edges - followed by the City itself and Brownsville ISD, which holds more value than any other owner. The largest private acreage is farmland on the north-east and east sides, held by farming partnerships and land companies. Figures are from Cameron Appraisal District's 2026 certified roll, restricted to accounts in the City taxing unit (CBR); name variants are combined where listed, acreage is counted once per parcel where several co-owners share an undivided tract, and one obvious keying error (a 0.462-acre right of way carried as 462.6 acres) is excluded. The Port of Brownsville's land lies almost entirely outside the City, and the roll carries little of the Navigation District's own fee land - its leased sites appear in the tenants' names.
| Name | Type | Cameron CAD 2026, City of Brownsville taxing unit |
|---|---|---|
| United States of America (US Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Customs and Border Protection) $70.0M of value. The largest is an 11,647.5-acre Santa Isabel Grant tract (CAD 118351) and further 900-2,100-acre tracts mailed to the Fish & Wildlife Service's regional realty office - Lower Rio Grande Valley and Laguna Atascosa refuge land - plus 583 and 373 acres of Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park and 73 small border-wall accounts held 'acting thru US Customs and Border Protection'. |
Government | 239 accounts, about 26,690 acresA |
| City of Brownsville $163.0M, under five spellings including 'City of Brownsville (Airport)' and a few accounts in the name 'City of Brownsville PUB'. The airport's El Jardin blocks (88-188 acres each), the 166-acre former Fort Brown reserve on the river levee, the 102-acre municipal golf course, Lincoln Park and the downtown blocks (163 accounts, $44.4M in the Original Townsite). |
Government | 752 accounts, about 4,020 acresA |
| Brownsville Independent School District $683.1M - the most value held by any owner in the City. Largest: Veterans Memorial High School (80.3 ac, $74.8M), Hanna High School ($56.8M), Lopez campus (70.2 ac, $46.4M) and Ortiz Elementary ($45.0M). Includes five accounts of the Brownsville ISD Public Facility Corp. IDEA Public Schools (7 accounts, 187 ac, $34.0M) and Los Fresnos CISD (18 accounts, $24.1M) also own schools inside the City. |
Government | 136 accounts, about 1,190 acresA |
| State of Texas (incl. Texas Transportation Commission and Texas Parks & Wildlife) $33.2M; 224 of the accounts are expressway right of way ('Expressway', 'Expressway-State'). Texas Parks & Wildlife holds 4 accounts, about 1,110 acres. |
Government | 632 accounts, about 1,760 acresA |
| R E C L Inc $4.5M; mostly farmland (state class D1) including a 379.5-acre tract at FM 1732 & Olmito, plus car-dealership sites on the Expressway; mailed to 1603 E Price Rd. The roll does not name who owns the company. |
Private company | 38 accounts, about 1,540 acresA |
| Russell Plantation LP (and Russell Plantation Ltd Partnership) $3.4M, farmland on the Espiritu Santo Grant along Hwy 100 and Iowa Gardens, mailed to Los Fresnos. Countywide the partnerships hold 29 accounts and about 4,690 acres. |
Private company | 9 accounts, about 1,370 acresA |
| Madeira Properties Ltd $3.6M; a single 1,208.6-acre Espiritu Santo Grant tract on Hwy 100, mailed to an Expressway office in Brownsville. |
Private company | 1 account, 1,208.6 acresA |
| J & I Partners Ltd $3.0M, including 847.7 acres on FM 510 (class E rural land), mailed to Los Fresnos. |
Private company | 9 accounts, about 1,070 acresA |
| Cameron County $41.8M, including the courthouse and detention centre blocks downtown (52 accounts, $18.5M in the Original Townsite), the Gateway Bridge account and the County's Regional Mobility Authority. Cameron County Drainage District No. 1 holds 76 more accounts, about 290 acres. |
Government | 195 accounts, about 590 acresA |
| Brownsville Public Utilities Board $10.6M under three spellings ('Brownsville Public Utilities Board', 'Public Utilities Board', 'Brownsville Public Utilities Board of'); a handful more stand in the name 'City of Brownsville PUB'. |
Government | 66 accounts, about 420 acresA |
| Board of Regents of The University of Texas System (UTRGV) $36.1M; the Brownsville campus lands around Ringgold Rd and University Blvd and the University Apartments. |
Government | 63 accounts, about 195 acresA |
| Texas Southmost College District $115.0M; the main campus (49.0 ac, $76.2M, the highest-valued account in the City) and the ITEC Center (34.4 ac, $24.4M). |
Government | 69 accounts, about 129 acresA |
| Housing authorities and their non-profits $92.1M: Brownsville Housing Opportunity Corporation (99 accounts, $31.4M), Cameron County Housing Authority (53), the Housing Authority of the City of Brownsville under two spellings (44). |
Government | 216 accounts, about 230 acresA |
| Brownsville Navigation District of Cameron County Only $1.2M and six accounts are carried in the District's name inside the City (Ruben M Torres Blvd, Boca Chica Blvd, Yolanda del Rio Rd); the Port's own industrial land outside the City is barely on the roll, where leased sites are taxed to tenants - Rio Grande LNG's 969-acre leasehold, Bay Bridge Texas's 'building only on leased land' and others. |
Government | 6 accounts, about 395 acres inside the CityA |
| Union Pacific Railroad / Missouri Pacific Railroad $0.8M of right of way and yards inside the City, under four spellings, mailed to Union Pacific's Omaha tax office. |
Public company | 17 accounts, about 60 acresA |
| Inversa Real Estate Holdings LLC The most accounts of any owner in the City: 893 platted lots in 'Padre Isabel Estates' on Old Port Isabel Rd, each about 0.11 acre and valued at $190, on deeds dated January-February 2020. The roll does not say what the company intends for them. |
Private company | 893 accounts, about 107 acresA |
5
Who builds the houses
New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.
No national public builder holds land inside Brownsville on the 2026 roll - no D.R. Horton, Lennar, LGI or other listed name appears. New houses are built by Rio Grande Valley firms, often on lots bought one subdivision at a time. The figures count accounts held in each builder's name inside the City limit (lots and unsold houses, including roll class O 'residential inventory') - not homes built. No league table of Brownsville starts by builder was found.
| Name | Type | Accounts held inside the City, Cameron CAD 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Esperanza Homes Brownsville LLC About 10 acres, mostly vacant lots (class C1), mailed to McAllen. |
Private company | 72 accountsA |
| Zagar Builders LLC 39 of them residential inventory; about 25 acres, $22.2M - the highest value of any builder, because it includes finished houses and apartments. |
Private company | 53 accountsA |
| Kappa Homes LLC All residential inventory, about 7.6 acres, mailed to Cedar Park, Texas. |
Private company | 36 accountsA |
| KMR Builders LLC About 5.6 acres of lots, mailed to Brownsville. |
Private company | 34 accountsA |
| Palo Alto Homes Inc About 8.5 acres, mailed to Mission, Texas. Tejano Homes Inc holds 14, SI Builders LLC 12, Joy Signature Homes Inc and SMD Builders LLC 11 each. |
Private company | 16 accountsA |
| Hakes Brothers MATX LLC About 3.2 acres, mailed to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Lot developers include HDP Palo Alto LLC (63 lots, Evanston IL), La Jolla Estates LLC (70) and Prisma Developments LLC (37). |
Private company | 19 accountsA |
6
Commercial landlords
The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.
Brownsville's commercial landlords are mostly regional: the one listed REIT with a large footprint is CBL, which owns Sunrise Mall and Sunrise Commons outright. Big-box retailers own their own stores, and the industrial parks along the airport and FM 802 belong to out-of-state industrial investors. Figures are 2026 roll accounts and market value inside the City.
| Name | Type | Cameron CAD 2026, City of Brownsville taxing unit |
|---|---|---|
| CBL & Associates Properties (CBL SM Brownsville LLC; CBL Sunrise Commons Propco LLC) Sunrise Mall (911,500 sq ft) and Sunrise Commons (205,656 sq ft, carried with an $8.5M mortgage in CBL's Schedule III), both 100% owned per CBL's 2025 10-K. |
REIT | 7 accounts, about 40 acres; $52.6MA |
| Walmart Inc. Stores on Boca Chica Blvd (38.7 ac) and Ruben M Torres Blvd (18.4 ac) among them, mailed to Bentonville. H-E-B (H E Butt Grocery Co) owns 5 more accounts, $20.3M. |
Public company | 5 accounts, about 92 acres; $44.5MA |
| PV Brownsville LLC / PV NAFTA LLC Industrial buildings at the airport (1900 Billy Mitchell Blvd) and in the NAFTA Industrial Park, mailed to San Diego and Bee Cave, Texas. |
Private company | 14 accounts, about 62 acres; $41.9MA |
| Phoenix Brownsville Industrial Investors LLC (and II) The 83.4-acre account at 6700 Paredes Line Rd with dba 'CK Technologies' ($35.7M) and 27.3 adjoining acres, mailed to Milwaukee; deeds dated May 2024 and January 2025. |
Private company | 3 accounts, about 111 acres; $36.8MA |
| Gold Star Warehousing Ltd Industrial buildings in Coffee Port Industrial Park, on Central Blvd and Padre Island Hwy whose roll 'dba' fields name the occupiers (SATA USA, Contec and others); mailed to a Brownsville PO box. |
Private company | 20 accounts, about 78 acres; $28.1MA |
| Kimco Brownsville LP Las Tiendas Plaza at 571 Morrison Rd ($20.5M) and pads on the Expressway, mailed to Kimco's Jericho NY office. Kimco's 2025 Schedule III lists only 'North Towne Plaza - Brownsville' ($2.5M gross) as a wholly owned Brownsville holding, so the partnership's ownership is not stated in that filing. (Schedule III: source s9.) |
Private company | 3 accounts, about 27 acres; $27.4MB |
?
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- Texas LNG (Glenfarne) - the second LNG project on Port land - does not appear on the 2026 roll under any LNG or Glenfarne name, and its lease terms with the Navigation District were not found in any filing opened; its site owner and lessee are not recorded here.
- The Port of Brownsville's total landholding could not be established: the Port's own site returned 403, and the appraisal roll carries little of the Navigation District's exempt fee land.
- Who owns the Brownsville Matamoros Bridge Co: the roll mails its account to the same Omaha tax address Union Pacific uses, but no filing opened states the company's owners.
- Kimco Brownsville LP (Las Tiendas Plaza): the partnership is not among Kimco's wholly owned properties in its 2025 Schedule III; whether it is a joint venture or a former holding was not established.
- UTRGV Brownsville campus: which campus buildings stand on UT System parcels and which on Texas Southmost College District parcels is not stated on the roll.
- Cameron County's Official Public Records search (cameron.tx.publicsearch.us) was not opened, so deed instruments behind the roll's deed dates were not read; none would carry a price in any case.
§
Sources
- 2026 Certified Data Export (simplified), 29 Jul 2026: one record per account - owner of record, mailing address, situs, legal description, deed date and type, state code, acreage, values, taxing units - 224,133 accounts — Cameron Appraisal District · openA
- Downloads: Data Export and GIS Parcels (certified 2026 exports in text, JSON and spreadsheet form; GIS parcel shapefile of 15 Sep 2026 'Contains owner/appraisal data'; Data Disclaimer) — Cameron Appraisal District · openA
- Form 10-K for 2025: property table (Sunrise Mall, Brownsville TX - 1979/2003, 100%, 911,500 sq ft; Sunrise Commons 205,656 sq ft) and Schedule III ('(5) Encumbered by the secured term loan') — CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · openA
- Form 10-K for 2025, Item 2 Properties ('Valley Baptist Medical Center - Brownsville… 240 Owned') and Exhibit 21 (VHS Brownsville Hospital Company, LLC) — Tenet Healthcare Corporation (SEC EDGAR) · openA
- Form 10-K for 2025, Item 2 Properties (Rio Grande Site Lease with the Brownsville Navigation District, about 1,000 acres, primary term to 12 July 2053) and joint-venture distribution shares — NextDecade Corporation (SEC EDGAR) · openA
- Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport (infobox owner City of Brownsville; 1,700 acres; 2021 terminal) — Wikipedia · openB
- Exhibit 21 to Form 10-K for 2025: Columbia Valley Healthcare System, L.P.; Brownsville-Valley Regional Medical Center, Inc. — HCA Healthcare, Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · openA
- Exhibit 21 to Form 10-K for 2025 (VHS Brownsville Hospital Company, LLC, 100% held) — Tenet Healthcare Corporation (SEC EDGAR) · openA
- Form 10-K for 2025, Schedule III ('North Towne Plaza - Brownsville', TX, $2.5M gross) — Kimco Realty Corporation (SEC EDGAR) · openA
- Real Property / Land Records (recording $35 first page, $4 each after; deed copies 'The fee is $1 per page and $5 per certification, and $5 per search'; Official Public Records Search at cameron.tx.publicsearch.us) — Cameron County Clerk · openA
- 2026 Mass Appraisal Report ('Texas does not have mandatory sales disclosure'; Government Code Sec. 552.149 confidentiality of privately obtained sales) — Harris Central Appraisal District · openA