Retrofit Atlas

Malls · Texas

Amigoland Mall

From the authors' mapReinhabitedRetrofit builtBrownsville, TX

Opened 1974. Closed 2000. Reinhabited in 2002.

Status nowRetrofit builtderived from authors' map (retrofit year present)
What it becameeducation, industrial, civicextracted, unreviewed
Retrofit year2002authors' map
Walkability7.5 of 20 · 15-minute 4 of 6EPA, OpenStreetMap
Rail within 800 mNo · Opportunity ZoneOpenStreetMap, HUD
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Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from.

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Site profile19 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Former anchors
Dillard'sThis site: Dillard's wikipedia · all sites with this
JCPenneyThis site: JCPenney wikipedia · all sites with this
Montgomery WardThis site: Montgomery Ward wikipedia · all sites with this
Ownership
University, hospital or churchThis site: University of Texas at Brownsville county-parcels · all sites with this
Place
200+ tax-credit housing units within 1 kmThis site: 200 units in 1 properties hud-lihtc · all sites with this
High hurricane riskThis site: Very High fema-nri · all sites with this
High natural hazard risk (FEMA NRI)This site: Relatively High; hurricane, cold wave fema-nri · all sites with this
High social vulnerability tract (SVI ≥ 0.75)This site: 1.00 cdc-svi · all sites with this
Lower-income tract (< $50k)This site: $12,705 census-acs · all sites with this
Opportunity ZoneThis site: 48061014001 hud-oz · all sites with this
Renter-majority tractThis site: 79% census-acs · all sites with this
Tract income flat or down since 2013This site: -3% census-acs · all sites with this
Tract population up 25%+ since 2013This site: +28% census-acs · all sites with this
Scale
Building footprint 50,000+ m²This site: 51,213 m² overture · all sites with this
Strategy
ReinhabitedThis site: Reinhabitation: education, government offices record · all sites with this
New use
Civic and governmentThis site: Reinhabitation: education, government offices extraction · all sites with this
EducationThis site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this
Logistics and industrialThis site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this
OfficeThis site: Reinhabitation: education, government offices extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

From the authors' map

TX, Brownsville: Amigoland Mall/Brownsville ITEC Center, 2002
• Reinhabitation: education, government offices

Now

StatusRetrofit builtderived from authors' map (retrofit year present)
StrategyReinhabitedauthors' map
New useseducation, industrial, civicextracted, unreviewed
What is there nowReinhabitation: education, government officesauthors' map
Retrofit year2002authors' map
RedeveloperDMMC Engineering- David Martinez-McCarter, P.Eextracted, unreviewed

Securitised debt and public filers

Filings (2001 to date) that name “Amigoland Mall” and “Brownsville” (8 hits, first 8 sampled, 1 other filers such as tenants left out). No commercial-mortgage trust names this mall in the sample, which does not rule out a securitised loan. Text matches, not a title search. Open the search · all trusts.

KindFilerFilingsDatesForms
Public owner (strong)SIMON PROPERTY GROUP INC /DE/ (SPG, SPG-PJ)42002-05-17 to 2002-10-318-K 4
Public owner (strong)SIMON PROPERTY GROUP L P /DE/22001-03-30 to 2002-04-0110-K 2

Site context

FEMA flood zoneX · AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARDFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m5: AMFCO; OKLAHOMA INSTALLATIO CO; QUICK TRANSIT CORPORATION; RIMIR; WEST RAIL TRAILEPA FRS
Census tract 480610140012,518 people, 2,086 per sq mi; median household income $12,705; median gross rent $373; 79% renters; 14.5% vacant units; 4.9% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Walkability (EPA, block group)index 7.5 of 20; 50 intersections per sq mi; no transit stop within the EPA search radius; land-use mix 0.47; 24,818 jobs within 45 min by car; 16% of households without a carEPA Smart Location
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)4 of 6 daily needs: 0 grocers, 2 schools, 4 parks or playgrounds, 1 health, 0 civic, 1 food and drink; 7 cycleway segments, 73 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity Zoneyes, tract 48061014001 (rural)HUD
Housing permits, Cameron County (TX), 2024511 units in 5+ unit buildings, 168 in 2–4, 1,668 single-family; 2023: 99 in 5+Census BPS
Social vulnerability (CDC SVI 2022, tract)overall percentile 1.00; socioeconomic 0.99; housing and transport 0.89; 73% below 150% of poverty; 47% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Other atlas sites nearby1 within 10 km, 1 within 25 km: Casa Padre (1.2 km)computed
Overture Mapsplace Amigoland Mall (real_estate_service, confidence 0.95, from BrightQuery, Overture); building footprint 51,213 m²Overture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Attention: Wikipedia page views1,015 since 2015; 853 in the last 12 months; peak 2026-08 with 106Wikimedia
Tract change 2013–2023population +28% (1,959 → 2,518); median income -3% ($13,118 → $12,705); renters 77% → 80%; median home value -9% ($62,900 → $57,000)Census ACS 5-year
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)relatively high overall (score 84.7); expected annual loss $1.7M; high: hurricane, cold wave; community resilience very lowFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 km1 LIHTC properties, 200 units: Villa Del Sol (200 units)HUD LIHTC
Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract)not a low-access tract at 1 mile; 2% of residents more than 1 mile from a supermarket; poverty rate 54.9%; median family income $24,638; 396 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS
SchoolsBrownsville Independent School District (PK-12); 5 public schools within 1 mile: IDEA RIVERVIEW ACADEMY; IDEA RIVERVIEW COLLEGE PREPARATORY; PUTEGNAT EL; SKINNER ELNCES EDGE
Elevation33 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 20231,037 establishments (-8%); 17,820 jobs (+4%)Census CBP
Housing market in the countytypical home value $204,554 (+1% 1 yr, +24% 5 yr); typical rent $1,509/mo (+5% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)7,584 vehicles a day (principal arterial, 4 lanes); 14 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Similar sites

  • Newmarket North Mall, Hampton, VA · Malls · opened 1975; closed 2000; same strategy: reinhabit
  • East Lake Square Mall, Tampa, FL · Malls · opened 1976; closed 1998; same strategy: reinhabit
  • Windsor Park Mall, Windcrest, TX · Malls · opened 1978; same strategy: reinhabit; also in TX
  • Driver's Village, Cicero, NY · Malls · opened 1976; closed 1996; same strategy: reinhabit

Elsewhere on the web

Retail history: Amigoland Mall on DeadMalls.com photos, field notes and visitor memories since 2000; matched by name and city; nothing copied here

Pages with photos

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

  • retrofit already built

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Now called / also known asBrownsville ITEC Center
Opened1974Wikidata
Closed2000extracted, unreviewed
Original developerMelvin Simon & Associatesextracted, unreviewed
AnchorsDillard's, JCPenney, Bealls, Montgomery Ward
Organisations in Wikidata (undated)University of Texas at Brownsville
CountyCameron County
Census division7 · West South Central

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA. Know it? Tell us.

Background

Brownsville ITEC Center is a tech center in Brownsville, Texas. The building was previously an enclosed shopping mall called Amigoland Mall.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

  1. 1970 Announcement of plans for Amigoland Mall
  2. 1974 Opened (Wikidata)
  3. 1974 Mall opened
  4. 1999 JCPenney and Dillard's relocation
  5. 2000 Mall shuttered after anchor loss
  6. 2002 Retrofit: reinhabit
  7. 2002 Conversion to classrooms and tech center
  8. 2020 Major renovation started
  9. 2021 Renovation completed and inaugurated

Sources

  • Wikipedia · supports: original developer, year closed
    9 quoted sentences
    The bankruptcy of Montgomery Ward in 2000 left the older mall devoid of anchors and shortly afterward, the mall was shuttered.
    Melvin Simon & Associates announced plans for 530,000-square-foot (49,000 m2) mall to accompany a proposed amusement park called Amigoland.
    Melvin Simon & Associates announced plans for 530,000-square-foot (49,000 m2) mall to accompany a proposed amusement park called Amigoland.
    The mall opened in 1974, with Montgomery Ward, JCPenney (which also featured a JCPenney Supermarket), and Dillard's as anchors.
  • Retrofitting Suburbia Interactive Mall Map (ArcGIS web map ce33ab26…) · 2021-01-20

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