Edinburg To See Slew Of New Businesses

EDINBURG, TX (Tuesday, December 06, 2005) - Major Texas-based and nationally known businesses plan to open locations in Edinburg — some making their first appearance in the Rio Grande Valley — in the next two years.

Trenton Crossroads Plaza at the northeast corner of Trenton Road and Jackson Road will have the city’s first Quizno’s Subs, which will add to locations in Harlingen, McAllen, Mission and a future eatery set to open soon in Weslaco.

Applebee’s will also open at the retail and restaurant development, complementing locations already open in Harlingen and McAllen.

Trenton Crossroads will be home to the Valley’s first CVS Pharmacy, Big Apple Bagels and Alamo Drafthouse.

"I think it took a little education," said Paul Garza, owner and broker for McAllen’s One Orion Properties and Development, the developer of Trenton Crossroads. "It wasn’t that hard. It was bringing them down and physically seeing what is going on down here instead of hearing it. It’s pretty easy to convince."

CVS Pharmacy’s closest locations to the Valley are in Alice, Corpus Christi, Kingsville and Robstown. Its first site opened in 1963 in Lowell, Mass., with the company now having more than 5,000 locations nationwide.

The pharmaceutical chain will offer competition to Walgreens, which has been rapidly opening locations the last few months in Edinburg, Mission and McAllen, along in-store pharmacies at H.E.B., Wal-Mart and Target.

Big Apple Bagels, a national franchise of Deerfield, Ill.-based BAB Inc., will open its first Valley location and serve its specialty of omelets, sandwiches, salads, coffees, muffins and bagels. The company has locations in Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi and San Antonio.

Trenton Crossroads’ anchor will be Alamo Drafthouse, the Austin-based home of first-run and independent movies, alcohol and food. The six-screen business will occupy 30,000-square-feet of the 101,653-square-foot development, Garza said. Alamo Drafthouse sites are in Austin, Houston, Katy and San Antonio.

The businesses announced so far for Trenton Crossroads will have about 200 employees, said Ramiro Garza Jr., the Edinburg Economic Development Corp.’s executive director. The businesses are scheduled to open in the summer and fall of 2006, with the employment number jumping to about 500 people.

"I feel it to be very satisfying, but I can’t gauge that by what I bring, but what the people feel we have brought to them that we can enjoy," Paul Garza said.

The intersection of Trenton Road and McColl Road will also be busy soon.

Katy-based Academy Sports & Outdoors has tentative plans to build a 100,000-square-foot structure at the intersection’s southwest corner. This will be the Valley’s third location, joining businesses operating in Brownsville and McAllen. Ramiro Garza Jr. said the project did not have a timeline nor projected number of employees yet.

"I know they are still in negotiations with the property owner," he said. "At this point, it’s up to the property owner and retailer to finalize negotiations so they can have some sort of timeframe and so forth. At this point, it’s not anything definite in terms of when it is going to take place."

Staff at Davis Equity Reality in Weslaco should award a construction contract at the end of December for the 34-acre Trenton Town Center at the northwest corner of Trenton Road and McColl Road. The project’s focal point will be the city’s second Wal-Mart Supercenter along with other businesses that the realty company has not revealed. The stores should open in early 2007, Ramiro Garza Jr. said.

The other end of Trenton Road is expected to be the location of a new retail development opening in late spring or early summer 2007.

Edinburg’s planning and zoning commission gave initial approval Monday to changing the zoning of 61.25 acres at the northwest corner of Trenton Road and U.S. 281 from single family residential to general business district. The City Council will decide at their 7 p.m. meeting today whether to officially grant the change.If approved, the new designation will pave the way for First Hartford Realty Corp. of Manchester, Conn., to break ground by next summer for a 750,000-square-feet retail project, said John Toic, First Hartford’s vice president.

The project will be First Hartford’s first endeavor in the Valley. The development will incorporate pedestrian walkways connecting stores and parking lots and have vehicular access off Trenton Road and South Closner Boulevard. Toic said the project will have two anchor stores, but said it was too early to say what they would be.

"It has great highway visibility from 281, great access to a growing part of the metropolitan area," he said about the project.

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