HARLINGEN — The fast-casual restaurant known as Panda Express will open its second location in the city by the end of the year.
The newest Panda Express, which will become one of the 2,000 restaurants the chain operates in 50 states, will be located at 2205 S. 77 Sunshine Strip near the Texas Regional Bank building.
“Panda Express has a project off of Sunshine Strip and Ed Carey in Harlingen,” said company spokesperson Aileen Donovan. “Pending permit approvals, construction should begin towards the end of summer 2018 with plans to open at the end of 2018.”
The popular Chinese-American restaurants comprise the largest Asian-segment chain in the U.S. market. The brand is well-represented in the Rio Grande Valley, with two locations in McAllen and single locations in Mission, Palmhurst, Weslaco, Brownsville and Harlingen.
The latest Harlingen restaurant will join the Panda Express at 2005 W. Lincoln Ave. near Dixieland Road and bring the total number of the chain’s locations here in the Valley to eight.
Commercial real estate broker Cindy Hopkins (CCIM) said initially the project was a non-starter until two properties could be combined to give Panda Express about an acre on South 77 Sunshine Strip.
“That corner’s just not big enough for national franchises,” she said yesterday. “So it was for sale and the corner itself wouldn’t work, so from there a happenstance is the property next door came up for sale … one of the Valley Baptist properties. So fortunately we were able to negotiate a deal with the next-door neighbor to compile those for a whole acre.”
Decades ago the property was a service station, and Hopkins said there was some concern about potential environmental issues linked to underground fuel tanks.
“They drilled some holes for environmental just to double-check that and TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) has already approved that site for a clean site so I don’t expect any problems with the boring,” Hopkins said.
Panda Express, headquartered in Rosemead, California, plans to spend $1.2 million for the new construction at the 77 South Sunshine Strip site, according to documents filed with the state.
Construction should begin in July with completion by the end of November or early December.
Heights Venture Architects LLC is the design firm.
