HARLINGEN — The Bass Pro Shops project could amount to a godsend for many building trades businesses across the Rio Grande Valley, a local concrete supplier said Tuesday.
“We need a piece of this job. We all really need a piece of this job,” Raul Diaz, owner of Diaz Concrete in Harlingen, said.
“It’s really slow,” he said of the building trades industry. “We’re down about 30 to 40 percent” compared to a typical year.
“If I can get just a piece of this, that would be fantastic. I would be doing OK. For a lot of people, I’m talking valleywide, this could be salvation. It could mean they stay afloat.”
Diaz was among a standing-room-only crowd of more than 450 people meeting at Casa Del Sol Tuesday afternoon, all looking to get a piece of the $41 million Bass Pro Shops project.
The meeting, hosted by the city of Harlingen, was intended to provide information to anyone interested in subcontracting work.
Steven Callendar, project manager for Bass Pro Shops, said the goal is to start construction “on or about the first of February” and finish in nine months.
“It’s a tight schedule,” Callendar said. “We want to be open by Thanksgiving.”
He had encouraging words for everyone in the audience: “Bass Pro Shops encourages the use of local subcontractors wherever possible.”
Subcontractors will be expected to ...
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