MCALLEN, Texas - Ralph Garcia, interim chief operating officer for McAllen Economic Development Corporation, has given a brief update on the various projects the group is working on.
“Right now, the EDC is working with about 25 active projects. This represents a total of about three million square feet of space. Estimated jobs are about 8,000 and the economic impact of that is roughly about $5 billion dollars,” Garcia said a quarterly stakeholders meeting.
“Primarily, our companies are coming from France, Sweden, Mexico, the U.S. and Japan. Those are the activities that we're seeing right now.”
Garcia said McAllen EDC has secured two new leads during the current quarter, along with 23 existing prospects.
"We also continue to work on state leads," Garcia said. "Most of what we are seeing coming through, the focus is on manufacturing and, of course, distribution and logistics. Those are projects that we continue to work with.”
Garcia said the MEDC team working on active projects includes Susie Flores in McAllen and Rafael Angel Ortiz Salazar in Reynosa.
“We continue to do BRE [business retention and expansion] visits with a lot of our existing business, both in McAllen and Reynosa. We find that most of the leads that we are generating right now are through a BRE visit, where we're learning of current projects that companies are looking at.”
Garcia said quite a few of those expansion projects involve South America.
“We are trying to leverage those projects, to look at Texas as an alternative option," Garcia said. "One of the advantages that we have is our low cost, so that helps us. But, we're always trying to get in front of those projects, versus them leaving the area completely.”
Editor's Note: Here is an audio recording of the report Ralph Garcia gave at the McAllen EDC Quarterly Stakeholders Meeting:
Garcia expanded on his report when he appeared on KURV Radio’s Morning News Show on Nov. 25.
“For the last fiscal year, we had total of about six projects that committed to the area, and those projects were both in McAllen and Reynosa. We count both sides of the border. "
We work both sides of the border...," Garcia said. "In general, we had a total of about maybe a little over 1,800 jobs that were created. And probably in the neighborhood of about 600,000 to 800,000 square feet.”
Of the six projects, four will be in McAllen and two in Reynosa, Garcia said.
“Some of the projects in McAllen, because of non-disclosure agreements, we have not been able to formally announce. We're hopeful that next year, when the projects are complete, in terms of the construction buildout, the companies being ready to launch, we are able to go ahead and make the announcement,” Garcia said.
“By then, they will have names on the building. It will be public information.”
MEDC is working several projects right now that are focused on manufacturing in the McAllen area, according to him.
“We are competing for those projects," Garcia said. "One of our projects is a very dynamic automotive supplier, and they are looking at Texas. They are looking at Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. And we are very, very comfortable that we have made the shortlist,” Garcia said.
“We know that they are going to be here in the next few weeks to look at the market again. They have already talked to a developer about doing a project that is about 200,000 square feet, with 500 jobs. And those are true manufacturing jobs on our side. High-paying jobs that have a lot of value and a lot of opportunities for the region.”
