Texas Border Business
By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez
The City of Combes dates since 1911 and is known as the “City of Queens”. Unbelievably, Combes is about to be transformed thanks to visionary developers and investors. People who have the knowledge, energy, and the will to create the perfect lifestyle and a quality of life that every city dreams of.
Combes currently has a population of about 3,000 people, enviably major roads like I-69E and State Highway 107 run right through Combes, and that’s how the developers and the city are leveraging their investment. Thousands of drivers travel through those roads, many of them will soon make Combes their favorite place to stop.
The economic development gurus classified Combes as an emerging market, with about 100,000 people living just a few minutes away in the surrounding area and traveling through these major roads.
Mark Hanna and Nils Wulff with Hanna Development are the developers, and with Mayor Marco Sanchez representing the city of Combes. Together, they are the visionary individuals and the stakeholders of this multimillion-dollar investment.
The project is called Crosswind Landing, a 26-acre mixed-use development with a lake in the middle and a park with a walking trail that goes around the lake. The lake is a retention pond that belongs to Cameron County Drainage District #5. The city obtained permission to use the property around the lake.
The master plan calls for a 38,000 sq. ft. wellness center, 45 duplexes, a total of 90 apartments, a retail strip center, a hotel, and much more.
The developers will shortly announce more projects coming to their site. Crosswind Landing in Combes will be the major attraction for the following cities: Raymondville, Lyford, Sebastian, Santa Rosa, Primera, and Rio Hondo. Harlingen is only five minutes away, and the developers also believe their state-of-the-art wellness center will attract clients from there as well.
Ernesto Silva of Silva Management Solutions, an economic development professional and the consultant assisting the city for the last eighteen months, had this to say. “It’s been a long road with COVID, and we’re at the point where the city and the developers are ready to announce breaking ground on the infrastructure, water, and sewer.” Ernesto Silva is the main reason Hanna Development identified Combes and has been working behind the scenes, connecting all the dots between the developer and the City.
The mayor and the elders have been working for years to bring investments and developers to grow the City of Combes. Mayor Marco Sanchez said that this project is part of their comprehensive plan that started in 2015. In 2016, they went out for a vote and got it passed. “After that, we went into a savings mood for several years. When there were enough savings, we hired the right consultant like Mr. Silva, and here we are.”
Hanna is a visionary developer. He is unique when it comes to investments and development. He sees potential on a tract of land where anyone else might see only dirt. With a background in Banking and Real Estate, Commercial Development was the ideal next step in his career.
Hanna has been the driving force behind this project; he brought onboard Kai Wulff, the original gutsy investor that saw the potential in Combes. Unfortunately, two weeks after verbally committing to fund the project, he lost his life in an airplane crash.
“He was a friend, someone that I looked up to as a mentor,” Hanna said. During the morning of the press conference, Hanna announced that the main road, which is the entrance to the project, bears his name “Wulff Drive”. That announcement brought applauses from attendees who were mainly city staff who worked diligently to land this development for the city.
Nils Wulff, the only son of the late Kai Wulff, stepped in place of his father to bring the development to fruition. He told Texas Border Business, “I just tried to carry on his legacy and make it all work out.”
Hanna said that once it is developed, there will be a significant impact. “The jobs that it’ll provide, the sales tax that it will generate will be of great significance to the City of Combes.” He continued, “It has just as much of a significance to us to be successful because this is more than dirt and buildings. It is a legacy project.”
As Hanna continued making the presentation, he said, “We hope this project will invite other developers because Combes has a lot of expressway frontage, a lot of land, a lot of opportunities. In a three-mile radius of Combes, there’s a hundred thousand people that live here.”
The anchor of the entire project will be the Combes Wellness Center. Hanna said that cities across the country are focused on wellness. Citizens need a place to do aerobics or a place to drop off their kids for basketball training, cheerleading, or volleyball practice.
“We came up with the concept of this wellness center. And most recently, we solidified a floor plan that’s going to have two basketball courts, a full-blown weight gym, a snack stand, and meeting rooms.”
He emphasized the whole idea is to have sports tourism combined with a hotel, restaurants, complementary retail, and more.
The other magnets are Unity Park, which features a walking trail around Unity Lake. The quality of life for the citizens of Combes and its surroundings will be second to none.
Since Combes Wellness Center is a 38,000 sq. ft. facility, it is large enough to bring statewide basketball, volleyball, karate, and chess tournaments. “You name it, and when there’s a basketball tournament, let’s say that you have 40 teams, those kids don’t travel alone. They travel with their parents, and parents will travel all over Texas for their kids when it comes to Sports. We hope that happens here,” Hanna said.
Most parents who are active with their kids’ activities travel to a host city and stay the weekend in a hotel closest to the venue.
They also announced there would be a future hotel with 60 to 80 rooms. “We have a hotel pad site, we’re working with hotel groups, but obviously, we wanted to have this announcement first. The hotel will also become an anchor for the development,” Hanna stated.
The good news kept coming as Hanna said that there would be a multifamily subdivision with 45 lots. Each lot has a duplex, so 90 apartments are to be built. Each of the apartments will have a one-car garage, three bedrooms, and two and a half baths. That’s 90 families that we hope to attract,” Hanna enthusiastically said.” The new dwellers will automatically enjoy a membership to Combes Wellness Center, a significant added value.
“Combes is close to Harlingen, which has one of the largest international airports of the Rio Grande Valley. Hanna stated that new tenants living in Combes could fly directly to Las Vegas or California. “I mean, across the country, and it’s only five minutes from Combes.” Highlighting more of Combes’ advantages he said, “It has the interstate corridor I-69E that will take you to San Antonio, Houston, and Corpus Christi, and for academics, Combes is serviced by Harlingen CISD and IDEA school system.
Mayor Sanchez and Hanna said that more development announcements are coming. Because if you see the photo rendering, there is a commercial strip center with nine suites for lease and an out pad already planned. All businesspeople around the area should start engaging with the developer to open a shop in Combes, because this is the beginning of a better future for all.
Like Mayor Sanchez said, “Stay tuned!”
