FEATURED: AIM Media Texas recently announced its plan to move its personnel and printing press out of the current home facility for The Monitor, which is located at 1400 East Nolana Avenue in McAllen, and is in negotiations that could lead to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley buying that newspaper’s 88,970-square foot office and warehouse/production building and surface parking lot, reports South Texas attorney Omar Ochoa. As the process moves forward, The Monitor leadership will begin looking for a new location for their office and reviewing their printing facility.
Graphics Courtesy AIM MEDIA TEXAS
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UT System Board of Regents authorize negotiations to buy The Monitor’s home facility in McAllen as newspaper plans to downsize and relocate, reports South Texas attorney Omar Ochoa
By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]
AIM Media Texas recently announced its plan to move its personnel and printing press out of the current home facility for The Monitor, which is located at 1400 East Nolana Avenue in McAllen, and to complete negotiations that could lead to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley(UTRGV)buying that newspaper’s 88,970-square foot office and warehouse/production building and surface parking lot, reports South Texas attorney Omar Ochoa.
AIM Media Texas is a United States publisher of daily and non-daily newspapers, primarily in the Rio Grande Valley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM_Media_Texas
“It’s unclear how much UTRGV will pay for the property, which has been listed for sale on commercial real estate sites for several months,” according to Dina Arévalo, South Texas Reporter for MySA.com “One such website lists the asking price at $13.1 million while Hidalgo County Appraisal District records show the market value as just over $1.52 million.”
Arévalo, until recently a longtime journalist with The Monitor, predicts in her article, dated Monday, May 12, 2025 – and titled “Major sale leaves 113-year-old South Texas newspaper production in limbo” – that the “pending sale of the paper’s 22-year-old office won’t be the end of The Monitor or the slate of other news properties owned by AIM Media Texas, company officials say. Instead, it’s a chance for AIM Media to continue its pivot toward an all-digital newsroom.”
The proposed purchase of The Monitor’s facility would mark a significant step forward in enhancing UTRGV’s educational and research capabilities, university leaders say.
“According to a summary of the proposed purchase reviewed on Thursday, May 8, 2025 by the UT System Board of Regents, as online news has become more common, AIM Media Texas has decided to downsize and relocate,” Ochoa said. “The property is approximately 1.5 miles from the 495 Commerce Center mixed-use development where UT Rio Grande Valley is building a cancer and surgery center.”
Online news is news content delivered through digital platforms, including websites and apps, and accessed over the Internet. It’s a form of digital journalism where information is disseminated electronically rather than through print or broadcast media. This includes news articles, videos, and multimedia content.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=what+is+online+news&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
The UT Health RGV Cancer and Surgery Center is a new, 144,000-square-foot facility in McAllen, scheduled to open later this year. It’s a three-story building that will offer a range of cancer care services, including medical oncology, radiation oncology, clinical research, and surgery. The center is part of UTRGV’s McAllen Academic Medical Campus and is designed to improve access to advanced cancer care for residents of the Rio Grande Valley.
UTRGV President?Guy?Bailey said that, pending a final purchase agreement and closing, the acquisition will advance the university’s mission in academic and health affairs while fostering regional growth and innovation.
“The purchase of this property aligns with our commitment to providing advanced educational resources and facilities for our students and faculty,” Bailey said. “The new location will also provide additional space for research activities across various academic programs.”
UTRGV plans to utilize the office space for mission purposes including academic and health affairs program purposes, the UT System regents were told. UTRGV also has need for the additional warehouse space for possible use for research activities for various academic programs, in addition to allowing for future relocation of warehouse operations, the summary continued.
Born and raised in Edinburg, Ochoa’s roots run deep in the community.
A graduate of Edinburg North High School, he went on to earn a business degree, a master’s in accounting, and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
A champion for government transparency, Ochoa provides regular reports to the public on the Texas Public Information Act, the Texas Open Meetings Act, and existing and proposed state laws that affect the mainstream and social media and the people’s rights to know about the actions of their governments in the Lone Star State.
Mainstream media refers to traditional news outlets, typically controlled by large organizations, that aim to inform the public. This includes newspapers, magazines, television and radio broadcasting, and increasingly, major online news sites. In essence, it’s the news and information you typically find in the mainstream, often seen as more established and widely circulated.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=what+is+mainstream+media&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Social media are online platforms where users connect, share information, and interact with each other through various forms of content. These platforms facilitate the creation and sharing of content, allowing individuals to form online communities and networks. Examples of social media include websites and apps like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.
Parent company of The Monitor, Valley Morning Star, The Brownsville Herald and MyRGV.com, AIMMedia Texas referred to the plans as a “multi-step sales process” and a purchase the UT Board of Regents authorized during a board meeting on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
“Subsequently, the final sale and closing of the transaction is dependent on the full and complete agreement of a sale contract between the parties and the successful completion of all feasibility studies by UTRGV,” stated a news release by AIM Media Texas on Friday, May 9, 2025.
Stephan Wingert, regional vice president and publisher, spoke with associates Friday, May 9, 2025 to share more details and issued the following statement.
“The Monitor has been a part of this community for well over 100 years and continues to be a strong pillar within the community,” says Wingert. “I can’t think of a better use for the Nolana property than in the support of higher education in the Rio Grande Valley through UTRGV. As the process moves forward, we will begin looking for a new location for our office and reviewing our printing facility.”
UTRGV intends that the relocation of The Monitor’s existing personnel and removal of the printing press, production equipment, and office furniture will occur prior to acquiring the property. However, as an alternative, a short-term lease back to AIM Media Texas at a fair market value lease rate may be negotiated to accommodate The Monitor’s relocation needs in conjunction with removal of the printing press, production equipment, and office furniture.
The purchase price is not to exceed fair market value as determined by an independent appraisal; appraisal confidential pursuant to Texas Education Code Section 51.951.
Texas Education Code Section 51.951 addresses theconfidentiality of certain information related to the purchase or sale of real estate by or for institutions of higher education. Specifically, it states that information about the location, purchase price, or sale price of such property is confidential and exempt from disclosure under theTexas Government Code until a deed for the property is executed. This exemption applies to appraisals, reports, evaluations, and investigations related to locating or determining the property’s price. Furthermore, this confidential information is not subject to a subpoena directed to the institution, its governing board, or its officers, agents, or employees.
In real estate, fair market value is the price a property would likely sell for in an open market, under normal conditions, between a willing buyer and a seller, both of whom are knowledgeable about the property and have no obligation to act. It’s essentially the price they would agree on if they were both acting in their own best interest without coercion.
Also according to the news release by AIM Media Texas:
Previously located at 1101 Ash St. in McAllen, The Monitor has called its Nolana location home since January 2004, “and it has served us well,” Wingert said, adding that its current headquarters was one of several since its birth in 1909.
“Changes in technology allow us to work differently than in the past, we simply don’t need as much space,” Wingert added, further noting that departments such as editorial, digital and design have a combined schedule that splits work between at-home and in office requirements.
This began during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 for health restriction purposes, and remains a practical and effective means for several roles in the company, such as digital demands requiring more mobile reporting efforts.
This is also representative of the company’s recent shift prioritizing its digital presence and relevance via MyRGV.com, publishing its news first on the newspapers’ website before hitting print.
“We’re not changing what we do. We still believe in the print product that we produce two times a week, and we’re really focused on building our digital audience in accordance with reader habits, who want this. We’re not changing that either. We’re just changing where we do it from,” Wingert said. “What our readers need to know is that selling the building allows us to move to a more adequately sized workspace and invest in transitioning our product to where readers are and continuing to put out a printed newspaper. It’s a business decision like any other.”
He said details will be shared in the future about The Monitor’s press and where it may be located once all other details are ironed out.
“This building (Nolana location) means as much to us as it means to the community. I even helped design it,” Wingert added. “But as I’ve said in the past, and as evidenced by MyRGV.com producing the best video, infographics, comments and criticism, editorials, investigative report and reporter of the year at this year’s highly coveted Texas Managing Editors awards, what hasn’t changed is that our journalism packs the biggest, hardest punch in South Texas. And we’re here to stay.”
According to Wingert, those awards to The Monitor staff members, for work they performed in 2024, were:
• Former staff writer Dina Arévalo was awarded first place in the class 2A categories Star Reporter of the Year and Star Investigative Report of the Year — which are among the most coveted.
Arévalo won these awards for her unparalleled reporting on the Rio Grande Valley water crisis, which shed new light not only on the “big picture” policy issues behind the water crisis, but also how it impacts local farmers and residents.
This coverage included tracking the Valley reservoirs’ levels, the ongoing situation between the U.S. and Mexico in regard to the 1944 binational water sharing treaty, andSpaceX consuming millions of gallons of water amid scarcity.
Arévalo, now a journalist with MySA.com who covers deep South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, predicts “the pending sale of the paper’s 22-year-old office won’t be the end of The Monitor or the slate of other news properties owned by AIM Media Texas, company officials say. Instead, it’s a chance for AIM Media to continue its pivot toward an all-digital newsroom.”
An all-digital newsroom, also known as an online newsroom or digital pressroom, is a centralized hub on a company’s website that combines all of its news and media assets. It serves as a digital resource for journalists, media outlets, and other stakeholders to access information about a company, its products, and its activities. Essentially, it’s a company’s digital headquarters where they can manage and share information with the world.
• Opinion Editor Carlos Rodríguez was awarded first place in the class 2A category for Editorial Writing.
Rodríguez was recognized for his editorials that commented on a range of topics:border issues, local schools’ budgets,the water crisis, immigration, Valley agriculture,misinformation,Ken Paxton’s lawsuits against Catholic Charities, and public health.
• Digital Content Manager Emily D’Gyves was awarded first place in the class 2A category for comment and criticism for her piece on Sasami Ashworth, who spoke about her new album ahead of her first time performing in the Valley.
D’Gyves also received first place in the class 2A category for video. The video, “Officials may demolish the historic San Juan Hotel. Others believe it’s a site for reconciliation,” sought to illustrate the historical and cultural impacts of the San Juan Hotel. Those impacts were part of the argument community members were voicing as reasons not to demolish the building.
• Lastly, staff writer Francisco E. Jiménez was awarded second place in the class 2A category for infographics for his interactive graphs comparing early voting turnout in 2016, 2020 and 2024 for the counties of Hidalgo and Cameron.
UTRGV was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine and a School of Podiatry, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, Weslaco, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015; the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016, and the School of Podiatric Medicine in the fall of 2022.
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Patrick Gonzales contributed to this article. For more on this and other Texas legislative news stories that affect the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan region, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature (TitansoftheTexasLegislature.com).
