EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Paso city representatives prepare to revisit the Downtown Deck Plaza proposal in early March as newly obtained public records and financial reviews show the long‑planned project remains far from fully funded.

The proposed 6.5‑acre Deck Plaza is envisioned as a public park complete with an amphitheater, field house, dog park, playground and other amenities, according to the project’s official FAQ page.

Max Grossman, with El Paso Taxpayer Revolt, submitted an open‑records request to review the project’s financial status. Grossman found that the majority of grant applications the City sought to support the deck plaza were denied.

“Four of them were rejected. Three are pending and one was awarded. The one that was awarded was about $1 million, slightly under $60 million rejected, which was a real shocker. And a bit over $38 million pending. All of them together, about $100 million, only about a million were awarded. That’s less than 1% of what the city is hoping to get,” Grossman said.

City Council is scheduled to take up the item on Tuesday, March 3, deciding whether to authorize the city manager to sign an agreement with TxDOT to move forward with design work.

The design phase is expected to cost $10.6 million, with the City contributing a little more than $500,000 and covering any additional costs.

Grossman argues that El Paso has a history of under‑budgeting large capital projects, raising concerns that taxpayers could eventually absorb cost overruns.

A feasibility study’s assessment reports that the overall project would cost around $207 million in 2027 dollars. However after taking into account additional infrastructure and development, the true total could reach closer to half a billion dollars.

“I am worried that the taxpayers will have to foot the bill,” Grossman said.

“Our taxes keep going up every year. We have other priorities before building a concrete slab over our freeway,” he said.

KTSM reached out to the City of El Paso for clarification on the status of the Deck Plaza, its grant strategy and details of the pending advanced funding agreement. The City did not respond before this report aired.

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