Romerica Investments LLC has filed permit applications with the Army Corps, City of Houston, and Harris County Flood Control. Romerica Investments hopes to build 5,000 mid-rise condos, a series of high-rise towers ranging from 25 to 50 stories, and a marina to hold 800 40-foot boats and 200 jet skis – all on property deed-restricted to “single-family residential” in a bald-eagle habitat protection zone. The property is near River Grove Park in the floodplain and floodway of the San Jacinto’s West Fork.

However, a title search revealed that Romerica Investments does not own the property on which it intends to build. A search for who does own the property led through a maze of more than 30 other entities in Texas. Two individuals run virtually all of them. The individuals sometimes use different names and different spellings of their names when registering their businesses with the Texas Secretary of State. They also list offices that are sometimes vacant; phone numbers that have been disconnected; and an address on a street that does not exist. In the case of the land in question, they even registered the company under the first name of one man and the last name of the other. Innocent mistakes or part of a pattern? You judge.

Maze Haze

I searched websites of the Harris County District Clerk and Appraisal District; the Texas Secretary of State; CorporationWiki; Dun & Bradstreet; and Google. The search revealed at least 32 companies in Texas associated with variations on Fabio M. Covarrubias’ name and 24 under variations of Gabriel M. Haddad’s name. A large degree of overlap exists between the companies controlled by the two men. See below.

Covarrubias Companies

The name Fabio M. Covarrubias pulls up the following:

• ARTICA INVESTMENTS LLC
• B US TOTAL INVESTOR, LLC, aka American Vision Regional Center
• B US DEVELOPER, LLC
• Cova Capital Inc.
• Fama Design Corporation
• Lake Como Properties LLC
• MSR INTERNATIONAL, LLC
• MSR LOTUS AMERICA LLC
• Pacifica Properties Inc.
• Pacifica Properties LLC
• ROMAN ARROW, LLC
• ROMERICA C.L. 2 LLC
• ROMERICA ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
• Romerica Insurance LLC
• Romerica Investments LLC
• Romerica Real Estate LLC

The name Fabio M. Covarrubias Piffer (without a hyphen in the last names) is associated with:

• Cova Assets Inc.
• FAMA Ranch Company
• MSR LAND LLC
• MSR Serials LLC
• MSR TRAMONTANA AMERICA LLC
• North American Phosphates and Supplies Co.
• Romerica Assets LLC
• Romerica GP, LLC
• Romerica Investments LLC
• Romerica CW 3 LLC
• Romerica E 6 LLC
• Romerica R 1 LLC
• Romerica RMR 4 LLC
• Trio Sports Developments LLC

The name Fabio M. Covarrubias-Piffer (with a hyphen) is associated with:

• FAMA PROPERTIES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP

Fabio Massimo Covarrubias-Piffer (full middle name with hyphen) is associated with:

• Romerica Title, LLC

Haddad Companies

Gabriel Miguel Haddad’s name appears with:

• B US TOTAL INVESTOR, LLC, aka American Vision Regional Center
• DOSEVARE, LLC
• Fama Design Corporation
• MSR INTERNATIONAL, LLC
• MSR LOTUS AMERICA LLC
• Paban Corporate Services Inc.
• ROMAN ARROW, LLC
• Romerica Assets LLC
• ROMERICA ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
• Romerica Insurance, LLC
• Romerica Investments, LLC
• Romerica Real Estate, LLC

The name Gabriel M. Haddad Giorgi appears with nine more LLCs in Texas:

• Emprende Management, LLC
• MSR LAND, LLC
• MSR TRAMONTANA AMERICA, LLC
• Romerica C.L. 2, LLC
• Romerica CW 3, LLC
• Romerica E 6, LLC
• Romerica GP, LLC
• Romerica RMR 4, LLC
• Romerica M 5, LLC
• Romerica R 1, LLC
• Romerica Team, LLC

Gabriel Miguel (middle name spelled out) Haddad Giorgi is listed as the manager of:

• Romerica Title, LLC

And finally, in a class all its own, the name Fabio M. Haddad Giorgi appears on the Certificate of Formation of:

• Romerica M 5, LLC

In case you’re doing a double take, that’s the first name of one man with the last name of another. They amended that filing last year so that their names now appear as Fabio M. Covarrubias Piffer and Gabriel M. Haddad Giorgi.

Filing for Permit to Develop

Whew! Got all that? Now get this. Romerica Investments, the company that filed the permit application with the Corps, lists Mr. Covarrubias as both manager and director under two different names. Also note that the address on “Nuntucket” for Mr. Haddad does not exist; there is no such street. (Many of their filings use this misspelling. A Nantucket street does exist in Houston.)

Gabriel Miguel Haddad even registered Romerica Investments under the name Miguel Gabriel Haddad, flipping his first and middle names.

Company with Disconnected Phone Number Now Developing Multi-Billion Dollar Project

Dun & Bradstreet shows Romerica Investments as out of business. The company’s web site home page has shown “Future Home of…” for the last six years. After I pointed out some of these problems in previous posts, Manlove Advertising created a website suggesting that the Romerica Group will now develop the Kingwood Marina Project. See below.

Here’s where the plot thickens. The Romerica Group does not legally exist in Texas. The Texas Secretary of State lists no such company. Romerica Group’s phone has been disconnected. The Group’s website contains broken links to other supposedly related companies, such as Romerica Real Estate. The Texas Real Estate Commission lists Romerica Real Estate as inactive. And their American Vision site as been linked by International Appraiser to fake projects seeking investments from foreigners in exchange for visas.

So Many Questions, So Little Time; Developers Refuse to Meet

These observations raise many questions. Despite the developers’ claimed “commitment to dialog with stakeholders at every level,” they have refused to meet publicly to answer questions before the end of the Army Corps’ comment period. I have personally requested a meeting by phone, email, or certified mail seven times in the last seven weeks – all to no avail.

Developers commonly use different companies to acquire, sell, or subdivide land. That doesn’t bother me. The fact that registrations for so many of these companies contain inconsistencies, inaccuracies, misspellings, wrong addresses, aliases, broken links, dead ends and disconnected phone numbers does concern me.

None of the companies shows projects they have completed. Sometimes one company lists another as the owner, but the companies may be incorporated in different states or different countries. Plus they’re selling:

• Swampland dressed up as investments in a luxurious lifestyle
• A marina for boats that are too big for the river
• A project that violates Texas Parks and Wildlife’s bald eagle habitat protection zones
• Commercial/retail high rises on property that’s deed restricted for single-family residential.

My advice: Buyers beware. I use the term “buyers” in a global sense to include officials granting permits. I’m not buying any of this.

As always, these posts contain my opinions on matters of public policy which are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP statute of the Great State of Texas.

Posted by Bob Rehak on February 14, 2019

534 Days since Hurricane Harvey