McAllen’s commercial corridor did not stretch much further north than Dove Avenue in the early 1980s.
Flash forward to the present and the city’s north-bound landscape has been transformed. What was once far north McAllen is now a restaurant and shopping mecca. Developer Shavi Mahtani’s plans will add to making the area north of 10th Street and Trenton Road a place where families and friends will meet to shop and eat.
Mahtani, the president of Domain Development, is promoting one of his company’s newest developments, The District. This four-phase project along north 10th Street and Auburn Avenue will include restaurants, retail, office space, high-end apartments, a high-rise condominium complex and luxury townhomes.
“The back is where the meat, the heart, of the development is,” Mahtani said of Auburn Avenue.
Reaching North McAllen & Edinburg
What excites him most is the planned greenspace and water pad that will draw people of all ages outdoors.
The newest section of Phase One, a strip center on north 10th immediately south of Auburn, has already begun welcoming tenants. Domain Development refers to this section as Building A.
The first tenant to move into building A at The District, Nothing Bundt Cakes, opened in October 2024. This location, the fourth for owners Lisa and Michael Amaya, brings delectable baked-fresh-daily bundt cakes to north McAllen.
“It’s been fantastic,” Michael Amaya said of the newest shop. “Once we opened our doors, the community was excited.”
The District location gives easy access to Amaya’s customers in north McAllen and Edinburg, as well as those coming from medical, university and county government communities. Another tenant, Kiwami Ramen, snatched up the south end cap of building A. Kiwami Ramen serves made-from-scratch ramen, a technique its owners learned in Japan. The company website highlights how the restaurant “bridges the expertise of Japan with the diverse palates of America.”
Brunching Away
Meanwhile, brunch lovers can hardly wait for the opening of Another Broken Egg Café inside the north end cap of Building A. It’s scheduled to open this spring and fills a specific niche for Mahtani.
“One request we constantly receive is a brunch concept,” he said. “This will really fill that void.”
Al Treviño, the founder of CRUSH Enterprises, is the developer bringing Another Broken Egg Café to north McAllen.
“I’m really ecstatic to bring Another Broken Egg Café to the Rio Grande Valley, with its chef-inspired brunch and bar experience,” Treviño said. “I think the Valley’s energetic north McAllen food scene makes it the perfect place for such a vibrant concept.”
Ever Expanding
Other District tenants expected to open this year include Gen Korean BBQ House, Great Clips and The Baked Bear, which features custom ice-cream sandwiches made with a variety of baked-from-scratch cookies. Additional tenants are pending. Phase One stretches from The District’s building A to the pad site north of Red Lobster. That pad site will be home to the newest Cheddar’s in McAllen.
An available pad site sits between the future Cheddar’s and what will be Starbucks’ newest north McAllen location. Taco Palenque opened between the future Starbuck’s and building A to the delight of its large fan base.
Next up for The District is phase two. This phase includes convertible outdoor restaurants, a term used to describe eateries with retractable roofs or other attachments that can be extended or retracted, depending on the weather. Multi-story units for retail and professional and business offices will add to the overall vibe.
Phase Two is where the greenspace magic will be found. It will be ideal for community events, markets and other outdoor activities. Mahtani said to look for Phase Two to begin during the fourth quarter of this year.
Restaurants, retail, office space, architecturally controlled living space and mindfully designed greenspace is what Domain refers to as its “lifestyle-focused” development.