NewQuest Properties Buys First Retail Property in Rio Grande Valley in Off-Market Transaction
December 22, 2015
In an off-market transaction, NewQuest Properties has acquired its first commercial property in the Rio Grande Valley, picking up a 99,424-sf Big Kmart on nearly 11 acres along the most heavily traveled route between McAllen, Texas, and Monterrey, Mexico.
The site is located at the northeast corner of Expressway 83/Interstate 2 and South Bryan Road, used by more than 2.2 million vehicles per year in cross-border travel. NewQuest has purchased the property at 1405 E. Expressway 83 in Mission from Los Angeles-based Tishman International Cos.
“This is an unbelievable location with exceptional long-term potential,” says Meredith McLeod-Cobb, an associate with Houston-based NewQuest. She and Michael McLeod-Cobb of Champions RE Group sourced and negotiated the off-market deal. Tishman was represented by an in-house executive.
Developed in 1992, the Kmart is located six miles north of the Anzalduas International Bridge, a four-lane, three-mile span connecting Mission to Reynosa, Tamaulipas. NewQuest’s first investment in the region is situated at the western edge of the McAllen MSA, the retail crossroads for South Texas and Northern Mexico.
“This Kmart is the first major retail site coming from Monterrey to McAllen,” McLeod-Cobb says. The daily traffic count exceeds more than 125,000 vehicles, with the property easily accessible from the expressway’s frontage road and South Bryan Road.
The McAllen MSA boasts a bi-national consumer base surpassing 10 million people in a 200-mile radius, a statistical powerhouse with more jobs now than prior to the 2008 recession. Mexican National trade represents 37% of the region’s retail activity – the average shopper makes 10 trips per year and spends $219 on average each time, three times the U.S. average. Each month, an estimated 750,000 people cross into Hidalgo County, with tens of thousands making daily shopping excursions for luxuries as well as necessities. A high percentage of visitors and investors alike come from Monterrey, home to the highest concentration of millionaires per capita in Mexico.
“NewQuest sees this property as an investment in the future,” McLeod-Cobb says. “We’re patient in our approach and we’re planning on developing a strong presence in the McAllen marketplace, which currently is attracting 1.5 million visitors and shoppers per month.”
