New funding has been secured in El Paso for the much-anticipated redevelopment of one of the city’s most prominent 20th century structures.
Located at 301 E. San Antonio Avenue, the Popular Dry Goods Building is designed in the Chicago School architectural style and listed on the national Register of Historic Places.
The nearly 110-year-old structure was for decades the home to the Popular Dry Goods Company before it was sold, subsequently housing the Fallas Department Store.
In 2024 members of the El Paso City Council gave their approval to a $50 million plan to repurpose the building as housing, creating nearly 100 residential units on the upper floors, and ground level retail space. In doing so, they gave the green light to upwards of $6.7 million in incentives.
That work, as undertaken by developer Robert Palacios, is now in the design stage. But to provide additional support for a project that has received high praise from preservationists, the council has now additionally approved $1 million in incentive funding, which is coming out of the city’s Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 5 fund.
An exact timetable for when work will begin on the building has not yet been announced.
The structure, which has earlier been designated as a Class B structure, comprises nine floors.
Designed by well-known southwest architect Henry Trost, the structure was built at an original cost of $350,000 and included in its original design both a basement and two mezzanine floors.
July 21, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy El Paso History Alliance
