Pharr produce park ripens with $11M

PHARR - The 90-acre Pharr Produce District located near Military Highway and Cage Blvd. has broken ground and will soon hold subdivided lots for distributors after an $11 million city investment.

The development is a strategy to get produce distributors to settle in Pharr before a federal permit allows the competing Anzalduas International Bridge to begin crossing truck traffic in 2015.

“This is going to become one of the biggest things we have ever done as far as bringing people from Mexico,” said Mayor Leo Palacios.

Engineering and subdividing the land has been slowly underway since 2012, but now that construction is beginning, the project is expected to be finished in late 2013 or early 2014. It involves putting in streets, utilities, and drainage for 31 lots where distributors will build their own cold storage areas.

The project also involves a partnership with neighboring Bebo Distributing, which donated about nine acres to the city to provide an easement and drainage ditch for the park and will be able to tap into the infrastructure there. The company also indicated plans to be one of its first builders.

“Our goal is to recover 100 percent of the cost of this project within five years,” Finance Director Juan Guerra said. “But if the crossings increase then the city wins in the long run, whether the cost is recovered or not.”