Small Business: Luring Mexican Shoppers

Sam Marasco wants a footbridge between his U.S. mall and Tijuana

Sam Marasco is a character straight out of an early David Mamet play: a smooth-talking real estate kingpin whose boyish enthusiasm is at war with his gray-flecked hair. For more than two decades, Marasco, 46, has erected shopping centers and sports arenas throughout the Southwest. He never had global ambitions. But then he had a crazy dream: a huge open-air shopping and entertainment complex located in the San Diego suburb of San Ysidro--but connected to Tijuana, Mexico, by its very own 525-ft. pedestrian bridge. Marasco says he wants "to make the whole border-crossing experience full of color, light and energy." And...

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