“After almost a decade of starts and stops with two different developers, two different owners, and wrangling over city tax incentives, the 55-acre site once housing the city’s largest garment factory has finally begun its transformation into a major retail center.

The $70 million, 600,000-square-foot The Fountains at Farah is scheduled to open by November 2013 at the site bordered by Hawkins Boulevard and Interstate 10. The 1.2-million-square-foot, 145-store Cielo Vista Mall is across the street.

Ray Catlin, executive vice president of EMJ Corp., a Tennessee builder specializing in retail centers that is the general contractor for The Fountains at Farah, said this is one of probably three or four major retail centers under construction in the United States. The recession’s lingering effects have held back projects, he said.

“Not a lot of these are going up. I’d say this will be one of the premier ones. It will be pretty nice” because of the architecture and amenities, Catlin said.

Catlin said EMJ wants to get as many local subcontractors involved in building The Fountains as it can. It is now getting subcontractors’ bids for portions of the project, he said. The developers’ agreement with the city requires at least 25 percent of the companies and/or labor involved in the project to be from El Paso.

Catlin estimated more than 500 construction workers will be involved in the project.”

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Assurance Screening has contracted with EMJ Corporation to assist with improving efficiencies with subcontractor prequalification on the The Fountains at Farah in El Paso, TX. Assurance will assist with the collection and verification of requested documents, as well as, perform comprehensive business screening checks on all companies submitting bids for the project.

Companies wishing to bid on The Fountains at Farah in El Paso can email enroll@proqualverified.com for more details and to begin the prequalification process for EMJ Corporation.