MCALLEN, Texas - McAllen Economic Development Corporation is helping facilitate some big industrial projects that it cannot yet reveal.
This was the message the group’s chief executive officer, Ralph Garcia gave at a South Texas Manufacturers Association (STMA) meeting on Friday, August 15, 2025.
The meeting was held at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in McAllen.
“We have three projects right now that I honestly would love to announce, but due to the lawyers and NDAs, it doesn't allow me to do that,” Garcia said.
“But the activity is good. If you drive through McAllen and the south side, the industrial areas, if you drive through the Killam industrial development, and McAllen South Industrial Park, you'll see pad sites getting developed, and there are projects that are coming into these.”
NDA stands for non-disclosure agreement.
“And so as soon as we can announce that, we'll do it. We are excited about it. We want the community to know about it. They're positive. There are always positives and negatives that are taking place. So wanted to make sure to (tell you about the positives),” Garcia said.
At the STMA’s monthly meetings, Mike Willis, the group’s executive director, always gives economic development organizations in the audience the opportunity to speak about the projects they are currently working on, should they wish to. At this month’s meeting, MEDC and the Council for South Texas Economic Progress did so.
“I’ve talked to most of the economic development folks in the room and I think it's fair to say… all of the EDCs have a great deal of interest being shown by (prospective) companies towards the Valley, manufacturing companies especially, and some from Mexico… (that are) looking at possibly moving their sites over here,” Willis said.
“But nobody can talk about anything because it's all confidential at this point. So, until the announcements are made, obviously we'll just have to wait. But there is a lot of activity.”
Willis said that once the “uncertainty” over tariffs is removed, and investors know what the US’s long term tariff regime looks like, investment will happen.
“I don't think anybody that's in Mexico or anywhere else can really make a big time capital investment decision until they know what their costs are going to be one way or the other. So that's kind of where we are,” Willis said. “But there's a of activity and a lot of potential growth, continued growth, in the Valley, in the manufacturing arena. So I think we're looking at a lot of good news coming down the pike.”
The other reason MEDC’s Garcia wanted to speak was to announce an upcoming event his group is sponsoring.
“We're hosting an event next week, on the 26th, called Trade Talks, and we're promoting it. We have a panel speakers, Glenn Hamer (Texas Association of Business), Jorge Torres, from Interlink Trade Services, and Julian Alvarez (Lone Start National Bank) as our moderator. We invite you to visit our website, our social media pages, either the McAllen EDC or the Chamber. You can click on the link. Space is limited, but we’d like to get as many of our industry partners there as we can,” Garcia said.
Garcia promised Trade Talks will explain “what's going on in the current economy of Texas and in the international market.”
Josh Vasquez, MEDC’s director of Workforce Development, also made an announcement at the STMA meeting.
“We are working to address some of the challenges on the workforce side. We're going to be hosting a partnership with Workforce Solutions and the Texas Workforce Commission, a grant informational workshop next week, Tuesday the 19th, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at our chamber office located at 1200 Ash Avenue,” Vasquez said.
“The purpose of this particular workshop is to bring in and leverage resources to up-skill your current workforce. We've all seen that the manufacturing side, there is that shortage, there is that need to up-skill your current workforce. So, we're going to be hosting this event next week. We hope that you all can attend. Like Ralph mentioned, space is limited, so we advise you to visit our social media pages and sign up as quickly as possible. We hope to see you all out there.”
