First off, we feel so honored that so many people come out here to celebrate with us today. This is a milestone time for us. We are several years into this development. It's hard doing a new development of this size. Everybody thinks it kind of just happens. But we're five, six, seven years into this project.
Before I get started, I just want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank Francy for setting this up, the Chamber, and EDC folk, the commissioners that are here, the mayor that's here. I also want to thank Larry Fallek here, who shared the vision with me on pursuing this property, putting plans in place. And then also Brandon Wallace, who was out here, setting plans and getting the property into the shape that it is now. Brandon's Alamo System Industries, they do a great job on the construction side.
So I, like everybody else that has lived here in McAllen have hated to see this property sit vacant. This is a landmark location for the City of McAllen. We all have such great memories, everybody that's lived here in town, about the old Civic Center. Whether it was the Melba dance recitals, whether it was Dias Festivos, the syndicate, the nutcrackers, so many quinceañeras and other parties and other events that happened. It was really a piece of fabric of McAllen that we lost when there was a binding referendum in 2000 to remove the funding for the civic center. It set in motion a process that ended with the demolition of the civic center in 2016, the loss of a real asset here in the city.
How the Castle Hospitality's McAllen City Center project will look. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)
And then, in addition to that, things happen, and we lost local control of this property. It (control) was with out of town corporations. The property sat vacant all this time. We found it. We pursued it. We're very proud that we were able to bring local ownership of this headquarter of McAllen property back to local control. We're going to make sure that this again, as was said earlier, so thank you for that, that this really becomes another landmark piece of property here in McAllen.
It sits, obviously on the corner of 10th and Expressway. This is really the heart of McAllen, where everything happens. It's an entry point. It is also so close to mall, to the airport, to the bridges, this is where people are going to come as kind of a first stop in McAllen. But it is one we're proud of. There is a lot of investment here. There's a lot of risk that we're taking on here. But I'm happy that we have investors that are along for the ride with us. We have several here with us. They'll come and do the shovel turning with us. But we intend to make this a real gathering place.
Michael A. Fallek, president of Castle Hospitality, speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony for the McAllen City Center project. (Photo credit: McAllen EDC)
So, it is going to be a mixed-use center. You will start to see soon, in the next 30 to 60 days, the first phase of the project. It is going to be a multi-tenant building over on the northeast corner. We have some renderings here. You will see some logos. We have some restaurants and retail already committed to the project. So, that is going to be the first phase that will follow with other phases along the frontage road, a couple of hotels, potentially a condo project, potentially a garage project. So there's a lot of excitement to come.
I thank you all for all being here to be a part of this as we move from one phase of the development into the next. So with that, I want to thank you all again. We have shovels up here. I would like to get the elected officials, the commissioners, the mayor and then everybody that really invested with us. If y'all would come up and join us for the dirt turning to, we would appreciate that as we do our groundbreaking. So again, thank you, everybody. After this, please make sure to stick around. We've got coffee, and a lot of good people to talk to, And so I appreciate that. Let's get to the groundbreaking.
