CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi's London area held a groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate the new retail plaza project.
Construction for the plaza is currently under way near FM 43. The area has seen huge growth over the years with some 200 to 300 new houses annually.
The plaza is the latest project by PureTree, a renovation company that is tasked with developing the London area. The plaza is owned by the Maddalone family, who moved to Corpus Christi 10 years ago from upstate New York.
According to the James Maddalone, it took a lot of convincing to get funding for the project, but it's the start of the area's transformation.
"Many people won't build in an area that doesn't already have something, but all the numbers show this is the area to build in," Maddalone said. "And so now that we've done this, it opens the floodgate for others to develop as well."
Maddalone added that the area community is seeing economic growth and provides optimal opportunity to expand.
"With a growing community such as we have, this is the next necessary step to bring sustainability for our area to grow," Maddalone said.
Funding for the project will come from the PlainesCapital Bank. Nueces County Commissioner Brent Chesney said that the project was long overdo.
"There has to be these kinds of things because the homes here don't want to drive 20 or 30 minutes into town, or in other parts of town. They want to go here," Chesney said.
He added that development for the streets in the area has been a priority.
"We've made this area real amenable for growth because of the road work that we're doing, because of how business friendly are in Nueces County and I think you're going to see more. This is the first of many to come," Chesney said.
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