Pharmacy wants to build at Ninth and Lake Arthur in Port Arthur
Published 8:52 pm Tuesday, November 7, 2017
By David Ball
There are five independent pharmacies operating within the city limits of Port Arthur.
Parc Enterprises was making their case at the regular meeting of the Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation on Monday night to be added to that list. The board of directors, likewise, approved entering into an Economic Infrastructure Incentive Agreement with Parc Enterprises.
Dr. Sandra Richardson grew up in Port Arthur. Parc is currently in Beaumont and she wishes to relocate to her hometown with a 6,000 square feet space to be built at Ninth Avenue and Lake Arthur Drive.
Floyd Batiste, executive director of the PAEDC, said the store could be 100 percent collateralized. The project would be based on performance, completed in stages.
Attorney Guy Goodson added that infrastructure projects are different for the PAEDC. They are funded in an arrears basis and money is needed up front.
Director Richard Wycoff asked Richardson if she foresees competition from nearby Walgreen’s and CVS. She said being an independent pharmacy allows them to be more thorough and offer more services to their customers.
“The others are retail establishments. I see us as a community center. I want to instill a sense of community,” she said.
An application was approved to the Foundation for Southeast Texas for Small Business Disaster funding.
Krystle Villarreal Muller, employment and training specialist, said the PAEDC wanted to offer something to small businesses in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey in the form of a forgivable $25,000 loan.
She said they literally went door to door to businesses with a small business damage assessment survey to be filled out. Some businesses are still closed. Forty-two of the 49 surveyed suffered damage. The average time they were closed was two weeks. Some businesses are still suffering economic damages.
Construction material businesses are the exception and are doing well.
Twenty percent of businesses had flood insurance. Most businesses employ one to five employees on average.
Villarreal Muller said business owners view their employees as family and they don’t want to let them go. Half of the businesses applied for a Small Business Administration loan, half didn’t apply because they didn’t want to have to pay on another loan.
The board approved entering into an advertising agreement with Radio Vida 1150 AM/95.5 FM at a cost not to exceed $4,900 annually.
Fernando Ramirez with the station said they want to offer their services to the PAEDC as the only Spanish language radio station in the city. The station is nonprofit.
“The Hispanic community needs you,” he said. “There’s a huge Hispanic community in Port Arthur. They’re busy working and they like Port Arthur.”
The Port Arthur ISD student population is 47 percent Hispanic. Bob Hope School is 90 percent Hispanic.
The station will take on more religious programming. They’re new slogan is In the Community of God.
“We need each other’s help,” he said. “We need a new location to bring a 100-foot tower to better communicate. Maybe some businesses can make a donation. Imagine the publicity they would receive.”
Owner Gil Castor said the station started in 1997.
“We’ve seen the community grow,” Castro said. “We’re not going to leave Port Arthur. We have a 35-foot small tower now. Hurricane Rita brought both our towers down and we’ve got them back up. We want to work with y’all.”
