The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo

The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo is an outlet mall in downtown Laredo, Texas. It replaced River Drive Mall (a regional 385,000-square-foot (35,800 m2) indoor mall) located in the north Rio Grande bank in downtown Laredo, Texas.[1] River Drive Mall was Laredo's main mall from 1970 to the mid 1980s. It was demolished in 2014 and construction of The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo began in 2015. The center had its grand opening on May 2017.

For the shopping center historically known as El Portal Shopping Center in San Pablo, California, see Arbella Shopping Center.
The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo
The Outlets Shoppes at Laredo
LocationLaredo, Texas, USA
Opening date1970 (as River Drive Mall)
March 2017 (as Outlet Shoppes at Laredo)
DeveloperHorizon Group
OwnerMorgan Stern Realty
No. of stores and services80+
Total retail floor area358,000 sq. ft.
No. of floors3

History

The River Drive Mall was built in 1970 making it the first indoor mall in Laredo, followed by Mall del Norte constructed in 1977. The mall was succeeded by Mall Del Norte in the late 1980s as the main mall in the city. Major anchors located at the mall were Frost Bros., JCPenney, and Weiner's. River Drive Mall closed its doors in 2003 due to high vacancy rate.

El Portal Center project

Morgan Stern Realty bought the property in 2003, renamed it El Portal Center and started renovating it until 2005. It had been planned for Morgan Stern Realty to turn "El Portal Center" into an indoor outlet mall.[2] Their main emphasis would have been outlets stores, restaurants, and entertainment. In 2006, a spokesman for Morgan Stern Realty stated, "Our progress has been impeded primarily on the barrage of negative, national news coverage of Laredo that has depicted the violence in Nuevo Laredo as spilling over to Laredo, while unfair and inaccurate, has nonetheless caused a delay in our factory outlet leasing program."[3] El Portal Center project was never completed and the mall never reopened.

River Drive Mall view from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas will be demolished to make way for the new Outlet Shoppes at Laredo

The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo

On June 12, 2013 Horizon Group Properties and the City of Laredo announced the development of an outlet center in place of the River Drive Mall. The outlet mall would feature from 80 to 90 outlet stores in a newly planned 3 level open air building. El Portal Center was demolished in 2014 for the new building. The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo opened in May 2017.[4][5][6][7]

References
  1. Laredo Morning Times El Portal Project Article
  2. LareDOS Article on Revitalization projects to bring new life to downtown Archived 2007-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Laredo Council Meeting, July 17, 2006
  4. Laredo Morning Times City announces outlet center in downtown Laredo
  5. Horizon Group Plans for The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo
  6. KXOF Fox 39 New Outlets Coming to Laredo
  7. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2017/03/16/the-outlet-shoppes-at-laredo-open-with-spring.html

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