Representatives from the McAllen Housing Commission voiced their interest Monday in buying and developing the old Crockett Elementary School property, a month after the McAllen school board indicated it’s once again looking for a permanent solution to the problem the property presents.
Ronnie Cruz, housing commission board chairman, told the district’s board that the group has eyed Crockett in the past and remains interested.
“We are unanimous that we are looking for land all the time. That’s the only reason that we are on that board. Our job is to look, to find affordable homes, affordable housing, affordable residences in McAllen,” he said.
Closed to students for over a decade, the 12.41-acre campus currently serves the district as an administrative annex and the community as a park.
It’s a money pit.
The board has tried to find a solution for Crockett before, and again expressed an interest in doing so in February.
Apparently prompted by that, members of the housing commission — until recently known as the McAllen Housing Authority — attended Monday’s board meeting and said they’d be interested in buying the property and developing it into multi-use apartments.
Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez, the commission’s executive director, acknowledged after the meeting that acquiring Crockett would likely be an uphill battle.
Ramirez, a current trustee himself at South Texas ISD, said the McAllen school district has one particularly good reason to consider selling to the commission: money.
“Let’s say we build from 50 to 100 units. And in each unit — I know the demographics of my families — each household has about three kids from Pre-K to 12th grade,” he said. “Do the math … It would be good business for the school district.”
Flipping Crockett to the housing commission could turn it from the financial drain it is now into an income-producing property.
Commission representatives came to Monday’s meeting armed with a poster displaying their most recent project, Hibiscus
Hibiscus Village, the group’s newest property looks nice enough — pretty much like any other new apartment building. That, Ramirez said, is the point: the commission isn’t developing rundown projects.
“They’re not your traditional government developments. They’re nice, affordable housing that blends in with the existing inventory around Crockett,” he said. “It might even be a bit better, that subdivision I would guesstimate was built in the 70s, maybe 60s. I think if we had the opportunity we would make a nice development there that would fit with the community and serve its citizens well.”
Ramirez says McAllen needs housing, and needs housing for all levels of income. The mixed-use project being proposed is good for the city and its citizens, he said.
The current park would be entirely or almost entirely retained, and Ramirez said a deal could be struck for it to stay open to the public and would include a community center; that’s the situation at other housing commission locations, he said.
Financing for the buy, Ramirez said, is likely.
The district has considered solutions for the property in the past, but has come up short.
Those talks are fueled by the state of the actual building on the property, which is poor.
Figures from 2021 indicate Crockett costs the district $120,000 a year in maintenance fees; costs associated with renovating its infrastructure were estimated to exceed $2.5 million; and it would cost between $300,000 and $500,000 to demolish it. Administration has said personnel at the site can be accommodated elsewhere.
The district could not provide updated numbers on those figures this week.
Despite the decrepit old school, twelve-and-one-half acres of mostly greenspace in the heart of McAllen is decidedly unique, and it’s often turned into a blank canvas trustees are fond of painting dreams onto during talks.
In 2021, the board came very close to selling the property to the city for a little under $1 million.
Trustees mostly waffled between being OK with selling to a municipality and wanting to retain control themselves.
Board President Tony Forina did suggest opening the doors to a private developer.
One popped up during those talks: Tim Wilkins, property tax consultant and former candidate for McAllen city commissioner, who said he’d try to offer significantly more than the city did.
Wilkins said he would — and had even tried to — offer $1.5 million for the parcel, significantly more than the city’s offer.
A board majority never seriously considered a private developer in 2021. In the end, it wound up jilting the city too.
We have a lot of intention — or I have a lot of intention — of seeing this park stick around for a long time and I would not be very happy if we lost it.
City Commissioner Seby Haddad, probably the loudest voice for preserving greenspace at Crockett, declined to say Tuesday whether he’d support the city making another go at buying the park but said it hasn’t been a topic of discussion.
“At this point in time, it’s just not something that we’re looking at,” he said.
Despite the district deciding not to sell, it and the city celebrated over $200,000 worth of improvements to the parklands around the school in 2021, such as a skate park, a dog run and general facilities improvements.
“We have a lot of intention — or I have a lot of intention — of seeing this park stick around for a long time and I would not be very happy if we lost it,” Haddad said Tuesday.
Haddad said he’d oppose action that would risk the park and its greenspace, and was hesitant about Ramirez’s description of developing while preserving the park. Haddad said he’d like to see those assurances on paper.
The school board, meanwhile, is not exactly primed for action. No meeting to discuss Crockett appears to have been set yet despite trustees calling for a workshop on the matter over a month ago.
