Popular Categories

New FEDC exec takes ‘aggressive’ approach on retail




New Floresville Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Johnny Rodriguez addresses the corporation at a Dec. 10 meeting. GREGORY RIPPS/Reprints at bit.ly/wcnphotos

New Floresville Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Johnny Rodriguez addresses the corporation at a Dec. 10 meeting. GREGORY RIPPS/Reprints at bit.ly/wcnphotos

(Video below) “At this point, personally, I’m not impressed,” Floresville Economic Development Corp. (FEDC) Executive Director Johnny Rodriguez said. “I’d like to see more productivity.”

Rodriguez was taking to task The Retail Coach — a retail consulting, market research, and development firm on contract with the FEDC — at the corporation’s Dec. 10 meeting.

Kyle Cofer, representing The Retail Coach, provided an update on his company’s activities since the FEDC approved a three-year contract with them in July.

He reviewed the company’s process and reported that it had completed a market analysis, identified development or redevelopment opportunities, and identified retailers and developers for recruitment.

The process included a cell phone analysis to determine the Floresville trade area — where people spend time in the area. He said this is more effective than a license-plate survey used a few years ago.

“We’re not looking for radial and drive times to determine the primary trade area,” Cofer said.

The areas identified for development or further development include the Walmart pad, the H-E-B pad, and the area around Pizza Hut.

Cofer said the next phase is to begin contacting potential retailers.

Rodriguez offered some advice.

“When you’re dealing with government boards, they want to see projects coming in,” he said. “Statistics are important to know, but I have not seen an impact analysis, demographics, feasibility, or abatements or incentives.”

He asked Cofer to come back with something more “concrete.”

“They [the FEDC board] hired me to be aggressive, informative, and factual,” said Rodriguez, who began working for the FEDC Dec. 3. “I want to make sure we’re getting a return for our investment.”

For starters, he said he wanted an inventory of property available for retail development.

“We’ll work on this together,” he said.

gripps@wcn-online.com