The city of San Benito is using specially crafted legislation that allows for the use of hotel/motel tax funds to develop a nearly 40-acre project of retail, restaurants and medical facilities near the corner of Paso Real Highway and Expressway 77. City officials and Western Spherical Developers broke ground on Oct. 23 for what people are calling the Rio Grande Valley Epicenter. It would arguably be San Benito’s most significant…
Marisa Oliva recalls walking a group of local high school students through the Edinburg World Birding Center when they came across a visiting birder. He told the students about the wide array of migratory and native birds they have to enjoy in their native Rio Grande Valley. The group moved on, leaving the birder to his pastime. Oliva said a girl in the group then remarked, “How does a guy…
George Perez owns an iconic Brownsville restaurant whose name is ingrained into the city it has served for nearly 90 years. Mario Dominguez Jr. makes barbecue so renowned that it made Texas Monthly’s Top 50 for being among the best in the Lone Star State. And yet, in both cases, neither restaurant owner assumed their Valley businesses would survive the seismic disruptions of 2020. Adjustments had to be made quickly…
The view from Isla Blanca Park across a ship channel presents a long lens picture similar to that of Cape Canaveral in Florida. In South Texas, it’s SpaceX off in the distance at Boca Chica Beach. It’s still close enough that with a smartphone camera you can zoom in and get a clear view of a silver rocket being built for liftoff in the months ahead. “I tell people that…
Rafael Tapia believes in the steady-but-sure approach to economic development, or as much as is possible in a field where competition is the norm and falling short on prospects happens more often than landing successes. Tapia is the executive director of the Alamo Economic Development Corporation. Both of the cities to his immediate west – Pharr and San Juan – have seen surges of growth along their expressway corridor as…
Harlingen’s largely vacant Valle Vista Mall is getting an investment boost as a Los Angeles-based company announced it had acquired the retail space formerly occupied by Dillard’s. BH Properties said it is analyzing the best use for its new property, which since 1983 had been an anchor store at Valle Vista until its recent closure. The company said its Harlingen acquisition is a good fit in its strategies to re-imagine…
Looking at Nana’s Taqueria today with its multicolored courtyard, well-stocked gift shop and cozy restaurant filled with patrons, you would never guess how it all got started. Eight tables in a small room, a husband-and-wife team, one employee and an immigrant family were struggling to find their footing in a new country. It’s a story that has taken 12 years to build – and it’s still going strong. Roxanna Trevino…
The intersection of FM 802/Ruben Torres and I-69C is among Brownsville’s busiest corners. An old-school filling station with gas pumps and cars jacked up on lifts stood on that location for years. Even as Sunrise Mall’s renovation and rebirth loomed behind it, the 1970s-era gas station lingered, a holdout to the past with new developments all around it. The pressure to sell such a coveted corner of real estate finally…
Threads of yellow and white are wound tight in spools on roll holders leaning left in long lines. Haresh Sachi can see it all through the windows of his office, a view of a factory floor at a manufacturing facility a block from Expressway 77/83 in Harlingen. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in textile engineering to go with years of real-world experience. He enjoys taking on challenges. Sachi found…
Everything is coming up golden for Iselle Perez. It shows in her smile and a new boutique gaining a footing in Brownsville. Golden Girl Boutique is tucked next to the Vermillion, an iconic Brownsville restaurant and watering hole she co-owns with her husband, George. Golden Girl is Iselle’s enterprise. It’s a business she launched in spring 2020. Those were perilous months to start anything new given all of the public…