Intertech Helping Transform Business in Rio Grande Valley

By Vicente Garza,
Vice President of Operations, Intertech Rio Grande Valley

If you haven’t visited Texas’ Rio Grande Valley region lately, you might be surprised at the growth underway here. U.S. News & World Report recently named McAllen the third best place in the nation for quality of life. In its Best Places to Live for Quality of Life in the U.S. report, it described McAllen as “a vibrant metro area and a major center for retail, international trade, tourism and manufacturing. A high quality of life, an abundance of medical facilities and a young, bicultural community are additional draws.”

The Valley is home to a growing medical community that rivals the caliber of care available in the state’s largest metro areas. And the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley continues to expand campuses and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine.

Intertech Commercial Flooring has had the honor to be a part of much of the region’s business growth. In recent months, our Rio Grande Valley team has been busy on several high-profile construction projects. Here are highlights from three of those:

Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD Natatorium

Just about two years ago, the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District broke ground on its Natatorium located at NW Corner Sioux Road and 281 in Pharr. The project was a partnership between the school district and UT Rio Grande Valley, and gives PSJA ISD athletes a first-class facility for swimming practices and competitions. It includes a 50-meter competition pool, a dive pool with springboards and platforms, and spectator seating. An adjacent facility offers UTRGV medical students a place to provide sports medicine services to the community.

Intertech’s work on this project began mid-year 2021, starting with the front office space and pool perimeter walls. But two areas in particular showcase our work: the dive towers and the exterior wall. The two massive dive towers feature custom ceramic tile designs. Changes to the designs during construction required our team to adjust flooring installation plans by staggering joints instead of cutting on the diving towers. The front exterior wall features 10 different designs that mimic the movement of a wave, with varying percentages of colors. For this unique installation, we custom blended colors to create the 40 ft. x 40 ft. design, using 1×1-inch and 2×2-inch tile.

Intertech’s flooring work is also on full display around the pool, where we installed 20,000 sq. ft. of Daltile Keystone tile, making field adjustments on the fly to ensure the pattern precisely lined up with the pool company’s tilework.

UTRGV Early College High School

Over our 33-plus years in the commercial flooring business, Intertech has built strong relationships with the education community across Texas. So, we were excited to showcase that expertise with this recent project that was a partnership of the City of Harlingen, Harlingen ISD and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The UTRGV Early College High School is a 64,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility on 6.3 acres in Harlingen. There, students can earn up to 60 hours toward a bachelor’s degree while still attending high school.

Intertech’s team installed approximately 20,000 sq. ft. of luxury vinyl tile incorporating up to four custom color blends in a herringbone pattern. In addition, we laid 1,000 sq. yds. of carpet tile, and installed custom wood on the main staircase. Delays in other construction areas compressed Intertech’s installation window, but our experienced flooring team nonetheless was able to complete its work on time and well ahead of the school’s grand opening this fall.

Students help mark the new UTRGV Early College High School’s grand opening this fall, showcasing Intertech’s flooring expertise.

Intertech Commercial Flooring installed luxury vinyl tile, carpet tile and custom wood flooring in the state-of-the-art UTRGV Early College High School in Harlingen.

McAllen Medical Center

In 2017, McAllen Medical Center announced a $22.7 million renovation. It was the hospital’s first major renovation since 1993. The project included new flooring and other updates in patient rooms, restrooms, nurse stations, the lobby and dining areas.

Intertech’s work can be seen in custom flooring patterns in labor and delivery units, wall protection installed on head walls behind patient beds, and restrooms. What was initially expected to be one-year project grew to three years to accommodate multiple changes. Even so, Intertech successfully completed the last flooring installation before the hospital admitted its first COVID-19 patients.