Bob Ayoub, MIMCO, Inc.
In 2014, El Paso, along with the rest of the country, enjoyed a vibrant, active and growing economy, and we anticipate El Paso will continue its solid growth in 2015 and beyond. Similar to the rest of the country, El Paso continued to add jobs across all sectors, resulting in reduced unemployment and increased household income. In addition, a number of factors unique to the region have made El Paso a wonderful place to do business.
Fort Bliss, always vital to the El Paso economy, continues its growth. A new 1 million-square-foot medical center, which will employ approximately 4,000 people, will open in 2016. El Paso has experienced substantial additions to its medical sector. Tenet Healthcare Corp. has added a new wing to its Eastside Hospital and recently announced a new hospital to be constructed on the northwest side in conjunction with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. In addition, both Tenet and Hospital Corp. of America (HCA) continue their rapid placement of urgent care, emergency care and other satellite facilities around the city.
As many people know, El Paso benefits from economic growth outside its city limits as well. Union Pacific is making huge investments in Santa Teresa, N.M., which shares a border with El Paso, with the construction of a massive multimodal rail facility.
El Paso’s sister city, Juarez, Mexico, has seen a tremendous rebound and growth in the maquila (twin plant) manufacturing sector. This maquila growth directly benefits the industrial market in both El Paso and Santa Teresa, as seen by the fact that most of the industrial space in Santa Teresa is leased. Demand is so high for industrial space that we even anticipate industrial spec development.
New Projects
On the retail front, the new Fountains at Farah opened last year with record sales in almost every new store. Sales are strong and growing, with great additions to the market like Kona Grill and West Elm leading the way. The Outlet Shoppes at El Paso continue to show solid performance with over 8 million visitors last year. New stores such as Armani and Williams-Sonoma will open this year.
River Oaks Properties, one of El Paso’s largest retail developers, continues to grow its East El Paso neighborhood center portfolio with about 400,000 square feet of space in various locations around East El Paso. Additionally, River Oaks is on track to complete its North Hills Crossing power center very soon, which will have approximately 250,000 square feet of retail space, anchored by Walmart Neighborhood Market and Best Buy.
We at MIMCO have also been busy with numerous projects. We are finishing the construction of our new Eastlake Crossing shopping center in Horizon City east of El Paso, which will have about 100,000 square feet of retail space.
Tenant demand in that shopping center has been higher than anticipated and current tenants include Household Furniture, Las Palmas Urgent Care and Pet’s Barn. On the northwest side of El Paso, we are also finishing our new, 120,000-square-foot Paseo Del Norte Shopping Center, located at Artcraft Road and I-10. This shopping center will be anchored by dd’s Discounts and Fallas Family Stores. In addition, we will continue this year to develop numerous pad site locations.
We are also continuing the development work on our newest big project, a 35-acre retail development adjacent to a large regional park at McCombs Street and US 54. This development will serve the rapidly growing northeast El Paso market, the Chaparral, N.M. trade areas and all the new residential growth in the area.
Believe it or not, El Paso is also enjoying a boost in tourism. The Chihuahua’s minor league baseball team is playing in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility in downtown, and El Paso led Triple A baseball last year in attendance. Currently, the National USBC Bowling Championships, which will transform El Paso’s Civic Center into 62 professional lanes, will bring over 40,000 visitors to El Paso through July.
Come check out El Paso at our ICSC West Texas Idea Exchange April 21 and 22. The festivities will start with a reception at the El Paso Chihuahua’s baseball stadium, followed by a ball game. The next day’s program will include a retailer roundup and deal-making session, a tour of the market and even a bus tour to Juarez. You can also see some championship bowling, visit the wineries in southern New Mexico, do some first-class climbing or mountain biking, and maybe do a little work too.
— By Bob Ayoub, president of MIMCO, Inc. This article originally appeared in the April 2015 issue of Texas Real Estate Business.