Old El Paso denim factory dominos with new clients

EL PASO – A huge East Side building that once housed a Levi Strauss jeans factory is getting new life as a home for different companies that supplanted the city’s once-booming garment-manufacturing industry.

The 95,000-sf former Levi Strauss jeans factory, situated on 14 acres at 1359 Lomaland Dr., is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar renovation.

The purchase price was near the $1.9 million appraised value placed on it in 2013 by the El Paso Central Appraisal District, according to co-owner David Bingham.

Half of the facility is currently occupied by a call center for Apogee Retail, which is expected to employ 450 by summer 2014, and a data-entry center for California-based iGate, which is expected to eventually employ 400.

The remaining 42,000 sf of the building still needs to be remodeled, but is expected to attract other companies with large operations. The building’s central location near I-10, its link to a high-speed fiber-optic network, its 1,000 parking spaces and the modern upgrades are amenities expected to attract tenants.

The building’s owners are David Bingham, CEO of El Paso-based Heritage Group, and Reg Cooper of Ariz.-based Cooper Companies.

The Levi Strauss plant, which employed about 600 people, closed in 1998 as garment manufacturers moved factories from El Paso to Mexico and other countries to save labor costs.