The Fort Brown Memorial Center touched off an architectural competition among Valley cities. McAllen responded by commissioning architects Zeb Rike and J. B. Hancock to collaborate with Caudill Rowlett Scott on the design of the McAllen Civic Center, set behind a sweeping lawn that straddles the Mission ridge, imbuing the site with a rare bit of topographic variation. Caudill Rowlett Scott used standard steel sections to construct the multi-building complex, so that it has a more robust scale than the Fort Brown Memorial Center. Like the Fort Brown Center, the component parts of the McAllen center are organized around landscaped interior patios screened by perforated brick celosías.