McAllen Metro Development (incl. Mission, Edinburg)

[Matt777]

This thread is for the growing McAllen Metro region in Hidalgo County, part of the Rio Grande Valley. I am from this area and now live in Dallas, so I am pretty in tune with whats going on.

The area is growing rapidly, with the metro area just surpassing a population of 700,000. Everyday things change, and the economy is growing fast, with new people moving in from across the nation and world.

The area is ranked as one of the fastest growing, best place to buy real estate, job opportunities by several publications. Still, little is known about the region.

The main cities in the region are McAllen, Edinburg, and Mission, which border each other with many more outlying towns.

Public transportation is provided by MET (McAllen Express Transit) which provides bus service in the area, and there is talks of a passenger rail system, which is discussed in another thread here. McAllen International Airport serves the area with nonstop flights to Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, and Orlando. Delta recently pulled out ending nonstop service to LAX and Atlanta.

http://mcallen.net/images/news/MetReleasePic.jpg

While downtowns in many American cities have suffered, downtown McAllen has always been vibrant, with shoppers clogging the streets, a main bus terminal providing local, national, and international service, and a traditional downtown multilevel JCPenney department store, including the original retro signage. 17th Street is evolving as an arts/entertainment district, and a local ArtWalk is held in the fall through spring months where local galleries and artists open their doors and people walk the different venues:

www.mcallenartwalk.com

http://mcallenartwalk.com/images/photoalbum/9/Art_Walk____11_02_07_007sm.jpg
Lots of pics at website.

And the Heart of the City program continues to help improve and grow the downtown sector, including a new multistory parking garage that opened with retail space on the ground floor:

http://www.mcallenheartofthecity.com/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3267/2393040243_dc03722854.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/120764374_5b361f50f8.jpg?v=1172160950

http://www.vestahospitality.com/images/port_mcallen.jpg

http://www.alamoarchitects.com/projects/civic/McAllen-Parking-Garage/01.jpg
(parking garage now complete)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/157554199_ec400f190b.jpg?v=0

http://www.texasarchitect.org/ta/2008-05/portfolio1.jpg

http://www.rgvpride.com/images/mcallenconventioncenter.JPG

Future projects in next posts:

[Matt777]

Centennial Park Development:

This will be a project where a large reservoir south of downtown will be drained to create a large mixed use development with retail, dining, apartments, condos, offices, hotels, and civic buildings, including a children's museum and a branch of a local college.

The developer is Henry S Miller sustainable, same people behind West Village:
http://www.hsmpartners.us/

(screenshots from video)

http://www.hsmpartners.com/homeimages01/home2.jpg

http://www.hsmpartners.com/homeimages01/home1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Isuzu777/vlcsnap-680772.png

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Isuzu777/vlcsnap-680528.png

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Isuzu777/vlcsnap-679703.png

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Isuzu777/vlcsnap-677537.png



Condo Market:

While the rest of the nation is feeling a condo downturn, it is a growing sector in the area. The great thing about these is that most 2/2 condos with luxurious finishes sell for less than $200k. Much of the investment is coming from Mexico. Here are some projects underway:


VANTAGE HOTEL/CONDOS, SHARYLAND (MISSION)
Sold out, even before construction is done- http://www.infinityglobalus.com/vantage

http://www.infinityglobalus.com/vantage/img/gal05.jpg
http://www.infinityglobalus.com/vantage/img/gal03.jpg



MIRAGE HOTEL/CONDOS, SHARYLAND (MISSION)
http://www.infinityglobalus.com/mirage/ (must view in spanish, english link down)

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk349/isuzu777_album/mir1.jpg



PALMS TOWERS, SHARYLAND (MISSION)
3, 5-story condo buildings- http://www.at3palms.com/


INFINITY BLU and DOWNTOWN SHARY, SHARYLAND (MISSION)

(Websites up soon, more condo units and attached retail area).



LUXE GALLERY, MCALLEN:

http://gimages.gabriels.net/?q=80&w=0&mw=0&h=353&mh=353&f=Living+Choices/Portal/Livingchoices.com&s=images.ncinfo.net_101-537877054_2_0x353.jpg&i=http://images.ncinfo.net/phototmp/THUMBNAILS/ExtraLarge/36801/543504307.jpg

http://gimages.gabriels.net/?q=80&w=0&mw=0&h=353&mh=353&f=Living+Choices/Portal/Livingchoices.com&s=images.ncinfo.net_101-537877054_1_0x353.jpg&i=http://images.ncinfo.net/phototmp/THUMBNAILS/ExtraLarge/36801/543504227.jpg


SKYVIEW LAS PALMAS, EDINBURG:

Really odd looking 22 story tower surrounded by midrise lofts
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/teonuke/100_0890.jpg





PALMS CROSSING:

Simon Retail development attached to new convention center, including the city's first PF Changs, BJs, Mimi's, DSW, others, and the city's 3rd Best Buy.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/issaaa/PC1.png


More to come soon later!

[I45Tex]

That's encouraging. It's nice for Texas' better-known places to have ample company in being spots that are more 'progressive' than the East and West Coasts: that are not all about high-stakes amenities at the expense of being good towns for regular flexibility, for expanding your business and your home and so on when you're not already a millionaire.

UT Pan-American is planning enormous campus expansions, although I don't know if designs have gotten done. Keep up the good news posting, thanks, Matt>

[Highway 6]

It's good to see this kind of development in the Valley. No doubt about it, the population there has grown by leaps and bounds. The problem has been that very few people -- including many who live there -- really understand the local economy, so the area has not gotten much outside investment. Also, the economic growth is not distributed well, so much of the population remains in the lower economic registers.

This obviously doesn't have much to do with Dallas development, but thanks for the post.

[Dariusb]

The Rio Grande Metro is loking good.

[jovangonzales]

The Rio Grande Metro is loking good.

I agree! I had no clue! I feel so uninformed.

I've never heard it referred to as the "Rio Grande Metro", but I like it. Sounds better than just "South Texas" or "The Valley". It will soon be the largest metro on the Rio Grande, it is only surpassed by ABQ.