The recent groundbreaking of the Shops at Mercedes with its upcoming 250,000 square feet of retailing previewed a project poised to make the city a prime Rio Grande Valley shopping destination.

Mercedes already holds a clear retail distinction in drawing shoppers from across the region and northeast Mexico with the RioGrande Valley Premium Outlets. That RGV shopping mecca is located in the city on Expressway 83 and Mile 1 ½ East. Nearly 81,000 vehicles travel by and/or into that prime RGV retailing location. And now, adding the Shops at Mercedes just adjacent to the outlet mall will make the city a major retailing crossroads in the Valley.

“This is a transformational moment for Mercedes,”Mayor Oscar Montoya said. “The Shops at Mercedes not only enhances our retail offerings, but also strengthens our economic foundation for years to come.”

The nearly $53 million project is projected to bringMercedes $38.5 million in property and sales tax revenues over a 10-year period. Those funds will help Mercedes fund city services, vital infrastructure and make possible other improvements benefitting local residents.

The land where the Shops at Mercedes will be located was sold to Merit Commercial Real Estate by a family with deep local ties. Suzanne Schwarz Shepard represented her family at the early July groundbreaking and spoke of her family’s love of Mercedes and giving back to their community in seeing it prosper.

“Mercedes is the kind of place where you want to be,”Shepard said of her hometown.

‘The Right Team’

Merit has Valley ties of its own as the company’s chief executive officer – Will Collins – is a McAllen native.

Collins comes from a RGV banking family and co-founded the San Antonio-based Merit in 2021. Over the last four years, Merit has become a major retail player in the San Antonio market and today is the largest retail developer in the Valley. Merit has developed projects and manages properties from Rio Grande City to Brownsville and just about every RGV community in between.

Merit has had its eye on that open space between the outlet mall and the administrative offices of the South Texas IndependentSchool District. Over multiple years, Collins worked closely with the city’s leadership and the Mercedes Economic Development Corporation in pursuing agreements and commitments that would lead to purchase of the property.

A key part of developing the Shops, Collins said, was convincing Shepard that “we were the right team for her family’s land.”

Getting to the key agreements meant collaborating with the EDC and city government. Collins praised Mercedes and its leadership for its support in getting the project through the process in an efficient and professional manner. Merit has worked with many cities across South Texas on similar projects and Collins said Mercedes was among the best his company has worked with over the last five years.

‘Future Is Here’

The Shops will eventually cover 28 acres of space and itis a multiphase project with plans to have retailing and restaurant fronting the Expressway 83 frontage road facing south.  

The larger anchor stores and businesses will be setback along Mile 1 ½ East across the way from the outlet mall. Thus far,Marshalls, Burlington, and Boot Barn are among the retailers committed to opening at The Shops. Merit has extensive business relationships with some of this nation’s better-known retail and restaurant brands and is working to fill out its roster at The Shops.

Local leadership believes The Shops will raise the city’s profile in the Valley while keeping shoppers for longer durations in Mercedes.

“We’ve had huge leakage to other cities to the extent we have money being lost to neighboring cities,” said Mercedes CityCommissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Ruben Saldana. “With these new developments we will be able to keep people in Mercedes and that will be helpful for many businesses in our community.”

Collins, the Merit developer, says there is growth being seen across the Valley and nowhere more so than Mercedes and theMid-Valley, a point highlighted by Hidalgo County Commissioner David Fuentes.

“The future is right here in the central part of theValley,” said Fuentes, who represents Mid-Valley communities.

- Ric Cavazos

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