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The home of the long shuttered GoldStar EMS is getting a new lease on life.

The redevelopment of the property, located at 4439 Gulfway Drive, is currently underway and the facility already has a new look.

But there’s more than a facelift going on at Saigon Plaza, as it is now named.

Port Arthur City Council recently approved an application for a Neighborhood Empowerment Zone, which in turn helps the city and the owners. A NEZ is created to promote the creation or rehabilitation of affordable housing, promoting economic development or improving the quality of social services, education or public safety for the residents of the NEZ.

The creation of the NEZ allows the city to offer certain incentives to the business owners. The incentives can include tax abatement for up to three years, according to the contract.

Business partners Hoang H. Nguyen and Michelle Nguyen formed Saigon Town LLC of which Saigon Plaza comes from.

In the application to the city, the owners of the property said they are renovating the building into a strip mall with seven units to attract retailers into the area and provide more jobs for Port Arthur.

The owners of the property are renovating both inside and out.

“We are renovating everything from parking lots, plumbing, electrical and exterior and interior of the building,” owners wrote in their application for NEZ.

They are looking to spend $400,000 on the work, and hope to add a number of retail jobs to the city — 16 new jobs and 44 part-time jobs.

The 21,000 square foot strip center will have seven units for rent upon completion of construction.

For leasing information, call 409-728-0763 or 409-293-9334.