Boys & Girls Club finalizes purchase of Bonham Elementary in McAllen for $1M

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McALLEN — The school district here finalized the sale of Bonham Elementary to the Boys & Girls Club for $1 million with plans to turn it into the third clubhouse for the organization and provide programs and services to the children and families of the south side of town.

The ceremonial signing and closing of the 13-acre property was held at The Radisson with leadership from both parties in attendance.

“I’m very proud that Bonham Elementary will be sold to the Boy Girls Club because it’s going to go back to kids to fill that building with programs … and be part of the community,” McAllen ISD Superintendent René Gutiérrez said.

Gutiérrez said during a speech that he was once a child in the Boys & Girls Club of McAllen upon coming from Reynosa as a child.

“Growing up in South McAllen, to stay out of trouble, to stay away from the streets, the Boys & Girls Club kept me out of that environment,” he said. “I was in a location where we were supervised and we had activities and sports and we were involved.”

Before closing on the property, officials first had to conduct an archaeological dig under federal law given that the sale involved federal money and the possibility of intersecting a prehistoric/Indigenous burial ground.

In compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act, the district reached out to University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Assistant Anthropology Professor Edward Gonzalez-Tennant to conduct the dig.

Gonzalez-Tennant conducted the archaeological dig with UTRGV students in May and said it was unlikely to produce any finds but it offered a hands-on experience for the students involved.

Boys & Girls Club of McAllen CEO Dalinda Gonzalez Alcantar said the process took almost two years but the proper needed steps were taken.

“We are going to be sure to honor those of the land and even though, yes, there wasn’t anything physically found there, we do know that people of Mexican descent … Indigenous people lived there,” the CEO said.

Alcantar said funding for the $1 million came through Hidalgo County Commissioner Eduardo “Eddie” Cantu’s office.

An additional $2 million came through U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, and will be used toward renovating and remodeling the property to be ready for children next fall.

The third clubhouse will offer a variety of programs and services but also will serve as a hub for opportunity and upward mobility.

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“We are looking into the future to try and welcome, you know, maybe other nonprofit agencies, even other government entities that can share that space, so that it can be family or a child one-stop shop to upward mobility,” Alcantar said.

The next phase of the project at the property will include building a youth sports complex.

“Phase two is looking like building gyms and other structures,” she said. “At the Boys and Girls Club of McAllen, we are the largest youth service provider when it comes to youth sports in our region. There’s a lot of need when it comes to youth sports and so we want to make sure that we can meet that need at that property. Our board of directors have chosen, in that phase, to go ahead and do between two and four gyms and then just looking ahead to the future for additional complexes.”

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