Hidalgo County Precinct 4 Breaks Ground on Nearly $9 Million Community Resource Center in North Edinburg

EDINBURG - Hidalgo County Precinct 4 broke ground Thursday, Oct. 29, on a new community resource center on Carmen Avila Road near Harwell Middle School in north Edinburg.

KRGV reported the project at nearly $9 million. County records summarized from the Sept. 15 Hidalgo County Commissioners Court agenda show a construction contract of about $8.22 million for the "CRC Facility in Precinct 4," awarded to ECON Group, LLC.

Commissioner Ellie Torres told KRGV the center will include a gymnasium, an outdoor pavilion, a play area and a large parking lot. Programming is expected to include education, job training and wellness workshops.

Torres said she hopes to open the building in about 14 months. That would put the opening near the end of 2027 or early 2028.

WHO DESIGNED IT

The architect is The Warren Group Architects, Inc., a McAllen firm led by founder and principal Laura Nassri Warren, AIA. The firm announced the groundbreaking in a public statement congratulating Torres and Hidalgo County. It said the center will offer educational opportunities, job training, wellness programs, cultural activities and community services.

The Warren Group is not new to Precinct 4. County contract records show Hidalgo County hired the firm for on-call architectural services for Precinct 4 in April 2017 and again in May 2018. The firm also prepared construction documents for Precinct 4's Memorial Park Phase I in 2017. Outside county work, it designed the City of Pharr's Northside Community Center, according to state accessibility filings.

County records reviewed by The 956 Report do not show whether the resource center was designed under one of those on-call agreements or under a separate project contract. Neither do they show the design fee. The 956 Report is requesting those documents.

WHO IS BUILDING IT

At the Sept. 15 meeting, county purchasing staff identified ECON Group as the highest-ranked responsible bidder and recommended the award, with a notice to proceed subject to permits and bonding, according to a summary of the meeting. Commissioners approved it.

Published summaries list the contract at $8,223,217 in one place and $8,222,217 in another. The 956 Report is confirming the exact figure against the signed contract.

That leaves a gap of several hundred thousand dollars between the construction contract and the "nearly $9 million" project figure reported at the groundbreaking. Design fees, testing, furnishings and contingency often account for that kind of difference on public projects. The county has not publicly itemized it.

HOW IT IS BEING PAID FOR

Torres told KRGV that savings from other projects are funding the work. She did not specify which projects produced the savings or how much each contributed.

That matters. Precinct 4 has managed a long list of drainage and road work in recent years, including projects funded through the American Rescue Plan Act and the county's 2023 drainage bond. Whether any of the savings came from those sources, or from general precinct funds, is a question of public record. The 956 Report has asked for the budget amendments and transfers tied to the project.

WHY THIS AREA

Torres connected the project to the pandemic. She told KRGV that turnout at COVID-19 vaccination clinics in the area confirmed a need for a resource center.

Resident Sandra Sanchez told KRGV she has lived in the area for 10 years and has watched it grow. She said the population has doubled. She currently travels to the Precinct 4 Endowment Center in San Carlos three times a week to teach sewing classes and plans to teach at the new center. She credited the San Carlos center with helping her after a cancer diagnosis six years ago.

Precinct 4 covers more than 190,000 residents, according to the county. Its only existing community resource center sits in San Carlos, east of Edinburg, at 107 N. Sunflower Road. That 8,500-square-foot building broke ground in 2014 under former Commissioner Joseph Palacios. It now hosts health fairs, nutrition and job programs, and a free clothing closet run with the AltaCair Foundation.

The north Edinburg site sits in a fast-developing corridor. County planning records show new subdivision phases platted along Carmen Avila Road in recent years.

THE TIMELINE

The project is behind its original public schedule. In her 2025 State of the County remarks and in her reelection announcement, Torres said the new resource center in northern Precinct 4 would open in 2026. Ground was broken in the final days of October 2026.

The groundbreaking also came five days before the Nov. 3 general election. The Hidalgo County Precinct 4 commissioner seat is on that ballot, according to the county's order of election. Torres announced in 2025 that she is seeking a third term.

WHO IS BEHIND ECON GROUP

ECON Group, legally E-Con Group, LLC and also doing business as Enriquez Construction, is an Edinburg general contractor founded in 2009. Its website lists Gilbert Enriquez as president.

Enriquez is a former elected official. He served as an Edinburg CISD trustee from 2000 to 2006. He won the Edinburg City Council Place 2 seat in 2017, and the council appointed him to the board of the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation, where he served as board president. He resigned from the council, as mayor pro tem, effective March 16, 2021, and ran unsuccessfully for mayor later that year.

During his time on the council, Enriquez served alongside David Torres, Commissioner Ellie Torres’ husband, who was then the city’s mayor pro tem. David Torres now holds Place 7 on the Edinburg CISD board.

The 956 Report found no record that Enriquez holds public office today. Prior public service by a contractor’s owner is legal and common in the Rio Grande Valley, and it is not evidence that the contract award was improper. County purchasing staff identified ECON as the highest-ranked responsible bidder for the resource center contract, according to a summary of the Sept. 15 Commissioners Court meeting.

Texas law requires vendors that contract with a county to disclose certain business and family relationships with county officers on a Conflict of Interest Questionnaire.

SOURCES

KRGV, "Hidalgo County Precinct 4 breaks ground on $9M Edinburg community center," Oct. 30, 2026.

Hidalgo County Commissioners Court agenda, Sept. 15, 2026, Item 24.B.1, as summarized by RGV.me and Citizen Portal.

Hidalgo County service contracts C-17-104-04-18 (April 2017) and C-18-147-05-08 (May 2018), The Warren Group Architects, on-call architectural services, Precinct 4.

Texas Border Business, coverage of Commissioner Torres' 2025 State of the County remarks and 2025 reelection announcement.

Hidalgo County, Precinct 4 and Endowment Community Resource Center webpages.

Hidalgo County, 2014 news release on the San Carlos Community Resource Center groundbreaking.

Hidalgo County, Order of General Election for Nov. 3, 2026.

The Warren Group Architects, public statement on the groundbreaking.