Booming Industrial Activity Spurs Retail Growth in Corpus Christi

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The Corpus Christi regional economy has been pushed into overdrive with the South Texas oil boom, which is resulting mainly from the Eagle Ford Shale play. The main area of Eagle Ford is located about 90 miles to the north, but the impact to the Corpus Christi economy is tremendous.

The Port of Corpus Christi is at the center of this growth, with billions of dollars foreign and domestic being spent on projects throughout the Port and the area. China-based Tianjin Pipe Corporation (TPCO) is under construction on their $1.3 billion plan that will manufacture oil and gas pipes. Switzerland-based Trafigura AG is spending around $500 million to build crude oil and natural gas storage docks, and Cheniere Energy is planning a $10 billion plant that liquefies natural gas to sell it abroad.

All of the above and several other projects are bringing workers and money into our economy. The refineries (Valero, Citgo, Lyondell and more) are operating at capacity with continual upgrade projects on their board.

Of course, with the industrial growth, you can expect retail growth, and 2013 was indeed been a strong year for Corpus Christi. To list just a few of the national and regional tenants that have opened or will soon: TJ Maxx/Homegoods, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Corner Bakery, Firehouse Subs, WB Liquors, Panda Express, Jared’s Jewelers, Longhorn Steakhouse and DSW Shoe Warehouse.

In addition to these new tenants, several existing retailers expanded with multiple locations last year. Ross Dress for Less, Petco and Party City opened in the Five Points area (on the north side of Corpus Christi) in a newly renovated Brixmor shopping center called Five Points Center.

West Marine built a new facility that more than doubled the size of their current location, and Mattress Firm leased the vacant West Marine space, where it will open early this year. And elsewhere, Freedom Fitness built a new facility in the 3200 block of South Alameda Street in a former Luby’s location.

One of the biggest relocations came with the Sam’s Wholesale move. The company sold their location on Greenwood Drive and moved their business to the intersection of South Padre Island Drive and Everhart Road. This site originally housed a Wal-Mart, but Sam’s demolished the building and put up a new facility in what was probably an effort to be more oriented the south side of Corpus Christi.

Speaking of wholesale clubs, Costco is looking Corpus Christi and has a south side location under contract. The community is ready to embrace the entry of Costco to this market, but it’s our firm’s understanding there are still some hurdles to jump before they open their doors in this market.

The most prominent new project is the re-development of the former Staples Center into the prestigious Shops at La Palmera. Trademark Realty from Fort Worth, in conjunction with outside developers, have transformed the retail landscape with this project. First, they renovated the Padre Staples Mall into La Palmera Mall, and now, with Shops at La Palmera — which is anchored with TJ Maxx/HomeGoods, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Big Lots, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Corner Bakery — Corpus Christi has a strong retail market that will attract customers from a larger region.

Meanwhile, Corpus Christi Bay Outlet Mall broke ground in July 2013 on their new project, which will be located in Robstown at the fairgrounds area. This project has been in the marketing stage for six years.

Phase I, which is slated to open in spring or summer of this year, will be composed of 70 stores and about 335,000 square feet. The second phase will add 30 to 40 more stores along with hotels and possible theater locations.

Moving on to eateries, there are four or five national restaurant groups looking for locations in the market. The majority of the interest is along South Padre Island Drive between Ennis Joslin Road and Weber Road, with the center point at South Staples Street. With this interest, we will see a new push in retail going east along Padre Island Drive, with the next strong intersections at Rodd Field Road and Ennis Joslin Road.

The entertainment and tourism subsector is seeing growth, too. A $40 million Schlitterbahn water park is under construction on North Padre Island. The attraction is at the heart of a $550 million master plan that the City of Corpus Christi is launching, and the park is scheduled to open for this coming spring/summer season.

One last segment to discuss is the continual move of medical facilities — particularly emergency room boutique centers — into dominant retail locations. The last remaining Blockbuster closed in December at Huntington Square Shopping Center, and Physicians Premier Emergency Room has negotiated to move into this corner location and open their doors sometime in the second quarter of this year. In my view, this is just the beginning of ER centers in the Corpus Christi market.

We closed out 2013 now are ushering in 2014 in similar fashion, as the market should remain strong for new and existing retailers.

— By Lynann Pinkham, Broker Associate, Cravey Real Estate Services. This article originally appeared in the January 2014 issue of Texas Real Estate Business magazine.

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