Soon Peñitas, a small town in the Rio Grande Valley of about 6,400 people, will go from being a blink-and-you-miss it spot on the highway to a shopping destination.
Chief among the retailers investing in the western Hidalgo County town is home improvement juggernaut Home Depot. Last June, the big box store known for its cheerfully bright orange and white logo embarked on a $20.2 million plan to construct what will become just the fifth Home Depot store in the Valley. Construction of the 136,000-square-foot store, which will include a 28,000-square-foot garden center, was continuing apace when MySA visited the construction site on Friday, March 27.
Less than a mile away, site preparation is still under way for another retail development project that launched last summer. It’s called Peñitas Crossing. The 58-acre site will be built in phases, and several budget-conscious retailers have already signed up to open stores in Phase 1 of the development. That includes Burlington, Rack Room Shoes, Five Below, Ross Dress for Less and a dd’s DISCOUNTS store. Darden-owned restaurant chains, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, have also made plans for the site. Some $14 million has been invested in Peñitas Crossing thus far.
The two new developments are located on a growing retail corridor along U.S. Highway 83, which serves as a sort of “Main Street” for the tiny town. In between the future Home Depot and the future Peñitas Crossing shopping center, construction is nearly complete at a new Stripes convenience store. And nestled among it all is the shopping center that sparked Peñitas’ business boom to begin with — the Liberty Corners retail center, which is home to several quick-bite eateries, like Chick-Fil-A, Wendy’s, Denny’s and Starbucks.