Photos & Story by Ricky Jimenez Carrasco
Construction workers are still hard at work getting the TI:ME center ready for its July 31st grand opening. TI:ME At Montecillo aims to be a different shopping experience than what seems to be the norm in El Paso: the generic strip malls with little in the way of variety or decor. Most strip malls, and many of the larger ones as well, are looking for the shopper’s convenience. The shopper is meant to get in, get what they are looking for, and get out. Octavio Gomez, one of the center’s 3 partners, along with Rodolfo Valdez and Nick Salgado, would like for you to come in to one of the 3 restaurants that will be anchoring the center, then stick around, and maybe have a coffee or a drink and go through their tenant’s shops.
Octavio is a homegrown businessman, born and raised in El Paso. “I never really wanted to leave. I just wanted to make an impact here.” He’s already made in impact by creating local hot spots like Crave and The Garden. Here, he aims at creating nontraditional retail spaces for entrepreneurs to launch their businesses. There are spaces as small as 80 square feet to spaces as large as 1000 sq ft. “We are trying to keep everything 100% local and give people a place to test the waters of their business, and maybe move into bigger units as they move along.”
There will also be a general meeting room and many of the partner’s own business associates, like lawyers, engineers and web designers will be available to their tenants for advice and counseling and whatever is needed to give the tenants their best chance at success.
The structures of the center are built eclectically, with different types of architecture and surfaces. What captures the eye from the main street are various train box cars that are stacked and arranged at various angles. The main tower serves as the TIME marquis, while the lower levels serve as retail spaces. One box car serves as the conference center and another will serve as a bar. All the box cars are insulated and have air conditioning units and are fully functional as retail space and comfortable to potential customers. “We’ve wanted to do things like the containers and the raw materials. The steel will rust and the cinder blocks aren’t painted.”
Octavio himself was overseeing the work done to “Stonewood”, one of the three restaurants that will be anchoring the center. “It will be a modern American grill, with a real wood burning grill. It’s meant to be a steakhouse, but will also serve sandwiches and salads. After a customer dines, they can spill over to one of several open areas like a water structure and a fire pit to continue their evening.
While larger shopping centers can go months and years with vacant spaces, Octavio is very proud to say that every one of his spaces were leased before they even broke ground. That is a very good show of confidence from his tenants. “We’ve had enough of a track record to inspire confidence and our tenants believe in our concept.” That is good because this has been his and his partner’s largest investment to date.
Eddie Flores will be one of TIME’s tenants with his Modern Hookah business. He already has an area inside The Garden club, so he comes with some experience in his own business and trust in TIME’s owners. “I actually read about this and then asked the owners if I could be a part of it. I thought it was a cool concept. I saw the success behind the other businesses and thought this would be the perfect way to expand.” Modern Hookah will have the usual hookah services and Flores also sells custom made hookahs created from liquor bottles. www.Modernhookahep.com
Octavio says that projects like the Chihuahuas and now TI:ME simply add to the quality of life here in El Paso. “We’ve always complained that there’s nothing to do in El Paso. We want to create something here that makes people from out of town wish for something like TIME in their town. We’re trying to make an impact like the baseball team on a smaller scale, but just as meaningful.”
TI:ME at Montecillo is located on the 5000 block of North Mesa or follow them at their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TimeAtMontecillo