Featured, from left: McAllen Mayor Jim Darling; Edinburg Mayor Richard García; Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernández, M.D.; and University of Texas System Chancellor William H. McRaven on Thursday, August 11, 2016 at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance. The leaders participated in a panel discussion about the UT Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, which has a major component in Edinburg. The Edinburg Mayor, Edinburg City Council, and Edinburg Economic Development Corporation played key roles in 2013 in securing a full-fledged medical school from the Texas Legislature for deep South Texas. In July 2016, the first class of medical students began their education at the $54 million Medical Education Building, which is located on the UTRGV campus in Edinburg.

Photograph By DAVID PIKE

Construction and related building activities in Edinburg from January through July 2016 have passed the $152 million level, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has reported, with the month of July 2016 accounting for almost $21 million of that amount. The Edinburg EDC, of which Agustín García, Jr. is Executive Director, is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg Mayor and Edinburg City Council. The Edinburg EDC Board of Directors is comprised of Mark Iglesias as President, Harvey Rodríguez, Jr. as Vice President, Ellie M. Torres as Secretary/Treasurer, and Mayor Richard García and Richard Ruppert as Members. Combined, building permits from January through July 2016 were issued for work valued at $152,426,011 compared with $78,554,684 for the same seven months in 2015. During July 2016, building permits for work valued at $20,681,153 were issued by the city, compared with $13,330,130 in July 2015. The top construction projects in Edinburg for July 2016, not including the value of the land, are: $9,430,920 – Wisconsin Street Housing LP, 2132 E. Wisconsin Rd., John Closner Subdivision; $2,800,000 – Edinburg Village Apartments, 701 S. 4th Avenue, Maverick Subdivision; $960,000 – Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District, 1202 N. Monmack Rd., Tex-Mex Subdivision; and $379,259 – South Texas Independent School District, 510 S. Sugar Rd., Tex-Mex Subdivision.

••••••

Edinburg construction passes $152 million from January through July 2016, with The Heights, a $19 million, 128 units affordable housing complex, the most valuable investment for July

By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]

The Edinburg EDC, of which Agustín García, Jr. is Executive Director, is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg Mayor and Edinburg City Council.

The Edinburg EDC Board of Directors is comprised of Mark Iglesias as President, Harvey Rodríguez, Jr. as Vice President, Ellie M. Torres as Secretary/Treasurer, and Mayor Richard García and Richard Ruppert as Members.

Combined, building permits from January through July 2016 were issued for work valued at $152,426,011 compared with $78,554,684 for the same seven months in 2015.

During July 2016, building permits for work valued at $20,681,153 were issued by the city, compared with $13,330,130 in July 2015.

In general, a building permit is legal permission given by the City of Edinburg, through the Code Enforcement Department, to erect, construct, renovate, maintain, or conduct any other specified activity on any building or structure, or on any installations or facilities therein. The term “building permit” includes but is not limited to building permits, electrical permits, mechanical permits, and plumbing permits.

The top construction projects in Edinburg for July 2016, not including the value of the land, are:

$9,430,920 – Wisconsin Street Housing LP, 2132 E. Wisconsin Rd., John Closner Subdivision;
$2,800,000 – Edinburg Village Apartments, 701 S. 4th Avenue, Maverick Subdivision;
$960,000 – Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District, 1202 N. Monmack Rd., Tex-Mex Subdivision; and
$379,259 – South Texas Independent School District, 510 S. Sugar Rd., Tex-Mex Subdivision.

Wisconsin Street Housing LP was issued the building permit for the most valuable project in July: The Heights. This multi-million dollar, multi-family development, which will feature 128 affordable housing units, is being built at the southwest corner of South Raúl Longoria Road and East Wisconsin Road.

The new contemporary garden-style apartment community will offer one, two and three-bedroom rental units.

The building permit for work valued at $9,430,920 for The Heights does not include the value of the land and other amenities for the affordable housing development. The total value of The Heights is estimated at $19 million.

Mayor Pro Tem Richard Molina expressed the need for this new housing development as the city continues to grow and develops into the Destination City of the Rio Grande Valley.

“The population of our city has grown 19 percent since the 2010 Census and we anticipate that it will continue to grow,” Molina said. “People that want to come and live in Edinburg will now have more options thanks to this housing development.”

Molina credited the growth and increase in demand for affordable housing to the new UTRGV School of Medicine, H-E-B Park, and Bert Ogden Arena.

Casa Linda Development Corporation and Highridge Costa Housing LLC are developing The Heights.

To finance the development, The Heights was awarded $1,432,741 annually over a 10 year period in tax credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

The Housing Tax Credit Program creates housing opportunities for working families by offering tax credits to investors.

Of the 128 units, 110 will be for families earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income, while the remaining 18 units will be available at market rate. Nine of the units will be set aside for persons with disabilities.

The top categories in Edinburg year-to-date (January through July 2o16), totaling $131,744,858, were:

$56,692,060 – Multi-Family Residences New Construction;
$33,958,883 – Single-Family Residences New Construction;
$29,809,085 – Commercial New Construction;
$22,523,804 – Commercial Alterations;
$5,000,021 – Non-Taxable Alterations (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine);
$3,413,758 – Residential Alterations; and
$1,028,400 – Non-Taxable New (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine.)

The top categories in Edinburg during July 2016, totaling $20,681,153, were:

$14,165,120 – Multi-Family Residences New Construction;
$4,071,753– Single-Family Residences New Construction;
$1,661,759 – Non-Taxable Alterations (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine);
$480,871 – Residential Alterations;
$256,650 – Commercial Alterations;
$45,000 – Commercial New Construction; and
$0 – Non-Taxable New (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine).

The top categories in Edinburg from January through July 2015, totaling $78,554,684, were:

$25,396,282 – Single-Family Residences New Construction;
$22,062,622 – Non-Taxable Alterations (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine);
$12,258,728 – Commercial New Construction;
$10,011,285 – Commercial Alterations;
$4,909,356 – Multi-Family Residences New Construction;
$3,916,411 – Residential Alterations; and
$0 – Non-Taxable New (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine).

The top categories in Edinburg during July 2015, totaling $13,330,130, were:

$6,068,106 – Single-Family Residences New Construction;
$3,126,145 – Commercial New Construction;
$2,131,770 – Commercial Alterations;
$1,267,156 – Multi-Family Residences New Construction;
$691,953 – Residential Alterations;
$45,000 – Non-Taxable Alterations (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine); and
$0 – Non-Taxable New (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine).

Also according to the city’s Code Enforcement Department, 34 single-family residences were approved for construction in July 2016, compared with 45 single-family residences during the same month in 2015.

Year-to-date (January through July 2016), building permits were issued for 257 single-family residences, valued at $33,958,883, compared with 182 single family residences, valued at $25,396,282 from January through July 2015.

For the month of July 2016, building permits were issued for 58 additions/remodels of single-family residences, compared with 52 in July 2015.

Year-to-date (January through July 2016), building permits were issued for 431 additions/remodels of single-family residences, valued at $3,413,758, compared with 347 additions/remodels of single family residences, valued at $3,916,411, from January through July 2015.

Multi-family residences – which range from two-unit duplexes to complexes of five or more units – totaled 30 buildings, representing 155 units, valued at $14,165,120, approved for construction in July 2016, compared with no multi-family residences in July 2015.

Year-to-date (January through July 2016), building permits were issued for 172 multi-family residences, representing 810 units, valued at $56,692,060, compared with 30 multi-family residences, representing 63 units, valued at $4,909,356, from January through July 2015.

UT SYSTEM CHANCELLOR McRAVEN: “HISTORY UNFOLDING IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY”

William H. McRaven, the Chancellor of the University of Texas System, was in Edinburg on Thursday, August 10, 2016, to participate in a panel discussion that featured the School of Medicine, which has a major component in Edinburg.

The Edinburg Mayor, Edinburg City Council, and Edinburg Economic Development Corporation played key roles in 2013 in securing a full-fledged medical school from the Texas Legislature for deep South Texas. In July 2016, the first class of medical students began their education in the $54 million Medical Education Building, which is located on the UTRGV campus in Edinburg.

McRaven took to the Internet on Monday, August 15, 2o16, and shared his views of a bright future for the UTRGV School of Medicine specifically, and UTRGV in general.

His comments, which are available on the Internet at http://www.utsystem.edu/offices/chancellor/blog/making-history-valley, follow:

Last Thursday (August 11, 2016), I had the opportunity to see history unfolding in the Rio Grande Valley. I traveled from Austin for a series of events related to the new UTRGV School of Medicine and the positive impact it is having on the health care ecosystem of the Valley.

The highlight of my day was getting to visit with the UTRGV residents and students – an impressive group, to say the least. If you have ever wondered what it feels like to have an entire region pulling for you and rooting you on in your studies, just ask one of the 55 members of the School of Medicine’s inaugural class.

The Rio Grande Valley has been waiting for a new medical school, literally for decades. And our new first-year students have embraced the fact that their medical education is not just about them – it’s about starting a process that will ultimately transform a region.

Does that sound hyperbolic to you? If so, consider what it means that – for the first time in history – a child born in Edinburg, Mission, San Benito, Brownsville, McAllen, or any other city or town in the Valley will be able to go from pre-K all the way through medical school, residency training and medical practice without ever leaving the community they and their families call home.

Think of the generations of future doctors who, rather than leave, will stay and care for their neighbors and friends.

While a medical school is an extremely important – and extremely valuable – element of any community’s health care ecosystem, it takes the community working in concert to realize the kind of transformation we hope to achieve in the Valley.

I can’t tell you how impressed I am by the civic and business leaders of the region and how gratified I am by their support. This includes the leaders of Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, who gave me a tour of a magnificent facility where UTRGV students and residents are already learning and treating patients.

To see what’s possible when a community comes together to create a world-class health care ecosystem, look at San Antonio, my hometown. When I was growing up, it was – by and large – a military town.

Today the military presence is still there, but because the community – with UT Health Science Center San Antonio leading the way – rallied together, it now has a booming health care industry valued in the tens of billions of dollars. While it won’t happen overnight, I think that same kind of transformation is not only possible, but likely in the Rio Grande Valley.

I told a few of the first-year students I chatted with about a photograph I saw recently at UT Medical Branch in Galveston. It was a picture of UTMB’s inaugural class, taken more than 100 years ago. I told the students 100 years from now – when The UT Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine is celebrating its centennial – the grandchildren and great grandchildren of today’s Valley residents will be looking at them, thinking “that is the class that started it all.”

The UT System is in the Valley for the long haul. But even though these medical students have just started, we are not waiting 100 days – let alone 100 years – to positively impact the health of the region.

To cite just one example, this past weekend, health professionals from our Project Diabetes and Obesity Control (DOC) collaborated with Walmart to provide free health screenings at its retail stores in South Texas. The costs diabetes and obesity impose on our society are unacceptable – and nowhere is the problem worse than in the Valley.

The good news is we have a very talented, very determined and innovative team working on Project DOC, as well as at UTRGV’s South Texas Diabetes & Obesity Institute, that is tackling the problem head on.

As I have said many times, the opportunity to participate in the transformation of the Rio Grande Valley was one of the biggest – in fact, probably the biggest – reason I wanted to come work for the UT System. If I ever doubt the wisdom of my decision (and I never will), all I need to do is take another trip to the Valley and check in on our progress.

I can’t wait to go back.

JULY 2016 CITY BUILDING PERMITS, $100,000 AND HIGHER

Single-Family Residences New Construction

For July 2016, there were 34 single-family residences issued building permits by the city.

The building permits, which do not include the price of the lot, ranged from $23,000 to $229,505, and represented a total value of $4,071,735.

Of the 34 single-family residences for which building permits were issued, 23 of them were for construction each valued at $100,000 or higher.

The $100,000+ building permits follow by value of the construction, name of the owner(s,), address, and subdivision. The permits do not include the value of the lot.

$229,505 – McKenny Glenn, Inc., 4104 Stillwater Cove, The Coves Ph. 1 Amended Pg. 1 Subdivision;
$225,000 – Chris Ryan Homes & Investments, LLC, 4813 August, Summerfield Manor Subdivision;
$199,000 – Eduardo Lara, 1310 Maravilla, Summerset Estates Subdivision;
$168,900 – Aguillón Family Foundation, 2313 Holland Ave., Jackson Heights Subdivision;
$168,000 – Grande Valley Homes, LLC., 2722 Baylor Ave., Fairhaven Village Subdivision;
$162,600 – Aguillón Family Foundation, 2504 Penrose Ave., Jackson Heights Subdivision;
$160,000 – Gonzalo and Eulalia Flores, 1709 Serenity Dr., Villa Tranquilla Subdivision;
$160,000 – Fjag Ventures, 2305 McLeod Ave., Jackson Heights Subdivision;
$160,000 – Tim Graustein Properties, Inc., 2415 McLeod Ave., Jackson Heights Subdivision;
$158,400 – Aguillón Family Foundation, 2414 Penrose Ave., Jackson Heights Subdivision;
$155,000 – Marc D. Sandoval, 1535 Candy Ln., Sugarland Estates Subdivision;
$146,400 – Aguillón Family Foundation, 2309 Holland Ave. Jackson Heights Subdivision;
$140,000 – RGV Villa Homes, 2906 London Dr., Camden Village Subdivision;
$130,000 – Gilbert and Erika B. López, 510 W. Cano St., Edinburg Original Townsite Subdivision;
$120,000 – J. Andrew McDonald, 2341 Roel Bazan, Tex-Mex Survey Subdivision;
$112,000 – Perla Partida, 1909 Amos St., The Village at Los Lagos Subdivision;
$110,240 – Guzmán Construction, LLC, 1413 Ricco St., Lantana Estates Subdivision;
$110,000 – Antre Homes, Inc., 2422 Majestic Ln., Regal Vista Estates Subdivision;
$110,000 – Óscar Cantú Dolcan Construction, 1411 Finch Ln., Spring Valley Phase II Subdivision;
$102,908 – Pin Point Investments, LLC, 3520 Aquamarine Ln., Granite Meadows Subdivision;
$100,000 – Alfredo and Linda Guerrero, 2522 Flipper Dr., Greenleaf Estates Subdivision;
$100,000 – Rigoberto Cantú, Jr., 4102 Pedernal, Los Llanitos Subdivision; and
$100,000 – Rodolfo Treviño, 2304 Arlington, Chapins Crossing Subdivision.

Commercial New Construction

For July 2016, only one permit was issued for new construction of a commercial facility, valued at $45,000, to J&J Social LLC, located at 4315 S. McColl Rd. in the Marvel Plaza Subdivision.

Multi-Family Residences New Construction

For July 2016, building permits were issued for 15 multi-family residences new construction, with 10 of those projects valued at $100,000 or higher (not including the price of the lot).

Work on those new facilities represented a combined value of $14,165,120 for that month.

That building permits for the 10 structures valued at $100,000 0r higher follow by value of the construction, name of the owner, address, and subdivision:

$9,430,920 – Wisconsin Street Housing LP, 2132 E. Wisconsin Rd., John Closner Subdivision;
$2,800,000 – Edinburg Village Apartments, 701 S. 4th Ave., Maverick Subdivision;
$262,500 – HQ Investments Group LLC, 1211 White Oak Dr., West Oaks Subdivision;
$262,500 – HQ Investments Group LLC, 1215 White Oak Dr., West Oaks Subdivision;
$200,000 – Ronnie Cantú Construction, 203 Fig Dr., West Oaks Subdivision;
$175,500 – FPST LLC, 109 Fig Dr., West Oaks Subdivision;
$175,000 – Patricia H. Garza, 2304 Kimberly, Balcones Trail Ph. 2 Subdivision;
$165,000 – Elite Built Development LLC, 2803 Prime Rose, McColl Manor;
$165,000 – Elite Built Development LLC, 2716 Prime Rose, McColl Manor; and
$128,700 – FPST LLC, 1206 Upas Dr., West Oaks Subdivision.

Residential Additions/Repairs

For July 2016, there were no residential additions/repairs projects, valued at $100,000 or higher, issued a building permit by the city.

In all, there were 58 residential additions/repairs projects authorized for that month, ranging from $150 to $70,000, for a total value of $480,871.

Commercial Additions/Repairs

For July 2016, there were 19 commercial additions/repairs which were issued building permits by the city.

The building permits, which do not include the price of the lot, ranged from $500 to $110,000, and represented a total value of $256,650.

Of the 19 commercial additions/repairs for which building permits were issued, one was for construction valued at $100,000 or higher.

That $100,000+ building permit follows by value of the construction, name of the owner(s,), address, and subdivision. The permit does not include the value of the lot.

$110,000 – Alonzo Cantú, 1616 S. Raúl Longoria, Family Recreations & Aquatics Subdivision.

Non-Taxable New

For July 2016, there was no non-taxable new construction which was issued a building permit by the city.

Non-Taxable Additions/Repairs

For July 2016, there were six non-taxable additions/repairs, representing work with a combined valued at $1,661,759, which were issued building permits by the city.

Of the six non-taxable additions/repairs for which building permits were issued, three were for construction valued at $100,000 or higher.

That $100,000+ building permits follow by value of the construction, name of the owner(s,), address, and subdivision. The permit do snot include the value of the lot.

$960,000 – Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District, 1202 N. Monmack Rd., Tex-Mex Subdivision;
$379,259 – South Texas Independent School District; and
$300,000 – Unidos En La Vision Church, 2119 E. Monte Cristo Rd., Minnie Fenton Subdivision.

•••••

Irma Garza contributed to this story. For more information on the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation and the City of Edinburg, please log on to http://edinburgedc.com or to http://www.facebook.com/edinburgedc