PHARR, RGV - A retail center developer from Houston spoke about the evolution of the old El Centro Mall into Pharr Town Center at a ground breaking ceremony on Thursday.
Larry Levine, president of Houston-based LEVCOR Inc., said his mall project has had its ups and downs over the years but through it all he always remained confident of its great success. He made his remarks as dirt was turned for the new 72,000-feet Academy superstore that is coming to Pharr Town Center.
LEVCOR is a leader in the development and repositioning of commercial real estate throughout the southern United States. It specializes in retail centers ranging between 100,000 and 1,000,000 square feet.
Larry LevineLevine said he first came down to the Rio Grande Valley four days after 9/11. He was in the Valley to find a location for a Lowe’s Home Improvement Center. Lowe’s wanted to be in what was then called El Centro Mall, which sits on the corner on Expressway 83 and Business 83 in Pharr. However, Levine said, at that time the owner of the mall did not want to sell. Lowe’s still located their first store in the Valley in Pharr but not at El Centro Mall.
Levine said Costco executives also came to the Valley and they too wanted to be based in Pharr. The unique attraction was that Pharr stood at the intersection of Expressway 83 and U.S. 281. “It is a great reflection on the city commissioners and Fred Sandoval and their vision on what to do and how to make this town really grow. We looked at all parts of the Rio Grande Valley to do a development and after traveling the whole area decided that Pharr was where we wanted to be,” Levine said.
Finally, in 2007, the owner of El Centro Mall called Levine and said he was ready to sell.
“One day, out of the clear blue, he called and said, are you still interested in my mall? I said absolutely. Okay, he said, I am leaving for China in 30 days. If you can close this deal and buy it in 30 days then it is yours. So, I said, done, and we bought it, closed it, in 30 days,” Levine recalled.
Levine said he was working on plans to develop the mall when the recession of 2008 and 2009 hit. “Everything got put on hold,” he said. “But, after now seven years our vision and our dream has come true, both for ourselves and for the City of Pharr.”
Levine said he wanted to brag a little about the existing tenants. “Main Event is the No. 1 store for the whole company. We begged Main Event to come to Pharr. They did not want to come to Pharr. They did not want to come to the Rio Grande Valley. After several trips down here we convinced them this is where they needed to be. They opened this store on the same day they opened stores in San Antonio, Chicago and Atlanta. Pharr, Texas, did more than 50 percent more business than the other stores, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio.”
Levine said Cinemark, which was also already a tenant, did a survey of the whole Valley and decided they wanted “their newest, latest and greatest theater” at this intersection. “That theater is the largest volume theater in the whole Rio Grande Valley,” Levine said.
Levine then ran through some of the other large stores coming to Pharr Town Center.
“We have an exciting line up of tenants coming in. We already have Luby's open, which is doing great. We have Academy, we have got T.J. Maxx, we've got Ross, and by the way Ross has got a store a block away and they liked this project so much and wanted to be in the city of Pharr so much they are going to open a second store right here in our project,” Levine said.
“We were looking at sporting goods stores. We had our choice between Gander Mountain, Dick's Sporting Goods and Academy. We chose Academy. We felt like Academy was the best of the best and wanted them to be part of our project. Ladies and gentlemen, they will be moving from McAllen, Texas, to Pharr, Texas.”
Levine said Pharr Town Center will also have Jo Ann, a fabrics and crafts chain, Buy Buy Baby and a Cost Plus World Market. He said all three are new to the Valley market. In addition, he said, there will be several other restaurants and smaller tenants.
“We are very excited about this project. And, as we said, over a seven year period it has been quite exciting and it has now come to fruition,” Levine said. He paid tribute to Pharr City Manager Fred Sandoval and his team for their “diligence and help,” and the mayor, mayor pro tem and city commissioners. He also thanked the engineers, architects, and bankers LEVCOR works with.
Sandoval, the Pharr city manager, said that when Pharr Town Center is fully built it will have been a $100 million development. “This mall has a got a lot of history. It is now reinventing itself,” he said. “It ran its course and is now ready for re-development.”
In his remarks at the groundbreaking, Sandoval said Pharr had a good story to tell. He said its history is based upon a rail line and agriculture and that for many, many, years it was a bedroom community for McAllen. That has now changed, Sandoval said. He said Pharr’s population now stands at 80,000 and its land mass covers 15,000 acres of land, with a further 22,000 acres in its ETJ (extra territorial jurisdiction). He said Pharr was the first city in the Valley to get a Home Depot, a Lowe's, a Costco, and a Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen.
“We have been a city of firsts. Everyone I share this with is amazed. This was the first mall in the Valley. There was no other place to go,” Sandoval said. He recalled seeing a helicopter land at the mall when he was about six years old and Santa Claus got out. He asked Levine if he could make that happen next Christmas so his kids could see it. “Done,” said Levine.
“Everything that has made a mark in the Valley started in Pharr. That is a really unique situation to be in. It makes me proud to be a citizen here,” Sandoval said.
Sandoval said projects like Pharr Town Center could not happen without great partnerships. “It is about relationships and having people trust you. Without trust there is nothing. I have made my name in this career because I tell people what they want to hear and I tell people what they don't want to hear. When it is yes it is yes and when it is no it is no,” he said.
Focusing on the LEVCOR project, Sandoval said: “I think when this thing is finished it is going to be great. You see Main Event doing great, the movie theater is doing great. When it is all said and done we are going to have about $100 million of new investment here in the City of Pharr. It would not be possible without the mayor and the city commission.”
Sandoval said he wanted to thank Levine personally. “Larry believed in us when a lot of people didn't. He invested here when a lot of folks hadn't. He helped us attract Pappadeaux. He has a great relationship with the Pappas. Hopefully he is going to bring us a couple more Pappas stores here. That relationship, that trust, that belief in Pharr is something that means the world to me and the commissioners. He has been a great corporate citizen. He has been a great asset to us. He is a completely service-oriented type person. He has got a great heart and I love him to death.”
